Mr. Johnny

Mr. Johnny lived two house south of us on Mercer Avenue back in the 1950s. His children were grown by the time we moved into the neighborhood. His name was Johnny Sanders, but all I ever knew him by was Mr. Johnny. He was the type of neighbor that everyone should be, a good friend and always ready to help when needed. He was a carpenter by trade, back when it was a craft and everything was done by hand, no power tools.

The picture is of his family in the front room of their house on Mercer (left to right: Mr. Johnny, John Jr., Wife Estelle, Carl and Louise). The best I can remember it had 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, den and bath. They also had a 2 car garage and small shop out back and behind it was his garden. That garage always held a fascination to me. I would spend hours playing in it.

Sometime in the late 50s he built a house way out in the country near the NC Highway Patrol station on Market Street. After he moved we would still go visit from time to time, but we could always see him on Saturday mornings when he would come by to empty the slop bucket. For those of you that don't know what a slop bucket is or is for I'll tell you. Setting on the ground at the back steps of the house we had a 5 gallon can with a lid. After each meal we would put the scraps in the bucket. Mr. Johnny would collect all the scraps once a week and feed his hogs with them the following week. I know that is a far cry from the way we raise hogs today, but believe me the meat was a lot better back then.