"The American Dream is all about social mobility in a sense--

                                                            the idea that anyone can make it.     --Fareed Zakaria

Erik,

     "When Mam and Dad were able to purchase their first home in Statesville, NC, they had accomplished something that wouldn't have happened in England at that time.  It was a huge moment, I think.  They were well on their way to 'making it.'"                   --Mom

Maureen remembers:

     "It was in Statesville that Mam and Dad bought us each a bedroom suite (bed, dresser, and desk) from Gordon's Furniture Store.  I still have mine, as does Barbara.

     I was allowed to ride my bike to the library.  I would cut through the back of the high school, cross North Center Street, and ride through a residential area to the front of the library.  I had a basket on my bike; in the summers I went through a lot of Nancy Drew books.
        A few years ago when I visited Statesville, I noticed how small the library (now a Head Start center) actually is; it still looked the same, with curved wrought iron steps on both sides of the front door.

Statesville Drug  Store/Holmes Drug Store

     I would also ride into downtown Statesville and go to the movies.  I remember Cherry Cokes at the corner drug store, Statesville Drug Store or Holmes Drug Store.  On one of my many trips into town, I bought Barbara a tiny china tea set for Christmas.


     I joined a Brownie troop; Mam would help at the meetings.  I remember making a small ceramic fawn and shoe, both of which I still have.  Mam painted the eyes on the fawn.  Barbara and I also made egg cups, her's was a rooster (she still has it) and mine was a duck.



     I was playing over at a Brownie friend's house one day, in the backyard, when her dog jumped up and bit me in the behind.  I had to be taken to the doctors to get a Tetnus shot.  I think that is the reason I've had a fear of large dogs every since.  I stayed in Girl Scouts through high school.
     Our next door neighbors, the Lipshitz family, had a daughter,  Donna, who I often played with.  I needed a dress for a school dance, and Mam had just had Darryl and couldn't get out to the shops, so Mrs. Lipshitz went to a local department store,  Spainhours, and brought home several dressed for me to choose from; I chose a lovely white dress with big green flowers on it.

Maureen holding Patches; Barbara on the far right

 






     "We had our first dog while living in Statesville, a beagle named Patches.  We were out driving up in the mountains and saw some kids playing with some puppies, stopped, went to the door and asked if we could buy one.   The woman who answered looked so down trodden; the house had a dirt floor.  It made us count our blessings.
     Patches became a memeber of the Shelton household, but he kept running away.  We had just about given up on him, when one day he came home with a piece of rope tied to his collar.  We found out later that he would go and visit at some nearby shacks, and the people who lived there were feeding him, obviously something he liked because he would keep disappearing.  We left Patches home alone one time; when we returned there was toilet paper strewn all over the house."
                                                                                            --Joan Shelton