Best Buddies

Wayne

Grady, Jr.

My two brothers were always best buddies..
Mama and Daddy taught us the true meaning of
Easter and Christmas.  They also loved to surprise
us on Christmas morning.  They always gave
Santa a list that was just right for us.

                                                                                                                       

Easter

Christmas

I love this picture of my brothers and "lil" Wayne all dressed up for mine and Billy's wedding..1958

Wayne - "lil"Wayne - Junior

Junior - Rachel - Wayne - Brenda

Grady, Jr.

Wayne and Junior

Meadow Street

I'm in the seventh grade, and we have moved across town to English Court.You turned off  English Street-    then, go up a small driveway with six houses in a semi circle. They were all the same style and painted the same color...I think it was light gray...our bungalow with a small porch and some good neighbors...our new friends Dale and Tillman.  But why did we have to move to another house. I know we had more room  I know that Daddy had a long way to go to work from Main to English where Adams Millis was.  He either walked or rode the bus - and you had to change to the English St. bus uptown.  Do you think it would be that when Junior, Wayne and myself had to go to Ferndale Junior High, we would then have a short walk to school.  And more important, he would only have two or three blocks to his work.  Even a twelve year old should have understood, and it didn't take me long to know it was a good move.

This is when I started going to English Street Baptist Church.  I did miss Pilgrim Holiness which became Wesleyan in later years.  I had gone there all of my life, and I would especially miss Mrs. Nance and Mrs. McDowell and most of all Preacher Grout.  Even though I was in the seventh grade and about to become a teenager, I could never forget Cloverdale Elementary School nor my teachers...Ms. Farlow...Ms. Gallant.. Ms. Byrd...Ms.Hire..Ms. Clifton...and Ms. Strickland...Our principal was Mr. Rogers.

I was in the sixth grade at Cloverdale when Junior started first grade, and I was old enough to walk him to school.

Junior in third grade at Cloverdale Elementary School

Junior also went to Cloverdale until we moved; and then he went to Tomlinson and several years later, Wayne went to Tomlinson.  Along about this time, we moved to Meadow Street  which was between Ferndale Drive and Chestnut Street and behind our house was Ferndale Junior High, High Point High School  and Tomlinson Elementary School with a big athletic field between the junior and high schools.  Talking about having a place to play, Junior and Wayne had a field day.  School was so different in the 50's.  You could go home or out to lunch.....you could go into the gym during lunch and listen to music and dance if you wanted to.......you could go out and sit under the trees......and guess what....if you misbehaved in school they could give you a spanking....and, of course, none of us ever needed that....

My teenage years are somewhat of a blur now.  I forgot to mention that we have had a television and telephone some time now. So, between watching t.v., talking on the phone, going to school...being in church on Sunday morning and evening services...being in G. A.'s...Wednesday night services...visitation on Thursday nights....the time went by so quickly.  I had so many good friends during these years...my cousins Betty Jo, Shirley & Shelby, Jewell Dean....we all did things together all the time....and then there's Martha who lived on Best Street.  Mama and her Mom had been friends a long time...Carolyn whose daddy worked with my dad....and at church....Nancy, Patsy..Buddy...David....Tommy...Louise...Raynell..

Patsy

Carolyn

Martha 

Mama and Daddy were still there for Junior, Wayne and myself..Mama still cooked three meals a day except on Saturday. And Daddy still works at Adams Millis.  We still go to town on Saturday, and the boys still go to the movies on Saturday morning.  I still remember Mama shopping with me for a dress to wear to my first prom in the tenth grade.  And, then there was the Junior-Senior prom which was a big event.  My brothers and I have talked about how Mama and Daddy did what they did.....Santa always brought what we asked for....we always had new Easter outfits and Easter Baskets...And when Elvis came to the Center Theater when I was in the tenth grade; Daddy gave me 50 cents to go see him...even on a school night.   I just feel like they sensed our every need and knew us and liked us as well as loving us.  Otherwise, why did I love going to church...it might not have been for all the right reasons at certain times, but I went and know that it has played a big part in my life.....To have the Lord is to have all we need.  We may not always be there for Him, but He is always there for us.   I know Daddy is the reason I always loved school  because he taught me to love reading as much as he did and at such an early age.  My favorite classes in high school were English, Business Math, Bookkeeping, Typing and Shorthand...I really want to work in an office......Until next time......Jeanette

Patsy - Jeanette - Nancy

The Two-Lane Road...

He loved to ride his tricycle   -  1947

I found this picture of Junior that Daddy took in our front yard on S. Main Street.  Junior was facing our house with his back toward the street.  I just want all of you to see how narrow the street was when we lived there.  To the left of the house across the street you can see the side of the Big Bear Supermarket.  I hope this photo helps you visualize that South Main Street was a small neighborhood when we grew up there.



Junior worked for Cloverleaf Supermarket for a long number of years, and he had kept this wonderful article that was in the HP Enterprise.. click on to enlarge...

Beginnings...

In an earlier blog, I told how Jeanette and I became friends and now I want to tell about my early life.  My granddaughter, Erin, and Jeanette asked to do start there...so here goes.  My daddy was a minister and my mother was a homemaker and took care of the farm while my daddy preached.  First, I want to tell you about their meeting.  When my mother was almost 16, she visited my daddy's family church with a friend.  My daddy was sitting 2 seats in front of her and when he stood up and turned around...he said those were the prettiest blue eyes he had ever seen and he fell in love with her right then.  He rode his bicycle about 7 miles to her home when she had her 16th birthday party and that was the deal-sealing visit.  I do not know how he found out about the party, but am thankful he did and that God put them together.  Two years later on her 18th birthday, August 21, 1918, they were married.  She worked at the tobacco barn until noon, went to the house, got dressed and they were married about 3:00 I think.  They went to my Coates' grandparents house to live with them and his 8 siblings.  I don't know how many of them were at home at that time, but I know many of them were still there. In 1920, my granddaddy, Rufus Coates, built my parents a little 3 room house near the woods on his farm.  They lived there for several years before moving onto a 19 acre tract of land near Highway 210 in Johnston County on the same family farm.  There were 150+ acres all total.  They built a bigger house there, which is where I lived for the early part of my life.  During the years between 1920 and 1935, they lost 4 babies.  When my mother was expecting me, the doctor told her she was going to die trying to have a baby.  She told him that she believed God will give her a baby.  She was in bed for 6 months before I was born on October 30, 1935.  The doctor told her he could only save her or the baby and she said, "You save the baby and God will take care of me."  She was unconscious for 18 days and stayed in the hospital for 3 months.  I went home with my grandparents when I was 14 days old and they took care of me until she came home on January 30, 1936.  When my granddaddy died on Jan. 30, 1936, my parents moved to the family big house to take care of my grandmother.  (That is the first place I remember living.) My aunt, Fannie Maie, who had been about 8 months old when my parents got married, was 17 and helped care for me.  My granddaddy came into the house one day and no one was sitting beside the cradle watching me.  He said, "Florence, you know this baby's mother might die and we have to watch this baby.  Why is no one watching her?"  My grandmother said, "Rufus, I have raised 9 children and I didn't watch them every minute and I am not going to watch her every minute.  She will be fine."  (Just a little humor to add to my saga.) She came home from the hospital the day my Grandfather Coates died.  Let me go back a little bit to my father's call to preach the gospel.  He said he felt God's hand on his life when he was 12 years, but in those days children were not allowed to make a profession of faith until they were older.  He waited until after he and my mother were married. They were in a Saturday morning service at our home church, Saint Mary's Grove near Highway 210 and my daddy went out one end of the pew to speak to the minister and when his reached out his hand, my mother's hand was before his.  She had gone out the other end of the pew.  So that is how they started their journey in serving the Lord together.  My mother was pregnant with their first child (their only son) in 1922 when my daddy was diagnosed with acute nephitis.  The doctor said he would not live unless he listened to what my mother said because he would tell her what to do to make him live.  He spent 3 years flat of his back and during that time their son was born and only lived 8 hours.  He and my mother worked at Woodall's Department Store in Benson for 7 years before they moved back to the farm.  During the course of the next 13 years, they lost 3 more babies.  During that time and until 1958 (I think) my daddy served churches in several counties in NC. He preached revivals all over NC for many years.  He was pastor at Corinth Free Will Baptist Church in Sampson County for 19 years.  He had been there for 2 years when I was born and left when I was 17.  He preached there the 4th Sunday in each month and later was there 2nd and 4th Sundays each month.  That will always seem like home to me.  Those people are the salt of the earth and when I see any of them, and some of them are still living, or the younger generations, they always know me.  It is such a blessing to be told how much they loved my parents, and me, when I was growing up. We lived on the farm until I was 5 and then lived in Benson for 2 years.  My daddy worked with his long time friend, Allen Johnson, in his fertilizer sales business until 1941 when he had a stroke and we moved back to the farm. ( Mr. Allen was in high school at Benson when my daddy rode his bicycle 16 miles each Sunday afternoon to go to school and then back on Friday to work on the farm until Sunday.  They both wanted the same seat and when they couldn't push each other, they decided to sit together and were fast friends until my daddy died in 1968.)  From then on until his death in 1968, he only preached.  I had such a wonderful childhood, but it would take a year to write all of it down.  I do not know much about my mother's family.  She was in the second set of children for her mother.  Her mother's first husband died in the Civil War and she was left with 4 children - 2 girls and 2 boys.  She then married my grandfather, Henry Hall, who had never been married and they had 2 girls and 2 boys.  My mother was the youngest of their children.  I am the only living relative of my generation on her side who is still living.  There are some younger cousins but I don't have much contact with them.  This is a rambling account of my early life as best I can remember.  It is not in good chronological order, but maybe someone can get something out of it.   I will continue next time with my life with Lewis and then my children.

Lewis and Celia

a moment in time

It has been a challenge to delve back into the past and try to give you bits and pieces about mine and your family.  As
thoughts come to me; and I am able to gather more photos, I will continue to write our story of the early
years.  Meanwhile, we will start on the next chapter and just see what the Good Lord gives me to write.
I would like to encourage each of you to make time each day...only five minutes.... to write down a
memory that you have...  
My heartfelt thanks to each and every one of you who have given me your support and reads our blog, and
I hope you will continue to do so.  I really have enjoyed my trip back into the past....... and  I must thank my
brother Wayne for sharing the "Remember When In High Point" website with me...........and thank you
to the ones that started that group.  When I saw the posts, on what happened in the 40's and 50's, by other
people, things began to start clicking..........Until next time......

Jeanette   Mom   Wayne   Junior

photos from the past

Wayne

my red wagon

Is that snow - 1947  Junior &   Jeanette

Sis  &  Grady, Jr.

Mama and Daddy with  Junior at Guilford Battleground  -  1948

Daddy's Brother Henry

Myrtle       Henry

Henry       Grand-dad       Daddy

Myrtle's daughter Beatrice and Hurley Way

Myrtle's son Woodrow Pitts

Daddy and Henry's hunting dogs - 1947

Charlie

Charlie and Winnie

Daddy' brother Charlie...He was the oldest child in his family, and Susie was the first grand-
child to be born on Daddy's side of the family.  Maybe that was the reason everyone in the
family was so excited when they would come to visit....they lived in Lula, Georgia....Or maybe
it was because they were always so happy and so warm.....you just felt the love....

The first time I went to their home during the summer, I was twelve years old; and it was also
my first train ride.  Susie had come up for a visit, and I went back with her.  I remember we were
still living on Main Street as we didn't move from there until I was thirteen.  Daddy woke me up
that morning and sat down on the bed to tell me about all the good times I would have, and that
they would all be just fine.  Mama had just lost her brother Bunk, and I guess I didn't want to
go away.  I did end up going, and  that first visit was one I won't ever forget.  Susie took
me to work with her several days.  She was a secretary and worked in an insurance office.  I knew
right then and there that I wanted to work in an office.  We never know the impact we can have
on a child's life  So, thank you Charlie, Winnie & Susie for all the unforgettable visits.

Susie with her Dad Charlie 

the famous bridge

photos of Jay and his family

                                          Daddy's brother...

Uncle Jay...a handsome young man.

Susan - Emily - Bronwen

Jay

Jay and Jewell


.

Jay with his mom and dad

Jay's Newsletter and Jewell's poem

Jay's Newsletter

Daddy's  brother Jay ....His name was Joseph, Jr......To all of us he was J. F. or Jay.....A copy

of the Thompson newsletter he wrote for several years that kept us abreast of each other and

our distant relatives.  Click to enlarge...

Joseph Foster Thompson, Jr    (Jay)

Daddy's Sister Edna

Daddy   Edna   Raymond

Daddy's sister Edna and her husband Raymond.......Edna always made all of her family feel so very

special.   She had nephews and nieces who thought the sun

rose and set when we would see her.  I think the Good Lord gave her a double dose of love in her

heart for children.   I'll always remember the red velvet jumper and white blouse she bought for me when I was in the sixth grade.                                                                                                                       

Edna Thompson Patterson

  

Playing with their niece

Daddy's Sister Nettie

Nettie & Dexter in 1948

                                                                                                                       
               My daddy's sister Nettie was just like her three sisters.  They all were so
               very close and just seemed to think so much alike.  The brothers and
               sisters were always there for each other.

               Nettie and husband Dexter had two sons - J. D. and Donald Ray...
               J. D. and I were about the same age, and Donald Ray a few years
               younger.  I will always remember J. D. coming to our house on Christmas
               morning and bringing me a box of chocolate covered cherries.  We were            
               living on Main St. at the time.  That was so very special..  When he went
               into the army, we would write letters to each other.  I still have some
               of them.  I would have to say....most of us cousins were good friends.
               He is no longer with us....he joined his mother and father several years
               ago.                                                                                                  
                                                                                                                 
                                                             Nettie in 1971                                                                  
                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                     
                                                                                                                         
                                                                                                                               
                                                                                                                         

J. D. Walls

                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                           
                                                                                                                                           

Donald Ray