We asked town commissioner and Wake Forest native Margaret Lee Jones Stinnett to tell us about life in the old days. Many of her memories focused on the family's store, Jones Hardware, which was open for 99 years before closing in 2005. But she also had other things to say: Fire and ice
"[One] thing that I remember is when Greg and Janet (Allen)’s house burned. And this was probably in the ’60s. They didn’t live there then. I guess we must have had a town fire department too, but everybody that was on the town fire department was on the rural fire department. And in the good ole days when the fire alarm went off it sounded from the water tower so you knew if it was an in-town call or out-of-town call. And my dad in his younger day was also on the fire department. The fire truck would come through town and it’d stop and pick everybody up and there was nobody left to work in the stores.
"The coldest day ever… as fast as they were pouring water on that house, it was freezing on the ground. And of course me and mom and dad went up there. The town was small enough then that it was somebody you knew’s home. All the ladies in town went back home and fixed thermoses of coffee and sandwiches and stuff. I sat in the car with Mom once she had made coffee to give it to the firemen…it was that cold. I can see the water freezing thick in the front yard…
"I remember the movie theater burning and all the firemen on the top of buildings across the street because all the roofs were tar and they were afraid the fire was going to jump. I remember going to the movie theater and coming out and there’d be snow on the ground on Saturday. We didn’t have plows to plow the streets. Nobody went anywhere. You walked everywhere. It was fun. Everybody in town went to Woodland Avenue and sledded. Because at the end was Tommy Byrne’s house and there was a creek across there and you wanted to be sure you didn’t screw up and hit the creek….because then you’d be all wet and cold and you’d have to go home."
Lazy Wednesday afternoons
"I remember closing on Wednesday afternoons because all the businesses in downtown Wake Forest closed at noon. Even when I started working at the hardware store downtown, we still closed on Wednesday afternoons and that was in the eighties. We would go down there, I guess it was in the summertime because I wasn’t in school, and I’d walk down to meet Dad. Me and Suzy (my black dog) would wait for him to get close and we’d go to Percy’s and take a can with us and buy fishing worms and we’d go to Moore’s Pond and go fishing on Wednesday afternoon. Then, Mr. Nuckles, who was the police chief, and his wife, would all come to the pond and we’d cook fish that we’d caught during the day for dinner."
Tea time and parades
"The Christmas parade used to start up on North Main Street. That was where the route started and you used to dress up to be in the Christmas parade. I’d wear my pretty little smock dress and my little fur muff. It was like going to church because it was an honor to be in the Christmas parade, to be on a float in the parade.
"Christmas Tea when I was young was always good and so was the community Christmas dinner. Those were big events. Once again we all dressed up. All the civic clubs, the women’s club, and it may have been the garden club… on a Sunday afternoon it was a Christmas Tea and all the women in all these groups made all these great refreshments. And it was laid out on this nice table, we got to serve punch and the tree was decorated with all handmade ornaments… at the Community House and everybody went. That was what you did that Sunday afternoon..
"We used to have dance recitals — all the girls in town took dance from Betty Holding. And the first recital I remember I was probably four and it was on the stage of the movie theater. After the movie theater burned, it moved to the auditorium to the elementary school. Big event. Packed house. Everybody went."
Watch out for bears!
"A bear came through. He hung out for a few days and they had sitings of him. The next thing I know he was running through the fire department section and Cardinal Hills and running out that way. I remember Andy Ray coming over, “Have you seen the bear?” and I was worried about (my) cats.
"And cows used to get loose before Tyler Run. There was a dairy. I’m sitting on the screened-in porch one day and the dog just starts raising hell, and this hasn’t been that long ago and I look and a cow’s coming across the backyard, crosses the front, (N.C.) 98, and goes headed off towards past the golf course."
Looking out for one another
"When I was pregnant with Elizabeth, they had snow when I was supposed to deliver. That was in 1987. The guys that worked downtown would come and pick me up — they wouldn’t let me drive (because the walk was so dangerously icy). The sense of community downtown…all the business owners downtown were the chamber and were the worker bees. The same group of 10 or 12 of us did everything, Meet in the Street, the Christmas parade, the chamber banquet. We were the whole kit ‘n’ kaboodle. But it all got done."
(For more of Margaret’s reminiscing, see the May 29 issue of The Wake Weekly).
"[One] thing that I remember is when Greg and Janet (Allen)’s house burned. And this was probably in the ’60s. They didn’t live there then. I guess we must have had a town fire department too, but everybody that was on the town fire department was on the rural fire department. And in the good ole days when the fire alarm went off it sounded from the water tower so you knew if it was an in-town call or out-of-town call. And my dad in his younger day was also on the fire department. The fire truck would come through town and it’d stop and pick everybody up and there was nobody left to work in the stores.
"The coldest day ever… as fast as they were pouring water on that house, it was freezing on the ground. And of course me and mom and dad went up there. The town was small enough then that it was somebody you knew’s home. All the ladies in town went back home and fixed thermoses of coffee and sandwiches and stuff. I sat in the car with Mom once she had made coffee to give it to the firemen…it was that cold. I can see the water freezing thick in the front yard…
"I remember the movie theater burning and all the firemen on the top of buildings across the street because all the roofs were tar and they were afraid the fire was going to jump. I remember going to the movie theater and coming out and there’d be snow on the ground on Saturday. We didn’t have plows to plow the streets. Nobody went anywhere. You walked everywhere. It was fun. Everybody in town went to Woodland Avenue and sledded. Because at the end was Tommy Byrne’s house and there was a creek across there and you wanted to be sure you didn’t screw up and hit the creek….because then you’d be all wet and cold and you’d have to go home."
Lazy Wednesday afternoons
"I remember closing on Wednesday afternoons because all the businesses in downtown Wake Forest closed at noon. Even when I started working at the hardware store downtown, we still closed on Wednesday afternoons and that was in the eighties. We would go down there, I guess it was in the summertime because I wasn’t in school, and I’d walk down to meet Dad. Me and Suzy (my black dog) would wait for him to get close and we’d go to Percy’s and take a can with us and buy fishing worms and we’d go to Moore’s Pond and go fishing on Wednesday afternoon. Then, Mr. Nuckles, who was the police chief, and his wife, would all come to the pond and we’d cook fish that we’d caught during the day for dinner."
Tea time and parades
"The Christmas parade used to start up on North Main Street. That was where the route started and you used to dress up to be in the Christmas parade. I’d wear my pretty little smock dress and my little fur muff. It was like going to church because it was an honor to be in the Christmas parade, to be on a float in the parade.
"Christmas Tea when I was young was always good and so was the community Christmas dinner. Those were big events. Once again we all dressed up. All the civic clubs, the women’s club, and it may have been the garden club… on a Sunday afternoon it was a Christmas Tea and all the women in all these groups made all these great refreshments. And it was laid out on this nice table, we got to serve punch and the tree was decorated with all handmade ornaments… at the Community House and everybody went. That was what you did that Sunday afternoon..
"We used to have dance recitals — all the girls in town took dance from Betty Holding. And the first recital I remember I was probably four and it was on the stage of the movie theater. After the movie theater burned, it moved to the auditorium to the elementary school. Big event. Packed house. Everybody went."
Watch out for bears!
"A bear came through. He hung out for a few days and they had sitings of him. The next thing I know he was running through the fire department section and Cardinal Hills and running out that way. I remember Andy Ray coming over, “Have you seen the bear?” and I was worried about (my) cats.
"And cows used to get loose before Tyler Run. There was a dairy. I’m sitting on the screened-in porch one day and the dog just starts raising hell, and this hasn’t been that long ago and I look and a cow’s coming across the backyard, crosses the front, (N.C.) 98, and goes headed off towards past the golf course."
Looking out for one another
"When I was pregnant with Elizabeth, they had snow when I was supposed to deliver. That was in 1987. The guys that worked downtown would come and pick me up — they wouldn’t let me drive (because the walk was so dangerously icy). The sense of community downtown…all the business owners downtown were the chamber and were the worker bees. The same group of 10 or 12 of us did everything, Meet in the Street, the Christmas parade, the chamber banquet. We were the whole kit ‘n’ kaboodle. But it all got done."
(For more of Margaret’s reminiscing, see the May 29 issue of The Wake Weekly).
