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ORAL HISTORY

Lorene Gatton

Father's Country Hams

Originally from Owensboro, Kentucky, Lorene Gatton and her late husband, Charles Gatton, Senior, began their married life together in 1939, on his family farm in Bremen, Kentucky. A city girl, Lorene had never spent time on a farm, but she quickly adapted to rural life. She eventually mastered gardening and butter churning, but she never quite got used to the annual hog killings. In 1950, her husband got into the ham and bacon-curing business full swing, and Lorene was by his side. For the next forty-six years she worked in the ham house, packaging meat and shipping orders. Times have changed, though, and Lorene says people don’t want whole hams or slabs of bacon like they used to; they want it all pre-sliced and precooked. Lorene has hung up her apron. Today, son Charles Gatton, Junior, carries on the business that his father began.