Emotional Road Trip With My Mom To Her Virginia Hometown - Where My Parents Got Married & Much MORE
Return to My Moms Hometown
Transcript
0:02
welcome everyone
0:02
out of the woo here as a recording of
0:03
this thursday january 27th
0:06
2022 i am looking at the reidsville
0:09
north carolina water tower just fueled
0:11
up got some gas piping high caffeinated
0:13
my beverage my mother still in the store
0:16
she is also getting a little snack for
0:17
the morning and we are going to be
0:19
heading this is going to be a little bit
0:21
more of a personal video
0:24
to show
0:25
some memories that i have around go
0:27
crossing over the virginia line right on
0:29
the north carolina virginia line into
0:31
martinsville virginia where my mom
0:34
spent a lot of time as a youth grew up
0:36
she has a lot of memories this is going
0:38
to kind of go back and be
0:40
more of a nostalgic look my dad and i
0:42
did a road trip about a year and a half
0:44
ago and we went to a lot of
0:46
the places from
0:48
my mom and his
0:50
past as well as some
0:52
of his hometown so this is kind of going
0:53
to be one geared towards my mom's
0:56
memories
0:57
and my memories
0:58
of grandma and grandpa on my mom's side
1:01
of the family
1:06
that's war so it's gonna be a little bit
1:06
different type of video but
1:08
that's what's happening today i'm
1:09
inviting you to join me
1:12
shall you
1:14
crossing into virginia around the
1:15
martinsville area
1:17
if you're following along
1:19
it has been years since i've been on
1:22
this property
1:23
but spent a lot of time here
1:26
this is my mom's
1:29
parents my grandma and grandpa my mom's
1:31
side
1:34
homestead
1:38
my grandpa had a
1:38
auto repair business this is
1:41
his old truck still sitting here my
1:43
grandpa was a minister
1:45
his whole life
1:47
you see the cross over there
1:53
and my grandma grandpa live right there
1:53
in that trailer
2:13
the classic forward right here
2:13
well this is bringing back some memories
2:15
out there
2:16
definitely for my mom she probably
2:19
really has a lot going through her mind
2:21
see i remember this
2:23
right there
2:24
he wrote over there with you know he
2:26
painted on the i can't remember him
2:28
doing this or at least
2:29
remember these words where it says blow
2:31
horn
2:32
for auto repair
2:36
oh my gosh that brings back some serious
2:44
it's amazing what you remember
2:44
there was one point when i was very
2:46
young it was really into baseball cards
2:48
collected all kind of baseball cards
2:49
this would probably be
2:51
late 80s mid 80s
2:53
and my grandma
2:55
she told me out there in that shed
2:59
are
3:00
some old baseball cards you should go
3:02
clean out the shed
3:04
if you clean out the shed root around in
3:06
there
3:07
you can find those baseball cards
3:09
so i came out here and i dug
3:12
around in this shed i'm assuming it's
3:14
the same shad it could
3:16
even be
3:18
the shed over there
3:20
i found no i found no baseball cards i
3:22
was expecting to find i can remember us
3:24
all sitting out here
3:32
just wait till you see the garage
3:32
i looked over there his old auto
3:34
mechanic shop
3:37
did many cars repairs in there
3:44
where
3:46
where he built onto it
3:48
and when the roof started leaking in a
3:50
problem
3:52
getting it fixed
3:54
and here's his his overalls coveralls
3:56
that he would before he went out to work
3:59
on cars
4:01
he would preach during the week and then
4:03
part-time will work on automobiles and
4:04
these are his
4:06
his work outfit right here
4:09
i was telling the story about grandma
4:11
one time said there were some baseball
4:13
cards in one of these sheds for me to go
4:14
out there clean out the shed and find
4:16
the baseball cards i could have them
4:19
and there was no baseball cards in the
4:20
shed
4:21
they were gone someone else had taken
4:23
the baseball cards
4:26
i don't remember if it was this shad
4:28
it was john's baseball card but i think
4:30
that the shed that they were in burned
4:32
up oh okay mama was burning mama was
4:36
burning
4:37
the leaves or something and okay my
4:40
uncle john michael john had some
4:42
baseball cards and grandma was like go
4:44
out there you could have uncle john's
4:46
baseball uncle john probably wouldn't
4:48
want me to have his baseball cards but
4:50
and then back over here there was a
4:52
garden
4:53
let me go over and show
4:54
this while mom goes through the
4:58
closets
5:02
this property is still in the family it
5:02
is still owned by
5:11
everything here is safe and good
5:11
it's just been a while since we've been
5:13
here
5:20
there used to be a garden right over in
5:22
and i can recall a time
5:25
a couple cousins
5:27
and i were over here and we found a
5:29
turtle
5:30
in the garden
5:34
i could still remember finding that
5:36
turtle when i was very young
5:43
a little dog house here i believe my
5:43
grandpa had a dog
5:45
the garden was where
6:04
it's a little shed
6:04
it's like a work shed back here
6:07
and inside here
6:10
a bunch of old
6:21
tires did you ever play down here
6:21
all through here we found that my
6:23
cousins and i found a turtle in here
6:25
this is the place you had it right over
6:27
it was near the gardens it was somewhere
6:29
in this area but i still remember them
6:31
standing here
6:32
with the turtle in the hand
6:34
and looking over over there to the to
6:37
the trailer
6:39
still remember that all these years
6:40
later
6:45
what would he do
6:55
reading his bible and
6:55
meditating and
6:57
this was he loved this place
7:00
because he was a simple man
7:03
now standing in the parking lot of this
7:04
hardy's which looks to have been
7:06
renovated why are we stopping here mama
7:09
because this is where we used to eat
7:11
my daddy and family every sunday night
7:13
at the church
7:15
every sunday night after church you and
7:16
grandpa would come here and your whole
7:18
family
7:19
yeah and we would eat here
7:25
so um we don't have parties where i live
7:25
so this is just to remember my dad
7:28
because he loved hardy's biscuits
7:30
now over here on sunset drive
7:33
i have never been to this spot before
7:41
but this is where my mama
7:41
and my dad got married right here this
7:43
is my mom's hometown church
7:47
chatham heights christian
7:55
mom and dad got married here and
7:55
a few years later had me
8:02
bringing back some memories
8:02
yep
8:04
this is where i came every sunday
8:06
morning sunday night and wednesday night
8:08
growing up as a child
8:10
until i went to go to college
8:12
did grandpa preach here nope grandpa
8:15
never preached here he was an elder here
8:22
he was an elder but he wasn't a preacher
8:22
back then elders would preach
8:25
once in a while
8:27
he would preach to fill in or something
8:29
when the preacher was gone
8:32
but
8:32
no he didn't preach at this church
8:36
but this is the new building this is a
8:38
this is the building that i got married
8:40
in we've been married for 52 years
8:43
so
8:44
this is this is a special place to be in
8:46
my childhood and
8:48
adult life
8:50
so this is the building you and dad were
8:52
married in but it was another building
8:54
before this that you were here when you
8:56
were younger
8:58
over here on the side there was a house
9:01
three-story house
9:03
and the top part of it was where we had
9:05
the worship service the middle part and
9:07
the bottom part
9:09
was where the classes was and our
9:11
preacher at that time lived also in the
9:14
second second
9:15
level of the house
9:24
where that lot is right there right on
9:24
this lower lot yep that's where the
9:26
house was and that's where i was
9:28
baptized you were baptized in the house
9:31
down the very bottom was the baptistry i
9:33
was nine years old when i gave my life
9:35
to the lord
9:45
yep this is it
9:45
so it's probably right there where that
9:46
parking lot is
9:49
probably right here yeah
9:51
this also is the building that my mom
9:54
and daddy had their 50th anniversary at
9:58
you didn't get to come to that
10:00
faith camp i went to grandpa's 80th
10:02
birthday we were up here for that this
10:04
was their 50th anniversary we got in
10:06
here also
10:08
okay but you were not here at the time i
10:10
didn't make it to that
10:26
it's a beautiful building inside
10:26
very pretty inside too and it's it's got
10:30
two level it has a basement oh does it
10:32
yes okay
10:34
probably see that if you want to do
10:35
behind you can see
10:37
it has the basement that's where we had
10:38
the reception downstairs
10:40
for their 50th well you can see the
10:42
steps going down there in the building
11:03
it was shortly after their 50th that
11:03
grandma passed away
11:05
a couple couple three years after that
11:10
oh because the preacher's here
11:26
also noticing back here this looks like
11:26
bamboo yes that's what it is
11:29
was this bamboo always here even when
11:30
you were younger no i don't remember
11:33
honey
11:34
it's a long time since i was younger
11:37
you don't have no you have no real
11:38
recollection of the
11:40
bamboo no one answered the door the
11:42
minister's not in there but
11:44
hoping we get inside the building but no
11:46
one's here
11:47
hey you don't really see bamboo like
11:49
this and you and dad have
11:52
celebrated your 50th anniversary
11:54
so your parents have their reception
11:56
here they're 50th years you and dad
11:58
didn't have yours here but this is where
11:59
you had iris 50th in hawaii he went to
12:03
hawaii yeah
12:05
i didn't want a big reception party i
12:07
wanted to go to hawaii
12:15
not a bad place to spend it nope
12:15
that was your first time going to hawaii
12:18
it was great
12:24
was this always the original sign this
12:24
wooden side i have no idea this whole
12:26
this sign looks old i don't think so but
12:28
i don't know
12:34
i can almost picture this being on
12:34
the side of the old building maybe
12:53
that light up there is making
12:53
quite a bit of noise
12:56
for the wedding
12:57
the parsonage
13:00
is that where
13:01
is that where you lived
13:02
no
13:05
the part the preacher oh the preacher
13:07
right because grandpa didn't preach here
13:09
right got married
13:11
we uh he stayed down there and it was
13:13
the hottest day of the
13:15
year because it was in july i mean
13:18
july and people in virginia unless you
13:21
were rich you didn't have an air
13:23
conditioning back then so dad stayed in
13:25
the parsons was the preacher
13:27
before and then he saw they didn't have
13:28
air conditioning so they came up to the
13:30
church building where the air
13:31
conditioner was running early
13:35
okay back then people didn't have air
13:36
conditioning
13:42
so how far was your house from here oh
13:42
we we've a long way from there we're
13:44
going back that way are we going to go
13:46
by going by and see your house yeah
13:48
we'll go by later
13:50
and so that's on the other side of town
13:54
mom was just telling me she used to work
13:55
over at a place called frank's food fair
13:58
that was next to this little
14:00
shopping mall what else happened in the
14:02
shopping mall mop this is where i bought
14:04
my wedding gown and my
14:06
bridesmaids dresses in here i think i
14:09
paid 50 for my wedding gown
14:13
that's all i paid for it
14:14
she bought her wedding gown and this
14:16
little ball fifty dollars fifty dollars
14:19
that's right
14:20
yep wow and i saved it
14:23
so faith would have it
14:25
but it's turned yellow so i had to get
14:27
rid of it
14:28
when i moved a couple of times back
14:32
so you don't have it anymore no i got i
14:35
just recently got rid of i think this
14:36
last move
14:38
that is incredible right here
14:41
it is snowed a lot in this area look at
14:43
all that oh it snows yeah
14:45
i love the design of this building
14:48
martinizing dry cleaning
14:50
kind of
14:51
old time you're looking yeah art deco
14:53
building type of style
14:55
you're okay this way
15:01
and now pulling through the town square
15:01
here in martinsville
15:10
i don't remember over to the left is
15:12
where i used this to be frank's
15:15
eagles department store right where that
15:16
parking lot is eagles department store
15:19
and that's where i worked from 15 years
15:21
old till 19.
15:23
first job
15:24
first job i got paid
15:31
eagles department store now this house
15:31
has been here for a while what'd you
15:33
used to call this when you were younger
15:34
mom the cake house the cake house like
15:37
because it looks like a birthday cake
15:40
it's got layers of it like a wedding
15:42
cake see you and all your friends that
15:44
call this the cake house we did
15:46
this is the way i used to walk to school
15:48
every day i passed that house every day
15:50
to go out to the to the high school up
15:55
this is probably about a mile from where
15:56
we just were i always hear these stories
15:59
of
16:00
people saying i used to walk
16:02
a couple miles in the snow to school
16:05
there's snow over here so mom you are
16:07
one of those people who can say that i
16:10
did
16:11
it was right here this house on the
16:12
right here
16:14
yep and right down there is a mill
16:17
a hollow
16:18
we call it a hollow
16:20
a mill down there and it was working
16:22
when we were living here and we'd walk
16:25
down there there was a store at the very
16:26
end of that
16:28
right down the very down there mama
16:30
would send us down there and collect
16:31
bottles and get our dr pepper
16:33
and we'd go down there but it just walks
16:37
all the way over to the other side of
16:38
the hill over there you can go through
16:40
there so this white house right here
16:42
where's your guys place this is where we
16:43
live but it didn't look nothing like
16:45
this this is
16:46
been fixed up really nice
16:49
house we did wasn't this nice but this
16:52
is the house that i lived in well i'm
16:55
i'm the oldest of eight kids
16:58
so we uh we had 10 people living in that
17:00
house
17:01
well i'm sure it's a lot nicer now than
17:03
it was then how many apartments is it
17:07
mom's talking to the resident now
17:09
well that's great
17:11
i know they dug out the
17:13
daddy dug out the bottom basement it was
17:15
just dirt down and he dug it out down in
17:17
there is it real
17:20
rocks
17:30
yeah
17:30
well
17:31
yes that brings back a lot of memories
17:33
living here
17:35
okay thank you for letting us look at it
17:44
pretty steep hills you riding your bike
17:44
through here yeah
17:47
said you got a bike right through here
17:48
once
17:49
yeah some
17:51
crazy kids cut right cut his bicycle
17:53
right in front of me
17:54
and i slid
17:56
probably 10 feet and my whole arm was
17:58
just nothing but after
18:01
gravel or whatever it was i see i always
18:03
remember you talking about the house on
18:05
union street
18:07
so this is where you were just you were
18:08
just talking to the residents
18:10
right here it's on the corner of askin
18:12
and union street you said this is much
18:14
nicer they've fixed it up a lot since we
18:16
were here it's two apartments she said
18:18
now there's two apartments there now
18:21
see how used how many years did you live
18:23
in there
18:24
sixth grade up
18:26
until when 19 years old
18:28
and there was 10 people living in that
18:31
you your seven brothers and sisters and
18:32
your mom and dad yeah that is incredible
18:36
my sister slept on the couch there was
18:38
in that room over here on the side
18:41
my dad had built buck beds
18:43
for the four boys asleep two on top and
18:45
two on the bottom he made a double bunk
18:48
bed
18:49
no closets in the whole house not one
18:52
closet back then but they didn't build
18:54
closets uh but you look at that house
18:58
and
18:59
they've had really fixed that up really
19:01
nice compared to what it looked like
19:02
when we lived there
19:04
a house on union street that man might
19:07
have bought that from daddy and fix it
19:08
up like that just to rent it to have
19:10
apartments but that house looks nice and
19:13
the whole a lot of these houses might be
19:15
immaculate when we lived here with
19:18
people living in it
19:20
this is the way you'd walk to school
19:22
couple different couple different
19:24
schools you went to
19:25
yeah go buy both those too so i keep
19:27
going up this road yep i went to grade
19:29
school
19:30
middle school and high school here
19:37
so you've never shown me any of this
19:37
before this is all new to me
19:42
well i guess i've never had an
19:42
opportunity to
19:47
yep this is all this you walked out you
19:48
walked a couple miles to school in the
19:49
snow mama yep i did many times
19:52
this is definitely not being utilized
19:54
anymore well so what grades do you think
19:56
you were going here went up to fifth
19:58
grade up to fifth grade right here this
20:00
is the elementary school
20:07
someone told me that it was going to be
20:07
like it was used as a museum or
20:09
something but it doesn't look like it to
20:10
me it doesn't look like anything's being
20:12
in there now
20:14
you used to walk here this is the first
20:16
place you'd walk
20:17
now these buildings are used for
20:19
different grades now but this is where
20:21
this is where you graduated this is
20:23
where i went to high school and
20:24
graduated marksville high school
20:30
1966.
20:30
is that the year you graduated
20:33
right inside here
20:35
so there's a new school on the outskirts
20:36
of town this is uses the middle now
20:39
what happened inside this build these
20:41
buildings this is where they used to
20:42
have the basketball
20:43
games and
20:45
dances and stuff like that so this was
20:47
like a gym basketball gym yep so you
20:49
went to like a high school prom in here
20:54
no i don't think we went to prom we just
20:55
went to dances like
20:57
you know i don't know just like town
21:00
dances they had and during the year i
21:03
didn't go to them i never did go to
21:04
dances
21:05
so which door would you walk in would it
21:07
be this door i'll show you the front
21:09
around the front
21:11
doesn't look like this building's even
21:12
being used anymore
21:17
look at that
21:18
the building's not even being used
21:19
anymore covered in snow
21:22
these
21:24
snow-filled
21:25
staffs mom said it's probably used for
21:27
storage
21:29
just picture
21:31
i just picture my mom when she was young
21:33
going dance going on dates and dances
21:41
learning a lot about her that i never
21:41
heard her talk about but never seen in
21:42
person
21:44
you know i've never been to these spots
21:45
this is kind of neat for me too
22:08
it still has the mhs on the side
22:08
martinville high
22:11
even though it's not used for those
22:12
grades anymore
22:31
but you didn't meet dad till college
22:31
atlanta christian college right right
22:33
that's the gym
22:35
that's the new gymnasium over there
22:37
that's where all the oh that's it okay
22:39
that's the new job we have pe over there
22:42
trampoline and
22:44
uh the football field is over behind
22:46
that
22:47
so this building the new gym was there
22:49
when you were here that was there yes
22:51
that was there okay i got many pictures
22:54
taken in front of it on those steps over
22:56
there class pictures and stuff i have to
22:59
look at those when i we get back to
23:01
back to florida i got to come over and
23:02
look to some of these old pictures now i
23:03
have a frame of reference
23:10
but i didn't like high school i mean i
23:10
just tolerated it he didn't like it nope
23:13
she like college more i did college i
23:16
like college
23:18
now arrived at
23:20
roselawn going off the memory do you
23:23
have do you happen to know the
23:25
general area
23:27
around the back
23:29
now i did attend both of my grandparents
23:38
memorials of all the family here
23:38
and they are both laid right here i
23:40
found
23:41
up here mama
23:43
right here yeah
23:53
grandma in 97 my grandpa
23:53
2011. i thought it was 2006 or seven but
24:00
he passed on in
24:00
2011.
25:24
i wanted to end with this
25:24
here at martinsville
25:26
kind of was a i don't know an amusing
25:29
ending
25:31
to a very emotional day
25:33
it was nice learning a lot about
25:36
kind of my mom's stomping grounds and
25:39
stuff i've seen pictures of and heard
25:40
stories of and
25:43
been through here before but
25:44
seeing
25:46
seeing the house she grew up and i had
25:48
never seen before
25:49
and some of those memories
25:51
i'll see in the next video
25:53
thanks for watching the vlog