Monday, February 24, 2014

Sherry thought I would never get to Belmont

Of course She did not know I existed. But I was getting closer to her. Albemarle was half way from Burlington to Belmont. I have to go by what she says, she enjoyed growing up on the Imperial Mill Hill.  The village was actually on a hill. She had kin folk that worked in the same mill.

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(Sherry said her dad said many times, if that boy (Elmer) don’t marry Lennie soon I ain’t  ever gonna get any sleep, Elmer lived next door and stayed late hours courting Lennie)

Elmer married Lennie and brought a car into the family. Up until her dad Wiley saw no need for a car, everything they normally needed was within walking distance. So they simply walked or took the bus where ever they traveled.

The kids loved to skate. She lived there when the streets got paved and all the kids were thrilled. She talks about going down the hill on skates and her feet starting to wobble and scared her.

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(Colette holding Sherry at the Imperial Village, cute ain’t she?)

She and a friend tried dipping snuff, she didn’t care for it. She smoked a few cigarettes as a kid and wasn’t thrilled with that either.  But like all kids, she loved to dip cocoa and sugar. LOL

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(This picture is much earlier that is Sherry on the far right. Her brother Tommy far left, Vacation Bible School)

Sherry’s mama came from the eastern part of NC. And when there was a death in the family down East. Folks would double up and load cars down and head for the wake and funeral.

At the loss of an uncle two cars went east to Whiteville, about 200 miles. Of course no one place could sleep everyone, so the crowd scattered to different kin folks houses. After the wake and the funeral the cars loaded up, said their good byes, and headed for Belmont.  Remember the story of the child Jesus, being accidently left behind by Mary and Joseph?  Well that happened to little Sherry she was about 10yrs old. Her parents thought she was in the ‘other’ car. BUT SHE WAS NOT.

After spending the night with a cousin, she had arrived at her aunt’s house for the trip back to Belmont and the cars were GONE! She said she was miserable and cried day and night  mostly. Making folks lives bad (she says).  Well when Wiley and Susie got back to Belmont Sherry was missing.  The very next day Susie took the bus back to Whiteville, NC, got a cousin to drive her out into the tobacco country to get her little girl. Now 200 miles was a LONG WAY in the 1940’s.

Sherry was picking butter beans when she saw her mama coming. Now if you are familiar with picking beans years ago, the ladies that had aprons on would make a pocket of the apron and drop the beans in. Little girls used their dress tails. When she saw her mama, the beans went flying and she went running, the happiest girl in the world. She still says that was the best she ever felt as a kid, seeing her mama coming up that dusty road.

Thanks for coming by the log.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

Isn’t if funny how one little thing can change your history.  If we had not moved to Belmont when we did……………  Some other fellow would have been very lucky.

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They would have ridden 200 miles in a car like these.

10 comments:

shirl72 said...

That is a better story than Mama
at Turkey Creek. I love is and can
just see the beans flying through
the air. That is an awful feeling
being left somewhere at an early
age. I think it was you that was
left at Church asleep on a bench,
of course it was not 200 miles away. Very good blog..

betty said...

Poor Sherry getting lost like that! I'm sure it never happened again on other trips for funerals, but how scary! What great memories you are sharing with us and your family Jack!

betty

I'm mostly known as 'MA' said...

Things do happen for a reason. It is amazing how it all works out. I so well remember my grandmother holding her apron full of beans picked from the garden. Nice to have such good memories.

Paula said...

I can imagine how Sherry must have felt being left behind and how glad she was to see her mama. The dipping cocoa and sugar made me laugh. We used to make a candy we called it. Sugar, cocoa, peanut butter, cream, and whatever we could find to mix together and pretend it was candy.

Jean said...

I can remember mixing chocolate and sugar and make like it was snuff, ha. I never would have used snuff and I didn't smoke. Once my older brother would give us girls a dime to try chewing tobacco and laugh when it made us sick. Who wouldn't try it back then a dime would buy a drink and a piece of candy, ha. Take care a pretty day in Opp today. Jean

TARYTERRE said...

Poor Sherry getting separated from her mama like that. Thank goodness her mama came back to get her right away. 200 miles is quite a trek.

Chatty Crone said...

Gosh being left behind had to be so so scary. What a wonderful ending that her mother came to get her.

Jimmy's Journal said...

I wish I still had a lot of my old pictures. It brings back good memories.

I can imagine how Sherry must have felt. Pretty scary.

My parents had a bad habit of moving and not giving me the new address....

Jimmy

Jackie said...

Bless Sherry's little heart. I can't imagine being left behind.
I love the photos that you share, Jack.
Just lovely...

Rose said...

I remember my mother using her apron to hold many vegetables from our garden.

I love hearing this wonderful stories that bring back great memories!

Hugs to my favorite couple.