Like many small towns that have an annual event, a kind of signature celebration to attract visitors, hopefully ones with some money, Pineville has its Mountain Laurel Festival. Residents are encouraged to participate of course. 

The Festival begins with a street parade featuring high school bands, and floats. Included in the festival is a gala ball, a semiformal dance, held at the school gymnasium. I never attended the ball; I was too young and couldn’t afford a ticket, and I couldn’t ...(click to continue reading)

Several temporary shacks sat side by side in rows on either side of a street formed to accommodate them. Well, they were not shacks exactly, but would soon be for lack of maintenance. They had been built to house workers during WWII. After the war rental places were hard to find, and Mary, my resourceful bride, had asked around, found this place and rented a unit for us. It provided shelter and privacy. What else does a newly wed couple need?

We had a bed, a table, some chairs, two kero...(click to continue reading)

Rain had fallen for two or thee days with no letup, but now it seemed to be slackening somewhat and it finally stopped.  Daddy came home from work with a somewhat worried look.  He had to cross the river bridge on his way. 

“The river is mighty high under the bridge,” he said, “and it’s still risin’, and will be for quite a spell.  It’s hard to tell if it’s gonna flood the town.  I think we’ll be OK if it’s done rainin’.” “I think we’ve had enough rain for a season,” said Momma. 

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“You sound high-schoolish. Please remember what I just told you. Now, let’s try it again,” Miss Minter said.

“That’s an odd thing to say to a bunch of high school kids,” I thought “What could she expect us to sound like?” 

She was dead serious. She would never be satisfied with anything less than perfect. We tried it again, and again, and again.

Flossie Minter, an attractive, young redhead with penetrating brown eyes, was the new music teacher at Pineville High School....(click to continue reading)

As a young teenager I usually spent some summer weeks with Grandma Wells and Aunt Tump. Tump visited her friends and cousins and often took me with her. On one such occasion we spent the afternoon with her first cousin Eva and husband Joe. Joe was a mail carrier and a ham radio operator, so there was no problem in keeping me entertained. The afternoon flew by and it was at the edge of darkness before anyone noticed.

“We’d better get going,” said Tump “I don’t like driving over the mount...(click to continue reading)

When I was a boy, my family went away on occasions and left me in the care of my grand parents. At that time two aunts and two uncles lived at home with my grannies. I didn’t mind staying with them for a while. I had fun with my aunts and uncles. They all pampered me. I got to watch them milk the cows and they let me try. Of course I failed but it was fun trying. In the fall we would go to the woods to hunt chestnuts. I learned that the nuts came in a case of sharp burs.

The difficult p...(click to continue reading)