January 21, 2025 -- The 103rd Wedding Anniversary of my Grandparents

 Today is the 103rd anniversary of the day that my grandparents were married in a small town in North Carolina. Atlas and Veda Freeman, my maternal grandparents. To me, they were Grandpa and Grandma Freeman. It is really quite amazing to stop and think about how different North Carolina (and the USA as a whole) are now from that January day in 1922. It amazes me to think of the changes that they witnessed in their lives, one born in 1892 and dying in 1982; the other born in 1898, and living until 1990. 

Of course, in my own lifetime, I have seen a lot of changes happen, good and bad. It just seems to me that the ones that my grandparents saw were far greater and life-changing that those that I have seen. I suppose it depends on your perspective. I think that about my parents, as well, one of whom was born in 1937 and died in 2010; the other born in 1934 and still living. 

Technically, my grandparents were married during the Roaring Twenties. My parents were both born during the Great Depression. I always loved hearing stories about my Grandpa making bathtub gin during Prohibition. He also managed to buy property on the inland waterway in NC, at a place then called Howell's Point, during the Great Depression. The story that my mother told me (I never heard this part directly from my Grandpa) was that my Grandpa and a friend of his planned to each chip in $25 to buy the property, only because of how times were in the Depression, the other man could not come up with his $25, and so my Grandpa bought the land itself for $50. The first time I ever saw the ocean in my life was at Howell's Point. My Grandpa simply called it "My place". 

My Grandpa was what my Mother called a "yellow dog Democrat". My Dad was too. They bred one in me. We were the only ones in either side of my family tree. To explain the expression yellow dog Democrat, it means that if the Democratic Party put a yellow dog on the ballot, my Mama said that we would vote for it. My Grandpa was active in the High Point Democratic Party, and he was a poll worker. My mom said that he attended a political convention or two, as well. He actually got an invitation to John F. Kennedy's inauguration, which was a big deal for him. He was a veteran of WW1 (he referred to it as The Great War). He worked in the shipyards in Newport News VA, during WW2, and barbered on the side. He had to stop when he contracted painter's colic. 

There are a lot more stories that I could tell about my grandparents' lives. I just thought I would share a few things that I remember and thought on the occasion of their anniversary. They are very much loved.