Friday, May 21, 2010
Colorado Street memories draw responses
Courtesy of Judy G. Brown
Judy Brown and her late husband, Clark.
Emily Paine Carter is columnist So Salem. You can contact her at 981-3430 or via e-mail.
Emily Paine Carter
Recent columns from Salem, Glenvar and western Roanoke County
We've had numerous responses to the old Colorado St. photos and memories of those bygone days. (A photo gallery appeared in So Salem on April 16.)
Two women had particularly keen recollections -- including many names:
Rachel Ridgeway Howell called to say she had lived close to the church that held tent revivals, near Salem Barbecue.
She remembered a Mr. Tingler, "who owned the field where the revivals were held." She can still picture him and his wife sitting on their porch, and the apple trees (later, shrubbery) behind their house.
She also recalled the congregation of older men around the potbellied stove at Dorsey's store.
Folks called it "Dorsey's" but its proper name was Salem Mercantile, emailed Judy G. Brown. Alert cousin Nancy St. Clair Lynch had sent the column to the Pearisburg resident.
Judy would know: the store belonged to her step-grandfather, Howard Compton. "His son, Dorsey Cochran worked with granddaddy until [Howard's] retirement in the mid-to-late '40s."
Judy's "Uncle Frank" Butt joined Dorsey Cochran in operating the store until Frank's death in 1956. Later, Frank's wife Martha Cochran Butts worked with her brother Dorsey until his retirement in the early 1960s; the store closed.
"There was a two-bedroom apartment over the store where Uncle Dorsey, Aunt Pauline and their only son Jack lived," wrote Judy. (She added that Jack and wife Barbara still live in Salem.)
Her family moved to North Carolina when she was a toddler. But she spent most of her summers from 1948-59 at the Colorado Street home of her Aunt Martha -- identical twin of Judy's mom, Mary Gardner. They also came to Salem at least monthly.
Despite the miles, she and Cousin Nancy stayed close -- even writing letters to each other twice a week.
The highlight of Judy's summers? Going to the Roanoke City Market and the meatpacking plant with her two uncles.
She and Uncle Dorsey also delivered groceries from the store. If folks weren't home, the pair entered, "put cold items in the fridge and left the rest on the table along with the bill. Can you imagine that? Times were simple then and people were happier," she opined, "and trusting of others."
Judy has lived in Pearisburg since 1980 and has retired from Virginia Tech. Clark, her husband of almost 46 years, passed away last year. "My wonderful memories are pretty much all I have," she wrote.
She added that she appreciated these memories of her "good ole" Salem days. "When my mother used to tell me about the good ole days, I would just laugh....Guess what? The laugh is on me!"
