Hanging Out in the Summer of 1956

My Summer as a Waitress. 

After I finished my freshman year in college at Gardner-Webb, I was looking for a summer job, and there were no jobs in Shelby.  By that time I wanted to do something other than pick cotton.  My uncle's wife in Statesville said they were looking for a waitress at Gray's Restaurant in Statesville where she worked and that I could live with them or with my Grandmother.  I guess Daddy must have taken me to Statesville and I applied and became a waitress at Gray's Restaurant.  At the time this was one of the best restaurants in Statesville.

Waitresses were required to wear a white uniform so I went out and bought ONE uniform.  To save money I was planning on wearing it each day and washing it each night and have it ready to wear the next day.  That's what I did.  As soon as I got home, at my Grandmother's house where I was staying, I would change clothes and wash the uniform.  By morning it was dry because it was hot in Grandma's house with no air conditioning.

I usually worked the morning shift which began at 6:00am if I remember correctly.  Of course, I had no car and would walk the mile from Connor Street down Front Street to South Center Street to the restaurant.  Two free meals came with the job, so I would leave at 5:00am and walk in the early dawn hours to have breakfast before I began my morning shift.  I got off work at 3:00pm and then I could eat another meal before I left.

In those days, waitresses didn't have a large tray to carry the dishes to the tables of the diners.  We had to learn to carry four plates at one time if we had a large order.  I can't believe I learned to do that. But I did and I didn't once drop a plate.

This is how I felt. Though as I recall I never had to carry a plate on my head. 

The early morning shift was usually easy, and Jay Huskins, who was then editor of the Statesville Record and Landmark came in every weekday morning to get just a cup of coffee.  I was serving him, we chatted, and when he learned that I was working to make money for college, he began tipping me $1.00 every single day.  That was a big tip for a 20 cent cup of coffee. For most orders of just coffee, I didn't even get a tip. I missed him on weekends.

I had a lot of freckles on my face, and the owner whose name I can't recall. I thought I would never forget that, the way he teased me all the time.  He would say, "She's got freckles on her, BUT,  (he paused here) I love her just the same." and I would always blush.  I could feel my face get red hot.  I never got used to it.  He was a good boss though, and he and his family would come in on Sundays after church to eat, and sometimes I would be the one to serve them. 

Gray's Restaurant was the stop for the Greyhound Bus Schedule in Statesville, and a bus came in around noontime when we were already rather busy with customers.  People would get off the bus, come in to order in a hurry, I think they had only about 30 minutes before the bus would depart.  I dreaded that, it was so hectic, and the bus customers usually did not leave a tip.  Regarding tips, I just want to say that since I experienced life as a waitress, I ALWAYS tip generously whenever I eat out. Brooks now you know why I tip the way I do.

Each day when I got back to Grandma's I would empty out my pockets on her kitchen table and count my money.  She was always so happy when I made a lot of tips.  I offered to share my tips with her since I was boarding at her place, but she would not hear of it. Bless her heart.  It was great for me to spend time with my Grandma.

I don't think I made much money that summer, but it was a great experience.  An experience that would benefit any young person growing up.  Grace, maybe you would like to try it sometime before you finish college.  Waitresses in some of the Chapel Hill restaurants probably make pretty good money these days.

I saved almost all that I made that summer, but I did splurge on getting a photograph made at a professional photography studio.  The same studio that my mother had had a photo made when she was about 19, the age I was at the time. Mama had grown up in Statesville.   Not the same photographer I am certain.

Me at 19 in the summer of 1956.

Mama, your Great Grandmother at 19, 1920

When summer was over, I had matured a lot and returned home eager to begin my second year at Gardner-Webb College.


Love, love, love, GrandPat
April 24, 2020

Hanging Out At Gardner-Webb My Freshman Year

The Gardner-Webb Yearbook my Freshman Year. 

Dear Grands:     I’ve decided to write to you about my first year in college, and as you will see it was quite different from what yours have been and Grace what yours will be come September.

When I graduated from high school in 1955, I knew I didn’t want to go very far away to college, yet I did want to stay on campus.  Gardner-Webb Junior College (it was a two-year college then) was perfect, only twelve miles from home.  Shirley McSwain a Lattimore classmate and I were going to room together.  So at least I would know one person. Looking back, I think I had led a rather sheltered life and was perhaps shy. 

My photo from the Anchor my freshman year. 

Although I had some scholarship money, I knew I needed to work on campus while I was there to help defray my expenses.  My first work assignment was serving in the cafeteria which meant I had to eat early with other students working there before the cafeteria opened for the student body.  My best friends that I had made ate later, and I missed eating with them.  Homesickness had already set in.  I remember President Elliott saying in Chapel that it spoke well of us if we were homesick. I thought “that really speaks well of me then.”   So I called home on the one payphone that was in HAPY Dorm.  I tried to be brave when I talked to my parents and then I burst out crying saying I didn’t want to work in the cafeteria.  They told me I could quit, but I knew I needed to work.   

Mrs. Dorothy Hamrick, the Registrar, was someone I knew so I thought maybe she could perhaps find me another campus job.  Sure enough, I got switched to the Library, a job I loved.  I had to go in early and open the library before the Librarian came in and check out books, and shelve books.  Often we were not busy in the morning so I could actually study while I worked.  Now I could eat meals with my friends.  I was still homesick, but not so terribly.

But as time passed, I began to love college.  Our rules were very strict though compared to today.  We had to have lights out by 11:00 pm, we could only leave campus on Saturday nights and Sunday.  If we dated on Sunday nights we had to go to Sunday Night Service at Boiling Springs Baptist Church on campus.  Of course, we had to be back in our dorm by 11:00, and perhaps 10:00 on Sunday night.  We had to sign out on cards and then if our cards were still in the signout box after hours the Dean of Women would call us in and we would get demerits for being late. 

When we had to go across campus to the gym for our physical education classes, we would have to wear a raincoat over our gym outfit so that our legs wouldn’t show.  Now that is pretty strict. 

I had gone to college thinking I would major in English.  At the beginning of the year, we were given tests of different kinds, and I remember one of my tests indicated that Law would be a good choice for me to pursue.   I had never heard of a female lawyer, but looking back, I think I would have enjoyed law.  But after I took freshman biology with Dr. Paul Stacey, I knew then that biology was for me, and I did choose a major that proved the right one for me. 

I made the basketball team, because of my GPA I was selected as a Marshal, and in the Spring was elected President of Stroup Dorm for the Sophomore year and thus would serve on the Student Government for the upcoming year. The induction for members of the Student Government was held in Chapel (we had required Chapel and because we had assigned seats alphabetically, Dorothy Hamrick would come up the aisles checking off those absent.)  As we were inducted we had to “swear” that we as leaders, would follow the rules, would set a good example, and would uphold the values of the College.

 Now in the spring, the guys on campus would go swimming over at the Broad River where there was a sandy beach.  Of course, this was off-limits for female students.  Near the end of the year, on a pretty summer day, I happened to have my boyfriend’s car, and I and about four of my friends decided we would drive over and sunbathe at that beach.  We had a marvelous time as I remember. 

But the next day I and my partners in crime who were also elected to the Student Government were called in by the Dean of Students.  One of the maintenance workers had been out at the River and had seen us, females, out there, and turned us in for being off-limits.  I was so humiliated because we had to get back up in Chapel and renew our vows that we would uphold the rules and values of the College.  At least we didn’t get kicked off the Student Government.

I was a bit sad at graduation that year because some of the good friends that I had made were sophomores and were graduating.  I did enjoy serving as a Marshal at the graduation that morning though, and when I got home, I was pictured in the Shelby Daily Star with my white dress and sash as I was about to lead the Faculty in the processional. 

Photo from my scrapbook of picture in Shelby Daily Star. 

Love you very much, GrandPat

April 23, 2020