From Cotton Field to Golf

In the summer between my Jr and Sr year I decided I was too old to just be cutting grass as I had been doing for a couple of years to earn my spending money. I had been cutting grasses at Shaw and around Oakland Plantation, but was bored and needed more money. I did work a while at the Peach Packing Plant of Barnett's farm. Several of us HHS folks worked there for a dollar and hour! Bad thing about it was we were only paid when we were running peaches. While waiting for the peaches to come from the field we sat around, slept on mattresses and told stories. Sometimes we waited till 2 am for peaches to come in. If we left we were fired!

I learned about how manufacturing worked. Many of the women packed the bushels so that the good peaches were always on top and others loaded. It was hot and itchy with all the peach fuzz. The peaches were still hard and not yet ripe, so there was little eating of them! I had a good job for a while of putting the bushels full of peaches in the water cooler machine. It was cool on those hot days. I quit after a few weeks and went to the farm job. I do remember the song Satisfaction was out this summer and it was our work song about little money and hard work.

My next job that summer was working on a tractor, spraying cotton on the Claremont Farms for Sam Gillespie, father of Weezie and Sambo. I had to learn how to drive a big tractor and get around on a farm. It was boring sometimes going up and down long rows of cotton spraying those boll weavels, but I learned much about farming and that was good. Much of the farm I sprayed is now the golf course in Stateburg, Beech Creek Golf Course. We play here during out reunions.

It is a gas to walk up and down this course with my classmates. Years ago we had about thirty classmates out for a round. 2006 we were smaller and only '66 folks showed up. These are all somewhat serious golfers, especially Don and Rusty. Nancy is the best female of the Hillcrest golfers.... and this may be a challenge for the next reunion in Myrtle Beach in 2010.

Don Roberts, Chappie McCowan, Rusty Atkinson, Nancy Bradshaw Atkinson, John McTamney

Photo by, Sometime Golfer too... Bob Noe

2006 Reunion at Beach Creek Golf Course