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.

(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.

(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

(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.