East Wilmington Baptist Church

I lived  only a few house down from the church that we attended. During the summer we always had Vacation Bible School. This was during the day not at night like many churches do today. During these Vacation Bible Schools along with learning about what God had to say to us in the Bible we also got to make projects and have snacks. Snack time was my favorite, it was always grape Cool Aide and Jacks cookies. The projects might be a shadow box and we had to cut and measure the wood ourselves and no one lost a figure or maybe a mat to set a hot pot on. I found the mat I made when I was going through some of my late mothers thing. It is amazing what us parents will keep to remind us of our kids.

A very special place in time.

I have been reminded lately that I grew up in a very special place in time.The era I grew up in was probably zenith of this countries time in history. If you were a child it didn't really matter if you were poor, middle class or rich you pretty much had many of the same experiences growing up. We all went to the same schools, there were almost no local private schools and really not much need for them. Back then public school still taught and taught you how to learn what wasn't taught. I have always said I'll put my first 10 years of schooling  up against any high school graduate the public school turns out. Give us a 100 question test  that coverall the basics and I'll come out on top and this is true of any of my class mate. How did the teachers ever make it through the year having to grade and figure grades by hand and no teacher work days back then. They didn't cancel school every time bad weather was predicted ether. If it rained you put your rain coat on, if it snowed you put warm closes not that I ever remember it snowing during school. I'm sure it did.  It still amazes me at what some of our high school graduates don't know these days.

The biggest thing we had to worry about was the A-bomb. Remember getting under your desk or going to the hall and tuck your head between you legs. How about all the buildings that had the air raid shelter signs on them. Thank God that it never came to the point in the Cold War that we needed any of that stuff.

A bike ride to Renovah Circle

After reading a few of the post about my 2nd grade class and reminded of how many kids were from the Renovah Circle area my mind wondered back to those days and I thought about me and a friend that lived behind me on Wayne Drive.

It was one summer morning after school had let out for the summer my friend and I decided to ride our bikes through Forest Hills. We took of down Wayne Drive toward the school to play in the creek that ran along beside Forest Hills School. As was usual with us the competitiveness did not take long to kick in. So as each of us pedaled a little harder and the speed began to build. We turned off of Wayne Drive onto Renovah Circle as we rounded the curve and were headed back to Wayne Drive my friend was pulling ahead. He kept looking back  and making fun of me for being on the loosing end of the race. About half way between the curve and Wayne Drive I noticed a parked car right in front of my friend, so I did what anyone would do while in 2nd place I pedaled as hard as I could while talking as hard as I could to keep his attention on me. It worked, as he peeled himself off the trunk of the car I passed him. Have to admit after I saw how hurt him and his bike were I did feel a little guilty about his bent rim and bruises, but the main was I won. Don't feel to sorry for him he paid me back more then once. The bike in the picture is the bike I was riding that day about a year maybe 2 later.

Chestnut Street Jr High School

Finally made it to Junior High School. 7th grade was a whole new adventure. For one thing Chestnut Jr High was at least 2 miles further from our home on Mercer Avenue. Forest Hills had been about a 2 mile walk but Chestnut was closer to 5 miles. My cousin lived the next street over and was what we called "in the county" so she could ride the bus though it was still a half mile walk to the bus stop for her. I lived in the city limits so I wasn't allowed to ride the bus. These days the kids can’t have the bus stops more than a block a part and even then the bus has to wait on some of them to come out of the house. The bus drivers back when I was growing up left you behind if you were not at the bus stop, no waiting. Maybe that is why this country has got so fat and soft. That’s another blog though. In any case if I got out of school and started to run straight home I could beat the bus because they had to wait for it to get there from another school and I did like running back then. Besides there were lots of things to do on the way home. First there was Pappy Gay’s grill for the best hot dogs in town, then on down Market Street there was Beaumont Grill and Mr Brocks Store and the park on Wayne Drive and on really cold days we could stop at the Carolina Motor Inn to get hot chocolate out of the vending machine. There were also several service stations we could stop by and watch the mechanic work on cars, two of these old buildings are still standing and there was always Burnt Mill Creek to play in on warm days just depended which way you took home and how fast you wanted to get there.

Each school had sports teams and mascots, Chestnut was the Bears and the school colors were red and white. There were 5 Junior High School in the school system and we played our teams against each other. Many of the kids from these teams made it on to pro sports. Football was played at Legion Stadium  and if my memory is correct it was always a double header.  Each school had a baseball diamond and gym for basketball, so we mainly had 3 sports later when I was in the 9th grade they added track and field.

Chestnut had a special place the 9th graders could go that the other students were not allowed. If you were in the 9th grade you could cross the creek at lunch. If you tried that and you were not a 9th grader there was a good chance you might "fall" in the creek. Don't know if any other Jr. Highs had anything like that.

The Junior High system was a great system, you could make life long friends and you did a lot of growing up before you were thrown into high school. It was kind of like a farm team for growing up.

Moving to the sound

We moved to Masonboro Sound around 1963. It was quite a change from city living but I took it in stride and actually still had every thing the city had to offer a kid just entering his teen years and more. One of the things I would do in the evening just as the sun would go down when I lived in town is get a pocket full of rocks and go find a vacant lot and go Bat hunting. Bat hunting was an easy sport that did hurt any thing especially the Bats that were being hunted. I don't think  anyone can throw a rock fast enough to catch a bat by surprise. The process when something like this. First rock is thrown in front of the bat so that  he follows it down  and as the bat got close to ground the second rock was thrown. This is the one that was suppose to take him out of the air. I can't remember me or any of my friends ever hitting a bat, but it sure was fun watching them follow that rock to ground. The great thing about our house on Masonboro was there was a field straight across the street and there was no limit to the number of bats to be seen.

Burnt Mill Creek was replaced with  the Intercoastal Waterway, Whiskey Creek, the sound and the Atlantic Ocean. Guess this is were my love of aviation (no more airport to visit) and ships and water were merged. Only a few years later I would join the U.S. Navy and earn my green stripes of and Airman.

Schools changed instead of a Chestnut Street Bear I was now a Roland-Grise Black Knight. Later long after I left that campus some weak kneed administrator got scared that someone poor weak minded soul would be offended and dropped the work BLACK. Even though my grades were not the best I was allowed on the track and field team and ran in the 440 relay, broad jump, and high jump. I was just average and by high school I dropped the idea of sports.

Mrs. Lench was my art teacher and I feel in love with art. Actually I was getting pretty good in Jr High. having a good teacher sure helped. To bad I could not have had a teacher like her in high school. My high school art teacher should have tried any profession other than teaching, she could make a kid hate ice cream. Nice lady but not a teacher. After one year with her I dropped art.

Then there was my first girlfriend. She lived in Harbor Villa about a mile away. Her family moved to Aurora  at the end of the 8th grade. Long distant relationships just don't last with 8th graders. By the middle of the 9th Grade to other girls were in my life though not at the same time. Paula  came first and the I met Eva Pierce probably one of the sweetest girls I have known.

More on Chestnut Street Jr High School

It was Chestnut Street Jr High in the early 60s when I went to Chestnut. The newer building on the 23rd Street side housed  1-6 grades, that school was called Snipe's Elementary and the main and older 2 story structure which housed the gym and auditorium was Chestnut Jr High (grade 7-9). The building that was in the rear which was built about the time of Snipes was for shop, band, chorus and extra classrooms. The main building burnt in the 80s I believe and was completely rebuilt except for the outside walls from what we where told at the time. Makes me wonder where the asbestos came from that was used as one of the main reasons for destroying this historic site.

At this time there were 5 Jr Highs that competed with each other in sports, Chestnut (Bears), Tilston (Blue Devils), Lake Forest(Yellow Jackets), Sunset (Hornets) and Roland Grise (Black Knights). Later some weak kneed spineless administrator would drop the Black for fear of offending some poor weak minded soul. Because of this competition New Hanover always had some of the top teams and athletes in the state and many went on to the pro ranks. In those day colors only meant the school you attended not what gang you were in. Chestnut was Red and White, Tilston was Blue and white, Lake Forest was Green and Yellow, Sunset was Green and White and Roland Grise was Black and Gold.

Thing that are gone forever.

I wonder how many of these things you remember if you grew up in Wilmington, NC in the 1950s? In fact many of these things probably happened all over the country in the 50s and early 60s.

At the top of my list the Civil Defense siren. Every Saturday at 12 noon it would be tested and you could hear it all over Wilmington. Later in life I would discover that was one of many job the fire department was responsible for. In fact in my early career as a fireman on of the department I worked for still had a siren like the old CD siren we tested each Saturday at noon.

Then there was that smell that drifted over from the paper plant in Riegelwood if the wind was just right. Sort of a cross between a skunk and an over turned out house. Not near as bad as the smell we get from the chemical plant on highway 421 these days.

But there was another smell that was much better and that was the candy counter at H L Greens 5 and 10 Cents Store downtown. They kept the maple nut candy hot so that if you were anywhere in that part of the store you had to stop and buy some. Even though they didn't smell near as good the hot nuts they sold can't be matched anywhere today.

Remember the sweet roll at school lunch?

There was the sound of the tug boat horns talking to each other while working on the river.

What about that cloud of white smoke behind the county mosquito sprayer that all of us kids would run behind. Trusting that our government would never let us breath a poison. Many of these same kids got a dose of Agent Orange years later still trusting the government to keep us safe.

Remember when water was free and didn't come in a bottle and soft drinks were all the same price? 5, 6, 8 or 10 cents depending how far back you can remember.

Buy a small Coke with shivers of ice in it (5 cents) pack of Tom's peanuts (5 cents) and a Moon Pie (5 cents). Then put the peanuts in the drink and you were on top of the world for only 15 cents.

Then there was and is the candy called Boston Baked Beans. Not from Boston, not baked, and not beans. So much for truth in advertising. They sure are good though. Then why did the government change the name of picnic ham to picnic shoulder?

I can still taste those S&H Green Stamps, bet I licked a million and put them in books so Mama could cash them in for something. Sometime I got something so it wasn't to bad. Anyone remember Palm Motor Oil at 25 cents a quart. Gulf, Quaker State and other major brand were 65 and 70 cents a quart. Palm was re-manufactured before such things were popular. Used to get it a Miss Daisy's Store after we moved to Masonboro Sound. 

Guess I should say a little about Miss Daisy and I will a little later.

Weather and other stuff

More proof that it isn't getting any warmer. This picture was taken 10 January 2011, except for the some missing trees it could have been shot in the 50's. I remember many a cold January and many a warm one also. Our area seems to run in 10 year cycles. The only white Christmas I remember her in Wilmington was in 1989. This road is in the middle of town now but back in the 50s it was the edge of Wilmington. new compared to me.It was completed in the late 1970s. Many times us kids would catch rides on the train that ran near by Mercer Avenue where I lived. The frieght trains ran through the city from the rail class yard on the northside around the edge of town and then to the State Port on the southside of town close to where this picture was taken. It was easy for us kids to catch a slow moving train and ride a short distance to another part of town. Tom Sawyer had his Mississippi and I had my Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. You did have to be careful not to catch it out past Kerr Avenue or you might wind up in Jacksonville, NC 50 miles north. Glad to say that never happened, but it sure would have made a good story.

Floyd

Floyd Harrell was my cousin and about 10 years older than I was. I don't remember a lot about Floyd other than he was always nice to me and included me in  a lot of things he didn't have to, especially since he was  older than me. He was my father's sister's son. They lived the next street over from Mercer on Live Oak which is called Covil now. He attended Forest Hills , Chestnut and New Hanover High School.

By the picture at the left you can see that there was a few years difference in our ages. Even after Floyd married Lynn and they had a baby girl  he still treated me like a brother and included me in on lots of things. There was the sports car he had that he would take me riding in. A light blue TR3 and then there was the time I got to go down on the river where he worked on got a tour of the pusher tug  "Dam Yank". For a kid not yet a teenager that was really a big deal to be treated like an equal. But then that is the way his family and mine were. I was always treated like a brother by him and his sister Nancy. Of all my aunts and uncles and cousins they were and still are my favorites. Sorry to say at my age only Nancy and me are still a live and I don't keep as close contact as I should, but I just don't seem to be able to get close to people these days like I once did.

We lost Floyd first in a barge explosion on the Cape Fear River in the early 60s. Then my father in 1980. In 1992 my wife of 20 years and I split. Then Uncle Bill passed away and next it was Aunt Callie And finally my mother and wife's parents. That is the bad part about getting old, many of those you love leave you, sometime by choice and sometimes not. But it can cause you to put up a wall to keep from getting to close. Then if I had never known these people what a loss it would have been for me.

Floyd had a little Cushman or maybe it was a Sears scooter at one time and that is probably the reason I have had years of fun riding motorcycles and still do.

Sure do miss him and the rest of the family, but that is the way life is, so we better enjoy and spend as much time as we can with those we love here on earth until that time that we are all together again in Heaven.

Going to work with Daddy

My father drove a truck for a living, not a long haul tractor trailer, but a non tractor trailer type. He had a regular route that took him from Wilmington to Lumberton twice a week. It made for a long day because he stopped at almost every little  mom and pop store between the two towns and in those days every little cross roads had one or two stores. Many of these were as close as across the road from each other. He would work his way to Lumberton on Monday getting there around 6  o'clock and would spend the night in the Goodyear Hotel in downtown. My guess is it was probably the only hotel there in those days. Then Tuesday he would work his way back to Wilmington. Wednesday would be a short work day going just a little ways up highway 87 turning around just short of Carver's Creek and back to Wilmington getting home about 6. Then back to Lumberton on Thursday and home on Friday. It was hard work but he never complained even though the trucks he drove didn't A/C or automatic transmissions. Even though this was back before there were special days set aside to bring your kids to work he would take me with him 4 or 5 times a year. Sometimes between stops that were close together he would let me ride in the back of the truck. I can close my eyes now and smell the fresh meat that he delivered, much of it had only been processed the day before. During the tobacco season when we would spend the night in Lumberton I would wake up to the sound of the tobacco auctioneer chanting his bids and the smell of fresh cured tobacco. Seemed that was all that they had in Lumberton back then. Never have been able to understand how something could smell so good and then stink and taste so bad when smoked. Probably the reason I never took up the habit. I will cherish these memories of going to work with my father for as long as my memory holds onto this world. Watching him work taught me something that regular father and son outing just can’t do.