When I was growing up, there were several families on Church Street. On the right side going down the hill were the Thompsons, the Methodist parsonage, the R. B. Sanfords, two rental houses, Marsh Dwiggins, our house, and the Shore house. On the other side from the bottom to the top of the street were the Cravens, the two Wall houses, Reverend and Mrs. Avett, my grandparents, my great-grandparents, the Blackwelders, the Murphys, and the James families. Some of these folks I knew pretty well; others, not so much. I will share some of the ones I knew.
My great-grandfather, Bill Dwiggins, as others called him, was old when I was growing up. He was a widower at that time, as he had lost his wife in 1943. He lived until 1952, so I got to know him fairly well. He was quite short, wore glasses, and had a white mustache. As I was growing up, I was taller than he was. He came over to my grandmother’s house every evening for dinner. He had several occupations during his lifetime, but the one he liked to talk about was selling pianos for Sanford’s store uptown. You can imagine my delight when I read about him selling a player piano to the Moores on North Main Street in Jamie Moore’s Growing Up in Davie County, which I was going through at the Davie County Public Library last week! In any case, I started taking piano lessons when I was a child, and “Pomp,” as we called him, encouraged me in that hobby. On Sunday mornings, he always listened to a radio show called “Renfro Valley,” from a place in Kentucky, and he loved the preaching and singing. I still treasure the music book that he ordered from that program along with others that he gave me, and I still play the music in them for my own pleasure.
One other thing that I remember clearly was his Ford car. In those days, we would all pile into that black car and go uptown to watch folks and sometimes to get an ice cream cone at Wilkins drugstore. The car had a rumble seat in it, which I sometimes had to ride in. I still remember my embarrassment about that. Obviously, I had no clue that that car was worth a good deal of money! I also know that he had a job as a revenuer, which meant that he had to go around to all of the places in the county that sold whiskey and certify that they had all paid their taxes. I can just picture him riding around in that little Ford car! I wish I had been older so that we could have discussed his life in more detail.
He was a man of faith, having grown up at Center United Methodist Church, which lists his early ancestor as one of the founders of that church. I recall his saying when times were rough that “the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away.” He always said the blessing before meals. When he passed away, I remember that the family brought him back to his home. I also remember being very uncomfortable with that!
He also served on the Mocksville Town Board during his years in town. So far I have not been able to find the exact dates; however, I am proud to know that he believed in service to his fellow citizens.