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Memories and photos from our readers

My four-year-old, Tara, helps to fix the brake pads on my truck.

The Mystery of the Missing ‘Power Saw’

Every Saturday in 1965 was a big shopping day, with people from all over Burke County coming to town to pay bills, shop and buy that week’s groceries. There was an elderly wiry woman that came to the Morganton Food Store each Saturday, where I worked. She would place all her already-purchased items on the floor and windowsill next to a bin where the store kept empty cardboard boxes before she did her grocery shopping. Back then, we asked customers if they wanted a box or a bag, some bag boys said “poke” for bag.

After the woman was finished with her grocery shopping and checked out, we would call her a taxi cab to take her and all her belongings home. Well, on this particular Saturday, when the taxi arrived, she became overly excited and announced to me that someone had stolen her “power saw.” I was putting all her groceries into a shopping buggy along with her other purchases when the taxi began to honk the horn.

My boss, Mr. Harold Winters, began ushering me toward the door with her groceries when I told him of the missing power saw. For the next several minutes, every available store employee went looking for the missing chain saw to no avail, when all of a sudden, the old woman shouted, “Here it is, I found it!”

I turned to look — she was holding a woman’s parasol.

That was over half a century ago and I still get a big laugh about it! Daddy’s Helper

This photo is of my 4-year-old daughter, Tara, and our first family dog, Maggie. Robin, my wife, snapped the photo. I am somewhere underneath the truck. I am not much of a mechanic, but over the years I have had to spend a good bit of time working on my vehicles.

The day of this photo I was changing the front brake pads. This was something I had done before, but to be sure that I got things back in order, I fixed one side at a time, using the other as a guide. I went back and forth and double checked myself several times, while Tara quietly observed every step I made. Then all the sudden, she blurted out, “Daddy, you did that backwards.” Of course, in my mind I thought, what would a 4-year-old know?

But to make her happy, I went back and checked my work again with the other side. Wouldn’t you know it, Tara was right! I had gotten something reversed. My daughter has grown up at my side enjoying being a part of all my little projects over the years, a ready and willing helper.

She is now 24.

That’s my girl!

Mike Thompson, Morganton A member of Rutherford EMC

Coffee Time is Family Time

Some of my most wonderful memories involve my Grandma Mickey and my Mama, Betty Cook. From the time I was born, I spent a lot of my life with my Grandma. Mom and Grandma drank coffee every day, several times a day. When I was four years old, Grandma had cooked country ham, eggs and biscuits for supper. She proceeded to put a big spoonful of sugar on my plate then covered it with red-eyed gravy. Next came the hams and eggs. Then the biscuit. Best dinner ever. AND THEN, I was served coffee! From then on, all my life, I joined them in the coffee klatch!

I’ve been drinking coffee for nearly 62 years. I always think of my grandma and my mom as I savor that delicious brew. This is a generational thing in our family. Whenever two or more are gathered, a pot of hot coffee is on its way. Beginning with my Great Grandma, my Grandma Mickey, my Mom, me and my sister, our children and our children’s children, I can’t think of a better memory that has sustained a family for over six generations. Coffee has been our tie.

Vickie Cook, Franklinville, a member of Randolph Electric

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Farm Family Portrait I love this old portrait of my grandmother’s family taken by a traveling photographer around 1910. Grandma’s parents were evidently caught in the middle of their farming workday, as can be seen by their clothing.

My grandmother, Adelia Gertrude Lancaster Hinton, is the blonde, teenaged girl in the middle of the photograph with her hand resting on the back of her mother’s chair. I remember Grandma told me that she and her sister, Josie, the other older girl in the picture, slipped in the house to put big bows in their hair before the picture was taken! A younger sister and an older married one with her new baby complete the portrait. Behind the group is the family’s farmhouse.

I treasure this photograph not only as a record of my grandmother’s family but also as a realistic portrait of a farm family in eastern North Carolina in the early No one looks particularly happy, but I think smiling part of the 20th century. for a picture is somewhat of a modern trend. I treasure this photograph not only as a record of my grandmother’s family but also as a realistic portrait of a farm family in eastern North Carolina in the early part of the 20th century.

My grandmother, Adelia Gertrude Lancaster Hinton (center), and sister Josie (top right) pose with family for a traveling photographer.

Patsy Pridgen, Rocky Mount A member of Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative

Finding the Small Pleasures in Life

I remember Christmas when I was young, getting my Barbie styling head and my Barbie and Ken dolls. I let the little girl next door take the styling head home and she wrote all over her face with a black permanent marker. I was devastated. Our toys meant a lot to us back then. We didn’t get a lot of toys during the year, so the ones we got at Christmas were special. It was the 1970s, and we didn’t have cell phones, or internet or cable. We had one television in the living room, and we all gathered at night as a family to watch together.

I remember Sunday nights were the Wonderful World of Disney and Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom! That was back before a family gathering meant every kid in a different room watching their own television and every member of the house staring at their phones or iPads or laptops. We had real homework with real books, and spelling counted, and if we did stay the night anywhere, you can bet our parents knew their parents!

This generation may be more in the know, and they sometimes know too much. But I say they are missing out on knowing the small pleasures in life. Slow down, watch television together. Put away the technology for a day and lay in the shade, and learn to make a thick blade of grass into a whistle.

Sit in the dirt and teach the little ones to make pies. I hope there’s still enough of us around to teach them that the best things in life don’t gripe, Skype or type.

Michelle cherishes her few but precious Barbies at Christmas.

Michelle Edwards, Cape Carteret A member of Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative