The Spanish Flu Outbreak of 1918-- Part 2: Lots of Similarities 1918 and 2020

My grandparents lived through it, but my parents did not as Dad was born in 1928 and Mom in 1930.

Most cases of the virus made their appearance within three to four days.  Common symptoms included fever, cough, sneezing, headache, body ache and bloodshot eyes. However, many cases developed into bacterial pneumonia, meningitis and severe ear infection that struck suddenly and spread to the brain.

One day a person could feel perfectly fine and the next could be severely ill.  Many deaths were actually attributed to the secondary infections that could not be fought with weakened immune systems.  (Sounds a bit familiar.)

With limited antibiotics and no vaccines, United States hospitals and morgues filled up quickly and to overflowing.

--Cooter

Mom's Life-- Part 6

AUTO DEALERSHIP

Daddy and other family members owned Wayne Tire Company on Center Street in downtown Goldsboro. In 1939, he became a Studebaker automobile dealer and set up a business on John Street. Later, he moved the business to North Wiliam Street.


WORLD WAR II

World War II began on Sunday, December 7, 1941. Mother, Daddy and I were getting ready to put up Christmas decorations when we heard. We were in the Music Room when we heard President Franklin Roosevelt speak over the radio that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and that the Unitedtates was at war!

I remember ration books, buying stamps and war bonds and having scrap drives.


A Lot of Experiences.

Mom's Life-- Part 4

Goldsboro High School is about a half a block from home, so I came home for lunch.

Some of my friends growing up:

Mary Rachel and Elizabeth Johnson who lived next door.
Jean Jenkins
Mimi Weil (had horses)
Elizabeth Handley (had horses)
Sarah Dewey Hunt
Ann Smithdeal
Elwina Miller
Jo Jackson
Gilda Dann


THE BEACH

Summers, our family would go to the beach: Morehead, Carolina, etc., where we would rent a cottage. in 1942, we had a downstairs apartment with Uncle Bush and Aunt Julia Nash on the Northern Extension of Carolina Beach.

In 1946, Mother and Daddy bought a cottage on the Southern Extension of the beach. It was oceanfront and the wreck of the Civil War blockade-runner Beauregard was on the sandbar in front of it.

More to Come.

Mom's Life-- Part 3

I had a lot of cousins at Grantham--Daddy was one of 11 children. They would come for visits there and at Goldsboro.

My Aunt Julia and Uncle Bush Nash had three sons. They lived near Prince Street, named for my grandfather. We had fun playing, but they moved to different places and I would visit them. Rod, David and Jimmy were around for Christmas, also.


SCHOOL DAYS

My school days were happy ones at Walnut Street School.

Grade and teacher.

Grade 1-- Miss Kornegay
Grade 2-- Miss Freeman
Grade 3-- Miss Cooper


AT WILLIAM STREET SCHOOL

Grade 4-- Miss Faison
Grade 5-- Miss Rudisill (she got married)
Frade 6-- Miss Owen
Grade 7-- Miss Judd and Mrs. Twiford
Grade 8--


GOLDSBORO HIGH SCHOOL

Grade 9-- Miss Eliza Cox (she had taught Daddy)
Grade 10-- Miss Jones-Bidogy
Grade 11-- Miss Janie Ipock (Math 3 years), Clifton Britton (drama)
Grade 12-- Senorita Brooks (Spanish)

C.W. Twiford was principal.

More to Come.

Mom's Life-- Part 2

I had a happy childhood. Nora Stevens was my nurse and she enjoyed taking me to Herman Park, which is across the street, to show me off to the other people there.

Mother said her father, David Maybury Prince (who lived with them) enjoyed pushing me in my carriage. My dog, Boots, a white comrade collie, was my watch dog. One day I watched Boots go under the chairs on the front porch (lined up to keep her from leaving it), so I followed her over to the park.

Mother and Daddy enrolled me on the Cradle Roll Department at the First Baptist Church in downtown Goldsboro. I was active in the church and went to Sunday School, and Sunbeams and Girls Auxiliary. My teen years were enjoyable with Sunday night suppers.

A.J. Smith was the only pastor we had during my early years. he lived in the parsonage on Walnut Street.

Some of my memories of childhood were going to Grandmother and Grandfather Hood's home in Grantham on Sunday afternoons. Grandmother cooked the best battered chicken and fried pies on her wood stove. Billy and I would be invited to the dining room to eat.

More to Come.

Mom's Life: In Honor of Mom's 81st Birthday-- Part 1

My mother, Barbara Hatch, turned 81 yesterday. She has been after me to type up her memoirs for quite some time. I haven't because I need to learn how to use the word processor on this (if that is what you call it).

I could type it up here, though. My cousin's daughter says she will put it onto a computer, but until she does, here is the first part of what Mom wrote.

She started writing this in 2005.


MY LIFE

I was born on a Sunday on September 14, 1930, at 504 North Jackson St. in Goldsboro, NC. Dr. Will Spicer delivered me. I weighed six pounds.

I was supposed to be born around the middle of October, but mother was having a difficult time having me.

My brother Billy, William Graham Hood, Jr., weighed 11 pounds and Mother, Minnie Gertrude Prince Hood, was a small woman (never weighed over 115 pounds).

My brother David McKinne Hood was born ______ and died in mother's arms on ______ of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Daddy, William Graham Hood, Sr., was 35 when I was born, and was so glad to have a daughter, he paid the doctor twice what he asked and this was during the Great Depression.

More to Come.