25. SETTLING INTO CHURCH

Most people that have been involved in moving to other cities probably have the same problems as we had in finding a suitable church in which to worship. We had that problem each time we moved and usually found it hard to decide just where to worship. However, we did not have problems when we moved back to Danville. Prior to leaving Danville, we were members at Rivermont Baptist Church and although we enjoyed it there, we really had designs on moving to North Main Baptist. It was a difficult decision that we never acted on at the time since we had so many good friends at Rivermont. By moving back and not having seen those friends for years we had the opportunity to simply enroll at North Main. After two visits, we did just that and have been extremely happy there. It was strictly coincidental to find that Beverly graduated high school with our pastor at the time, Jack Fitts. He was a great Pastor that really taught the Bible in ways which were easy to understand. Jack resigned around 1998 to accept a call to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and we miss him dearly.

When we joined North Main Baptist Church, I was pleasantly surprised to find that my old Navy bunkmate, Buddy Dickinson, was a member there along with his wife, Betty Jane Yates Dickinson. I had heard that they had moved to Danville some years ago, but never had the opportunity of seeing them. I knew that they were close to Ralph, Barbara’s brother. Betty Jane had attended Spring Garden High School with the Wilkinsons, including Barbara and Jean. Betty Jane and her Mom had moved some years ago to the Tidewater area that was Buddy’s home and where they met. After marriage, Buddy had chosen to move to Danville and open an auto parts store. He appeared to have been very successful at it since they had a beautiful home in a very nice neighborhood and apparently lacked nothing in the ‘luxuries’ department.

I renewed my acquaintance with Buddy, and Barbara did the same with Betty Jane. They were very active in the church, as was Betty Jane’s Mom, and all of us seemed to enjoy each other’s company. We also had mutual friends, Melvin and Boots Ryan, who were also North Main members. In 2001 for New Year’s, the six of us went out to the Texas Steak House to eat and then return to Buddy’s house for the New Year to enter. While there, I remarked that if anything happened to Barbara causing her to predecease me, I would never consider marriage again. Buddy laughed and said that if the same happened to him, he would start looking around at Betty Jane’s funeral for someone her size so he wouldn’t have to buy a new wife a new wardrobe. He was funny that way. It was a sad day in the following year when he passed away with cancer. He had it for sometime and was not supposed to smoke, but I would often see him sneaking and smoking so that Betty Jane would not know it. In 2004, Betty Jane also passed away. It was a sad time for all of us and we will forever miss them. We are fortunate, however, that as of now, Betty Jane’s mom is still around and is 94 years of age.

When we moved back to Danville, Woody and I immediately began to work on Goodyear and Klopman Mills. I arranged a golf trip for Klopman Executives, Owen Wright, Tom Hood and Tom Schoolfield. We then got the okay to propose our services there for their 950 employees. After six months we had the okay to propose Goodyear services for their 2,300 plus employees. We had them both installed in less than six months. These two accounts resulted in more than 1.7 million dollars in annual sales.

After installation of these two accounts, I concentrated most of my time in Goodyear for the next several months. I also visited Klopman a couple of times each week and Piedmont Vendors really seemed to be on the move. Woody and I traveled a lot to the Roanoke area and Altavista. After a couple of years, we had installed our services in Yokahama Tire Company in Salem. This was a sizable account of about $700,000 in annual sales.

Our successes were going quite well and I was still visiting Goodyear daily and Klopman a couple of times each week. Frankly, I was getting bored and though I had a great job with all sorts of perks. In 1995, I decided to retire. I drove up to Martinsville to Woody’s office and told him. He accepted the news with a few tears. He even kept paying me for a month and we have remained the very best of friends since. Barbara and I have visited with him and his wife Rita numerous times at their Emerald Isle home.

I took to my retirement in a great frame of mind and began playing golf at Ringgold Golf Club practically every day. I got in a regular foursome with O. T. Howell, my good friend and next-door neighbor, Vic Tannis and Jimmy Smith. I did not know the latter two that well, but developed a wonderful friendship with them.

In the year 2000, my next-door neighbor and good buddy, O. T. Howell passed away with the disease everyone dreads to think of, cancer. O. T. was a special friend to me. He had mowed my lawn for about two years or up until I bought a riding mower. Fortunately, I was able to repay him by mowing his for over a year during his illness. I continued mowing it for his wife, Madine, for another two years until she moved to Roanoke to be near her daughter. Madine was wheelchair-bound with polio and is a remarkable woman.

I thought so much of O. T. that I felt it necessary that I speak at his funeral. It was a hard thing to do and was the first time I had done anything like that. He was so well-liked in the neighborhood, I felt I would be remiss in my friendship with him had I not done so.
Shortly after O. T. passed away, Jack Setliff joined Ringgold golf club and I switched over to his foursome since we had been friends for such a long time. Our group included Jack, Wayne Arrn, Gerald Howard and me. We had a lot of fun over the next few years playing golf all over northern North Carolina as well as around Danville. We went on several golf trips to Florence, S.C. with the Ringgold group consisting of around 36 golfers. These trips were much different than the ones taken while I was on business. The majority of these golfers are Christians and drinking was non-existent. It is amazing how much more fun one can have without alcohol on the golf course.