Fries Textile Mill Oral History with Craig Wood, April 24, 2022 Ms2019-045

Kevin Combs: Today is Sunday, April 24, 2022 and my name is Kevin Combs. I'm

talking with Craig Wood, Craig, would you introduce yourself?

Craig Wood: My name is Craig Wood. I'm seventy-five years old, and I was born in

Roanoke, Virginia but I was raised in Fries, Virginia.

Kevin: Okay, where did your parents live before you were born?

Craig: When I was born, we lived directly behind the train depot; first house up

there. And when I was three years old, we moved to the house on Jackson Street,

where I live now.

Kevin: So that's where you currently live?

Craig: That's where I currently live. I was gone for forty years during my

working career, and I kept my parents' 00:01:00house. I moved back when I retired.

Kevin: Can you tell me about your-- when you moved away from Fries, where you

went, what you did?

Craig: Yes, I went to a Junior College called Wingate in Wingate, North Carolina

for two years, and then I completed my education at Wake Forest University. And

after that I became a licensed practicing CPA. Worked in public accounting for

several years, and then I went to work for a private corporation.

Kevin: And when did you move back to Fries?

Craig: Moved back to Fries in 2009.

Kevin: And when did your parents pass away?

Craig: My parents passed away in 2001 and 2002.

Kevin: So, you kept the house those seven years or so?

Craig: Yes, we used it for a vacation home and a weekend getaway. We were 00:02:00 here

actually most every weekend.

Kevin: Okay, do you have any brothers or sisters?

Craig: I have one sister, three years older. And she has been in Schenectady,

New York since 1971.

Kevin: What year did you graduate high school>

Craig: 1965.

Kevin: So, why did you move back to this area?

Craig: I just love the area. My wife loved the area. She was from eastern North

Carolina--a 'flatlander' we called her, but she just fell in love with the town

and the first time she came here. We had some good times and we kept the parents

home as a vacation home. And when we retired, we moved here full time.

Kevin: So can you tell me what it was like growing up in the town here?

Craig: Well, one of the first memories I have when I went away to college, I

told somebody, I found out I was poor because you know, there was a guy across

the hall from 00:03:00me, he had a brand-new GTO, and the situation was, he didn't have

one right then, he had been there in summer school and totaled his GTO. So he

was waiting for his daddy to get him another one, and I said, what is this? But

you know, it was really culture shock to get out of Fries, but I love the town

of Fries and really at this point in my life, I don't want to be anywhere else.

Kevin: So, do you have any memories of growing up here that you could share?

Craig: Yes, my memories are sort of foggy. I have memory issues right now and I

don't know how much I'm gonna be able to remember as far as specifics, but I

remember I worked four summers at the swimming pool as a swimming instructor and 00:04:00lifeguard, really enjoyed that. I worked two summers in the cotton mill, really

learned from that I needed to get an education and get out of this place. But

that was my more recent memories. My long-term memory. Well, my long-term and

short-term memory are not real good right now. So as far as specific things

about growing up here, I just know it was a great place. There were a lot of

good people and you can't beat the people that [lived here]. I met one man in

the cotton mill that was specifically memorable because he was such a kind

person, and everybody was that way.

Kevin: Who was that you were talking about?

Craig: That was Guy Pennington. Do you remember Guy?

Kevin: Yes, I 00:05:00 do.

Craig: And he was just such a humble person and such a nice person. He was so

good to me. You know, I worked in the cloth room one summer and I was running a

stitcher-shearer, you know what that is? You turned little rolls of cotton, a

lot of little rolls into one big roll. And part of the job was to take those big

rolls off so that somebody else could pick them up and take them to the next

phase. And Guy was one of those people-- Guy and Wesley Hall, and they would

both see when I was ready to take a roll off and they'd go grab the big roll. So

I didn't have to deal with that because I was a 125 pound weakling at that

point. So, they were so good to me, and everybody in Fries, you know, I don't

know anybody that was really a 00:06:00bad person. You know, there were some wild times

and some wild people, but everybody was always so nice.

Kevin: Who was the boss in the cloth room at that time?

Craig: Alfred McMillan was the boss, and he was my neighbor, my first three

years of life. He lived in the house right behind us, and Wayne Martin was his assistant.

Kevin: Okay, you worked in the cloth room one summer, what other room did you

work in?

Craig: I worked in the spinning room one summer [Hutch Stata was the supervisor

in the spinning room].

Kevin: Okay. And what shift did you work?

Craig: I worked first shift in the cloth room and third shift in the spinning room.

Kevin: What'd you think of third shift?

Craig: Well, it wasn't bad, but the problem was we'd go in at night and it'd be

110 degrees and it was all the way down to 105 or so when we came out the seven

o'clock in the morning. And one of the worst memories of the cotton 00:07:00mill was

that you would have cotton dust in every orifice of your body. You know, you'd

have a nose full of cotton dust, ears full of cotton dust, and it was not

comfortable, and the heat was almost oppressive.

Kevin: What job did you have in the spinning room?

Craig: Spinning room. Do you remember the [vacuums] that they had that went

through and picked up the dust, the cotton dust? Yes, I cleaned those vacuums. I

cleaned those out.

Kevin: Oh, okay.

Craig: And I moved boxes, the boxes that the bobbins and the spools were put in.

I moved empty boxes on the elevator down to the lower floor.

Kevin: And did your parents work in the 00:08:00 mill?

Craig: My mother worked in the office. She was John Thorpe's secretary and John

Thorpe was the general manager of the mill. And she worked there-- I always

thought that she quit work and didn't go back after my sister was born three

years before me, but I did learn that she went back to work and I don't know if

it's just while daddy was gone during the war or if it was longer than that. She

never worked that I remember, but I know she did work some after it was probably

because of the war. She moved back to her mother and daddy's to live with them.

Kevin: And where was that?

Craig: That was on what's now Recreation Street, the little street that goes

down just above the rec center.

Kevin: And your dad, did he work in the 00:09:00 mill?

Craig: He was office manager. I don't know that he ever worked in the mill, he

was shipping clerk and he was office manager.

Kevin: But he was the office manager of the mill?

Craig: He was the office manager of the mill, yes.

Kevin: What was his role or duties?

Craig: Well, he was supervisor so everybody that worked in the office, including

the people that were in what was called the standards department, which would

not be cost accounting. And they reported to him. His brother was the manager of

that department, but everybody in the office reported to him for all the

accounting, bookkeeping, and payroll. He signed the payroll checks. I got one, I

can show you. That was his job there. My mother didn't work out of the home, but

she was a town clerk for several years, and she would do that work at home. She

prepared the water bills and she kept minutes of the council meetings and that

type of thing, but that was strictly part 00:10:00time. And she did that from home.

Kevin: Was there a town office at that time?

Craig: Yes, there was. It was upstairs over the post office. You know where the

outside stairs are?

Kevin: Yes.

Craig: It was up in that upper room there. That was the police station and the

town office. So Bruce was there, she usually prepared the water bills at home,

[but] sometimes she would do it up there.

Kevin: And Bruce, you mentioned, was the police officer.

Craig: Bruce [Smith] was the police officer, yes.

Kevin: Do you have any memories of him?

Craig: I have memories of Bruce and his cup of vanilla ice cream, with a wooden

spoon. Bruce was a good guy. He was very soft spoken, very humble. But you

didn't want to get on his wrong side. I have a friend who once told me 00:11:00 that--

Well, I have two friends, one of them told me about it, where he picked one of

them up by the front of his belt. He grabbed him by the belt and lifted him

straight up off the ground. And I said, I don't know what I'm gonna do with you,

boy, but you're gonna start behaving yourself. That was Jimmy Bird and he was

quite a character. One of [Bruce's] sisters was [the] librarian at school and

one of them was a teacher--fourth grade teacher.

Kevin: Where did Bruce live in town?

Craig: Bruce lived up in one of the boarding houses. The far one. There were two

boarding houses that I assume were originally owned by the company for their

employees. And I understand that one-time people didn't have individual rooms,

they had a bed, and from shift to 00:12:00shift different people used that bed. So you'd

have somebody on first shift, get up and go to work, and somebody on second

shift would come in and take that bed. And somebody on third shift would come in

and take it. So, the beds were recycled, but he and his sister ran the boarding

house for years, and she was also the school librarian and his other sister was

a teacher. I believe she taught fourth grade.

Kevin: Do you remember her name?

Craig: I think her name was Gertrude.

Kevin: And?

Craig: Elizabeth.

Kevin: Yes, okay.

Craig: Elizabeth was the librarian, Gertrude was the teacher.

Kevin: Okay. So, and your dad was the office manager. Do you have any memories

of what he thought of when the mill was sold to Riegel Textiles or Mount Vernon?

Craig: I think it changed a lot at that 00:13:00time. I don't think he was real happy

with it, but he continued to work there for several years. He retired at

sixty-two and as far as I know, he loved it and he loved the town and everything

about it. My grandad had a little bit about town Fries, they had a company

store, and my granddad was manager of the company store.

Kevin: Oh, okay.

Craig: He retired in 1959. He lived in the house that looks like the Baptist

patronage. I think somebody built those two houses. He built that about 192[5],

I think. They had levied up on what was called Boss Row and house number five,

which I understand burned down, was not rebuilt. But they lived on Boss Row, and

I guess that's where my daddy was born. And he built his house [in Blairtown]

around 1925.

Kevin: What year did your dad retire?

Craig: I believe it was 00:14:001972, not positive.

Kevin: So he really wasn't there when--

Craig: 1915 plus sixty-two years.

Kevin: That'd be [19]77.

Craig: [19]77, yep.

Kevin: I think Riegel bought it in [19]76 or so.

Craig: Yes, I think so. He was not happy with that, and I think that's why he

retired in [19]77.

Kevin: And did you have any other jobs when you were younger?

Craig: I worked as a lifeguard and swimming instructor at the Y for four years,

I guess. The last two years of high school. First two years of college. And then

dad said, you need to quit making so little and make a little bit of money to

pay your tuition next year. So, I spent two years working in the mill.

Kevin: Did you enjoy the lifeguard duty?

Craig: Oh yes, I loved that.

Kevin: I can imagine.

Craig: Yes I was never real athletic except for swimming and I went through 00:15:00 all

the ratings up to water safety instructor. So, I was qualified to teach

swimming. When I went to junior college for PHYS ED, rather than taking golf,

which I despised, I took a swimming class. We had a lady instructor in there,

and the first day, she was separating people who could swim and people who could

not swim, and I raised my hand and said, can I teach the non-swimmers for you?

And she said, can you swim? And I said, yes. And she said, do the breaststroke

across the pool and do the reverse breaststroke on your back across the pool.

She said, if you can do those two strokes, you're good to go. You can have 00:16:00 them.

So, I actually taught swimming down there one year.

Kevin: Oh wow, that's great.

Craig: It was a good experience, and from there I went to Wake Forest, got a

degree in accounting. Eventually passed the CPA exam. Some folks passed it the

first time, I was not that fortunate. I took it several times, I finally got to

the point and I took it seriously and studied. I passed it. But I had a forty

year career, about ten working in public accounting, and the rest for private

corporations, and I really enjoyed it.

Kevin: I think you told me one time that you delivered the paper here in town.

Craig: I delivered the Galax Gazette. At the time it was [three times] a week.

And that was interesting. But you know back then, you knew everybody, I could

tell you who lived in every house in this town in the 1960s and [19]70s. Of

course, I can't remember now, but you know, that's just the kind of town it was.

You knew 00:17:00 everybody.

Kevin: What was your route in town for the paper?

Craig: It was Blairtown, Newtown, and Riverview Drive. It was Riverside then, I

guess, but I didn't--

Kevin: Railroad Street.

Craig: Railroad Street, yes. I did not do Main Street. There was another people

that did Main Street and the streets up on the hill.

Kevin: Wow, so did you have to collect money and that kind of thing?

Craig: Yes, I'd go by on Saturday mornings and collect. I delivered the papers,

I think they were Monday, Wednesday, and Friday then. So you'd go by and toss

the papers on the porch. Jimmy Symmer was the one that had that route before me.

I don't know if you remember him or not, but they lived right out the street and

I used to 00:18:00go on his route with him, and when he got ready to give it up and go

to college, he let me have his route. So, you know, it was enjoyable. You knew

everybody and you got to stop and chat with them. Most days they'd be out

waiting for their paper. So you know, you'd put your papers in your bag and you

would fold them and roll them as you went, put a rubber band around them and

toss them up on the porch. Yes, so it was enjoyable. It was something to do. You

made a little bit of money and it wasn't enough money to pay tuition, which is

why I went to the cotton mill for two summers, but the lifeguard and the paper

route-- Of course, when I was lifeguarding and teaching swimming, I had to give

up the paper route, but I did that for a couple of years before. But it was all

very enjoyable. Fries, I have a lot of memories here, but my memories are at

point now that I don't remember 00:19:00specifics. I have general memories.

Kevin: So, did you have kind of free reign of the town or when you were a kid?

Could you go out the door and leave?

Craig: Oh yes. My parents were not real strict. I didn't have a car as a

teenager, but I have free use of it. And--

Kevin: Like when you were a kid, I mean.

Craig: LIke when I was sixteen, seventeen?

Kevin: Yes, but I mean, I'm saying when you were twelve years old, that kind of thing.

Craig: Yes, pretty much. Going to the swimming pool. That was no problem, I did

not really have a curfew as such, but, you know, you went home when the

streetlights came on, and that was the general rule. Streetlights come on, you

come home to eat. I did have one restriction: you didn't go into other people's

houses. My parents were very private and they respected other people's privacy.

And even if I was invited, I was not allowed to go in anybody's house.

Kevin: That's interesting.

Craig: That was my parents. And it was just a good life. My mom's 00:20:00parents both

worked in the cotton mill. I think my granddad was a loom fixer. My mom's

brother was a loom fixer. Also Fries' version of Otis in Mayberry. He was Fries'

Otis. HE was an alcoholic, he definitely had problems, but mama wouldn't have

anything to do with that. She didn't like me being around him, he was probably

my favorite uncle. Mom had two brothers, one of them lived in Arlington, and he

actually owned a Greek restaurant.

Kevin: Were they Greek?

Craig: No, his wife was, but he was not, but her family put him in the cafe and

restaurant business 00:21:00and he was very successful at that. I had eighteen cousins

on that side of the family.

Kevin: Well, just to clarify, you're talking about loom fixer moment ago. You

meant in the weave room, right? Is that where the loom fixer worked?

Craig: Yes, anything that broke with a loom, they would fix it. And my uncle was

known to have a temper tantrum and throw a wrench across the room every now and

then, but you know, he was just Mutt. His name was Wilmer, but everybody knew

him as Mutt. Most people didn't even know his real name.

Kevin: Really? What was his last name?

Craig: Marshall.

Kevin: Okay, Mutt Marshall?

Craig: Yes, mom was a Marshall.

Kevin: So when did her family move into the area? Into Fries?

Craig: I think they actually moved-- her grandparents--her maternal

grandparents, whose name was Mabe moved 00:22:00here before the mill opened. They moved

to Grayson County and when the mill opened, they moved to town. And her

granddaddy moved from Allegheny County, North Carolina, probably not logn after

the mill opened, and my grandmother was a Mabe. And she worked in the spinning

room [as] a spinner, and the loom fixer was in the weave room.

Kevin: So, the family that moved here before the mill opened, what part of the

county did they move to?

Craig: I have no idea. I found them on the census living in Grayson County, and

I think that was a 1930 census or something. But I'm not sure when they moved here.

Kevin: And how about your dad's family? When did they move here?

Craig: My dad's daddy was born in Fort Worth, Texas. And he was raised by his

grandparents. His mother died when he was about a year old, and his 00:23:00father came

back to Fries and he left him in Texas with his parents; they raised him. When

he was eighteen, he moved to Fries. So, he actually grew up in the Fort Worth

Houston area, and soon as he turned eighteen, he showed up in Fries. So, I don't

know if they kicked him out or he decided he wanted to come with his daddy. His

daddy had come here when the mill first opened, had gone to work there.

Kevin: So this was your great-grandfather.

Craig: This was my great-grandfather, Wood. His name was Thomas Bamford Wood. my

black miniature pinscher is TBamDog. My daughter-in-law was pregnant with her

first child and I told her in all seriousness that my great-grandfather needed

to have a child named after 00:24:00him. So, I expected them to name their son, Thomas

Bamford. And she was horrified at that name, and she would ask her husband, is

he serious? And he knew I wasn't, but, then he'd say, yes he's serious. And I

let that go on until almost delivery day. And I said, Beth, I'm not serious

about that. But if you have a girl, I'm going to call her Bamby, but we had a

lot of fun with that.

Kevin: So, your grandfather moved here or great-grandfather moved here. And then

he moved away to Texas right? Your great-grandfather?

Craig: No, he was in Texas before.

Kevin: Oh, okay.

Craig: And the lady he married was from Amherst 00:25:00County. She was a Woodruff from

Amherst County, and I think at the time he was living and working in Lynchburg.

And he came here when the mill opened, got a job as office manager. That's when

the mill office was down next to the river and it got washed away. I think in

the 1916 flood. So, then they built a new office up on hill. So he was office

manager before daddy. He died in 1911, and there were a couple other managers

before daddy. So I think there was a series of jobs that led to office manager

that was paymaster, and there was assistant office manager, and there was office

manager and they all went through that transition of jobs, and dad 00:26:00retired from

that in 1972.

Kevin: You mentioned the 1916 flood. Do you remember anybody talking about that?

Craig: Not much really. There were professional photographs taken out by

somebody from Cahill Studios in Roanoke, and I think I've got a couple of them

somewhere. They took pictures and I've not seen a whole lot of pictures about

it. It really wasn't about that much. The plane crash up in Providence was more

talked about than the flood. Have you heard about that?

Kevin: Yes, well, talk about it too. I mean--

Craig: Yes. Well, it was an Eastern Airlines flight. I forgot where they came

from, I think it was somewhere in South Carolina, and they were headed to

Roanoke. And they crashed right across from the church down into the gully there

next to the Spring Valley Road and they crashed up there and [there was one

survivor]. So daddy was up there taking pictures. He was a photographer. He

loved to take pictures. He would take pictures of anything and 00:27:00 everything.

Kevin: Do you have any of his cameras?

Craig: I had his Kodak camera, I gave it to my son.

Kevin: Oh, that's good.

Craig: And I don't know if he's used it or not, but he likes photography and

he's pretty good at it. But you know, he was a digital camera on him, but I gave

him that, he was thrilled. And you can still find film, and you can find a few

places to help developed it. So I don't know if he's used it or not, but I gave

it to him a couple years ago.

Kevin: Do you know when the wall was built?

Craig: I think it was built after the 1916 flood, but I'm not sure. The railroad

used to go down that way. Have you seen pictures of the railroad there?

Kevin: Yes.

Craig: And somebody pointed out to me not long ago, the tracks down there, but

the trestle was 00:28:00also up with the tracks going in. And I assumed from that that

they took the cotton in at one place and the trestle went up to the warehouse

where the cloth came out. So I assumed that they had two spurs there for that purpose.

Kevin: Who were some of your friends growing up?

Craig: Well, the Durham boys, Ruth Durham's three sons. Rick and Mike and

Freddy, You probably know Freddy.

Kevin: I've heard of him.

Craig: Freddy and Mike are still living, I think Rick is. Rick lives in

Danville. But the four years I lived in Danville I think I saw him twice. I

think he's still in Danville. 00:29:00But the other two, I think Mike lives in Galax and

Freddy has moved to North Carolina. He has a lady friend down there, he says

they're engaged and I say, when are you getting married? And he said, we're engaged.

Kevin: Who were some of your other friends?

Craig: Well, Ronnie Graveley. You remember Ronnie?

Kevin: Yes.

Craig: Ronnie's daddy was Alex Graveley. He worked in the mill and he was a

preacher. And his cousin was Harry Boyles; Harry is one of my good friends.

Harry is one of the few good friends I have now. I don't make friends very

easily. Larry, his brother lives out here and Earley lives out in Carroll

County. David Delp was a friend, you know David?

Kevin: Yes.

Craig: David is a good friend.

Kevin: So, they all lived in town?

Craig: Yes, they lived in 00:30:00 town.

Kevin: I mean, back in the-- when you were born.

Craig: Back in those days, yes, they did. Yes. I'm trying to think of somebody

else, I just-- I can't remember names.

Kevin: So, what would y'all do as far as when you would get together as kids or whatever?

Craig: Well, we'd play softball. We'd play ball up on the hill where Onita's

house is. We'd play softball up there, and we'd spend a lot of time at the Y and

you could bowls and swim. That was my two favorite things, it was bowling and

swimming. I wasn't very good at bowling, but I was excellent at swimming and I

loved it.

Kevin: Tell me about the bowling alley at Y.

Craig: Well, the bowling alley did not have manual pinsetters. 00:31:00It had human

pinsetters. Bayne Grubb was one I remember, and-- who's the man that lived in

the big house on Top Street? Ace Whitener. Ace's son, Billy, was one of my friends.

Kevin: So how did they get paid? Did the Y pay them or did--?

Craig: The Y paid them, and they got tips. So most of their pay was in tips, and

if they were good, they could make a good living on tips. They had league

bowling, and on league nights, they could make a ton of money. So, you know,

they'd set up on the rail, on the ball return rail, and when somebody bowled,

they'd set the ball up and it came back down the track 00:32:00and the bowler could pick

it up. So, you know, those were the days. Those were the good days. I can't reme

mber who the other pinsetters were.

Kevin: And what kind of bowling was this?

Craig: It was-- you could bowl duckpins, but you also bowl ten pins. They had

both and they had leagues for both. So the duckpin bowling was not my thing. The

ten pin bowling was, I even got to the point I bought my own bowling ball. So, I

had one that fit my hand, my hand was so small. The balls up there were too big

for me, and most of them were like twelve to fourteen pounds. And I got me, I

think it was a ten pound ball that could be drilled to my specs, so I got a

little better at it with that.

Kevin: So, was it busy there? The bowling alley?

Craig: Yes, it was busy all the time. And they had leagues on nights, but it was

also opened in the daytimes sometimes. So it was a lot of fun.

Kevin: What else did you do at the Y?

Craig: Nothing really. I mean, it was-- swimming was my thing. I actually worked

there in the off season from swimming. I worked 00:33:00nights at the desk. So, you

know, they would hire their lifeguards. They always had school teachers that

worked and there was usually a coach. The one you might remember was Don Martin.

Kevin: Oh, yes.

Craig: Don worked there and Ray Dunavant. I worked with him a couple of summers

and I worked with Don a couple of summers. Richard Farmer, who's the mary of

Fries now, worked there [as a lifeguard]. And his wife, who is Judy Byrd, I

don't remember if you remember Don Byrd. Don was a rural mail carrier.

Kevin: He lived in Blairtown.

Craig: He lived in Blairtown, right next to Hesters.

Kevin: He was Doris' father?

Craig: Yes, he was Doris' father. Judy, Dawn, and Doris were the three

daughters. And Judy worked there a couple of summers [as a lifeguard].

Kevin: So, what would you do at the 00:34:00 desk?

Craig: We just took people's money for bowling, and people wanting to play

cards. I don't think we had the pool table there at the time, we had ping pong

tables. And we would keep the ping pong balls and paddles behind the desk. So

somebody didn't just come in and start playing because they had to pay for ping

pong and they had to pay, I think, they had to play cards, I'm not sure. But

they had to come to the desk to get them. You were required to take a shower

before you went to the pool, and you had to be clean. One of the lifeguard

duties where you saw the lifeguard before you went in the pool, you rubbed their

wrists to see if any dirt came up.

Kevin: I remember that.

Craig: You remember that?

Kevin: Yes.

Craig: You could rub the skin on their wrist, but that was one of the things,

and I believe at the time they paid ten cents to 00:35:00swim. Which was a lot of money

back then. But you know, I had some fond memories working there. My memory's

gone so far downhill since I had COVID. I had COVID and then I had grief, and

they both affected it.

Kevin: Oh I'm sure. Did you ever go around the river?

Craig: Yes, we had a canoe at the rec center and we would take it on the pond.

We didn't take it below the dam. We'd take it above the dam, go down to the old

boat docks and put it on the pond. And we had loads of fun up there. You know,

we'd get in it, two at a time, and we would go out and we were all trained

swimmers and lifeguards. So we were all very, very good at swimming. And we'd

get out in the middle of the river and turn the thing 00:36:00over--on purpose--to learn

how to turn it back and get the water out of it and get back in it. And you

know, that was a real important part of the training because at later times we

did teach canoeing, so we'd take a group up to the boat docks and get them out

of the van and teach them canoeing. Freddy Jennings was one of the school

teachers who worked there in the summers. And Freddy was a hoot. Freddy had a, I

think it was a [19]47 Mercury, it was a deep purple color, and we got up there

one day and put muddy hand and footprints all over his car and he was thrilled.

He drove it till it rained. We had hand and footprints all over that car. He was

a hoot. He was a good guy too. He was one of the good 00:37:00guys. There's so many

names I just can't remember. You know, at times I could tell you who lived in

every house in town, but I can't do that now. My grandparents lived and my mom

grew up on that street, just this side of the rec center. It was a YMCA then.

They had the theater, and that one street is now called Recreation Drive. So

they lived in a little house on the left, down there. And my grandmother, Wood's

brother and his wife lived in the second house. Next door was a Vaughan, had a

son named Ralph, and Ralph and his wife live right around Lee Drive. Oh, okay.

Second house on the right around Lee Drive. But there's just so many names that

I can't remember. But, you know, everybody knew everybody else in town. It was

that kind of 00:38:00town. And my daddy being an office manager, I guess we were sort of

the elite. Somebody told me once that--I said, why didn't you really socialize

with me and my sister when we lived in town. And she said, because of the

aristocracy, and I said, you mean my mother's attitude? And she said, yes. She

truly acted like she was better than everybody else. She truly felt that way

because daddy was in management, but that was just ehr. You know, her parents

both worked in the cotton mill and she had worked as secretary to the manager.

So, she wanted to be important. That was her problem, not mine. But she really

did have a sense that she was a little, just a little bit better than everybody else.

Kevin: Who lived in the house 00:39:00there, that white house that was on the mill

property, the big house?

Craig: That was the plant manager's house. So, John Thorpe lived there for

years. And the next plant manager, I guess, was John McAlister. Do you remember him?

Kevin: Yes, I do.

Craig: And they lived there and the house burned in the early [19]60s. I was

actually out of town with a group at a ballgame with one of his daughters. And

we came into town and her house was in flames. That was terrible. It was still

smoldering. They had put the fire out at that time. Fries didn't have a fire

department. They had fire crews for the mill, but Galax fire department was

there, watering down the smoldering house. And we drove up and she said, oh my

God, what am I going to do? So we found her parents, got her safe. But that was

a tragedy.

Kevin: Everybody had gotten out of the house?

Craig: Yes, everybody got 00:40:00out. But you know, she was really totally terrified,

and it's understandable. We found her parents and got them taken care of, and

then they built the big house down here, the general managers. So they moved

here , they moved to the bug house. They were the first occupants of the big

house. But that was a beautiful old house up there. It really was.

Kevin: So, your grandfather was the manager of the company store. Will you

describe the company store?

Craig: Well, it was a typical cotton mill and typical store. You didn't have to

leave town. You could get anything you needed down there. A lot of people would

go to Galax to shop, but they had what was 00:41:00called a drug store on the end. You

did not get prescriptions filled there, but you could get all over the counter

drugs. They had a soda fountain in there. You could get a Coke with crushed ice

or you could get a wonderful milkshake or a sundae or anything like that. So it

was really a soda fountain, and they sold a few over the counter drugs. Bud

Nichols was the manager of that for as long as I can remember. And he actually

bought that after they had closed it. And he still operated that for several

years. And then they had a men's clothing department. You could get anything you

wanted from jeans to a nice suit. And they had a lady's clothing department,

which is where the shop that rents bicycles. They used to rent 00:42:00bicycles-- There

was actually an elevator in the store, which went to the manager's office, which

was up above the general office of the mill where the customers could go to pay

bills or have complaints or whatever. And that was downstairs, upstairs, the

front was closed with windows and the business office was up there. So my

granddaddy and his 00:43:00secretary had an office up there.

Craig: At one time, Cy Bonham worked in the men's department. He worked there

more than once. He would teach school for a while and he worked in the store for

a while. But he was at one time manager of the men's department, you remember

Charlie Vaughan?

Kevin: Oh, yes.

Craig: The store out at Providence. His wife, Virginia. I think they called her,

they called her Ginnie? She ran the ladies department.

Kevin: So, and there was grocery store too as well?

Craig: Yes, there was the drugstore. There was the grocery store, which was a

Mick or Mack Grocery. At one time it was-- I can't remember the name. I have a

picture that has a sign out in 00:44:00front that it was a grocery chain from down

around Winston-Salem had a store here. I can't remember the name of it, but it

became a Mick or Mack.

Kevin: And that was a chain, wasn't it?

Craig: Yes, that was a chain. So it was part of that chain. And it became

something else. Then you had the men's department, the ladies' department, and

then there was actually a gap there between that and the bank. I don't know if

you remember that or not.

Kevin: I don't, but I've seen pictures.

Craig: There was a stairway that went down and there was a restaurant under,

actually underneath the bank. It was Fielder's Restaurant in the back I can't

remember that man's restaurant. But he operated that restaurant down there for

years. I guess it was there almost the whole time it 00:45:00was. But by the time I

remember downtown, a building had been there. I don't remember what that

building is now. It might be for the bank, but I don't think so.

Kevin: Was there a hardware store when your grandfather was the manager?

Craig: Yes, it was downstairs. The [main floor] was furniture and appliances,

and they had an upstairs and a downstairs. So the furniture and appliances were

up and down, and the downstairs. Basement part, was a hardware store, and you

could buy everything from a .22 rifle to a shotgun to 00:46:00ammunition, to a hammer,

paint brush. You know, everything you needed in the hardware line, you could get

there. The town was totally self-sufficient. A lot of people chose to go to the

big city of Galax to shop. But, you know, you didn't have to. And daddy was a

company man all the way. So he was going to shop at the company store. And as I

said, grandad was manager. He retired in 1957. And he passed away, I think it

was [19]73. My grandmother died two years before, and he totally went downhill

quickly after she passed away.

Kevin: So how did you pay for goods in the company's store?

Craig: You could actually pay for them with scrip, and you're familiar with scrip?

Kevin: Mm-hmm, well, then go ahead and explain it.

Craig: Okay, well. It's a little aluminum coins of various denominations. I

didn't know it until a few years ago, but they went up to two dollar coins. And

I have a two dollar and two one dollar coins that Harry Boyles gave me. And I

have 00:47:00several others that my parents had had. Nickels, dimes, and quarters. And

the nickel was the lowest denomination--you didn't have a penny. For some

reason, there were little aluminum coins, tokens and sort of like a bus token.

Kevin: And where would you get them?

Craig: You could buy them. They had a scrip clerk who worked, who issued scrip,

if you wanted scrip.

Kevin: But didn't the mill pay in scrip?

Craig: They would pay in scrip if you wanted it. But you had to go to the clerk

and request scrip before your pay, or they would write you a check. And in later

years, they cut out the scrip and daddy was office manager and the paymaster. So

he signed all the paychecks.

Kevin: So did the bank deal in scrip?

Craig: They would, yes. And, you know, scrip was the currency of the company 00:48:00store. You could pay in cash if you wanted to, but they were there basically as

scrip merchant. You know, that's the self-sufficiency of the town. You know,

we'll make our own money, too. And you can spend it in our store. But that was

the only place they can spend it or they could redeem it for cash.

Kevin: So going down the street you had the bank. What was past the bank from

going that way?

Craig: Past the bank was a beauty shop, a barber shop, and the post office. And

the upstairs office over the post office was the town hall and the police

station. So that was Bruce's office. And in my day, Earl Boyer was the mayor.

And he actually held court for the town. If somebody got a ticket in town, got

arrested in town, Earl was the 00:49:00judge and jury. There was no jury trials. It was

the town magistrate, I guess he was called. But he did a fine job of that. But

you know, it was mostly traffic offenses, or somebody had a little bit too much

to drink on Saturday night. And they actually had a jail at one time.

Kevin: And where was that?

Craig: It was the brick building right behind the town hall. They had a tragedy

at the jail. They had a fire and the one prisoner in jail was killed. So if they

needed a jail, they started shipping them to Galax. And in later years they went

from Galax to, I guess it's Blue Ridge Jail at Dublin. So they would transport

them elsewhere.

Kevin: Okay, and what about down in Blairtown? 00:50:00What businesses were down there?

Craig: Yes, Blairtown was not part of the town of Fries in the early days. It

became part of Fries. It was annexed into the town much later. But everybody

down there owned their own home--owned or rented the home. The first house on

the left, as I told you, is where my grandfather lived. He built that about

1925, I think somewhere between [19]23 and [19]25. And it's pretty obvious to me

the same people built the Baptist Parsonage. My grandmother, Marshall, mama's

mother, lived in the second house on the right. There's a Carico Street that

goes down to the river, and a second house from that, grandmother lived next to

the store. Virgil Jackson had a store in that building. It's now a duplex

apartment. But Virgil had a store there. There was a store building on the

corner across from what's 00:51:00now Dollar General, and that was Don Jennings store.

It was the same style. It had the asphalt shingles on the side, and Don Jennings

ran store over there for years. And you probably remember him. I don't know if

you do, he was Freddy's older brother.

Kevin: Yes.

Craig: You remember Freddy?

Kevin: Yes, oh yes.

Craig: So Don was his older brother, and they had a good business. You could buy

anything you wanted in one of those stores or at the company store. So the town

was totally self-sufficient. But everybody in Blairtown owned their own houses.

Virgil Jackson lived there, the next house. The little White House on the

corner. Little white frame house. That was Hurley Porter. Hurley was the town

barber. Hurlie and Charlie Anders were the barbers. Charlie live up on Main

Street, but Charlie was crippled. He could go anywhere and do 00:52:00anything on his

crutches, but he would prop his crutches, stand up, and cut your hair. And later

on, somebody invented a stool that could be attached to the barber chair and he

could sit on that stool, and actually turn all the way around the barber chair

if he needed to. But he cut hair from that stool for years. But Charlie was one

of the inspirational people in town. He had it hard, but he never complained.

And that's one of my most memorable things about the town is people like

Charlie. You know, I mean. That really brings tears to my eyes to think about

how courageous he was. Other people in Blairtown, well, across from Hurley 00:53:00Porter was Clyde Boyer. He was Earl Boyer's uncle, and he and his wife lived in

that big house on the corner. Junior Anderson's daughter lives there now.

Kevin: Pless furniture. What do you remember about them?

Craig: Pless Furniture Company, Buck Rector managed that. Pless was in Galax and

they opened a store in Fries which was very successful. And Garnett [Davis]

Garnett lived right behind the store. But he was actually the store manager, but

Buck was the finance guy. He was also the loan guy. He'd loan you the money to

buy the furniture, and he'd also sell. But he was basically the finance guy, and

he would go downtown every Friday, the mill paid on Friday, he'd go 00:54:00 downtown.

You remember the big concrete posts that were outside the hotel?

Kevin: Yes.

Craig: And a steel rail between them? Buck would park his butt up on that

concrete post right next to the post office, and people would leave the mill,

and walk to the bank to cash their check. And Buck would be sitting there

waiting for them when they came back out of the bank. He had his little receipt

book with him. And people would go to Buck to make their payment that week. So

he'd sit there and collect bills for the furniture store and he would spend

every Friday afternoon up there for a couple of hours as long as people were

coming to make a payment. So he was the collections gent for the store, so he'd

sit there and collect. He would sit down with his receipt book and he'd luck his

pencil, lick that pencil and write that receipt. But he was a character. He was

another Fries character. He was a baseball nut too.

Kevin: Oh, was he?

Craig: Yeah. 00:55:00Syd Harrell ran the hardware store. And there was another man that

worked there, but I can't remember his name. There were two employees in the

hardware store. Hardware and appliances. So that's pretty much my memory of the

company store. But the town was totally self-sufficient. A lot of these

non-believers believed in going to Galax to buy groceries and furniture things.

But, you know, daddy was strictly company. If he could buy it here, he would buy

it here. Bud Nichols, of course, ran the drugstore. He bought the drugstore. I

think he actually bought the building. I'm not sure. But he had quite a good

business there. Still no pharmacist, but over-the-counter drugs and a soda

fountain. And he made a decent living at that.

Kevin: Was there a doctor in town?

Craig: Yes, the company actually had a company 00:56:00doctor. And the first one that I

remember was Dr. Bing. B-I-N-G [and Dr. Marinus] was the company doctor for

years. But B-J-O-R-K was his name. And he and his wife had one daughter--named

Susan. And I don't remember much else about it. I think I told you one time, I

remember when your granddaddy lived in that parsonage, but that was before-- my

mama remembered when he lived there.

Kevin: Oh, yes.

Craig: But she had told me about him, and she remembered he lived in that house.

But I think he died probably in the [19]30s, didn't he?

Kevin: Well, he died in the [19]60s, late [19]60s. But they moved out of the

parsonage in [19]45 or so.

Craig: So that was long before my time. That was two years before I was born.

But mama had mentioned them living in that house. I 00:57:00always compare that house to

my granddaddy's because I think they were probably pretty much identical. So, it

was totally self-sufficient. If you didn't want to go out of town, you didn't

have to. As far as people, as I said, I once knew everybody who lived in every

house, and now I don't know many people at all. And other people. Kyle Porter

was our next door neighbor. His wife was Donna. Elmo Sumner [lived out the

street]. Elmo had a son named Jimmy, he graduated from high school about 1960.

And he later moved to Greensboro, and he passed away a few years ago.

Kevin: Well, Craig, I think that's pretty good.

Craig: Well, I hadn't remembered a lot of names.

Kevin: But I think you've done pretty good. I really 00:58:00appreciate the conversation.

Craig: I have enjoyed it, and I hope it helps you.

Kevin: Yes. Thank you.

[End of interview]