Rebecca Littlefield (Jones)

My son's inlaws have a home here..Chatuga [SP]  development.  They live in Charleston as well so we all are here with 3 dogs. House is big enough so no worries there.  Oh..no water!  Something is wrong with underground pipes. We are surviving and at least out of Matthew's wrath.  VERY anxious to get home and scared with what we may find.

BTW  Tommy Taylor lives in Charleston very close to the water.  Heard from him?

Kay Manning (Elrod)

I had forgotten Tommy lives in Charleston. Thanks for that. Will check on him.

Becky Armstrong (Helms)

From Tom Taylor via FB just now:

My house is 34 ft above sea level but 5 houses from water in Mt. Pleasant...we are riding out storm...just hope wind stays down

Kay Manning (Elrod)

Thanks Becky. Good to know.  I hope all will go well for them.

Deanna (Dee) Ratterree (Nobles)

Barbara has gone to Columbia to stay with her son in Columbia.

Kay Manning (Elrod)

10/7/16  From Mike Lamb in Fernandina Beach, Florida

Thank you for asking. My dog and I are fine. Little damage(fence)and no injuries or flooding. Now, just need power...
Thank you again.

Kay Manning (Elrod)

I checked on Ruth McAteer Lockridge in Longs SC and hopefully we will be hearing from her soon.

Ruth McAteer (Lockridge)

  Kay, thanks for checking on me. We are at son Michaels house in Rock Hill. Billy had meeting in Fort Mill this morning so we have had plans to come to RH for a while. If not for meeting, we probably would have stayed in NMB. Most of our neighbors stayed. Thanks again.

Kay Manning (Elrod)

Good to know you are safe in RH.  Hope all goes well when you get home.

Ruth McAteer (Lockridge)

Thanks so much.

Kay Manning (Elrod)

To Rebecca Littlefield Jones - We hope you get to spend your birthday at home.  Has the governor given you evacuees permission to return home?

Dennis W. Haire

We had 10 people from Daniel Island, SC here with us for several days (in RH).   They included my youngest son, Paul, his wife and two daughters, ages 6 & 3, and his in-laws (4 adults and two children, ages 5 & 1).  We had a good time watching the Tigers play BC and many other games.  Also, a lot of Trivia Pursuit.  They returned this morning and found everything to be in good shape.  Fortunately, they have buried utilities.   Dennis 

Kay Manning (Elrod)

Thanks Dennis for the update. You were very generous to share your home with so many, but I am sure many new memories were made.  Your report will encourage others who live in the area to feel better about coming home. Though there was damage up and down the coast, most of the devastation is in the flooded areas more inland.  Oak Island had very minimal damage yet it is almost impossible for those people to get out because of the rising rivers and flooded roads. Pray everyone gets home safely.  On a more positive note, there were a lot of impromptu family reunions this week. Many of them got to see the Tigers game whereas they may have missed it otherwise!

Barbara Bolden (Black)

Thanks for all the concern.  We left North Myrtle Beach Thursday and went and stayed with my son in Columbia, SC until today.  Just home at 3:30p.m. Monday.  House survived and I cannot see any damage thankfully.  Will have someone come out and check the roof and other things for me.  The power was lost here for a few days but came on yesterday.  We will be cleaning our refrigerator here soon.  Sure hope all are safe and back home and we can count our blessings since this storm was so unpredictable that it could have been much worse.  A big thank you to Deanna for texting me to let me know I could come stay with them in Anderson.  Love that girl! 

Kay Manning (Elrod)

A Hurricane Matthew story:

Yesterday, a friend of mine who lives in Oak Island was coming to Charlotte to see her mother whom she had not seen in a month. She had heard she should avoid 211 through the Green Swamp so she detoured and found her way to 74 east.  She left at noon.  During this time she took many detours through towns she had never heard of, saw houses and cars underwater, and a family sitting on the front porch with water surrounding their house.  At 5:30 that afternoon she had only gone as far a "somewhere close to Maxton". I guess she had been routed away from Lumberton.  She was low on gas by this time and needed to use the facilities but couldn't find a service station that was open or didn't have a line with a highway patrolman directing traffice to the pumps.  We talked for about an hour and she was only inching along when she discovered the problem was a traffic jam with cars trying to get onto 74 from some of the feeder roads.  About 8:00 she called again and had made it to Wadesboro and was so excited - a much needed pit-stop!  About 9:00 she texted and said she was about 5 minutes from her mom's house - 9 hours on the road.  I don't dare call her this morning to check on her. She'll probably sleep til noon.  What a nightmare!  The sad thing is she was in much better shape than those who could not get out of the Lumberton area. What can be done for those people?  I hope this doesn't turn out like Katrina.

BTW, her husband who is a guest member on our web site was on his way to Savannah to help his recently widowed sister remove some trees that had fallen in her yard. There was no power so his chainsaw was worthless. At least she has some company to help her through the dark hours.

Kay Manning (Elrod)

Happy Thanksgiving, ya'll!  In celebrating this FORGOTTEN holiday, I hope you all will join me in remembering where we came from and what we are thankful for.  These photos are of one of many Thanksgivings (1973) spent at my grandmothers house. We all crowded into her little 3-room house. The food was fabulous!  Huge pecan trees in the backyard.  Would love to see your memories.

Becky Armstrong (Helms)

Remember Daddy's hat? Which type of hat did your father or the men in your life wear? Let us hear from you in our message forum.

Becky Armstrong (Helms)

This is a photo of my grandfather on the left with his hat resting on his knee. 

Kay Manning (Elrod)

Your Grandpa is guarding that hat. Didn't want anyone to throw their coat on top of it. My Dad wore a fedora until one cold, windy day in Michigan it blew away. He never bought another, but they weren't as fashionable by that time.  Lake's Dad always, always wore the ivy cap.  I love how men used to dress.  Once Tom Hanks commented on the clothes he was wearing for a movie from an era gone by and he loved the fullness/roominess of them.  He said they don't make comfortable clothes like that anymore.  I loved the heaviness and the texture of the men's suits.  Like the ones Clark Gable wore in the movies.  I bet they smelled of pipe tobacco.  Ah, men don't dress like that anymore.  To tie this in with Thanksgiving, I would have to say I am grateful for having experienced all these different eras and for being born in a time when times were less complicated. 

Clark Gable

Becky Armstrong (Helms)

Thanks, Kay. Those were the good old days for sure.

Deanna (Dee) Ratterree (Nobles)

My daddy always wore a hat.  He would tip his hat and take it off when he approached a woman.  He never, ever wore it inside.  My grandsons and their friends wear baseball caps all the time and I have to remind them to take it off when they come into the house and they tease me that guys do not do that anymore but they will take them off but like you said we grew up when there were manners and respect.  

Becky Armstrong (Helms)

Love these old photos of my grandparents and my grandfather wearing his hat. Those were real gentlemen back then! Pictured here also is my Aunt Sherry, their youngest of seven children.

David Sealy

God's Veterans Day Message to me

I am reminded this day of the tens of thousands of American that served and are serving our country in the military today. Later this morning i will squeeze this old body into my dress blues and gather with other Veterans at the Memorial Building in Chester SC for the observance of this Veteran's Day.

We, the young without a clue, served a country for a greater cause than we knew. Now, I reap the rewards of age and endure the aches and pains that go with it. The reason I joined the military were far different than the understanding I have today. Because young people  have served this nation, old people have more choices in life. With those choices come responsibility to make good choices and be role models for a nation and world that has lost its moral and ethical compass.

John F. Kennedy spoke to a nation beyond his day when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country'" Jesus Christ said, "Follow Me".

If we follow Jesus Christ in all our ways we serve a greater cause than even our country, but our country will benefit from that choice. How, you say?

Titus 2:1-8, 11-14

1 It is for you, then, to preach the behaviour which goes with healthy doctrine.

2 Older men should be reserved, dignified, moderate, sound in faith and love and perseverance.

3 Similarly, older women should behave as befits religious people, with no scandal-mongering and no addiction to wine -- they must be the teachers of right behaviour

4 and show younger women how they should love their husbands and love their children,

5 how they must be sensible and chaste, and how to work in their homes, and be gentle, and obey their husbands, so that the message of God is not disgraced.

6 Similarly, urge younger men to be moderate in everything that they do,

7 and you yourself set an example of good works, by sincerity and earnestness, when you are teaching, and by a message sound and irreproachable

8 so that any opponent will be at a loss, with no accusation to make against us.

11 You see, God's grace has been revealed to save the whole human race;

12 it has taught us that we should give up everything contrary to true religion and all our worldly passions; we must be self-restrained and live upright and religious lives in this present world,

13 waiting in hope for the blessing which will come with the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Christ Jesus.

14 He offered himself for us in order to ransom us from all our faults and to purify a people to be his very own and eager to do good.

That's how.

David M Sealy

Jimmy Vick

While I have no relationship with 'God" it does not deminish the fact that I am proud to have served my Country and countrymen for 24yrs in the US Navy. As I look back on those years now, I am even more proud of my wife who also served the same 24yrs. If fact, her job was harder than mine. While I was out at sea for up to 7 months at a time, she was at home doing the job of both parents and keeping the Kids, dogs, cars and house in order. The Military Spouse is the most important part of our Military and most stand in the shadows while their active duty mates get the accolades & Medals..........BZ to all Military Spouces.

Ruth McAteer (Lockridge)