From Working Crops to Traveling the World

In this episode, I interview my first cousin, Carolyn Bell. She’s the youngest daughter of Olivia and Floyd Strange, Jr., granddaughter of Beatrice and Floyd Strange, Sr and great granddaughter of Lucy and Jesse Strange 

Transcript

Interview with Cousin Carolyn: From Working Crops to Traveling the World

My great grandfather, Jesse Strange, was born a slave and freed when he was 13. His 12 children were born free and referred to as "The First Freeborn Generation." In this podcast series, I interview Jesse Strange's descendants in order to document our stories. This is Strange Family Folklore.

In this episode, I interview my first cousin, Carolyn Bell. She’s the youngest daughter of Olivia and Floyd Strange, Jr., granddaughter of Beatrice and Floyd Strange, Sr and great granddaughter of Lucy and Jesse Strange. 

Teresa Roberson  

Cousin Carolyn, thank you so much for sitting down with me. So happy you made time out of your busy schedule.

Carolyn  

Oh, yes, and it is very, very busy, as you know. 

Teresa Roberson  

When did you retire?

Carolyn  

On granddaddy's birthday, February 2nd of 2024, and one day after Linda's birthday, February 1.

Linda Dillard was Carolyn’s older sister.

Teresa Roberson  

That's funny. So, you retired on Groundhog's Day?

Carolyn  

Yes, the second. It has very significant meaning to our family. My granddaddy's birthday.

Teresa Roberson  

Tell us more about that.

Carolyn  

My daddy's father, that's his birthday, February 2nd. My grandfather passed on my birthday. I can't remember the exact year, but it was on my birthday. 

Carolyn’s and my grandfather was Floyd B. Strange, Sr. Her father was named after him. Our grandfather passed in 1992.

Carolyn  

October 28th. 

Teresa Roberson  

That was a few weeks before I went to Tanzania. 

Carolyn  

I didn't know that was around the same time that you went to Tanzania. However, I do remember that you stayed with us and when I asked you if you were going to iron your little dress or whatever you put on, you said, "No, I'm going to let the wrinkles fall out." And every since, that's what I do, I let the wrinkles fall out.You influenced me greatly. And when I go on vacation, I do not iron my clothes. One girlfriend that goes with me, I just throw them out and she iron them for me. I love it. It's very rare that I iron anything. I like the freedom.

Teresa Roberson  

That's hilarious. I did not know that I influenced you 30 some years ago. You totally got me there. Since you've been retired, you're doing retirement the way I want to do it, if I ever am able to retire, because it seems like you're always traveling.

Carolyn  

I have been busy. I truly have and this year, my plan was to go back to Ghana and stay for at least a month and take my husband. Some of the people that we met that were from the US, I made a connection with them. One, her name is Carolyn. So, I always remember Carolyn, and that was at the Ancestral Wall. 

The Ancestral Wall is an on-going, educational art exhibit, started by American expat, Jerry Johnson, and his wife, Abomah, which depicts innovative and revolutionary leaders, artists, athletes and scientists from ancient Egypt to modern day African countries and the diaspora. 

You remember when they came over to visit us? 

Teresa Roberson  

Yes. 

Carolyn  

Some of the people from the US that had moved there? I talked with them. I told them my idea of coming back. I got their numbers. They said, "Anything you need," because I told them that James had Parkinson’s and that I would need help with him. 

James Bell is Carolyn’s husband.

They were so kind. But with everything going on in our world right now, I had kind of stopped thinking about traveling this year. Last year, my roommates from college and I, we all had planned to go to Cancun this year in April, but after the cartel issue in Puerto Vallarta, I decided I would not go. But just within the last seven days, I was reconsidering, because my neighbor next door, she and her husband left for Spain and Portugal. That's a trip they planned. She was telling me about a website that I should register with, and that that website keep you posted on what's going on in the world. If something comes up, that you can be contacted. She left on the 13th, and they'll be gone for 14 days. Something came up, and it talked about different areas, and they listed numbers like one through four, I think, on whether or not a place is a good place to go. 

The US Department of State maintains a travel advisory website like the one Cousin Carolyn is talking about.

So, I started thinking, I shouldn't give up my trip that I really want to go on. 

Teresa Roberson  

Did you travel a lot as a child with family vacations and things like that? 

Carolyn  

No, no, we didn't do that. 

Teresa Roberson  

So, where did you get that travel bug from? 

Carolyn  

Well, you know, my daddy used to always like to go. I mean, he didn't travel out of the US, but he was always ready to go places. Mama is the one that did not want to go anywhere. 

Olivia Little Strange was Carolyn’s mother.

It just took her a long time and a long time for us to kind of get her to say, "Okay, I'll go."

My mother was raised in Axton, Virginia, but a lot of relatives were in North Carolina. When she came to Axton, Virginia, maybe my grandmother had lived in North Carolina for a while, because my mother ended up going to Douglas High School Douglas High School is in Eden, North Carolina. That's where she graduated from. She was a basketball player. Everybody said she was good. When she graduated from high school, she wanted to go in the military, but her mother didn't want her to go, and so she did not let her go.

Teresa Roberson  

And how did your parents meet? 

Carolyn  

You asking the wrong question. Somebody else asked me that not too long ago, and I said something to daddy about it, but I forgot what he told me. It wasn't high school, because I don't think Daddy finished. He may have only went to middle school, not middle school, but elementary.

Teresa Roberson  

Are you serious? 

Carolyn  

He was the oldest. Herbert may know. 

Uncle Herbert was one of the Carolyn’s father’s younger brothers. Number four out of six children.

Because Herbert got his degree from the church in Sandy Level, St. John Baptist Church. Linda was working in a program for adult education for those that had not graduated from high school. 

Teresa Roberson  

Uncle Herbert got his GED?

Carolyn  

GED. He went through the program that they had at St John Baptist Church. Linda was really instrumental in bringing things to the community. 

Teresa Roberson  

You're saying Aunt Olivia was a homebody, but she worked outside the house. 

Carolyn  

Oh, she worked outside of the house. She did domestic work, cleaning and cooking. She got a job working in a laundry and she did that for quite some time. Then, she got on at a mill, Spray Cotton Mill. She worked in Spray Cotton Mill for many years, and that was until she retired. Then when she retired, she still worked, had her a little part-time job doing something. I think it was like a fast-food restaurant, and she helped in the kitchen. I think she worked in the school system, in the cafeteria, also for a short time. 

Now, Daddy worked in the mills. He tried to raise tobacco with no boys, just girls, and only had one girl that could help him in the tobacco because Gayle had a job, and Linda was away. 

Gayle Hampton is Carolyn’s second oldest sister.

So, it all came to me. I had to go in the tobacco field and help. A lady from our community, Miss Ella, she also helped. I'm quite sure that crop was not very profitable, and he never did it again.

He did it once. He was like a sharecropper. He went on somebody else's property. It was probably like acres. It wasn't excessively big. 

It may have not been no more than maybe an acre of him planting tobacco. He and the guy, they worked together in the mill, and my father took on the planning tobacco in his field. You have to pay them so much, of whatever you make from the crop. I was young, maybe 14. Let me just say one other thing: in the summertime, I couldn't be just left alone to sleep late. My daddy would also volunteer my services to my grandmother. She would come up and get me to go with her home, and I work in her fields.

Mama Bea would say, "Your daddy said you could help us today." 

Our grandmother, Beatrice Strange, AKA “Mama Bea,” knew how to put everyone within her orbit to work. That’s where my own mother, Velma Roberson, learned that skill from. 

I had to get up, get myself dressed, go down and spend the day, eat a good meal. But I worked in the tobacco field. I eat a good meal. My pay, I don't know if I even got money. I remember getting Avon, but I don't know if money followed Avon. I'd have a stomach full of good food. I could be guaranteed to get some kind of Avon.

Teresa Roberson  

Mama Bea was one of the first Avon ladies in Cascade, Virginia. What products did she give you at that time?

Carolyn  

I can't even remember specifically, but it was probably something that smelled good, because, you know, Mama Bea like to smell good. At the age of 14, she probably wasn't giving me lipstick. She might have gave me Skin So Soft, and maybe a lotion, and maybe some kind of little perfume or something. 

Teresa Roberson  

What I remember about Mama Bea because, you know, I'm living with Bea Junior, my mother.

Carolyn  

Girl, who you telling? 

Teresa Roberson  

Those two women love money!

Carolyn  

Oh, I didn't know your mama like money like Mama Bea.

Teresa Roberson  

They always got up early, put themselves together.

Carolyn  

Yep, that's both of them, yes.

Teresa Roberson  

As hard working as they are, they think that you should do the same. 

Carolyn  

I don't know how hard Mama Bea really worked, because Mama Bea used to always delegate. That's what she worked hard at, delegation. She knew how to delegate and give everybody something to do. And guess who else is like that? 

Teresa Roberson  

My mother.

Carolyn

Her granddaughter, Linda.

Teresa Roberson  

Your sister. 

Carolyn  

Yes. She fit in that category a little bit. Renee might be another one in that category. 

Teresa Roberson  

And our cousin, Sandra. 

Another first cousin, Sandra Jackson, is Uncle Herbert’s second oldest child. 

Carolyn  

Oh, I didn't know Sandra was like that, but I know Sandra was very particular. When Renee got married, and Sandra and I were in the wedding, Sandra stayed with me. 

Etzetta Renee Purcell is my oldest sister.

Sandra just had to go and find lipstick and nail polish to match. And I said, "Oh, look at my little cousin." She had to have everything matching. And I thought that was the cutest thing. But we had a nice time for the wedding. We were part of Renee's wedding, the big wedding. It was nice, very nice. 

Teresa Roberson  

Mom's favorite way of delegating is to "let" somebody do something. For example, "Oh, I'm gonna let you look up..." instead of her doing it herself. So, did Mama Bea ever use a sentence structure like that? Or what was her popular command to have you do something? 

Carolyn  

I don't remember any particular command, no more than, "Well, baby, can you do this for me? Baby, can you iron the pillowcases? Baby, can you iron the sheets?" You know, she ironed her sheets and her pillowcases. 

Teresa Roberson  

They didn't have a dryer until later on. Now, I learned this when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania, when you have sheets and clothes hanging outside, you ironed it, not just to get out the wrinkles, but there was always this fear that there's going to be bugs laying eggs and you wanted to kill that. I don't even iron the clothes I wear half the time. 

Carolyn  

Hanging things out was a regular thing back in the day, so that probably was the reason why Mama Bea wanted them ironed because they're more comfortable. Get the stiffness out. That makes good sense.

Teresa Roberson  

Mom doesn't ask anything in form of a question. As a matter of fact, she'll get that finger out, that index finger, and start pointing.

Carolyn  

Oh, my goodness. Well, Linda, she would volunteer you to do stuff for her, which is fine. When James first came on the scene, he picked up on her delegating things to you, and he just kind of let her know, "No, I'm finished.” He might help a little bit, and then he'll go, “I’m finished."

Teresa Roberson  

You have to have boundaries.

Carolyn  

Boundaries. Exactly.

Teresa Roberson  

Renee and I debate upon which one of us are the Bossy ones. I just think, well, of course, it's you. I mean, you're eight years older. She says I'm bossy because I'm the youngest, and I think I was raised by she and mom, so...

Carolyn  

...between the two, they created you. I get that sometimes too. That I'm the Bossy one. No, it's not that I'm bossy. I'm just saying what needs to be said and doing what needs to be done.

Teresa Roberson  

Now, speaking of that, I was really impressed. We went to Ghana together back in June. There were nine of us by blood relation and marriage that went to Ghana because DNA tests showed that we have Ghanaian genes. I was really impressed when we visited a school, and once you found out that the younger kids needed desks and chairs, you were the first one to say, "I want to buy X amount." You really started the momentum.

Carolyn  

Wasn't that beautiful? 

Teresa Roberson  

I want to know more about that.

Carolyn  

Well, you know, I'm a giver. I have a big heart. 

Teresa Roberson  

You did more than just donate money. How many tables sets did you donate?

Carolyn  

Was it five? We ended up with how many people end up donating? 

Teresa Roberson  

All total, there were 33 table sets. 

Carolyn  

Wow, that was beautiful. I just have to say I have a big heart.

Teresa Roberson  

Who do you think you get that from?

Carolyn  

Both my mama and my daddy. It even goes further than that. I can't leave out my mother's mother, we all call her "Grand,” but her name is Annie Mae Wade. She had lots of grandchildren. She would just give her last. Christmas time, she'd spend her money. She would spent her money giving us something. It wasn't that she had it to give, but she made a way. She was an entrepreneur. She had a little country store right in front of the family home that we lived in when I was born. She's just, sold, candy, little this, little that. She was just a wonderful woman. So was Mama Bea, but Mama Bea was more resourceful. She had granddaddy, and so she had more access to money than my grandmother. Whatever my grandmother made, and you know, the little Social Security money that they gave them back in the day wasn't anything to talk about.

Teresa Roberson  

It still isn't.

Carolyn  

That is the truth. But Grand just had a big old heart, and it was passed on to my mom, Linda, Gayle, me. It's just a generational thing.

Teresa Roberson  

I remember your sister, Linda, used to do a lot of programs. Can you talk a little bit about all the programs that Linda initiated?

Carolyn  

Mm, girl, I can't even begin to talk about everything Linda did, because I don't really know everything. I remember her participating in something called "Bridging the Gap," and I think they had to do with helping the community. Being a community liaison, for especially the seniors, and letting them know what kind of things that the county might have that could assist them. She also had worked at A & T University in the engineering department. She did secretarial work, but she had some kind of grant that she had gotten to help the young kids. It kind of introduced young underprivileged children with college kids in the science field. They went on field trips. Linda did a lot. One of the big things that she did is become one of the founders of the African American Museum, FAHI, which is currently still in Martinsville, Virginia. 

FAHI stands for Fayette Area Historical Initiative, which is an African American Museum and Cultural Center.

Any family members that are interested, please go visit and volunteer some of your time, if you have time to help them. They were going to have a board, showing where donations were given, and so they were going to use Linda's name on one of the donation lists. I think it went up to like, $500 maybe you could donate 50 to 500 under Linda's name. To start off, when Daddy had made a contribution, to our family reunion. He also made a contribution to FAHI. We put my daddy's name, Linda's, mama, Linda's husband, Wayne. And there was a young man that Linda dated, Harold Tinsley. We donated 500 in his name. Mama Bea is on there. I'm trying to remember if granddaddy is on there. We made donations for them, and your mama is on there. Anytime you all want to make donations to the FAHI Museum, please go. Make a donation with just going and helping them out. They can always use help.

Teresa Roberson  

Now, Linda, at one point, was in Texas for about 10 years?

Carolyn  

Was it that long? I went there, and I stayed for maybe six months. I couldn't find a job. At the time Linda went to Houston. Houston was really bad off financially. The economy was bad. So, when I found a job, it was in a bank and it wasn't paying any money, so I just went and worked for her and Wayne in their business. They had an auto mechanic repair shop. She was a little sales lady. She was able to get contracts with the telephone company. They had, like a fleet service of cars from AT & T and they would service the cars. They started out with one place on one side of Houston, and then they bought a shop on the other side of Houston, which is on the side where Beyonce’s family lived and came from. Beyonce wasn't in the picture at the time, but it was years later on that I found out that Beyonce's family came from that side of Houston. One year, Mama and Daddy, they came down to visit Linda and I, and we drove to Mexico. There's a Laredo, Texas, and you're going across the border and there's Laredo, Mexico. So, we all went, had a wonderful time. Daddy and Wayne went into a bar while we were out shopping. Wayne tell the story that these Mexican guys started speaking Spanish, and my daddy, who's not familiar with the foreign language, thought they were fussing. Wayne said, he looked up and all he see was feet. My daddy running, pretty much running to get out of the bar, because he thought a fight was coming up. 

Teresa Roberson  

They were just having an animated conversation.

Carolyn  

They were just having a conversation that my daddy knew nothing they were saying. They probably were loud, and having fun. And he thought there was something brewing. 

Teresa Roberson  

Tell us about your sister, Gayle.

Carolyn  

Gayle is the middle child. Linda was the oldest. Then, Tammy came along, and Tammy was just like a little sister, because she was right in the house with us. But Gayle, she's the only one with children. Linda had steps and so do I. Gayle worked in Fieldcrest. Gayle went to DC and stayed for a little bit. Linda got her into UDC, which is a college in Washington, DC, for a little bit, but then she came on back home. Gayle has two children, Tammy and Brian. She was very influential in the caregiving of our sister, Linda, when Linda was involved in a car accident that left her in a coma from July of 2008 until she died, August of 2019. She had put on a function that they do for the museum, and she would do it annually. It was called the June German Ball. 

The June German originally started in the 1870s as a celebration among wealthy elites in Rocky Mount, NC in June before tobacco harvest season in August. A large tobacco warehouse was decorated to host the all-night dance. Black people soon started their own version and by the 1930s, the event received national and international recognition with musicians such as Count Basie and Louis Armstrong.

There was a lady out of South Carolina named Aunt Sue who came in town. She's a storyteller. She came in town to participate in the June German ball, and she came on the train. And so, after the function, the function is Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and it's over early Sunday. Saturday is a formal dance. That morning, Aunt Sue had checked out of the hotel. Linda and I, we drove her to the train station in Greensboro, came back, and Linda picked up her car, and we left one another. We had Devin with us. Devin is my great nephew. That's Brian's son. Gayle's son, son. I had him because she had gotten in her car and she was going home, and she was gonna come down to my father's house and she was gonna do cornbread that day. Devin and I were waiting and waiting and waiting, and it's like, I don't know what's going on. What's taking so long for her to get here? She never showed up. So, a young man came to the door to tell me that my sister was involved in a car accident. And that's when the nightmare started with her being in an accident, going from the Martinsville hospital to the Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem. She was doing fine. It's just that they thought that she had maybe injured something dealing with her throat. So, they wanted to make sure there was no injury in her throat. They wanted to give her a barium swallow. That Sunday, we left her that Monday morning, my aunt and I went right back to the hospital. 

Carolyn  

Linda wasn't sure what they were coming to get her for, because she helped put herself on the gurney. And went down to radiology to be X-rayed. And we left. Me and my Aunt Ann, we gave it a few hours. Then we went back over there, and the doctor say, you need to talk to the family members. They told us that Linda was now in a coma. I feel that someone left her unattended in the X-ray department, and she aspirated, and when they revitalized her, her brain was truly damaged.

Teresa Roberson  

I didn't realize you talked to her after her accident. 

Carolyn  

Oh, we all did. We all left. All of us were in the hospital with her up in Martinsville, the family, the whole family, came around and we all were together with her. Then we all went to the hospital in Winston-Salem because they said that's more like a trauma hospital and they thought that the small hospital wouldn't be able to provide the care that was needed for her injuries. We went over there to Baptist, and my Aunt Ann lived in Winston-Salem, so that made it, convenient for us, because James and I end up staying with my Aunt Ann. 

Teresa Roberson  

I was living outside the country, because when mom told me that, to me, it was just unacceptable to hear that, because I had just seen her. 

Carolyn  

I left Seattle, so I could help with my sister's care. I went on an interview. One of my girlfriend's mom was working there. She had introduced me to this guy. He interviewed me that day, took me out to lunch and offered me the job. So, everything just fell in place for me. 

Carolyn  

Ended up coming home and had a good job, and actually stayed in this same position from 2008 until I left in 2024.

Teresa Roberson  

Congratulations.

Carolyn  

When I left in 2024, I was leaving the government, and I was doing the same kind of work the entire time. I was with about five different contracting companies, but I didn’t have to go anywhere. The companies changed, but I didn't change. Yeah, the government said, "No, we want to keep her." And they kept me through each contract change, which was a blessing.

Teresa Roberson  

Any final words you would like to say?

Carolyn  

I am so proud of you girl. You do an excellent job. I got some connections. I plan to get you in with Tyler Perry. Just give me a little more time. It's coming. 

Teresa Roberson  

Well, thank you for talking with me today.

Carolyn  

Well, you're very welcome. I have enjoyed every bit of it.