Both of my grandfathers were dead before I was born. My mother’s mother died when I was about 6 years old, and my father’s mother died when I was in my 20’s.
Thalia Freshwater and Lawrence deLafayette Morton were my mother’s parents. Lawrence died in 1950, and Thalia in 1960. Their home, and the one in which I lived until I was about in 7th Grade, was located on the corner of Queens Creek Road and Hwy. 24 about two miles from Swansboro,
North Carolina.
- Thalia & Lawrence Morton
When the State of North Carolina widened Highway 24 between Jacksonville and Swansboro, NC in the 1970s, the old two story white house, that had sat on the corner, was moved about a quarter mile down Queens Creek Road.
My mother gave/sold the house to her brother, Robert Preston “Bob” Morton and his family lived there some years later.
- Me & mom behind Lyde’s old house.
Lyde’s old house was moved or torn down and when Hwy. 24 was widened, the old home place was moved from the corner of Hwy. 24 and Queens Creek Road to this location. I now recall that Rhiney Foster had a sawmill at this location and part of the ground was sawdust.
This image of me and my mom is classic as to how “we” felt. She never remarried, worked Civil Service for over 45 years, mostly aboard the Camp Lejeune Marine Base.
Bill Gibson, II 