Discusses his book, ‘In Times Gone By,’ for PCHA
Saluda native Bill Russell told stories of slower times during a Polk County Historical Association meeting Tuesday, May 3, while discussing his book, “In Times Gone By.” The book is about his memories of growing up in Saluda, which is celebrating its 130th anniversary this year.
Russell spoke of many aspects that made Saluda great, including downtown stores and the people.
Russell was born on the Henderson County side of Saluda in 1934 in a two-room house that blew when the wind blew, he said.
Russell said he grew up poor, but never went hungry. He didn’t have a car until 1950, he said. He said anyone who had anything had a cow back then and they grew most of what they ate.
“If the cow dried up and didn’t give any milk, you could always eat him,” Russell said.
Russell was uniquely the last official graduate of Saluda High School. He was drafted in the Army when he was 18, prior to graduating. Although he came back from service and received his GED, he received a letter in 2007 saying that all people who got drafted in high school would get their diploma. A graduation service was arranged just for Russell, with the principal and superintendent presenting him his diploma.
Russell retired from the Army and National Guard in 1974 after almost 24 years of service. He also worked at Adams Millis in Tryon for a while and retired twice from Landrum Mills.
Russell spoke of former Saluda Police Chief Gurley Laughter, who also served as the town manager and took care of the water system. He said M.A. Pace’s store was there and people would buy their beef from Ward’s store, owned by Roy, then Charlie Ward. There were no refrigerators, and beans and sugar came in a barrel, he said. Every once in a while, Russell said, they’d get salted fish in a 50-gallon barrell.
Russell said he doesn’t think he ever ate a steak until he was 25 – 30 years old and he’ll never forget the first hamburger he ever ate. Russell was five or six years old at a “beer joint” in Tennessee.
“I never found another place that had a hamburger that tasted or smelled as good as that first one,” said Russell.
While Russell was growing up in Saluda, you could get a hamburger for 15 cents and a hotdog for 10 cents at a Saluda café. There were also slot machines that you could play and win 35 cents for a nickel, he said.
Other good memories came from Russell’s aunt, Loney Coggins. She was a midwife who told Russell she delivered more than 320 babies. She would spend weeks with families both before and after the babies were born. She used to say if the parents didn’t pay her, the babies she delivered belonged to her.
One time the Bradleys came into town with a sick horse, Russell said. They tried to pour a bottle of medicine down the horse’s throat, but didn’t have any luck. He said his aunt Loney stuck her fingers in the horse’s nostrils so it couldn’t breathe and raised the horse’s head and poured the bottle in there and he swallowed it. She then said, “See, men don’t know everything.”
“Aunt Loney always wore a polka dot dress and a long apron,” Russell said. “Aunt Loney was quite a character in her own right.”
Russell also said although he didn’t drink, parts of Saluda were known for making moonshine.
He said when he was young there were no jobs in Saluda and he made a little extra money driving people to Gap Creek to get liquor.
“They’d pay me $7 to take them to buy a half gallon,” said Russell. “I didn’t drink, but I hauled a little bit of it, I’ll admit that.”
Russell also spoke of a black woman named Phelby Sullivan (pronounced “Phoebe”).
“She was famous in the fact that she was an herb doctor,” Russell said. “She died when she was 101.”
Russell described Sullivan as having “snow white hair” and sitting in a chair.
He said someone once accused Sullivan of selling medicine without a license, but all she had was natural herbs. And she really didn’t sell them. She put out a jar and if people wanted, they’d put a little money in it.
“I’m not going to say what was in the basis of that medicine,” Russell said, laughing. “It might not cure you, but it sure made you feel good.”
The town threw a birthday party for Sullivan every year with hundreds attending, including black and white people.
“We were lucky in Saluda,” Russell said. “We didn’t have any racial problems. Everybody got along.”
Russell has also written of the black history of Saluda. He said he never knew a bad black person who ever lived in Saluda and spoke highly of their contributions to Saluda history.
“They contributed much to what Saluda is today,” Russell said.