SIMPLE TIMES BY SU Z Y Mc C RAY
75-80 Years Ago
THE CO-OP PANTRY
Carrying eggs to sell in Birmingham by horse and wagon and refilling sodas in the ice-cold water of the drink machine at the service station are just two of the memories James Tolbert wants to make sure remain after he’s long gone. James, who will celebrate his 89th birthday July 4, wants folks to remember the independence of hard-working simple country folks from way back when, so he’s been writing his memories for his daughter, grandkids and future generations of his family to read and remember! James served 38 years with the Alabama National Guard in Oneonta, Alabama, retiring as a sergeant major, after initially being drafted during the Korean conflict. “I was called to Montgomery and my mama just laughed and said they wouldn’t take me,” he remembered. “I didn’t weigh but 110 pounds. But I had to come home and tell Mama that I was going to have to leave that next Friday!” But while he spent what most folks think of as a lifetime helping to mold the area’s young men, it was the rural upbringing that he’s been concentrating on in his writing. One fond memory is of singing bass with the FFA Quartet for Blount County High School (now Oneonta High). The boys’ names are like a list of Blount and Oneonta’s pioneer families: “Jerry Cornelius sang tenor; Alton Bynum, high tenor; Dan Moore, lead; and accompanied by Juanita Worthy on piano. We were the Melody Boys. Every week we sang on WGAD, the radio station in Gadsden, and Moore Auto furnished us an automobile to travel in. We won several school competitions. “Back then, every fifth Sunday there was a fa-so-la (Sacred Harp) singing at the Blount County courthouse.
James Tobert will celebrate he 89th birthday on July 4.
This had to be before the early 1950s because it was the old courthouse which wasn’t air-conditioned so the windows were raised and people could sit outside and enjoy the singing if the courtroom got too crowded. “And there were Gospel music singings at area churches, rotating every Sunday. One at Lebanon Methodist, Taits Gap Baptist, Antioch and Ebenezer Methodist. “I graduated high school in 1952, but before that we all had Saturday jobs downtown. I worked for BudJuly 2021
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