The Snows on The Three Consecutive Wednesdays, 1960

A "Latch Key Kid" Remembers . . .

I never thought of myself as a Latch Key Kid until just recently. I had always been kind of independent and pretty disciplined. Although my teenage older brother was usually nearby, out playing with his teenage friends when we lived in Oakhurst, my caretaker was a mixed boxer-bulldog who used to block my path whenever I tried to leave the house or headed out of the yard --- once I had liberated myself from years of kindergarten, that is. I got my real independence when I started riding the City bus alone at age 6 (although I think they were owned by Duke Power back then, because the busses were kind of a faded gold & gray in color.) I would ride downtown to the movies, or to my folk's store, or transfer and go to Grandma's.

Mom and Dad both worked long hours at our first grocery store on McDowell St. It was just two doors up from the House of Prayer, and one door down from Mr. Barker's where I bought bubble gum and perforated caps for my six-shooter. And yes, I met Sweet Daddy Grace . . . the real one. He stopped in the old G&C Grocery quite often during those early days, as did his "Special Police" and many members of his Band and his Congregation. It was really a grand time when his return to Charlotte would be marked with special parades and folks crowded shoulder-to-shoulder along McDowell St.

Good things were happening for us back then. Dad and another business partner opened another store on Beatties Ford Rd. and Mom finally convinced Dad it was time to build our home on the wooded lot we owned on Allen Rd. South in Derita. That was 1952. The new store kept them busy, 8am every morning until 7pm every night and usually 8:30 - 9pm on Fridays and Saturdays. But they made a real go of it on Beatties Ford Road and Mom bought out my Dad's partner (to satisfy terms of their original deal). He stayed on, because there was plenty of work for the three of them. plus the two stockboy/delivery boys and the delivery driver who worked weekends. I used to work weekends and everyday through the summer by the time I was ten.
I started at $1 a day, plus movie money of weekends.

Me??? Well, that's where the Latch Key comes in I guess. I was in school most of the day, riding "the Second Load" from Statesville Rd. Elementary, which meant I was usually 4:30pm getting home. I'd retrieve my hidden key and head inside for a quick change of clothes and take time to fix myself a PB&J with a big glass of milk. If my homework wasn't heavy, I'd dash out the door to meet up with friends.

Linda Akins lived in the green house at the top of the hill. She was a real tomboy and we'd play Cowboy & Indians with our cap pistols or ride our bicycles over at the trucking center parking lot until they ran us off. Allen Rd. South was still mostly a large gravel road, but Overland Trucking had a fine gravel lot made for smooth riding. By 6pm, her Mom had come home from work and Linda would have to go in.

Mark Kilby lived down the street from me. He was younger than me, but we would ride bicycles, build things, and work on my model train layout. His Mom was usually home during the day. She would insist that if Mark came up to visit, I had to go to their house the next time. At Mark's we'd "create towns" in the backyard with a huge pile of un-used bricks, read books or play board games. At my house we would "play war" in the woods, wrestle and rough-house, and work some more on the model train. You can guess where Mark and I really preferred to play.

We added a few more friends as the new houses were being built in Allen Hills, but Linda, Mark and I were best buds for quite a few years. Which leads me to the Winter of 1960. Linda and I both road school buses, but in opposite directions. I think Mark was going to Derita School back then. I'm pretty sure we were all praying for a heavy snow that first Tuesday night in March. It was pretty cold in the morning out there waiting for the school bus to arrive, most of the time it was still dark as I walked to the top of the hill to wait for it. Even worse when it was drizzling rain.

Can't remember if Doug Mayes the Esso reporter was doing the news on Channel 3 or if I had seen Alan Newcombe reporting the forecast as Atlantic (gasoline company) Weatherman late that night, but somebody had predicted snow and all three of us were hoping. As I recall, we made it to school that morning and flakes began to fall about midday. By 1pm. the bus "First Load" was traveling home (had to serve us the big lunch the cafeteria ladies had already cooked) and it was getting thick and slushy before our "Second Load" ever hit the road. Figure I must have "abandoned ship," because my school bus didn't make it up the hill in front of the Kilby's. The wheels would spin, smoke and steam would fly, but in the end, the big bus would slide back down to the bottom of the big dip on Allen Rd. South. Two county trucks with chains eventually hooked on to the front of it and hauled it to the top of the hill.

It snowed and it snowed. I went out several times that evening, but came back coldand soggy. I had decided to hold off until morning. Surely, there would be no school tomorrow. . . About midnight or maybe it was earlier in the morning, I heard voices outside my window. The snow had let up and some of the neighborhood teenagers were out on the road with sheets of cardboard. The cars coming home from work had packed the road just well enough that there were some icy grooves. Good thing those folks got home when they did, no one would dare tackle Allen Rd South without chains once the sun went down. Well those guys sledded (on their cardboard) for a couple of hours. Other folks, mostly young couples I think, were out walking up the street and watching the snow fall.

Mom fixed a hot breakfast for me, kissed my on the cheek and told me she was heading into work early with my Dad in the pickup. (I didn't mention that our store was in an older neighborhood and we sold a lot of kerosene (heating oil) by the gallon jug. Folks would be lined up waiting for them. Kerosene to heat the house and kerosene to heat their water.)

I had an honest to goodness sled in the basement, but it was a lost cause. The snow was too fine and the metal runners sunk all of the way to the gravel road. But where there's a will, there's a way. I had one of those old red & white rectangular CocaCola signs about 6 ft. long and probably 30 inches wide. If Linda, Mark and I pushed and shoved, we would snag a ride on the steeper sections of the road, but we would bottom out a little later. That's when I suggested the big hill behind my house. It was level with Linda's yard at the top, ran steeply downhill and then
bottomed out in a huge gulley stopping just short of the creek. It was one heck of a ride and the three of us repeated it over and over that day until we couldn't climb the hill any more.

The sun had been out most of the day, so it was pretty much a toss up whether we would have school the next day or not. But we were in luck. The roads were in much better shape here, but not in the north end of the county. We got the day off, grabbed the big red sign and headed back for our hill. The previous snow had melted and then re-frozen during the night in my yard. It crunched under our feet as we walked, though it was still probably 4-5 inches deep. But what we didn't consider was that it had done the same on our tree shaded hill.

Linda climbed onto the front of the sign. I was to give us a shove and then jump onto the rear as it started moving downhill. Well, I'm here to tell you that I almost got left behind. The hill was a sheet of ice and we were moving, moving fast, moving faster that we had ever moved before. We passed the end of yesterday's run, bounded over a fallen log and went airborne taking out the tops of several saplings that stood between us and the creek. It was just about that time that the red sign hit a sawed off tree stump stopping it dead in its tracks. Linda and I were hurled forward fortunately into a huge tangle of honeysuckle and vines which stopped us both before
we could hit the creek. I pulled myself together, as did she. Nothing seemed to be broken, although my bottom was smarting from the bumpy portion of that last ride. And yes, we rode it another time or two until the glide path had worn thin and there was mostly leaves and pine needles with all of the snow pilled at the bottom of the hill. Sadly, the hill was too thick with trees to have much success elsewhere. Mark didn't get to join us because we had played at my house the day before.

By Monday, we were back in class again. But come that next Wednesday, and the Wednesday after we had snow again. What was it Mom always used to say, "If it snows and the lays on the ground from three days, it will snow again."? Well, I don't know about that, but I do know we had a lot of fun that year.

It was also the first year of NASCAR Racing at the Charlotte Motor Speedway (LMS), but the snows had delayed construction so much that the race had to be put off until mid-June instead of May. And that's the way I remember it. --- Bernie Samonds