Although I knew all the neighbors at least by sight, only a few of them were close friends of my parents. The Wall family, including Claire, James Wall, and his wife Esther, and Tommy and Lois Shore were our best friends and neighbors on the street.
All of the Walls were teachers, and both Miss Claire Wall and Mr. James Wall were among my favorites. Mrs. Wall was also a teacher, but her field was elementary education, and I was never in her class. Miss Wall was a lovely lady with an ever-present smile. She was my ninth grade English teacher for the last year that we were at the old Mocksville High School. Because of her, I learned to love classic literature, although I was always an avid reader. Burned into my memory is our principal, Mr. Farthing, reading Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Raven” in his deep, dramatic voice! When Miss Wall got married after her mother had passed away, my parents took her and her fiancée to Staley’s Steakhouse in Winston. I knew by that gesture how important she was to our family because we never went to dinner at places like that!
Mr. James Wall was my homeroom teacher in the eighth grade and also my history teacher at Davie County High School. A teacher from the old school, he was strict and all about the business of teaching us his subject. There was no misbehaving in his classes, probably because nobody wanted to risk getting punished, but also because that was the norm in those days. I clearly recall walking into class one day and seeing a note on the board that his wife had had a baby girl. There was no discussion about it, no cake, no party. He was a well-respected teacher, well-prepared with a master’s degree from Chapel Hill, brilliant enough to have taught on the university level, but his choice was his hometown. He encouraged my interest in history and later became the Davie County historian and wrote a book about our county. My autographed copy remains a treasured possession.
Mrs. Wall was not so much a part of my childhood, but in later years when my mother was a shut-in, Mrs. Wall was a faithful visitor who often brought Mother sweet treats. She was all about the business of hospitality. When she passed away recently, that was brought out in her eulogy.
Tommy and Lois Shore were our neighbors on the left side. Tommy was the supervisor of maintenance at the school bus garage, and Lois worked at one of the banks. Tommy and my dad often met for conversation while they cut the grass on their riding mowers.
What my dad, Mr. Wall, and Tommy Shore had in common was their love of gardening. They all three had large gardens and would meet in the evenings outside during the summer months. I can truthfully say that it would be difficult if not impossible to find three finer gentlemen than these men. They were good people, good friends, and good neighbors. For years after my dad died, Tommy Shore cut my mother’s grass and often dropped by to check on her.
I treasure the memories of those people and those days on Church Street.