Collene Riggsbee Rogers - Plumber (clip)

Collene Rogers: Well, I never considered, I always considered my father to be a plumber, you know? That was his passion. But he did build all three of the houses that he owned, he built, and the building. And for, he worked with other builders, Mr. Charles Brooks and Tate, and he would do the cabinets in the houses that he built, the plumbing, he did. And then when they needed, he did, you know, framing and the other stuff. But, he did build and he had one friend who helped him with the woodwork and stuff, it’s Eugene Farrington. That was one of his best friends and they kind of worked together, you know, all their lives.

Kathryn Wall: Do you know how he got into plumbing?

CR: Well he got into plumbing because, you know, we, when we were growing up, you know, we still had outhouses and, you know, well water, I guess we had. And then, when they decided that they couldn’t have the animals in Chapel Hill or something, and then they started, we got electricity and indoor plumbing. He was working, you know, with the Yates Plumbing Company, I think, out of Carrboro. So you know, he was working, helping out there, and then he just got interested in it because also, you know, out in, you know, where his family was in Chatham County, you know, they weren’t getting that. So, he just decided that he wanted to work on that so that he could do those for the people in the rural areas. And so he got started, and he, you know, was doing it, and then the people at Yates reported that he was doing it without a license, and they wanted it stopped, you know. So, he decided to order plumbing books. So, he read the books and then when he finished those he went to Raleigh and got his license. So that’s how he started. So, then he was able to go out and, you know, give water and inside plumbing to the people out in his home place on Lister Road in Chatham County.