Rosalie with 10lb fish Wiblur Caught

With the boys all married with their own families and homes, Wilbur and Rosalie had more time to spend together.  Rosalie said in her memoirs “I spent my happiest years with him tramping thru the woods or fishing after the children were grown. For a long time I didn’t have a gun and only went along to see the woods and the smell of the pine needles--the trees at different seasons. In the fall the leaves would be ankle deep and you had to get out early before the leaves dried when hunting squirrels because they would rattle so loud as to scare them away. When we fished, we would sit on the bank at Plantation, the pond back of our field--it made no difference if we caught anything or not but just to sit side by side and look across the water at the birds--it was a wonderful feeling. He enjoyed it and it made me happy to be with him.”

The Juniors

Being the Dean of Boys wasn’t to Fred’s liking and at the end of the summer he moved the family back to Atlanta in time for the kids, Dixie, Carole, Gary and Cork to start school in September.   With Jimmy still in the Navy, Sue and baby Danny moved with them.  In Atlanta Fred soon begin preaching at the Wrenwood Baptist Church but, always the businessman, he started the Book and Bible Company which he would buy bibles and other religious books at wholesale then sell them to churches and bookstores. These were wonderful times for the kids, especially for Dixie and Carole.  Dixie wrote:

  Carole and I loved high school and had lots of friends.  We would go on dates to a ball game, a dance, a party of some sort, out to eat, to the Fox Theater or a drive-in theater.  When we went to the Fox we got dressed up.  We work spiked heels and a tight sweater with either an ankle-length tight peg-bottom skirt or a full skirt with three to five crinolines under the skirt.  There were ushers at the Fox who took you thought the dark theater to your seat with a small flashlight.  Before, after, and during intermission there was an organist who played beautiful music.  Some Saturdays we went downtown shopping at Rich’s Department store.  We always wore high heels, dress, gloves and sometimes a hat.  Your hat and gloves matched and your shoes and bag matches.  We like to eat in the Rich’s Tea Room – it was elegant, and we thought we were sophisticated.   

Sometimes on the weekends, groups of us would go to Stone Mountain and climb to the top.  This was before the restoration – back when it was a big slab of granite with weeds.  We would climb to the top of the mountain, roast hot dogs, sing songs, act silly, and if you had a date, “smooch.”.  We had lots of hayrides, possum hunts, square dances, parties at someone’s house, and sock-hops in the gym after ball games.  We would also get someone’s pickup truck and load it down with people and go to the drive-in theatre for a $1.00 a car.  During the drive-in intermission, an organist would play the songs you requested.  Carole and I had quite a few boyfriends, were in lots of clubs, beauty pageants, and we were both homecoming sponsors. 

Sue and Dan, who was still a baby, came to live with us because Jimmy was in the Navy.  Sue was a terrible influence.  Entrusting Sue with the keeping of us during their travels, Mom and Dad had no knowledge of the fact that Sue was introducing us to cigarettes.  The second Mom and Dad pulled out of the drive, out came Sue’s Winton’s, which she forced into each of our mouths.  Cork says he started smoking at age five, Gary at nine, Carole at twelve, and me at fourteen.

Updated: 11-28-2022

1952 Barbara & Morris