OAK RIDGE MEMORIES

 BY MARIE ROBERTS

I want to correct a bit of information I have read about my brother Joe Wilson Roberts. He was born in 1935 and is buried in the Minden Cemetery, instead of Garden of Memories. I would love to hear from anyone that remembers Joe. I was only 7 years old when he died.

(Note: Joe graduated with the class of 1956 and died April 21, 1953).

 
Also, In the picture with the story Farming Was Not For Me  the boy second from the right on the first row is my brother, Charles E. Roberts.
 
Does anyone from the Oakridge neighborhood remember the black man that used to come around in his wagon pulled by a mule? He would let all the kids ride in the wagon? I think he used to plow gardens and such. Either his name or the mule's name was Jenny.(?)
 
Some of the kids my age in Oakridge used to put on "Talent Shows" in our basement. Among all the "talent" presented, Steve Fomby would pantomime to Elvis Presley records! One of my favorite memories is of the time my brother Charles and Spot Taylor were home on leave from the Navy and they paid to see our talent show. We thought we were in big cotton! And we used to play with matchbox-type cars under the Hruska house. We had a whole city complex under there. I heard that both David and Richard Hruska passed away, but have no idea where John might be. He came to our first class reunion in '73 and I don't think he ever made it to another. Some of the kids growing up in Oakridge when I did were Jan Schindler, Cherry Nicholson (sp), Brenda Henderson, Joann Merritt, Steve Fomby, Stan Burrell, Johnnie Hruska, Billy Moore, Toby and Walter Anderson, Janie Pat Armstrong, Joyce Mobley. Ronnie Hennigan was a little older, as was my cousin Larry Burrell, but they were around. All the Anderson kids were super nice.
 
Remember the "hobos" that would come around begging for food. It wasn't too unusual then; I remember they would jump the trains in the woods out behind the S. Roosevelt side and camp there. More than once we happened on places they had camped when we were playing in the woods. Life was sure much more simple then and safer!

Thanks for the Memories,
Margie Roberts

To Margie Roberts from Charlie Hennigan - Thank YOU for the memories.  My first job was helping Mr. Samuels with his watermelon stand.  they were 25cents and were saline thin rimed melons.  and I do remember the sunsets from the top of the hill in oak ridge.  they were absolutely beautiful!!!   

                  WAS HIS NAME NATHAN?

There used to be a black man who drove a wagon ('buckboard" we
children used to call it") with a mule that passed up and down Marshall
Street. His name was Nathan. We always got to ride with him for a couple
of blocks then we ran back home, bare feet on hot asphalt. One summer
Mama hired him to plow a garden for us on a little square down by Tillman's
Creek behind the Gruner's duplex on Richardson Street. Thera Gruner was
the secretary at the First Baptist Church. The garden gave us  wonderful
vegetables that summer. We all pitches in. I wonder if it was the same man.
Nice Memory..Thanks, Margie.

Ellen Baskerville