Becky Armstrong (Helms)

In response to Bill's recollections of Rock Hill, I also left after HS and yet through the years I always remembered Rock Hill fondly. Bill, like you, I had some personal issues to work through as a young  person growing up in a not so perfect family (but a loving one just the same.) Maybe we all did. Maybe that is part of growing up and maturing. However, I never once thought to associate it with Rock Hill. You are not alone in your sentiment though. I lived in Manhattan for over twenty years and heard the same about NYC. How can one  raise their kids in a concrete city? There is too much crime! Who would want to live there? But I loved it and still do. You see, I don't think a "place" can harm you at least not in America, not in NYC, not in Rock Hill. Perhaps if you are living in Gaza, then I can see that..I get that.

I'm glad to be back in the Rock Hill area since '95, living first in Lake Wylie, now in Charlotte. Returning to York Tech then Winthrop to get my undergraduate degree only four years ago was a rewarding experience. It's good to be back. It's good to reconnect with all of you and visit with some of you. I feel blessed.

There were many people during HS: our pastor, my teachers and mentors who were such wonderful role models.  I'm glad they were there living their lives in Rock Hill, supporting the local economy and community, and many defending our country when it was necessary. Yes, they were lving in good ole Rock Hill their whole lives...I'm glad they did and are.

Kay Manning (Elrod)

So many of us are "so Rock Hill" that we come back to retired. Since 1966 when we all migrated away from RH, so much has been done to improve it. There are so many activities now like Come See Me week, the ChristmasVille week, lots of new parks, Winthrop sporting events.  I love the idea of the River Walk. I need to get down there to see it.  Rock Hill city planners deserve a shout-out for work well done!

Bill Barber

Becky,

In no way am I anti RH.  It is such a significant part of me.  My sister still lives there.  My memories are fond.  It is simply that I have left there as I left my first marriage.

No one can forget their childhood or teen years.  My God, you girls got breasts.  We were so naive.  We had no idea what the world held for us.  Yes, I am a vet and yes, I believe in my country, but I do not necessarily believe in the course we are on.  We can no longer bankroll the world.  We have our own children.  Some of whom are salvageable.

Tomorrow I leave for Mexico.  Looking for a house.  My country has deserted me.  I no longer wish to pay gov't subsidies to companies which make billions of dollars in profit in off shore corps while leaving middle America with the bill.  I wish I could go back.  But I can't.  I have grandchildren and the world is theirs.  So, kids, come visit me in Mexico.  I'll be there waiting for you.

B

Becky Armstrong (Helms)

Bill,

Thanks for your response. I appreciate your sharing your thinking on things mentioned here and you are I'm sure not alone. Still, a large majority of folks in our class still live and love in Rock Thrill so there must be something you and I were missing way back when we flew the coop!

Anyway, I am excited about your moving to Mexico. I am going on a cruise in September and will be stopping in four locations in Mexico some of which I cannot pronounce yet (took French in school!). Would love to know where you are headed. Message here or privately.

Thanks!

Becky

Dennis W. Haire

I was so Rock Hill - born at St. Phillips Hospital, growing up with my cousins on Anafrel Street where my Paw-Paw owned Boulware's Grocery (cousins - The Ferrell's - Bobby, Barry, Joel (Class of '66), Cathy & Cecelia and the Vignola's - Steven (Class of '65) & Juliette) and other cousins nearby (The Robinson's - Billy, Larry & Stanley & The Privette's - Ralph, Nina, Kenny & Owen), my brother Jeffery, swimming at Confederate Park for 10 cents, moving to Colonial Drive when I was 6 and my friends there (Joe & Hugh Brannon, Chinky Smith, David Hawkins, Audrey Green, Tommy Faile, Wendy & Jo Ellen Abernathy, Joy & Remona King, Judy Weaver, Sammy Myers), and buddies at Northside like Roland DeLoach, Tommy Hart, Tim Fudge, Wayne Lamb, Vickie Erernadez, Linda Snyder, Mickey Jennings, etc., playing baseball for the Aragon & Industrial Mills, playing in the woods where Dave Lyle Blvd. is now & swinging on vines, sledding down Northside hill - Lots of Fun!!

Karen Tinsley

Remember the swim shows that were put on at the Confederate Park swimming pool?  Well, I was one of those girls that jumped through hula hoops, wrapped my feet around another swimmer's neck and formed a wheel that went around and around in the water and swam to an old classical which I can't think of the name of.....Oh, my goodness!  What memories!!!!

Karen Tinsley

I'm so Rock Hill I remember when walking to Central School School every day from N. Confederate Street seemed like it was 10 miles and it really was one mile......Poor me!  (Since then (in the past) I've run marathons..tee hee!

Tommy Hart

Jackie Kimbrell

Rock Hill born, Rock Hill breed, some day, Rock Hill dead. A Southern Rock Hill Redneck and proud of it. Love ya all, J. Kimbrell

Kay Manning (Elrod)

For Bill going to Mexico:  You'll be going against traffic, so you should make pretty good time getting there!

Michael Lamb

Tommy Hart! You are stll around? A jelious husband hasn't caught up with you? You ol' dog you!

I am so Rock Hill, I call Tommy Hart and Bill Barber friends after all these years.

Wayne Gillespie

Dennis Haire, Who is Wayne Lamb? Wayne Gillespie or Mike Lamb (my good buddy).

Wayne Gillespie

I'm so RH I remmeber a slaughter house behind Northside school.

Deanna (Dee) Ratterree (Nobles)

I'm so Rock Hill.  I am so appreciate that I grew up during the period I did and in RH.  I went to Central and knew everyone at the school and made some wonderful memories and lasting friends.  We came home when the street lights came on. There was no fear of evil people as we roamed the neighborhoods going to Conferdate park to swim, the movies, downtown, and school.  We walked everywhere.  The mothers of the neighborhood would discipline us if we were being bad and you could bet they would tell your parents.  I remember going to the old Stevenson Theater to see the Saturday afternoon scary movies to stay cool in the summer time because of the airconditioning.  Eating at the lunch counters of the dime store or drug stores which was special because the food was not cooked at home.  As we got older - cruising Park Inn Grill.  Oh, I wish I could taste their hamburgers and lemon cherry sundrop drink again.    I only wish my children and grandchildren could have had the innocent times we had growing up in Rock Hill. 

Dennis W. Haire

Sorry, Mike Lamb.  Apologies, Wayne.  We are getting older & I combined two classmates!!  Clarification on the Tommy Hart story.  As you may know, Northside had a basketball gym.  During the Christmas holidays, we would find an unlocked door or window & play basketball.  This one time, we found the window to the costume room unlocked and we boosted my little brother up to the window.  As he was entering, he heard someone walking on the stage which was between the costume room & the gym.  His foot caught on the chain which raised & lowered the window when he tried to jump back down to us which caused him to take a header onto the ground/sidewalk.  He was unconscious and we drug him under the fence and back to some bushes where thankfully, he recovered.  Unfortunately, the janitor recognized us and the first day back at school after the holidays, we were called to the principal's office (Perry Aycock).  We learrned that some others had done some damage to the gym floor during the holidays.  Fortunate for us, he believed our story and we promised to never  do something like that again.  Kids doing crazy things!!

D. Anne Bagley (Elliott)

All of you crack me up. I have 90% of the same memories. We never knew how good we had it and still do with communications of days and friends from kindergarten.

Love you all,

Anne Bagley Elliott

Tommy Hart

Mike Lamb...wow haven't heard from you in.......a week or so..lol. Mike and Wayne Gillespie have been close friends since the 1st grade. That's 60 years. Where did I go wrong. My momma told me to stay away from you two, but I just wouldn't listen. We keep in touch regularly and see each other, along with more HS friends, at least once a year at OD. Going around Labor Day this year to eat chili/slaw dogs at the pavillion and raise as much hell as old men can (before 9pm). 

Wayne....we used to eat lunch sitting on a raised rail at the slaughter house while they killed pigs and cows. They dumped all the entrails down through a hole in the floor. What was the name of that short, black guy who could kill a cow with his bare hands?

Dennis...Didn't jeff lose a couple of teeth? Seems I remember a lot of blood. 

Roland DeLoach

Tommy, Dennis,and all---thanks for surfacing so many wonderful memories from our Grade School and RHHS days. I also recall sitting on that same rail at the slaughter house (often eating a sandwich while on lunch break) and watching Babe (i think that was his name) kill and dress the cows and pigs. Unbelievable to think about that now! Dee and Dennis--you both are absolutely correct in describing that time. Not that there weren't bumps and occasional disappointments along the way, but we were all extremely fortunate to live in Rock Hill during that time and to make so many incredible lifelong memories and friends. One of those RHHS friends turned out to be my wife and better half (Nancy Bradley) for 45 years now...and counting. For that and more, I say thank you Rock Hill. 

Tommy Hart

Thanks Roland. Good to hear from you. So many HS and Northside memories with you guys. Every time I go down Dave Lyle now (when I'm in RH) I think about You, Dennis, Chinky Smith, Ricky Beckham, Larry Miskelley, Joel Ferrel and so many other friends we grew up with on that mill hill. I remember frog gigging in the creek where Dave Lyle now is and swinging across the creek on vines. They screwed it up when they stuck a road there. Hope you and your family are well. 

PS: I am so Rock Hill...that I remember going to the Stevenson theatre on Saturday mornings. Didnt try to get there when the picture started, just watched the movie till the end, cartoons, and then back around till the part where we came in.

Mickie Jennings (Wright)

This has been so much fun to be reminded of our "Northside" days.  Dennis Haire, I can visualize your  and Tommy Hart 's story of putting Jeffrey through the window to get into the gym.  This is the first time I have heard that one - funny now, but it probably scared you when it happened!   Dennis, do you remember when we had "a date" when we were probably 10-12 years old?  I remember you walking to our house and picking me up and us walking to the movies - (Pix or Stevenson)?   I remember thinking I was "something special" because I had a "date".  Remember, I had three older Sisters, and they were having true dates by then, so I felt like I was catching up with them!   I remember how nice your Mom and Dad were  anytime I was around them.  Dennis, In reading some of your posts, you mentioned Mr. Aycock, our Principal at Northside.  For some reason, I have a picture (somewhere) of Mr. Aycock, Marsha Yandle and me, taken on the grounds of Northside.  Through the years, any time I saw that picture, it brought back such happy memories!   I remember being a Cheerleader when you guys played football.  I think I remember Dennis Haire, Tommy Hart, Harry Blue, Roland DeLoach and Joe Lowery being some of the football players??   I also remember playing on the girl's softball team. We had such a nice athletic field (for a grammer school) with the concrete bleacheries for spectators!    I remember the Halloween carnivals we had at Northside - great hot dogs!,   I can never remember going "trick or treating", because we always had our carnival!  Does anyone else remember what we did on Valentine's?  (Other than taking our valentines to school, and everyone had their own "bags" that our valentines were dropped in to?)  But the other thing I remember is, after dark, we would go to people's houses and put our valentine card on someone's front porch and then either ring the doorbell, or throw a rock onto the porch and then hide behind a tree to see the person come out to get their valentine?   Through the years,  on Valentine's days, I would talk about throwing the rocks and hide, and my co-workers at the time would think I had lost my mind!   My co-workers were in Charleston, SC and in NC, and no one had ever heard of that!  I remember all of the wonderful plays @ Northside!  I don't know which play it was, but I remember one where I was dressed up as a Princess (or something)  and my opening line was "Come Fairies, come"!  and all of my classmates, dressed as fairies, came running and forming a circle around me.    I remember our class going by bus to the school on the Catawba Indian Reservation and observing what they did in their classes.  I also remember where the "slaughter house" was, but unlike Tommy and Roland, I never went inside to "watch" what they did.  I also remember swinging on vines over the branch, Tommy Hart.  I remember, on some Sunday mornings, my Mother would get all of her girls ready for Church, and then while she was getting dressed, me and my Sister, Nadine, would go down to the branch and be all muddy when it was time to go to Church.  We had a "fairey land" in the woods on the other side of that branch - and we loved to play there!   We rode our bicycles, skated,  visited friends and played outside "until the street lights came on" and then we knew it was time to go home for dinner!   Well, it's past my bedtime, so I must sign off tonight!  Again, thanks for reviving some of the memories!  Hope all of our childhood friends have had just as many  happy memories through their lives since Northside and RHHS!  Mickie Jennings Wright

Kay Manning (Elrod)

We all remember our young days in Rock Hill as being special. There are some things during that time that are being phased out or are no longer in existance today that I really miss:

The white pages, Western Electric telephones (wall phones with the long stretchy spiral cords), the TV section in the paper, 3 channels on TV, newspapers twice a day, record stores, catalogs, service station attendants, local drive-in restaurants, Charles Chips delivery.

Life just seemed a little better with those things.

Steve Turney

Evening Herald. Milk deliveries twice a week. Rock Hill back lot. Wakins hot dogs

Ladd Fowler

Amen to the Watkins hot dogs. The best ever. 

Jimmy Vick

Sorry, I was never a Watkins fan, chile reminded me of canned dog food.....now a Midget Grill Cheeseburger, that was heaven.

Steve Turney

Cherry lemon sun drop and BBQ sandwich at porters on Main Street.