Clinton Lewis/Daily News

PARK CITY Lestel Childress sat across from mementos of his and his wifes 50th anniversary and he talked about the last few days of Ollies life last year. She had sugar (diabetes) and (the doctor) gave her the strongest medicine he could, Childress said at his rural Edmonson County home. He didnt let her suffer none. She just went off to sleep. Childress married Ollie when she was 15 and he was 18. He had known her for years because their families both basket makers were good friends. Ollies sister, Rachel, married Childress brother, George. Ollie had moved in with Rachel and George after both her parents died by the time she was 11.Childress fell in love with Ollie easily. She was just a good, working woman, he said. She was the best cook … .It didnt hurt that Childress thought Ollie was pretty. He pointed to a picture that he and Ollie had taken for their 50th anniversary. There she is up there, he said, with her hands up on my shoulders. Childress and Ollie married the same day he registered with the Army. He thought hed have to fight in World War II.But I just went ahead and farmed, Childress said. They never did call me. It was all a long time ago for the 76-year-old who is known across the county for making high-quality baskets that former Kentucky first lady Phyllis George promoted in her 1989 book Kentucky Crafts; Handmade and Heartfelt. His baskets, which he made with Ollie, have been sold in Marshall Fields in Chicago and an Oh! Kentucky store at Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills. Childress remembers his past very well. He grew up one of nine children of Bennie and Ella Childress in rural Hart County. Both he and Ollie were fifth-generation basket makers. Childress dad was a farmer who often traveled in a covered wagon to other states to sell the baskets his family made. Childress learned to weave baskets when he was 8, simply by watching his mother. A lot of people made them back then, he said. But they didnt make them like they do now. Often, baskets were made with wider strips than the fine strips Childress grew up to specialize in. Childress would get 50 cents for a bushel basket then. Now, his largest basket sells for about $500. It took many years for Childress to get that far, though. When he was a teenager, Childress dad opened a souvenir shop in Bowling Green, and Childress sold his baskets there. Childress later ran the shop. He also built his own business off U.S. 31-W in Park City. By then, Ollie and the three girls they had now Judy Cook, Gloria Hennion and Vickie Wilkerson, all of Edmonson County worked in the souvenir shop while Childress farmed. Childress said Ollie had a better education than he did. She went to eighth grade. He went to the second or third grade at Cub Run Grade School. Childress quit because he had to work on his dads farm, he said. Still, he and Ollie made a good living with the souvenir shop until Interstate 65, on which Childress worked as a laborer, came through and diverted business away from U.S. 31-W.Childress well remembers the day that Ollie looked at him and said, Daddy, listen. You couldnt hear a sound, on the normally busy U.S. 31-W, he said. Ollie called Childress Daddy almost always, he said. Together, in addition to their girls, the couple had several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They are now the greatest joys in Childress life. But hes had a lot of other blessings, he said. He and Ollie taught basket making workshops and did demonstrations at universities and other places. For years, Childress drove a school bus in Edmonson County, and was honored by the school system for that. Also, he and Ollie have received awards for their basket making. Its something that has not ended for Childress. In March, Gov. Ernie Fletcher will honor Childress, who is a member of Kentucky Crafted, for his basket making. Cook will drive her dad up to Frankfort. She said her dad is a fine man, who was devoted to his ailing wife. He would always say he would give anybody, if they really needed anything, his last dollar, Cook said. And he would. Hes just that kind of a person. Hed raise a big garden and give most of it away. Childress cant raise as big a garden as he once did. And hes not been making his famed white oak baskets because its too wet for him to get to the timber in the woods, he said. But he does get to keep going to Cedar Springs United Baptist Church, where Cooks husband, Junior, is minister. Its a good church shouting and everything, Childress said. I love to go to church. I just like to see them have a good meeting. It makes you feel good. Childress and Ollie went to church together. Both were saved at Macedonia Baptist Church near Cub Run, he said. Childress thinks of such things about Ollie often. There was two years, four months and eight days difference in our age, he said. The little details will always be with Childress, but he isnt sure what he misses most about his wife. Its different sometimes, he said. Sometimes I go to the graveyard to look at the grave and know shes not there, because according to the Bible they sleep until the resurrection, when the trumpet blows so loud it will wake the dead.