Editor’s note: Each year, the Brown County Democrat celebrates some aspect of Brown County history in our Founders Day section, also known as “Yesteryear.” This year — as we’ve done for the past several years — we’re writing about residents who are about 80 or older, who define “Brown County character” in some way.
Being politically active is in Carmen Altop’s blood.
Her grandmother, Rosa “Rosie” Roberts, was one of the first women to be elected in Brown County.
Altop herself was first elected as Washington Township trustee in 1974 and served until 1990, winning four elections. Her uncle had also served as a trustee here.
Her sister, Karen Olmsted, served as county recorder from 1984 to 1992. She also served one term on the Brown County Council from 1992 to 1996 before she passed away in 1999. Altop and Olmsted also volunteered with the Brown County Democrat Women’s Club.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Prior to being elected trustee, Altop served as the Democrat Central Committee vice committeewoman for Washington Township precinct 1. She took over as the committeewoman for the precinct by the early 1990s.
In 1990, Altop ran for clerk of Brown Circuit Court and won. During her first term, she helped to bring a computer system into the office to maintain all civil, criminal, voter registration and the clerk’s accounting records, according to newspaper archives.
She was re-elected in 1994. After her second term ended, her work in the clerk’s office didn’t stop. Her niece, Benita Fox, was elected clerk for two terms after Altop was finished.
After Fox’s term, her sister and Altop’s niece, Beth Mulry, was elected to serve another two terms. Altop retired from the clerk’s office as a deputy during Mulry’s time as clerk.
Altop’s sister, Judy Williamson, still works in the clerk’s office. Williamson is the mother of Fox and Mulry.
When Altop was trustee, her brother-in-law, Bob Olmsted, served on her advisory board, along with Chester Roberts and Muriel Conrad-Shaull.
“I made myself sick I campaigned so much. I just got so wore out,” Altop said.
On Altop’s first Election Day as a candidate, one of her daughters was campaigning for her mom at a church. When Altop picked her up, she lay down in the backseat and began to cry. A man had come up to her and apologized because, he said, Altop was going to lose.
“She said, ‘Mom you lost.’ I said, ‘Didn’t we say there’s a winner and loser? It’s not over just yet,’” Altop said.
“What happened? I beat him (my opponent) in every precinct, even his own.”
That year, Democrats swept every one of the 16 township offices up for election, according to newspaper archives.
Living in Brown County
When the leaves have fallen, Altop can walk onto her back deck and see the place where she was born in 1935. She has lived in Brown County and the same neighborhood all of her life.
The oldest of three girls, Altop, and her sister, Judy, were both born at home, and Karen, the youngest, was born at the hospital.
“I always told the girls (my daughters) I was the youngest,” Altop said with a laugh.
Growing up in Brown County did not offer a lot of entertainment opportunities, though. The King girls would spend their time riding pretend stick horses and making mud pies.
Since Altop was eight years older than Karen and six years older than Judy, her grandparents would come and pick her up for a Saturday in Columbus where they would get a bologna sandwich and a drink, and always ice cream.
Later on, more entertainment options were available, like movies shown on a big screen near the Brown County Courthouse. Altop would sit on the lawn on a blanket under the stars to watch.
One memory she will never forget from her childhood involves a mulberry tree and her cousins, Janet Taggart, Lois Woods and Anita Pope, who lived next door.
“(The mulberry tree) was on the line of my cousins’ house and our house. We fought over the mulberry tree. … ’That’s my tree.’ ‘It’s not either. It’s ours.’ It was just back and forth,” she said.
Last year, Altop’s daughter Denise, noticed she had a mulberry tree in her yard, too. “I called Judy. I said, ‘Do you want to call Lois and tell her? You guys can come over and fight over the mulberry tree,” she said with a laugh.
Growing up, Altop’s mother, Rachel “Fronia” King worked at Arvin Industries in Columbus while their father was sick. She ended up staying there for 38 years. “She worked on the line. She got hurt in there, got her leg cut and I don’t think she missed a day’s work. That’s just the way hard-headed people are,” Altop said.
When Altop’s father, Cecil, was well again, he went to work at the foundry in Columbus.
Rachel King made her children’s clothes, canned vegetables and grew a garden.
“I don’t think she missed a Sunday at church,” Altop said.
“I can still see her, standing there, ‘Mom, please. Why can’t I go?’ She just kept hoeing. Sometimes she’d break down and sometimes she wouldn’t give into me if I wanted to go somewhere.”
Cecil was a man of few words, but when he spoke, his children listened, Altop said.
“When she went to work and my dad was off then, mom would leave me chores, then, ‘Judy does this. Karen does that.’ One day, Karen wasn’t doing anything and I don’t know what I said, but Dad said, ‘Karen Sue, what are you doing?’ (She said) ‘Dad, I’m not doing anything.’ (He said) ‘Well, you better get to doing something.’”
Altop graduated from Nashville High School in 1954. She went to business college in Columbus for about a year before she got sick and had to leave school.
She got married and had two daughters: Demetria Kelly and Denise Campbell.
Altop canned vegetables, did yard work, kept a garden and watched over the home. She was a stay-at-home mother until she began getting involved with politics.
Later on in life, she also worked as the precinct committee person for Washington 1. Altop, Maryann Walker and Maxine Bailey continued to volunteer with the Democratic Party for years, helping to plan political events and campaign.
Memories never fade
Driving up to the courthouse, Altop sees the large red-and-white tent set up for the Brown County (Nashville) Volunteer Fire Department fish fries. It reminds her of one of the many stories from her time working in the clerk’s office.
One time, volunteer firefighter Steve Gore came in to the office to offer the ladies their leftover apple cider from a fish fry. He put it in the refrigerator for them.
“One day, Edie said, ‘Carmen, how about let’s have us some of that cider?’ I said, ‘Sure.’ I just got a little bit and I went over and I sat down,” Carmen said.
At that time, Fox was clerk.
“It was time to go to the bank, and I said, ‘Benita, I don’t think I can go to the bank.’ She said, ‘What’s wrong?’ I said, ‘My face don’t feel right.’ I thought that girl was going to get down in the floor and roll, because that stuff had fermented, and honey, I don’t drink. I looked over and Edie had her head down on her desk,” Altop continued with a laugh.
“I just didn’t feel right. I didn’t think it was in there that long.
“There were a lot of good times in there.”
Altop makes sure to find a brick in the walkway that had been laid in her honor, along with her sister Karen’s, both bricks signifying how long they had held political office.
One day, a man came into the courthouse upset and began yelling at Fox.
“I said, ‘You need to leave.’ (He said) ‘Nope.’ So I just went, grabbed him by the arm and walked out into the hall,” Altop said.
At that time, one of Williamson’s sons had stopped by to visit and helped Altop escort the man out. A few days later, Altop’s phone rang, and it was then-Judge Judith Stewart.
“I thought she was going to chew my butt out. She said, ‘Carmen, I want to ask you something. If I have any trouble, will you come up and escort them out for me?’” Altop said with another laugh.
As she sits talking over breakfast at McDonald’s, at least three people come up to give her a hug and tell her they miss seeing her around. Altop keeps busy nowadays helping to look after her some of her great-grandchildren. She has five grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.
“They keep you jumping,” she said of the little ones.
She’s also active at North Salem United Methodist Church, having taught Bible school and Sunday School.
When she has free time, she enjoys reading, doing word searches and knitting. At the Brown County Fair this year, she was awarded six blue ribbons for knitting projects along with one honorable mention for a quilt she had knitted for her great-niece’s new baby girl.
When asked what she likes about Brown County, Altop tells a story about Ray Brown, her neighbor, stopping by to say hello. She has been thinking about him since he passed away recently.
“We talked a little bit. I looked around and it was in the spring, the hills were just beautiful with dogwoods and redbuds. I just looked up on the hill and said something like, ‘You know, we take this for granted.’ He said, ‘Well, Carmen, you know what? When I get as old as you, I’ll appreciate it.’
“I didn’t say another word. I just went inside the house and shut the door. I looked out at him and he was like, ‘Oh. ..’”
Brown left and went to tell his wife what had happened. “She said, ‘What did you do to her?’ And he told her and she said, ‘I don’t blame her.’”
The people are one of the reasons Altop has stayed in Brown County.
“I’ve always lived here, and it’s the beauty. I’ve been different places and I didn’t like them,” she said.
A few years ago, Altop’s grandson, Travis, was killed during a summer flood. The community rallied around her family, including organizing a fundraiser to benefit him.
“When you’re down and out, they are good,” she said. “They help.”
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title=”Carmen Altop” ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Carmen Altop
Age: 84
Place of birth: Brown County on Lucas Hollow Road, off Hoover Road
Children: Demetria Kelly; Denise Campbell and son-in-law Doug Campbell
Parents: Cecil and Rachel “Fronia” (Roberts) King
Siblings: Judy Williamson and Karen Olmsted
Occupations: Stay-at-home mother, former Washington Township trustee, clerk and deputy clerk
Hobby: Knitting, reading, word searches and looking after great-grandchildren
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