Pictures and Short Stories from the PoorTown Books
© 2003 James D. Pearce and Rebecca P. Pearce
Number 79
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Old Ahoskie, probably Catherine Creek Road
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MILDRED'S MEMORIES
Written in 1983 by Mildred Overton Horan, 1914-2003
Submitted by Gerri Overton Abrahamsen
The earliest memory I have is when I was two, maybe three, years old. I can remember the house close to "Pink" Sessoms place.
I remember running down the hill to see who had driven up on a horse and buggy, and it had just stopped raining. The sun was shining and I can remember thinking how beautiful everything looked, fresh and green and shiny.
I remember walking to school from Pink Sessoms place where we lived at the time (first grade), the tin lunch bucket that I carried my lunch in, and that at this school I had my first-grade picture made, which I still have. Also at this same house, I remember sitting on a box under a windowsill pretending I was playing the piano to beat the band and singing my heart out.
First-Grader Mildred Overton
At this same house Eleanor (a sister) and I were see-sawing on the cross-bar of a wagon tongue. She jumped off and sent me plunging to the ground, splitting my right forefinger under that bar. I'm still wearing the scar.
I was six years old when "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" made a big impression on me. I can hear it being sung to this day. It was a Christmas play, and I recited a poem about a "doll made of straw and rags." What I wouldn't give to get my hands on that poem. There were a lot of little things I can remember about those first six years but they are unessential to this story, so I'll go on to little things I remember in Ahoskie.
THE HOUSE ON MAIN STREET: I remember the fire we had, and running down the street in the snow screaming for my doll. Also I can see Mama sitting at the sewing machine, making little dresses for somebody's children for 50 cents. I can't remember how old I was then, and there are very few memories.
THE HOUSE ACROSS FROM MRS. HAYES: I was nine years old and the reason I remember so well is because I had my one and only piano recital after taking music lessons for nine months. This is where we got our piano. Cost $400.00. My dress for the recital Mom made for me. It was dusty rose, silky feeling, and the little rosebuds Mom had made to go on that dress, I'll never forget. It was the prettiest dress I ever had. The piece I played was "Humoresque." (Mildred played by ear after that and could tear up a keyboard. ~ Gerri.)
I remember the days of the "Chautauqua." I had heard there was a photographer with the Chautauqua. (Incidentally, this show was in a warehouse down the street from us.) And he was taking candid pictures of people all over town.
Well, you should have seen me at the kitchen window one night ~ washing dishes by lamplight, no less. I can see myself right now, putting on airs you wouldn't believe, hoping he would be out there with his camera snapping away. The movies he was making were to be shown at the movie house in town. Such fantasies for a nine-year-old.
We lived in Donaway Heights, where Junior was born, but I don't remember very much about this place.
I don't know if I have these houses in sequence or not, but at one time we lived in a little house by the railroad on Basnight property.
Then a yellow house beside Dr. Walker. This was where we lived when my Dad gave me my one and only "whipping." Why? Well, because I was exchanging notes with a boy that lived at Earlys (Station).
Then we moved to the house on the street behind Rev. (Oscar) Creech. Gerri was born there, and I remember the snow of March 1927. From there we moved to Rocky Mount in 1927.
Mildred Overton, 1936 ~
BY GERRI OVERTON ABRAHAMSEN
The rest of Mildred's story is about living in Rocky Mount, N.C., Portsmouth, Va., and Pinehurst, N.C., so I will not repeat it here. If anyone is interested in the rest of her story I will gladly mail it to them. Click on my name to send me an email.
However, I will include here her last paragraph, in which she mentions her third husband:
"At the time of this writing (1983) Pat and I have been married 16 years, and they have been happy and contented years, and I wish they could go on forever and ever, but I am 69 years old now and our lives are wrapped up in our two grandchildren that bring so much love in our lives. So let me end this by saying I am glad God gave me these last years to love, enjoy and be thankful for my dear family that I love so dearly. I am glad and proud to be the offspring of my Mom and Dad. Three cheers for the Walter and Annabel Overton Clan!!!"
Mildred lived to be 88 years old and was fortunate to have been able to see her two great-grandchildren born in 2002. She died at Chesapeake General Hospital after suffering several years with complications from Parkinson's disease. ~ Gerri.
Old Ahoskie
Old Ahoskie
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This Week's Verse
Tell me the tales that to me were so dear, ~~~~~
OLD DAYS ON PATROL
I graduated from Highway Patrol school in July 1952, and was assigned to Wake County. My assigned area was US 70, from Raleigh to the Durham County line, and 15A (now NC 50) to Granville County and all the surrounding areas.
There were no four-lane roads then, no speed clocks, radar, or Vascar. You checked the speed of a car by following it until you were sure of its speed. (We had our speedometers calibrated periodically.)
Just a skeleton force was working that Christmas Day. I think only three or four of us were patrolling the entire county. That was enough as traffic was very light.
I was working the late shift, afternoon and night, and was somewhere west of the RDU airport road when I met a car heading east that seemed to be running a little fast.
I turned around and fell in behind him, and got a good clock. I stopped him near the entrance to the State Park, asked him for his driver's license and registration card.
He gave them to me, but before I could even tell him why I had stopped him, his lady passenger chimed in. She said that she was certainly glad that I had stopped him. She said that he was scaring her to death, and that he had been driving that way ever since they had left Greensboro, Burlington or someplace up that way.
He wasn't driving recklessly ~ a little fast ~ but his car and mine were the only two that I had seen in some time. I still had his driver's license and registration in my hand, and I asked him to step out to the back of the car.
We walked toward my patrol car, out of hearing distance, and I handed him his driver's license and registration card back. I told him that I was not going to add to his misery by giving him a citation on Christmas Day ~ that he had enough trouble riding in the car with him.
I wished him a Merry Christmas and asked him to slow it down a little and drive safely. I guess he did, as I didn't hear of them being involved in any accident.
And that was my good deed for that day.
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PERFUME AND PEANUTS IN THE BIG TOWN
In the early 1940s, while (I was) visiting in Norfolk, Va., my cousin Dot and I walked downtown so she could show this country girl the sights.
First, we dipped our fingers in the perfume fountain in a department store.
Then, at another store, we ran our hands across the "light" to open the automatic doors. We continued that until a clerk, with a cross look, started our way.
Then we moved on down the street where "Mr. Peanut" was giving away free samples of fresh roasted peanuts, by the teaspoon full. They smelled the very best ~ good taste, warm and full of oil. Naturally, we passed by several times as we didn’t have a penny to our names to spend.
Upon returning (to Dot's house), everyone was seated at the dinner table waiting for us. We smelled so "high" that our aunt sent us to the bathroom to change clothes and wash up, and everyone waited until we returned, not so offensive to their noses.
Dot’s mother had lost her sense of smell at a young age, and her sister informed her how blessed she was on that occasion.
For years we traveled to Norfolk by way of Suffolk, down the street past the Planter’s Peanut factory and warehouses. That whole area smelled like roasted peanuts.
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The meaning of the "H-C" in "Sinclair H-C"? ~
Love the pictures ~ and love that hat (The Poor Town News No. 78). Enjoy your vacation and the rest from the press ...... I know what you mean about Sinclair H-C. It stirred my curiosity and I went looking to see what I could find, and I found a lot of other people doing the same thing ...... (Editor's note: Norma's hunt, like Gary's, turned up [1] "Holding Company," [2] "Houston Concentrate," [3] "High Compression," and [4] some argument ~ and she says:) ...... So will we ever know?
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Ah, the celebrities finally appear (Poor Town News 78). ~
Great pictures ...... Nice to know what my editors look like ...... Glad you'd devote so much space to me in The Poor Town News (most recently, issues 77 and 78). Happy to oblige if you need more.
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I continue to enjoy The Poor Town News. In this week's edition, I recognized "In the Good Old Summertime," which my mother used to sing. And the pictures are great ...... (and) Jim: I was glad to see your article on The News and Observer Op Ed page yesterday (June 4, 2003). I certainly agree ...... Have a good and, I hope, sunny time at the beach.
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Love the photographs (The Poor Town News No. 78) ...... The snakes-and-spiders stories, while fascinating, made me happy that I grew up in Brooklyn, New York ...... Thanks for sending these stories, and have a great vacation!
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I came across your "picture of the week" of Cellie Parker (at her farm) in The Poor Town News No. 36, while searching for information on James W. Parker, born March 14, 1857, and Mary Jane Garland, born July 16, 1861 ...... They were married about 1877. Not sure where. They are my great-great-grandparents. This is all the information I have other than they had a daughter named Daisy Luke Parker, born Oct. 15, 1885, and possibly two other children, Forest Parker and Ellie Parker Cowser. Daisy married William Alfred Davis in Franklin County, Texas, on July 27, 1901. Any help (from readers) would be greatly appreciated.
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Old Ahoskie Baptist Church
Photo courtesy of Gerri Overton Abrahamsen
Photo courtesy of Gerri Overton Abrahamsen
Ahoskie, 1920
Alexandria, Va.
Photo courtesy of Gerri Overton Abrahamsen
Photo courtesy of Gerri Overton Abrahamsen
long, long ago; long, long ago.
Sing me the songs I delighted to hear
long, long ago; long ago.
Now you are come, all my grief is removed.
Let me forget that so long you have roved.
Let me believe that you love as you loved,
long, long ago; long ago.
Do you remember the path where we met?
Long, long ago; long, long ago.
Ah yes, you told me you ne'er would forget.
Long, long ago; long ago.
Then to all others, my smile you preferred.
Still my heart treasures the praises I heard.
Still my heart treasures the praises I heard.
Long, long ago; long ago.
Though by your kindness my fond hopes were raised,
long, long ago; long, long ago.
You, by more eloquent lips have been praised,
long, long ago; long ago.
But by long absence your truth has been tried.
Still to your accent I listen with pride.
Blest as I was when I sat by your side,
long, long ago; long ago.
(1830. Thomas Haynes Bayly)
By Carl Pollard, North Carolina
Click here to email Carl
By Gladys Ives Holton, North Carolina
Click here to email Gladys
Mailbox
Click name to email the writer
GOOGLE SHEDS LIGHT ON THE 'H-C' SIGN
Gary W. Parker Sr., Upstate New York
(Poor Town News 78) ...... Just ask Google:
THE PICTURES, THE HAT, AND H-C, TOO
Norma Scott, Florida
FRED'S FOCUSING ON OUR PHOTOS
Fred Phelps, Florida
I love it.
FROM THE HIGH-COUNTRY CORRESPONDENT
Ron Lupton, Colorado
(Editor's note: A check through the Poor Town News archives will turn up a number of Ron Lupton's bylines. ~ JDP)
MOM SANG ABOUT THE SUMMERTIME
Marillyn Mulholland, North Carolina
BROOKLYN WASN'T AS BUGGY
Aggie Green, Northern Michigan
RESEARCHING THE PARKERS
Kathy Marks
and other people
and we hope you will print
this issue for a friend or for your personal notebook