| So Many Memories..... Below I will describe how I remember a lot of the clerks I worked with and their unique attitudes and/or attributes that contributed to the family atmosphere of Working On The Railroad. This is yet another installment of my memories and there will be more to come later about others that I worked with, so if you don't recognize any of these names, chances are you will in the later installments. Some of the people mentioned in these series have passed away but memories of them will live on with me and hopefully others - and, no disrespect is meant in any of these stories. So many memories...Gerald Lewis worked the 3rd shift at the window and I worked with him at times. Many nights he would bring a crock full of meatballs or some other great food to eat on all night. That made the nights bearable for me. He was a great guy - but he passed on a few years ago. So many memories...Donald Jenkins - cool guy that always had the seniority to work first shift at the window with week-ends off. Great guy to work with. So many memories...Harold Guinn - he was probably the most efficient clerk I worked with. Very precise and was great at his job. So many memories...Elma Montieth - this lady worked the 1st shift 1050 job and dressed to the tee for her job. We always kidded her about the purse she carried around - it was so big and had so many prescription drugs, we called it her own drugstore. So many memories...Eddie Ackerman - a friend I knew from high school but he was very opinionated and was very much against the company in anything they tried to do. He was a good guy but just thought he knew the better way to do everything. Deceased. So many memories...Larry Privette - if you ever wanted to know the answer to anything, Larry was your man. Good guy to work with - but you could tell when he was telling a fib because his face would turn red. But that didn't matter, he knew the answer to all. So many memories...John Mose Wooten - the kind of guy that if you wanted to get something done, just pump John up with compliments and he was your man. Another deceased workmate. So many memories...Bobby Norton - a friend that worked third shift 1050 most of the time - he was always there to give you a hand if you needed it. So many memories..."Commodore" Perry - seems his initials were S.E. and I don't know how he got that nickname but he was full of knowledge - about anything. So many memories...Lee Jenkins - a guy that hailed from Wadesboro I believe - started in the operator ranks. Knew his railroad info. So many memories...Barry Tice - another Wadesboro native if I am not mistaken - also from the operator ranks and a great guy. So many memories...Mason Nance - and I believe Mason was from further up the road - maybe Monroe, not sure but another great guy to work with...I believe he also later on became a yardmaster. So many memories...Bobby Hicks - great guy and loved to bet on the ballgames...he transferred to Jax about the same time I did. So many memories...Gregg Gould - funny guy - he could keep you in stiches with jokes and a hard worker. He also moved to Jax but believe he had moved back to Hamlet before he passed away. So many memories...Larry Baldwin - we called him "Brown Sugar" - don't know where that came from but he had the craziest laugh you have ever heard. So many memories...Carol Liles - Lilesville native and a likeable person but had such a dry sense of humor - later on moved to Richmond Va and got married but has sadly passed on since then. So many memories...Carole Gillis, now Carole Fry - great lady to work with. Friends for over 20 years - she works for City Hall today. So many memories...Susan Anderson - friendly person with a great personality. She was kin to Homer "Dynamite" Benoist that ran Five Points Grocery - he is in other stories on this website. Believe Susan left the railroad and went into the flower shop business with relatives in Hamlet. So many memories...Cathy Ackerman - hard worker and well liked by all. Just recently passed on. She will be missed. So many memories...O. W. Altman, R. L. Altman, & Dexter Altman - three brothers, all different. OW - the ladies man - RL - had other businesses besides the railroad but passed away I believe shortly after I moved to Jax Fl in 1988 & Dexter, hard worker and on the road a lot working different jobs. So many memories...Leeman Ormsby - RL's buddy and also had other business ventures outside the railroad. So many memories...Joyce Gilchrist - nice lady to work with - always had a question to ask you. I believe she also moved to Jax in the late 80s. So many memories...Louise Pate - lot of Pates worked for the railroad, she was the first shift scale clerk. Could answer about any question you had. So many memories...Jimmy Saunders - knew this guy since high school. Nicknamed LSD - little short dude. Believe he works in Rockingham now at a pawn shop. So many memories...Kathy Rollins - hard working clerk and a country girl at heart. Fun to work with. So many memories...Linda King - another great person - she was a very energetic lady that could tell jokes that would keep you laughing. So many memories...Russell Lancaster - fellow worker all the way from Hamlet to Jacksonville, Fl. Former creator of I Remember Hamlet, Russell was there for my wife when I had my first heart attack in Jacksonville. We worked many jobs together - good friend to have. There are probably more fellow workers that I have left off here but hopefully as these memories unfold in the later installments, more names will come back to me. The next sections of Working on the Railroad - My Story will go into more detail of how it was during my years there and probably be a little more interesting than naming names like above. I just want to mention as many people as I can that I remember during my years there...and maybe inspire others to jot down their memories and send them along to Rockingham Remembered to be published. So, another chapter written of Working on the Railroad - My Story - and another memory of how it was growing up in Rockingham, North Carolina - a small textile town in the South in the '50s, '60s,'70s and '80s. |
| Working on the Railroad - My Story - Chapter 2 written by Joel Bailey December 18, 2008 |
| So, as the Train of Life keeps chugging along, another page written of my Memories of.... Rockingham Remembered. |
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