Mary Elizabeth Berry, daughter of Wiley P. and Ida Ann Wilson Berry
ANCESTORS
- Generation Robert and Mary Williamson Berry
- Generation Robert and Elizabeth Cate Berry
- Generation William and Hannah Cate Berry
- Generation Thomas Person and Sarah Lunsford Berry
- Generation John Robert and Elizabeth Bowling Berry
- Generation Wiley P and Ida Ann Wilson Berry
MARY ELIZABETH BERRY was named for her two grandmothers Mary Jane Coleman Wilson and Elizabeth Frances Bowling Berry. She was born August 23, 1899 and she was married on September 17, 1925. Aunt Maye died with a rare type of cancer on November 13, 1957, at the age of 58.
After Aunt Maye and Uncle Brodie were married they bought the service station and grocery store that you see on the right. This store was located on Old Highway US 70 on the west side of Hillsborough North Carolina. When they bought the store a house was included in the deal. The House was about fifty feet west of the store building and on the right. After World War ll Uncle Brodie expanded the store into the first supermarket in Hillsborough and he closed the service station part of the business.
He was very successful with this venture and even had a Cold Storage Meat warehouse and a butcher on the premises. There were three boys born to this union and the youngest was only eight months older than me. This was a great place for me to visit.
In the picture on the left you see Wiley P. Berry , Aunt Maye and her three sons. Judging from the apparent age of the youngest son this picture was taken about 1930. Her youngest son is 8 months older than I and I was born in May of 1930. Edsel Carr was born on Nov 28 1925 in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and died on April 13 2013 in Winston Salem, North Carolina
In the picture on the left my mother Sally Malena Berry is standing to the left of her sister (sitting) Mary Elizabeth Berry. This picture was taken about 1915
Aunt Maye was 10 years older than my mom and seemed like a second Grandma to me.She was a great cook and if she needed anything she didn’t have in her kitchen she would run to the store and get it. My cousin who was near my age would go in the store and go behind the candy counter and get anything I wanted to eat also. When I would visit them for a week in the summer I always did have one problem. I was an early riser and they were late sleepers. I just wandered around the house and looked at things. She had a glassed in back porch that filled with all kinds of potted plants. It was like a nursery so I always enjoyed looking at her flowers and plants. The first TV I ever saw was in their house. It was a fairly large box with about a 9 inch black and white tv screen. Not much on it except the news either. Uncle Brodie was a Mason and Aunt Maye was a member of Eastern Star.
My aunt and uncle had a greater influence on my outlook on life than either of them would ever have believed. Aunt Maye would come in to the house and fix a meal. She would then go to the store and relieve Uncle Brodie so he could come to the house and eat his meal. They kept the store open for long hours so they only had a couple of meals a week when they ate at the same time. On Sunday they would go to Church and after Church they would eat their Sunday Dinner together. After the meal Uncle Brodie would set at the dinning Room Table and work all afternoon on his books. Aunt Maye always wanted a new home with a greenhouse for her flowers. When she was about 56 years old they bought a lot close to the store and built a new Brick House, Greenhouse, a brick Bar-B-Q grill and a picnic shelter. Two years later Aunt Maye died. A few years later Uncle Brodie had a severe stroke and spent the rest of his life in a wheel chair. I was 27 years old when aunt Maye died and from then on, for the rest of my life I have tried to enjoy a little of what I have every day and take as much time for myself as I can spare. Take a little time each day to smell the roses, I guess that is what I learned. I am truly sorry that Aunt Maye and Uncle Broadie did not get to enjoy the fruits of their labor any longer than they did.
Mary E. Berry Carr lived her entire life in Orange County North Carolina
November 1, 2007
CENSUS INFORMATION
- ORANGE COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA IN 1930
NO CENSUS AVAILABLE AFTER 1930.