 Tragedy struck in 1925 when the family barn and cotton gin were destroyed in a fire. With no funds to rebuild they moved to nearby Brogdon where both parents found work. But the Great Depression eventually forced the closure of the boarding house where Molly worked. In 1934 the family relocated again to Newport News, Virginia. There Molly ran a boarding house for shipyard laborers. After her father passed away in 1938, Ava and her family returned to North Carolina. They settled in Rock Ridge where Molly managed yet another teacher boarding house. Despite their perpetual poverty, Molly was determined that Ava would get an education.