Bruce and I were boyhood friends growing up in the Black Creek community of Johnston county. Without a care in the world, on our hand-me-down bicycles, we would roam the dirt roads, play in the fields and woods, and swim with the snakes in the creek or mud hole irrigation ponds. Like most farm kids, we didn't have a lot of extra money for clothes and cars. Bruce liked dressing sharp and looking cool, so he worked after school and on week- ends, as a grease monkey, at the Texaco station to get cash so he could deck himself in the latest Weejuns and Madras from Woodalls. Believe me, he could get a Madras shirt to bleed to perfection. One of the joys of being a friend of Bruce's was being invited to have Sunday dinner at his mother's table. Miss Doris (that's what we all called her) was, hands down, the best cook in the area. What she could do with a German Chocolate Cake would put Paula Dean to shame. As adults, Bruce and I did not stay in touch, and I'm not sure that things were always easy for him. All I know is that when we were young, he was a good friend to me. I hope he had a good life and is now in a better place, "looking sharp".
Steve Parrish (1962)
Bruce and I were boyhood friends growing up in the BlackCreek community of Johnston county. Without a care in the
world, on our hand-me-down bicycles, we would roam the
dirt roads, play in the fields and woods, and swim with
the snakes in the creek or mud hole irrigation ponds.
Like most farm kids, we didn't have a lot of extra
money for clothes and cars. Bruce liked dressing sharp
and looking cool, so he worked after school and on week-
ends, as a grease monkey, at the Texaco station to get cash so he could deck himself in the latest Weejuns
and Madras from Woodalls. Believe me, he could get a
Madras shirt to bleed to perfection.
One of the joys of being a friend of Bruce's was being invited to have Sunday dinner at his mother's table.
Miss Doris (that's what we all called her) was, hands
down, the best cook in the area. What she could do with a
German Chocolate Cake would put Paula Dean to shame.
As adults, Bruce and I did not stay in touch, and
I'm not sure that things were always easy for him. All
I know is that when we were young, he was a good friend to me. I hope he had a good life and is now in a better place, "looking sharp".