Long time no see, and it’s good to be back home in McDonough.

Last night I had a dream that I just can’t let go of. I’ve got to tell someone, and I thought, who could be better than y’all, my readers, the ones who are really interested and wonder what it was like to grow up in McDonough in the 50s and 60s.
Well here we go: Years ago we would just go and visit people we knew and enjoyed without calling or anything. That way we caught up with the most recent news. I was most used to the East side of the Square, because of my grandfather’s theater.

Walking up to all the stores that I knew and they knew me. Let’s see now. After the theater it was Hammock Hardware, Conkles Five and Dime, Betty and Annie Gasses, Goldsteins Shoes and the Copeland Store!

I’m walking up the street right now and honk, honk! There goes Archie McGarity in his new Oldsmobile that he bought from Andrew Carmichael on Macon Street.

When someone would honk their horn, it was a friendly honk. We could see the car and not only know what kind of car it was, but what family owned the car and what kind of animal they had, especially dogs, because back then there was no leash law and dogs could come and go as they pleased.

Back to Archie – there was no one that was any more well known than him. Archie would drive around town and chew tobacco. People would say that if you were looking for Archie, all you had to do was stand on a corner on the McDonough Square and he would ride by every 15 minutes!

Archie is on his way to M.J. Upchurch’s (Standard Oil) Filling Station on the Square. Hey, there is Bubba Tingle who is M.J.’s Manager. Other people that will be there are Tubby Nail, Johnny Joiner, Jack Exum, Steve Agee, and of course, the pillar of the town, Dr. John Frank Ward, who was the Fire Chief of McDonough’s Volunteer Fire Department for many years.

Jack Exum will be bringing the turtles for the stew. Nobody could catch them better than Jack, for he used to put out baskets to catch them out of many Henry County lakes.

Hold on just one minute and let me turn down my AM radio. With no A.C. we all had our windows down to catch the cool Southern breeze blowing through our cars. I have it tuned into WQXI 790 on your AM dial with our host Skinny Bobby Harper. He was a real popular D.J. I was listening to “The Poor Side of Town” by Johnny Rivers.

My father and I are going to the cook out, but before the stew tonight my dad’s car needs tuning up. The spark plugs need to be changed and a new set of points installed to make it run smooth again.

As I’m walking down Griffin Street everybody has their clothes on a clothes line outside with clothes pins to hold the clothes to the line. Sheets sure did smell fresh back then and we didn’t have to pay for electricity to dry them.

I also notice that people are cutting their grass with a push lawnmower. Hey, there is Mike Craig washing his car. His cars always looked like they just came off of the showroom floor, Mike always has the cleanest cars in town.

I’m turning down Macon Street to go see Mrs. Louise Copeland at her home to get tutored in Algebra. It happened to me and several others: Mrs. Copeland always had Jello for her students as a treat. My mother would also make it several times a week. How come nobody serves it anymore?

My mom needs to go in to see Mr. T.A. Sloan and Mrs. Hattie Sue Sloan to buy some cloth for her next outfit.

I’m back on the Square now and I’ll just step next door to Dr. Ward’s drugstore and check out the latest comic books. People you might see are Ruby Nail, T.P. Stewart, Montez Goulde, Mr. Sowell and Alan Carmichael.

I’m going to stop off at Mr. Clarence Hubbard’s Barber Shop and Pool Room. I heard that yesterday Victor Gasses went to pay Mr. Hubbard for a haircut and Victor must have dropped a dollar bill and Mr. Clarence noticed it had fallen to the floor. So, Victor proceeded to get up out of the barber chair and leave, before Mr. Clarence asked him kindly to pick it up himself.

Now Victor was tall and stout and you really didn’t want to make him unhappy at all. You might say that Victor could be a bully if he wanted.

Victor was only scared of one person in his life and that was his father. So Mr. Hubbard said, “I don’t think I’ll pick it up, but I will go next door and ask your father to come pick it up.” Victor’s daddy was Mr. Jesse Gasses, a well known merchant on the Square and in the community. It is noted, because he had 10 children in the school system, Mr. Gasses donated heavily to the public schools in McDonough. His store was right next door to Ward Drug Co. and Mr. Clarence Hubbard’s business.

The story goes that Victor came out of the barber shop chair like the store was on fire, picked up the dollar and straightened it out, apologized to Mr. Hubbard and begged him not to go to his father!

There were two places in town where you always wanted to look your best. One of them being church, of course, and the other was at D.T. Carmichael and Son Funeral Directors. That was the only business that was available 24-7. I still remember their phone number, 957-3535.

No one could come close to pulling up a family that was down like Mr. Ben Carmichael. His father, Mr. Tal Carmichael, trained his son to be compassionate. I can see Mr. Ben now with that classic blue navy suit and his white hair. He was a classy gentleman!

Let’s go back to the Square and on the corner of Macon Street, Henson Furniture was in business there for several years. Henson Furniture would tell the ladies that were graduating it was time to get a hope chest. They would give the ladies that graduated from high school back in the 40s and 50s, yes, I said give, a genuine cedar hope chest for graduation. A hope chest was for a young lady to put her things in for safe keeping. My family still has my mother’s with her wedding dress intact in it.

I will close today by telling you about a moment that has never left me. There was a place we all used to eat at called Arnold’s Restaurant down between Macon and Griffin streets.

Originally it was called Jackson Restaurant. It was a place our whole town just loved that served meat and vegetables and is still standing today. (Someone should buy the property and open it up as a restaurant. You would have a very busy diner and restore a building that would have that Ole McDonough feel.)

So one day in the 1970’s, I had just pulled up and was getting ready to walk into Arnold’s for lunch when I saw a scene I will never forget. Mr. and Mrs. Paul Cates Sr. pulled into the parking lot. I was just standing there when Mr. Cates opened his door and proceeded around to open the car door for his wife, Mrs. Laura Cates.

They were in their golden years and I had attended church with the Cates, and still do!

My mother taught me to open the door for a lady when she was riding in my car.

These two citizens of our town truly loved it here in McDonough, I could tell, for Mrs. Cates to be treated with so much respect and dignity. I thought, there goes a true love story and kindness all before me. I thought that if there ever was a true gentleman and a Southern lady, it was them. Thanks for the memory! See y’all next time!

Jeff Reeves is a lifelong resident of McDonough. He and his wife, Betsy, have one son.