Strange Family Folklore
Strange Family Folklore
The Strange Hustle
Olander "Charlie" Strange, Jr is one of my first cousins. His namesake, Olander, was one of my maternal uncles.
My great grandfather, Jesse Strange, was born a slave and freed in his 20s. His 12 children were born free, and referred to as "The First Freeborn Generation." In this podcast series, I interview Jessee Strange's descendants in order to document our stories. This is Strange Family Folklore.
Olander "Charlie" Strange, Jr is one of my first cousins. His namesake, Olander, was one of my maternal uncles.
Teresa Roberson
Now, Charlie, one thing I want to get cleared up right off the bat here: your name is Olander Strange, Jr., but we call you, “Charlie.”
Charlie
Exactly.
Teresa Roberson
How did that happen?
Charlie
Well, my uncle on my mother’s side, Uncle Lonnie, he know my grandfather on my mother’s side. And he know my grandfather on my father’s side. And one was named Charlie and the other is named Charles. And he started calling me, “Charlie.” And it stuck.
Teresa Roberson
Did you look like them?
Charlie
That’s what he said. He said I look like them and act like them. So, yeah that stuck with me for life.
Teresa Roberson
Okay, because I was surprised that you were “Olander, Jr.” and it seems like I learned that when I was an adult.
Charlie
That’s what everybody, other than people that went to school with me, knew me as “Charlie.” They didn’t know me as “Olander.”
Teresa Roberson
And you even introduced your future wife, Cousin Mildred, as “Charles.”
Charlie
Right. Well see, when I was in Jersey, I souped it up to “Charles.”
Teresa Roberson
Well, she obviously didn’t feel that you lied to her because ya’ll been married for a long time.
Charlie
Yeah, 37 years.
Teresa Roberson
Whoo. Congratulations. I once told Mama Bea, our grandmother, that she must not get bored easily because she was married to Papa for so long.
Although I call my grandfather, Floyd B. Strange, “Papa,” throughout this conversation Charlie refers to him as “Granddaddy.” Yet we all called Papa’s wife, Beatrice M. Strange, “Mama Bea.”
Charlie
Oh, yes. She was always doing something. I mean, if she wasn’t doing Avon, tobacco. She would get a job working in tobacco, making money. And then she’d tell other peoples about it. And she would carry them back and forth. They would pay her for taking them back and forth where they go do the tobacco, whatever they had to do.
Teresa Roberson
Oh, wait a minute. You mean she was like a chauffeur?
Charlie
Yeah, plus, she worked too. She worked into tobacco. I learned a lot from Mama Bea. Mama Bea had a good mind. We would call her today a “hustler.” She would always know how to make a dollar and how to save a dollar. I learned that from her. I was a teenager and I got in trouble over in North Carolina. Well, I had to go to court on a Wednesday. I was working. I told Mama Bea that I didn’t have no money. I wanted her to loan me some money, so in case I had to pay a fine. Well, she loaned me the money. She said, “Look, now, I want my money back.” I said, “Yeah, I’m gonna give it back to you. I get paid Friday.” Well, Friday when I got paid, I paid everything, but her and I went down there with the money to pay her I had $5 left. I said, “Mama Bea,” I put it on the table. I said, “Look, here’s your money, but I ain’t got but $5 left.” She reached and got her money. She said, “You got in trouble. I didn’t.”
Teresa Roberson
Oh, I love that story. Did she put it in her bra?
Charlie
Yeah. Hey, but you know, I learned a lot from her. I was born May 26, 1949. My mother and my father, one was 16, the other one was 17.
Charlie’s mother was Ozella.
They rented a house and I was a little baby. My mother told me, she was in the mirror combing hair, and I was on the bed. In the mirror, you could see me laying on the bed. It was by window in the summertime and a snake was crawling in the window. She seen the snake crawling in the window. She got me by the foot and slid me on away. Say it was a black snake. They say usually a black snake can smell the milk. They’ll go down the throat to get the milk and then kill them. She got me. She carried me to her mother and father. I stayed with them. But there’s one thing about Mama Bea, Mama Bea always made sure that she got me. She would come and get me and bring me down there. I really learned a lot from both of my grandmothers. I was staying down at Mama Bea’s. I was a little boy. Did you ever go to the pasture, over there where Granddaddy had the cows and mules?
Teresa Roberson
I don’t think so.
Charlie
Anyway, I’d go with Granddad over there to the pasture. The cow had had a calf, but it was time for my granddaddy to start milking the cow. So, I went over there and Granddaddy it was milking the cow. So, I’d seen what he was doing, I’m gonna milk the calf. And I reach under there to milk the calf, and that calf kicked me a somersault. And I got up and I went over there and kick the calf back. Granddaddy laughed ‘til he turned the milk over in the bucket. He went back and said, “Bea, I’m sorry. I wasted all the milk, laughing at Olander, Jr.” Said, “The calf kicked him and he kicked the calf back.” But that was a lot of fun. They was a lot of fun to be around and you learned a lot, especially from Herbert and Clarence.
Teresa Roberson
Okay, your two uncles.
Which happen to be two of my uncles as well.
Charlie
Yes. They come up there and get me when Olander come in, but Olander, he stayed on the road, going up north and doing. He was the one that would go all the time. Yeah. But I learned a lot from Mama Bea and Granddaddy.
Teresa Roberson
What did you do with Uncle Clarence and Herbert?
Charlie
Well Clarence, that’s another thing. Clarence helped me do my homework. So, I had to read. And every time I’d get to A-S, I’d stop. And Clarence said, “Look, the word is ‘as.’” And so, you know, I wasn’t thinking “as” such and such a thing. I was thinking “ass” as your behind. I did it about three times. Every time I’d get to an “as,” I’d stop. Clarence said, “Charlie, what you sitting on?” I said, “My behind.” He said, “You sitting on your ass!”
And Herbert, I probably was about seven. It was close to Christmas. And you remember the back porch Mama Bea had and she had her freezers and stuff on it?
Teresa
Oh yes. Those freezers were famous.
Charlie
Right. Well Herbert came in the door and I went out that going to Herbert. Herbert had a blank gun and shot. I thought Herbert had shot me. I fell on floor. I fell on the concrete. Thought Herbert had shot me. He just bust out laughing. Herbert was a lot of fun, but your mama, she couldn’t have no boyfriend.
My mother, Velma M. Roberson, was the youngest of the family.
Well, Mama Bea told me. They go out and sit on the porch, I sit in between him and her. That’s why I tell your daddy, I said, “Look, I saved Velma for you. Because I wouldn’t let no other guys sit there with Velma, calling themselves going court her. And Velma, when she was at school, Mama Bea would take me up there at June Watkin’s his grandmother.
June Watkin’s mother was Jane Flippin.
I called her “Granny.” Well, while Mama Bea was up there talking, I would go down to the school. I’d go in there and look and I see Velma. Teacher said, “Young man, can I help you with something?” I said, “No ma’am.” After a while, I’d go back to the door and I look and see Velma and I tell Velma to come here. She said, “Young man. Can I help you with something? Velma say, “He want me.” Velma said, “Olander, Jr., what do you want? What do you want with me?” I said, “I want you to come out here and play with me.” But you know, I was probably no more than two or three years old at the time.
Teresa Roberson
Wow. I remember. You’re about nine years younger than my mother.
Charlie
Exactly.
Teresa Roberson
She was born in 1940.
Charlie
And I was ‘49.
Teresa Roberson
Now did you grow up mostly in New Jersey?
Charlie
No. I was 21 years old when I went to New Jersey. I grew up mostly in Logtown and Cascade. They won’t too far apart.
It was one time, I was a teenager then. Mama Bea would come and get me and I stayed there with them all the week or whatever during the summer. I’d be dying to get back to Logtown because that’s where my friends and my girlfriend would be there. Mama Bea brought me up there to the road. She said, “Now, I ain’t going down where those mud holes with my car. Well, I said, “I can walk on down there.” Well, I’m in such a big hurry and I closed my hand in the door. That’s the first time Mama Bea ever heard me cuss. And she said, “What you say, boy?” I said, “Excuse me.” But yeah, Mama Bea, she was strict about stuff, but like I say,during my life, I’ve learned a lot from her. Whole lot. She could get any of them straight. Ask Velma about that.
Teresa Roberson
How was that?
Charlie
Well, like Clarence or Olander, they doing something wrong or whatever, she’d straighten them out. The right from wrong. Even to some of her sisters’ husbands. She didn’t take no junk. But she had a very unique way of letting them know.
Teresa Roberson
How was that?
Charlie
By explaining to them, telling them, that it didn’t make no sense. That was another one her words, “don’t make no sense.”
Teresa Roberson
I think that’s where I got it from, myself. I always thought I got my sense of logic from just being a Virgo and my mother is also Virgo, but Mama Bea isn’t.
Charlie
She was very smart. Though I will have to give it to her.
Teresa Roberson
Mama Bea was a Cancer. She was born in late June.
Charlie
I think it was around about...I don’t know whether it was the... 28th?
Teresa Roberson
Her birthday was the reason why we have our family reunion in late June.
Charlie
But we used to have in in May. But it would be so cool. And that’s the reason they moved it up to June. Yet, I didn’t know that. Mama Bea and Granddaddy donated the land where the shelter is at.
Teresa Roberson
Right. But I know when we moved it to June, it was so we could celebrate the oldest relatives’ birthdays in addition to the family reunion. You remember that one family reunion where she had that money tree?
Charlie
Yes. I remember the money tree.
Teresa Roberson
My mother just wanted to drape the money from the tree to do this little design and Mama Bea was so worried about that money. She did not like that money being on the tree.
Charlie
She’s afraid somebody would take it all.
Teresa Roberson
Yes, she wanted that money on her person.
Charlie
But I was about 25-26. I was in Jersey because we used to come I’d come down and visit the family reunion. That’s when I realized Mama Bea and Granddaddy was rich. I was old enough to the realization of what they had. Everybody didn’t live the way that they did. They used to have a churn where she would churn the milk, she’d take it up and down. Then she got an electric churn. Put it down in that and it would go round and round. The butter would come up to the top. A majority of anything came that was updated, she would get it. I came to the consideration that they was rich. Back then I didn’t realize it.
Teresa Roberson
Because they were humble.
Charlie
Yeah.
Teresa Roberson
I came to that realization late too. It’s amazing how humble they were.
Charlie
Right. And Granddaddy was very, very humble. But Mama Bea, she handled the money and took care of everything. She was good for that. Whoever is the one is taking care of their money or buying stuff. I mean, if they are knowledgeable about it and you are prospering from it, you need to let them keep on doing it.
Teresa Roberson
Right. Well, I got part of that. I’m not as good as an entrepreneur as she was. But I like to say that I pinch a penny until Lincoln screams for emancipation. So, I know I got that from her and my mother.
Charlie
Right. Well, my grandmother on my mother side when I first started working like in the summer, she always told me, say, “If you can’t save, but $5, when you work, save it. You going to need it.” Mama Bea always told me, “Look, I don’t care what you do, put you some money to the side.” When I was like that in the street, ripping and running and gambling and messing up money. When I get down to $10 or $20, I don’t care if it was Saturday or Sunday, it was time for me to go home.
Teresa Roberson
Right.
Charlie
It was time to go home. I learned the worst thing a person can do is be broke. That’s the worst thing. When you got money, everybody got it. When you broke, you broke.
Teresa Roberson
You have no friends.
Charlie
No. When I moved back here in ‘88, eventually a lot of them, they say, “You just like Miss Bea Strange. You tight.” I said, “I get what I want.” So obviously, I inherited it from her. I looked at how she handled things and how she handled money. Olander, he was the main one that could get money out of Mama Bea.
Teresa Roberson
How did he do that?
Charlie
He’d give her money. He’d go in there and ask for some money. She said, “I ain’t got no money, Olander.” He would keep on. He said, “Mother, I know you got some money.” Then, he’ll get mad. He’ll say, “That’s all right, that’s all right, that’s all right.”He’ll start walking out the door, Mama Bea say, “Olander, come here. So how much did you need?” He’ll tell her then, she started reaching down in her bosom. She’d say, “I want my money back too.” Eventually, he would file her down.
Teresa Roberson
But she never charged interest, right?
Charlie
Not as I know of. She didn’t charge me none. But I never got it but one time.
Teresa Roberson
Oh, okay.
Charlie
She think that I was gonna go to jail if I couldn’t pay that fine. So, that’s why she gave me the money. She would always explain to you about not being a fool with your money, especially when you had to get it from her.
Teresa Roberson
I just so happened to talk to her and Uncle Clarence was in the kitchen as well when I was talking about how when I bought my first car, they told me initially that I would be paying a certain percentage, but then I found out it was a higher percentage. Mama Bea and Clarence both told me, they will always charge Black people more.
Charlie
That’s right.
Teresa Roberson
And initially I didn’t want to believe it and you know why? Because it was Black people selling me the car.
Charlie
The White man set the pattern for that and they followed the pattern.
Teresa Roberson
That’s one of the craziest things about racism. Some people will argue that Black people can’t be racist. Anybody can be racist.
Charlie
Anybody.
Teresa Roberson
It just depends on if the system supports it or not. That’s what I’ll say.
Charlie
Yep. I went to New York. I think I was about 19. Well, a lot of my friends was up there. Probably about seven or eight of them. They was from Logtown. I got a job in a tape factory. Where they make band-aids and tape and stuff. Some of my friends they was telling me, say, “If you need any money, this guy he loaned you 25 cents on a dollar.” Well, one week, I had got low in money. I borrowed $10. When we got paid I had to pay him $12.50. I said I’ll never do that again. That’s 25 cents on the dollar. I never did it again neither. Never. That’s another reason why, when I get down low in money, I’m working, when I get down to 10 or $20 I’m going home. Because I ain’t giving nobody no money like that.
Teresa Roberson
Now all through school, you worked in tobacco, right?
Charlie
Yeah.
Teresa Roberson
You graduated. You moved away from Cascade to work?
Charlie
In the furniture factories.
Teresa Roberson
North Carolina? ‘Cause I know North Carolina is big for furniture.
Charlie
Virginia. Up in Martinsville and Bassett. Martinsville and Bassett. You know this guy? I was 19 then. I was working at the Bassett furniture factory. I used to tell a rip saw. Well, the wood was sort of long. I would stand there and dance while I tell that rip saw. up One side, you put the good wood on. The bad side you shoot it back to him. Like if it had a knot or something in it. So, he could cut it out. And I would stand and dance. Well, we got paid every two weeks. It was $1.60 cent an hour. You’re working 10 hours a day and five hours on Saturday. Well, I got paid that Friday. That Saturday, I didn’t work. I usually work, but I didn’t work. They sent word to tell that boy that he fired. Hey, I didn’t care. I was young. That Monday evening, they sent word back to tell that boy if he come back, we’ll give him a nickel raise. They didn’t have nobody could tell that rip saw. That’s why he said, “If he come back telling me we give him a nickel raise.” So hey, I went on back up there and worked. But you know how much I was bringing home every two weeks? $155. That was 60 hours. Let’s see. 50, 55. That was 110 hours every two weeks. $155.
Teresa Roberson
Wow, what year was that?
Charlie
That was back around about 60, latter part of 60, ‘68 or early ‘69. But some of them guys come home for Christmas from New York and I went back with them. I went back to New York, but I told them that Monday, a lie. I said, my father was bad off sick. And I had to go to New Jersey, to go up there to see him. And I was going to stay up there. And they told me say if you work all day, we will have your check ready for you. That was $96. When I got paid, that Monday evening, there was a check for $96. Now, I went to New York. I stayed up there. It was close to 1970. But Clee, he said, “Man, let’s go back home. These guys drink a lot of wine. So, we came back to Logtown. Herbert was working down here in the mill where Granddaddy used to work. And I got a job down there, working in the mill. Herbert say, “Olander told you when he get a house that he was gonna let you come up there.” He said, “He got a house now.” That was the last of 1970 because I went up there in 1971. I’ll never forget it was in March. I went up there in 1971. Time I got up there, Olander had me driving. I didn’t have no driving license, but I could drive. He’s said, “Look, you got to get some driving license.” So, about three weeks, he got me the book and I studied the book and I got my driving license.
Teresa Roberson
Was a truck driver by then?
Charlie
He was driving. He was working at Winn Dixie and driving taxis. When he drives the taxis, I’d ride with him. He said, “Now, when you’re looking for a house, the number is going to be on it. On the left side if you’re looking for 369, you’ll be checking both sides out. The first one you see what an odd number, you know that 369 is on the left side if you see it over there.” That’s the way I sort of learned how to travel. He used to drive trucks. I’d ride with him. Show me things. And that’s how I learned. Olander was very good on directions, on finding places. Sometimes he’d have to use the map. But he was real smart on going places.
Teresa Roberson
Well, you’re lucky that you had your father to teach you how to drive and not Uncle Clarence. Clarence taught my mother how to drive. One of the first things he told her was that there was no need to get behind the wheel if you weren’t gonna drive fast. That’s the worst combination. An inexperienced driver going fast. My mother had her lead foot. Now she drives as one would expect an 80 year old person to drive but when she was younger, Clarence wouldn’t let her get behind the wheel if she was going to drive slowly.
Charlie
But you know, one thing I’ve learned about Clarence, Clarence could back a half a mile in reverse. I mean, he be going fast too. But he was good on that. I’m gonna tell you another thing about ol’ Clarence. It wasn’t no inside restroom. No, we had to toilet outside.
Teresa Roberson
The outhouse. Yes, I’m so glad I came after that!
Charlie
I would be out there gotta use the bathroom. I got to pee. Clarence’s in there. I’m jumping up and down. I got to pee. I got to pee. It taking Clarence so long. The planks got the cracks. You can peep in there. Clarence sitting in there asleep. I said, “Clarence, Clarence, I got to use the bathroom.” But Clarence was real funny. Some of the things that he did. Clarence taught me a lot too because when you go to get your car fixed he said, “Don’t leave there. Stay right there with your car. Those jokers, whatever you asked him to do if you ain’t there watching, they won’t do it. You been done paid them, and they ain’t done good job right.” So, I got that from Clarence. Whenever I was looking for a car. I’d tell Clarence. Clarence would find me a car. ‘Cause he had a lot of other friends. The first car I ever had, Olander’s friend, it was a ‘67 Chevrolet. Blue. It was sitting this guy’s yard. Olander asked him would he sell it. He said, “Yeah.” He said, “What’s wrong with it?” He say, “Ain’t nothing wrong with it.” He sold that car for $150. I was happy as a lark then. Riding that ‘67 Chevrolet. Cleaning it up, and riding it. One night I was on 80. I was in New Jersey. I was running about 80 miles an hour on that car. That morning, Olander woke me up, said, “Come on take over here to Donnie’s.” Donnie didn’t live far. Probably about five or six blocks. It wasn’t that far. The car was rolling about five miles per hour. One of the front wheels just fell off.
Teresa Roberson
Ah!
Charlie
It just felt completely off. And that night, I’m right there running about 80 miles an hour. I remember the old saying Mama Bea used to say, “The Lord take care fools and babies.” I knew I wasn’t no baby.
Teresa Roberson
It’s amazing ya’ll didn’t hurt yourselves. Or get hurt because people didn’t wear seatbelts back then.
Charlie
No, but seat belts was in that car too. But we didn’t wear them.
Teresa Roberson
I was gonna say you didn’t have them on probably.
Charlie
No, no we didn’t wear them. Shoot! We did not wear no seatbelt, but they was in that car. I got a ‘68 Chevelle after that car. I was gonna come down South. I got it fixed up. I worked that Sunday night and I got off that Monday. On my way home, a guy rode with me and a white guy ran the red light and ran into my car. If it hadn’t been for that guy in the car with me, I was gonna whup him. Because I had my money right. I had my car right and I was coming down here to show off. And he ran into my car. That just messed my whole vacation up. The guy I was renting from, he had a ‘63 Comet. I’m laying in there on my bed in my room. He comes, say, “Hey boy, I got an old ‘63 Comet out there. You give me $75, you’ll have something to ride.” I wasn’t no Ford man, but I bought that car, so I’d have something to ride. I rode that thing until I got my insurance money. Then I bought me a ‘65 Chevrolet because the guy was supposed to take the motor out of that ‘68. Stole the motor! Stole my motor out the car. When I was a boy, and I was staying there at Mama Bea’s, I used to go up to Kat’s and was Shorty, Little Pleas and his sisters. All of us used to play together. Okay, do you remember leave Mama Bea’s house, it was a road coming up that way?
Teresa Roberson
Yes.
Charlie
Well do you ever remember them having an association there?
Teresa Roberson
No.
Charlie
You probably was too young.
Teresa Roberson
What’s interesting is we’ve had 80 continuous family reunions. When you were little, there was no way you could have imagined that we would be having our family reunion virtually.
Charlie
No, way.
Teresa Roberson
You were still using the outhouse, right?
Charlie
Yes. Back then that was normal. Everybody had them. Everybody had outhouse. But no, it’s no way in the world would I ever dream of having what we’re having now. No way. But I remember Mama Bea and them they used to have a TV. Black and white TV.
Teresa Roberson
Right.
Charlie
I remember when they had that. I said, “Wow.” I’ll never forget. I was staying down there at Mama Bea’s. They had a telephone, but she got a long line on a phone. She was in her bedroom, then they had a bathroom. She was talking to Aunt Ida. She say, “Ida, you know where I am?” She said, “No, where you at, sis?” “I’m in the bathroom.” She said, “Your cord called reached that long, that far?” See Mama Bea had bought her a longer cord. She could go about anywhere she wanted with it. Now look at thecellphones we got. I mean, it’s amazing what technology have done.
Teresa Roberson
I think the fanciest phone Mama Bea had when she was alive was a cordless phone.
Charlie
Exactly.
Teresa Roberson
She never had a cell phone.
Charlie
No, a cordless phone. Yep. Sure did. I remember that too. But my people on my mother’s side, it probably was in the 70s before they got a phone. A regular phone. I think Ophelia was first one. That was my mother’s sister. I think she came back from Germany. It probably was in ‘68 or ‘69, she got a phone because I was in New York or whatever I’d call Granny and talk with her on the phone. But yeah, it was a long time before they had running water. They had running water. I’d run down to the spring and get it and bring it back.
Teresa Roberson
And that was the running water? You were the water runner?
Charlie
Yes indeed. Water is always downhill. On wash day was rough. Man, I had to bring water all day long. Finally, Granny got a barrel and we set it there next to the house and that water run in that barrel. That would save me some time. But if you didn’t get no rain, I had to go down there and get it. What make it so bad about it, Lula, my first cousin, she got large enough to help me get water. We’re in the summertime when we go down there to get the water you had a path and a snake be laying in the path. We’d run back to the house. “Granny it’s a snake down there in the path.” Granny would run us back down there. “The snake ain’t going to bother you. He just lying there, sunning.” We were scared of a snake then.
Charlie
We had to go down with rocks and run the snake away. Granddaddy, I think he built that spring. ‘Cause right in front of that spring it had a slab of concrete. Something like a walkway they used to have. We’d go down there and get water and bring it back to the house.
Teresa Roberson
Now there was a strange time when, let’s see...you guys still had an outhouse, but the actual main house was wired for electricity.
Charlie
First I ever known at Mama Bea’s, it always had electricity. But you know, those fuse you screw in?
Teresa Roberson
Yes.
Charlie
Now that’s what they had back then. Sometimes they would blow, and they’d put a penny in it to make it make good contact. When she got an air condition, it used to kick off all the time. So, they had to rewire that in order for them to get more juice. They had to redo the box and put breakers in it instead of the regular fuses. It wasn’t no problem for Mama Bea and them because you didn’t realize it back then, but they had the money. Now, do you remember, down in the basement in Mama Bea’s house?
Teresa Roberson
I may have gone down in that basement one time. I never really liked their basement ‘cause I didn’t like the stairs.
Charlie
From in the house you go down there, the stairs are steep, but from outside, and you go down there, the stairs wasn’t as steep. Clarence used to cut hair down there. I remember people used to come and man, they’d be waiting for Clarence to give them a haircut. But I didn’t know that Granddaddy used to cut hair. Velma told me that Granddaddy used to cut hair too. But if it was a dollar to be made, they knowed how to do it.
Teresa Roberson
Too bad I didn’t inherit that. I will spend $5 to make two.
Charlie
That’s one thing about it, they always taught me, on both sides, to work. When I was in school, I’d catch a ride to Leaksville. I’d go there and knock on doors and ask them did they have any work for me to do. They might want me to clean the flowerbed out or mow the grass or whatever to make me some money. If I went over there like on a Saturday and made $2.50, I was rich. I was rich then to have that kind of money. Think about it: cookies was two for a penny. A bar of candy was five cents and those large bars were ten cents. That was plenty money back then. My mother went to tie the tobacco. She didn’t have nobody to keep me, so she carried me with her. I probably was about five. And you know the people that handing the leaves? Well, I’d hand the leaves. They’d tell me put three together and had them to them. And when they paid everybody, Mr. Pete gave me $4. I was the richest person in the world then.
Teresa Roberson
Right, a five-year-old with $4.
Charlie
Look, I was rich. I ain’t kidding. But I remember the largest check that I made that was back in the 60s I would say ‘65, ‘66. In the summertime, you go there and work with John Smith. It would be about $1 an hour or something like that. Well, Harvey, my first cousin, he worked for Hicks Sheet Metal Company. When the people go on vacation, they clean the pipes and stuff out in the mills. I work with him then. We worked that whole week. I mean, we was working 12 and 16 hours. That Friday, I brought home 300 and some dollars.
Teresa Roberson
Wow. That was for how many days of work?
Charlie
That was for about forty-eight. In other words, we worked about five, six days. Look, you couldn’t make half of that in 40 hours. I made that much. Now, that was some money back then. So, I never forget this White guy. We was on the back of the truck and went to the bank, cashed our check. He said, “Let me tell ya’ll boys something. That’s a lot of money ya’ll done made there. So be careful with it.” I never forget him telling us that. But when I went to Norfolk, Virginia, I went down there and stayed probably about nine or 10 months. I went down with my first cousin on my mother’s side. They got me a job helping them frame houses with this guy. He started me off with $1.75. Up here, they was making $1.25. Oh, look. I was sure enough making good money then, $1.75. Now, we was working quite a bit of hours. Probably sun up to sundown. But that week I think I made about $120. That was good money. I said, “Look, I’ll never leave this job.” But I’ve traveled around Norfolk. But they used to tell me about West Virginia. I wanted to go to West Virginia, but I never got to West Virginia. I’ve been through there.
Teresa Roberson
Why did you want to go to West Virginia?
Charlie
Well, I had my grandmother’s sister, Amrai. She lived in West Virginia. And my mother she had went there and her other husband, Tom. They was talking about how nice she had it and I wanted to go. But I never did go to West Virginia. I went to Norfolk. Went to New York, Philadelphia. I went with Olander and them to Cleveland, Ohio. Gladys’, sister’s daughter got married. We didn’t stay there. You probably don’t remember it, used to be a show came on TV. They called it “Route 66.” It was a highway. Well, when we went to Ohio, we got on Route 66. I thought that was a big deal.
Teresa Roberson
There are songs about Route 66.
Charlie
We got on Route 66. I said, “Wow, I never thought that.”
Teresa Roberson
I do appreciate you talking with me.
Charlie
And I appreciate you taking the time to talk.
Teresa Roberson
You’re welcome.