Price Sisters Survive in a Tempest

For 13 years the Price sisters, Verna Mae and Ella Louise, lived in a house without electricity as parts of their home started collapsing around them in Pinson, Alabama. ​The front and rear bench seats of a 1966 Pontiac Tempest became beds for Louise and Verna Price. These sisters once lived in a small, wood-framed home that was damaged by age and neglect so severe that the roof gave up and the walls folded. Neighbors worried over the sisters' care as they continued to live without heat or electricity in the decaying home. Reluctant to receive assistance, the reclusive women found another housing option when the house became too dangerous and conditions unbearable. In 1996, Louise and Verna, now in their early 60s, moved their living quarters into the one-car, 10-foot-by-20-foot, wooden garage which sat behind the house. The garage roof and walls protected them from the elements and the green four-door Tempest became their place to rest.
Father knows best
The ever reclusive women, now beyond middle-age but holding fast to childlike sensibilities, continued to follow their father's lessons long after his death way back in December of 1963. The sisters refused to leave the property where they were raised unless it was to go to church or to the store. Their father, Addie Price, was stubborn and reluctant to trust outsiders. He was a stern man who was notably quiet but would argue with a fence post to prove he was right. He taught his only children, Louise and Verna, to stay close to the yard and not socialize unless it was at church. Addie did not allow his daughters the opportunity to learn to drive a car. If he couldn't take them, they had to walk or ride the bus.
Paranoid
The sisters were afraid of intruders to their small plot of land and home place. They took turns resting inside the Tempest, while the other kept watch. As a makeshift alarm system, they tied pie tins, metal cans, and other trash to strings and hung it along the hedge row and trees surrounding their yard.
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[@BlackFlagHomestead]

Super cool. Stan was my teacher in high-school. Glad to hear of the wonderful support that was provided to the women over all those years by the local believers. Thanks for documenting this.

[@rickjames7391]

He was my teacher as well. Couldn't ever forget Mr. Moss!

[@mitchcapps6021]

Great story. Really enjoyed it!