North Myrtle Beach - Part One

I worked at Metro Center until 1985 when working conditions got so bad that I had to leave. Administration changed and focus of school changed directions with less focus on what was best for the students. The time I spent at Metro Center made up some of the best years of my life; I was able to do so many things that I never thought I could do and was able to work alongside teachers that had so much love for the students that attended the school. As time passed with a change in principals, there came a change of treatment of the kids. I could not remain with the school any longer and my heart was broken when I left. My departure from Metro Center allowed another chapter of my life to open. Soon afterwards, Hazel and I decided to buy a lot and build a house at North Myrtle Beach, SC. See the location.
Our friends, John and Sue Rogers, had purchased a condo at North Myrtle Beach. During one of our trips down to visit with them, we found a lot that was on the market and we could imagine how the house we wanted would look on the lot. I called the real estate agent, Rachel Thompson, and made an offer that was within our means. The agent said that she was sure that the seller would not accept an offer that low. I told her that they could counter our offer and if we could afford it we might just buy it. Three days later we received a call from her that the seller had accepted our offer which meant that we could afford the property so we started planning how we could buy the land and build a house. We had no bank account and only owned the house on Pawnee Drive in Charlotte. We prayed about this move and felt that it was in God’s will. We put a down payment on the lot and got things started knowing that He would do the rest. We were able to get our money out of our investment in Jackson Homes which was enough to pay for the lot and some left to start the house.

With the help of John and Sue and many other friends that we made so quickly, one thing after another happened and everything fell right into place. We met Larry Lambert, a contractor that had about a hundred patio homes he was planning to build. At the time he could not start until some of the completed ones were sold so he had a couple weeks that he had nothing to do. He agreed to frame our house and ended up doing the outside and roof. The weekend after this job was done was when his company had sold the most of the patio homes in one weekend so he was very busy for the next six months. I did not know how we were going to pay him for what the work he did for us but with the help of friends we were able to pay as the house was being built. We met Mr. Edge, a plumber, that volunteered to do the plumbing for cost and the air condition was also installed for the cost of the unit. George Broom, an electrician and friend from Mulberry Baptist Church, and my son Glenn went down and did all of the electoral work in just two days, one to ruff it in and one to finish it.

All this time my good friends were letting us borrow the money that we needed until we could sell our home in Charlotte. When we were ready for the sheet rocking, I went to see Jimmy the guy that was doing the work for Larry Lambert, the contractor, to see what it would cost. It just so happened that he got caught up that day and all of his men would have two days off. He told me that if we could get the sheet rock that afternoon, he would put it up for just labor cost. I called the lumber company and they so happen to have a truck and would have it at our house in one hour, Jimmy and his crew started that afternoon and two days later the sheet rock was hung, patched and ready to paint. Glenn and I painted the inside of the house and he worked with me as I built the fireplace. That same weekend I met Wheat, a man that had a cabinet shop in Statesville. He came over and measured my house and he just so happen to have cabinets for the two bath rooms that he had made and had not sold. He gave them to me and built the rest of the cabinet for cost; one week later the cabinets were delivered to my house in Charlotte. The bill read to be paid at my leisure, every time we needed anything, God was there one day ahead of us meeting our needs. Everything that we did until the house was finished was taken care of in a way that only God could have done it. Listen to me tell this story.

Our First Cruise and Trip to Hawaii

During the winter of 1982, John and Sue Rogers, Bob and Marge Greene, and Hazel and I decided that we would like to go on a cruise. I contacted a travel agency at Belk's and found that we could go on a seven day cruise for a little over five hundred dollars each which this sounded pretty good so we each booked a reservation. We flew to Atlanta, GA and after a short snow delay headed on to San Juan, Puerto Rico and then on to the Cunard Princess Cruise Line.
We sailed all the way to South America and to four islands on the way back to San Juan. We enjoyed the cruise and the land tours very much! The last night on the ship Hazel slipped on some wet stairs and hurt her lower back. We went to see the ship doctor and were given some pain pills. The next day Hazel's back side was hurting but she would not take any of the pain pills which made a bad day for all of us. We got on the plane home and headed for home. The plane was not full so she had five seats that she could lay down so that made the trip home a little better. Later on we found out that we could sue the Cruise line and get a free cruise and some money but we did not think that we should because we did not think it was the fault of the cruise line. I think we enjoyed this cruise best of all over all the ones we went on during our cruise years. After moving to North Myrtle Beach we joined a senior citizen group called the Nifty Fifties and were able to go on many other cruises.
Bob and Marge Green and Hazel and I went to Hawaii in 1980. We were out to dinner one night and someone suggested that we go to Hawaii which sounded good to us all. After we finished our meal we went directly to the airport to check out a flight and found that a round trip would cost us $500.00 each which did not sound too bad so we went on to Bob and Marge house and called the Sheraton Hotel to check on the price and we could get Sheraton Wikkie Beach. We found that we could get the room for $80.00 a night which did not sound too bad so we booked for 10 nights went back to the airport and booked our flights for the same time and we were set for the trip. Pam,Shannon and Christy went to the airport to see us off early one morning and they watched us get on to the plane. They watched it take off and fly into the western sky. When the plane went out of sight, Christy started to cry. Pam ask what was wrong and Christy said that her grandparents disappeared and she wanted them back. Pam assured here that we would come back in 10 days and that helped her understand so she said that she would wait for us.

We arrived in Honolulu that afternoon and were met by a friend who let us rent a car for the time we were on the Island. Upon checking into the hotel we found out that our reservations were made for the next day and they did not have two good rooms for us and we would have to sleep in rooms with only two single beds. That upset me so I told the clerk that I did not come all the way to Hawaii and not to sleep with my wife the first night. I ask him to put the two beds together and he did.

The rest of the time went really well and we had a wonderful time. We flew to five other Islands and spent time on all of them, we were able to tour all of Honolulu and did most everything that could be done! We bought some pineapples, Macadamia nuts,and Kona coffee to bring back home with us. Pam, Shannon and Christy met us at the airport early that morning and Christy sure was glad to have her grandparents arrive back through the skies just like they had disappeared ten days earlier.  Listen to me tell this story.

Camping Trip with Jr. High Boys to King's Mountain

Pastor Cecil Seagle asked me to plan a camping trip overnight for the junior high boys that attended Mulberry Baptist Church; I told him I would take care of the physical part if he would take care of the spiritual part. He said that would be fine and that the trip was to be Friday morning until Saturday afternoon. Soon afterwards, we had a meeting one Sunday and I informed everyone that we would leave the church Friday at 5:00 a.m. and head to Kings Mountain State Park for all day and night and return late Saturday afternoon.

During planning, Cecil wanted to know why we were leaving so early in the morning. I shared that one thing I learned growing up on a one horse farm is that if you went to work at sunrise and worked until sunset then you were ready for bed at dark and were able to sleep soundly all night.

On the day of the trip, we left Mulberry Baptist Church right on time at 5:00 a.m. and began our trip as we headed to Kings Mountain State Park. All the boys helped to set up camp and then we had a big breakfast of chicken gravy, toast, and orange juice. Afterwards, Pastor Seagle led the morning devotion. Around 10:30 a.m. the boys changed into their swim suites and we all headed to the lake for a morning of swimming; they all played hard until the whistle sounded to head back to camp at noon.

For lunch we had a big meal of baloney and cheese sandwiches that ended with lots of deserts. Pastor Seagle had a Bible study at the campsite that ended with the group going on a short hike before returning to the lake to swimming and play nonstop until the swimming area was closed at 5:00 p.m. We had a big meal of hamburgers and hot dogs with all the trimmings ready for them when they returned. There was one more Bible study that took place around the campfire. After the boys roasted a few marshmallows on the fire it was time for everyone to get ready for bed and get into their sleeping gear. To our surprise it did not take long for things to get quiet and everyone was sleeping soundly! Everyone, even the adults were able to get a good night's sleep and the needed rest after a long intense day.

The adults were up at 6 a.m. on Saturday and prepared a big breakfast of bacon, eggs, grits, toast, coffee, and orange juice. The boys started waking up when the smell of bacon cooking was in the air. The campfire was still burning so Pastor Seagle had the morning devotion around the warm fire. Afterwards, the entire group went to the Kings Mountain National Military Park for a long hike and history lesson. After returning to camp, the boys had a big lunch of sandwiches, chips, drinks, and deserts. They had their final Bible study before heading back to the lake for their final swim. Mid-afternoon, we broke camp and headed back to the church to meet the parents at the planned arrival time of 5 p.m.

It turned out to be a great trip for everyone. Cecil said that this is the first time that he had ever taken a group of boys somewhere that he did not have to stay up most of the night trying to get the boys to quiet down and go to bed.  Listen to me tell this story.

Inspecting Foils and 1976, An Eventful Year

While working at Metro Center, my good friend Bob Greene secured a contract with the Remington Razor Company to put rails on their electric razor foils and needed a way to ship them to Bridgeport CT. He came to me to see if I could make a box so they could be shipped without damage, I did the job for him and they were very happy with the design. Later, after we had worked on this project, Remington came to Bob and wanted come to town to visit and see how the razor foils were being inspected in Charlotte. They had spent $160,000 on a projector that was created to inspect the foils but it was not doing the job they wanted. They were surprised to find that we were using a $1.99 flood lamp to do the job. Bob came back to me to see if I could do the job for them. Hazel and I took on the task of inspecting ten thousand foils and Remington was pleased with the job. They sent another ten thousand to make sure that we could meet their standards. They were more than happy and wanted us to do all of them through Bob. We started out doing five to ten thousand a week for a while and it grew to 40 to 80 thousand a week. We had to get help! Hazel and I could not keep up with the demand so we hired Mildred Bidwick, Becky Cooke, and Libby Ingram to help us part time. We were even big enough to have a company Christmas party. We made this an annual event at Christmas until we moved to the beach. At that point Bob was able to take over the inspections. This was another way God took care of us when I still could not do much work. This is a picture of Hazel inspecting foils in our "state of the art" lab!  Listen to me tell this story.

1976 was one year that Hazel will never forget. At the beginning of the year, Hazel was looking forward on having a normal summer with Mike graduating from West Mecklenburg High School and Glenn Jr. graduating from the University of NC - Charlotte. I was having a terrible time with my back and I sure was not any help around the house. As things sometime happen, there were some changes that came, Glenn and Robin set their wedding date to be shortly after they graduated from college. Later, Joe Greene and Pam started dating and decided to get married before Robin and Glenn and we became grandparents to Joe Jr. on their wedding day. Hazel's brother Larry Gentle had leukemia and God call him home during this eventful year. So with all of the graduations, marriages, and Larry's death all rolled into just a couple months Hazel almost could not handle all of that at one time. We took the events, one at a time and made it through that summer and everything turned out just fine. At the end of the summer, we had one son that was getting ready to go to college, new daughter and son in-laws, and our first grandchild who has brought much joy into our lives.

Barber Shop and Metro (Myers) Street Center

After a few years the work with the school system got to be more than I could do so I looked for other options. I had a chance to open a new barber shop on Moores Chapel Road when Jones Hardware opened. The rent was very low and I thought I could get another barber full time and this would allow me to work as I could. After about a year I could see that this was not working for me.

Gerald Harvey, a good friend I met at Harding High School had taken the job as principal of Metro(Myers Street) Center. He called me and said that one of his teachers had to be gone for four days and asked if would I help him out and be the substitute for the four days. I could not turn my good friend Gerald down so I said yes. I went to work my first day at the Niven’s Center on Nivens Rd. where the older children met. I arrived early and I prepared for the time working with the students. After the buses dropped off the students, they arrived to class. At this time in my life I don’t think I had ever seen retarded children. Here I was with about twenty students and I did not know what to do so I went into the bathroom and prayed telling God to help me get through this day. I was sure I would have to let Gerald get someone else tomorrow since I was unsure if I could make it for even one day. I got through the day and really enjoyed working with the students. In fact, that night I could not sleep because I was looking forward of going back the next day. Gerald wanted to open a vocational class at Metro Center in the old Second Ward School building. He wanted me to come and get it started. The time at Metro Center was the most rewarding time of my life. I had no training working with the mentally retarded children so I did not know that they were not supposed to be able to do a lot of things. I treated them just like anyone else and found out with the right help they could do almost anything I needed them to do. We started out building dog and bird houses. It went so well that we started building small utility buildings and I designed the process so that the students did most of the work. It was not long that, with the right kind of jigs, the students could complete over 99% of the building. I was able to get every one of the children in all of the classes to do some kind of work on the projects. This led to having a basketball team and then sixteen went through driver’s education classes and earned their drivers licenses.  Listen to me tell this story.

Homecoming Men's Beach Trip

When Mulberry Baptist Church had homecoming it was a tradition for the men of the church to go on an overnight trip to the beach. It was the fall of 1983 when they went to Ironside Pier on the coast of North Carolina. The men left at 5:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. The guys included David Goggins, Jim and Ron Medlin, Bob Miller, Jasper Forbes, Joe Randall, Bob Green, Lamar Brock and four other men.

After my back injury and knowing to always to be prepared, just in case I brought an old foam mattress that I had been using on our family camping trips and put it in the back of the bus. We were all looking forward to a great weekend when we left the church and started traveling to the beach. Not too far down the road, on Independence Boulevard, we had to replace a fan belt which was the only mechanical problem we had on the trip.

Just a little time after we had planned, we arrived at the pier at 10:00 p.m. and everyone started fishing. It turned out to be a cold night and seemed to get colder every hour. Around midnight, it became too cold for another guy and me so we went back to the bus and soon both were sleeping. We were sleeping well until around 5 a.m. when Jim Medlin came in to sleep a couple hours. He smelled so bad with stinking old fish and bait odors that we had to get up and try to continue our sleeping while sitting in seats in the very front of the bus. After a couple hours of sleep, Jim got up at 7 a.m. and went back to fishing. However, by that time the bus smelled so bad that no one could stay in it. The men fished until a little after noon and we packed the bus and finished cleaning up before we headed home.

We stopped at a fish place at Snead's Ferry to have our first meal since leaving the church parking lot. It was in an old building and we were the first customer's the day. Since we did not get hotel rooms, none of us had cleaned up too much, what a sight! Poor ol' Joe Randall looked worse than any of us and Jim put him at the back of the table. He slipped over and told the waitress that Joe had mental problems and for her not to get too close to him because he would grab and kiss her. We had a big dinner and a good time of fellowship.When we got back on the bus Joe wanted to know why the waitress would wait on everyone else but him. He had noticed that she would always give his food to one of us and we would pass it to him. Jim finely told Joe what he had done, Joe laughed being a good sport. We had a good trip home. This was the first and last fishing trip I ever went on with those guys.  Listen to me tell this story.

I am reminded of another of the many time we had fun kidding around with the members of our church. This time, John Rogers and I dressed up as a couple coming into the church off the street. It was on a summer evening service in July 1968 and not long after our family had joined the church. The pastor, Tommy Funderburk was caught by surprise after hearing the reaction of the folks there that night. At the start of the service he asked us if we wanted to introduce ourselves and share with the congregation. John and I jumped at the opportunity take him up on his offer and ham is up for the folks. I remember John answering his telephone that was ringing in his bag; this was long before cell phones.

Family Trip to Florida

In 1973, we took a trip to Disney World. We started our trip by leaving home around 8:00 p.m. on a Saturday night. In Atlanta, we found ourselves right in the middle of the traffic so it was difficult to find a gas station in the center of that town that time in the early morning. We finally found one, had a little breakfast, filled up the fuel tank, and headed south down the interstate. We had a new 1972 Ford Van that had five seats and in the back, a place for luggage, and a full size bed so some could sleep while others drove. I drove until we got past Atlanta before Pam took over while I got a little sleep then after a few hours Glenn drove the last leg until we arrived in Orlando, Florida.

We found a hotel with one room big enough for all of us. We had planned to rest up Sunday and go to Disney World for the day on Monday. The hotel clerk told us that we should go on Sunday because on that day we could get to see more because the crowds were less than half they would be on Monday. We all went to bed for a couple hours and we were ready to go to Disney World by 10:00 a.m. when they opened. It was a great day for all of us! We enjoyed everything in the park and by the time it closed, we were ready to go back to the hotel and get some much needed rest and sleep.

The next morning after getting a full night’s rest, we headed for Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center. We had a good day there and later in the afternoon we headed for Tampa thinking we would drive until we found just the right place to spend the night. We found out that there were not any motels on the Bee Line Express so we just kept on driving until our gas gauge was almost on empty. We soon found out that the night before there was a big storm and all of the power lines were down and the gas stations could not pump any gas. We just decided to drive until we ran out, just as we were back in central Florida and entering the little town of Kissimmee, there was a station open and we had to coast up to the tank. Boy, were we happy.

We were all worn out and we found a little motel that had a room that we could all fit in and we took it. Hazel and I slept in one bed, Glenn and Mike in the other, and Pam on the floor. That was a good arrangement until Pam woke up and saw a big water bug go across the floor which got her off the floor. I got the plywood and the mattress from the van and put it up on the dresser and two chairs and then we all were finally able to get a good night sleep.

We were up early and had a good breakfast before we on to Tampa. We went to Bush Gardens and then to Clearwater Beach to watch the sun go down over the ocean. After spending the day at the beach we went over to a famous restaurant, The Kapok Tree. After waiting for about an hour we were seated and had a big meal fit for a king and for the big price of about forty dollars plus tip! After spending the night just outside of Tampa we headed home traveling all day. We had taken 8mm movies of our trip. After they were developed we enjoyed watching them but most were of the water we passed while going over bridges that Mike had taken. He said it was so beautiful that he just kept on filming.  Listen to me tell this story.