I wove there fifteen years. That's the last work I did in the mill. We
made plaid cloth. Boy, I had done really got up there where I was a good
weaver then. I run the box looms. But we still just run eight looms,
because we had to thread our own magazines and run the looms, too, you
see. I was down there when they went out of business. When I first went
to work down there, this lady working on the third shift wrote me a note
and said, "Dodson, I know you're a good weaver, and my bossman asked me
last night if I knew any good lady weavers that was out of work and
would love to come to work, and I immediately thought about you."
Because I had worked with her over at Judson. And she said, "If you'd
accept this job, let me know." And I told her daughter, "Go back and
tell Mama I don't know whether I can accept it or not, because Geddes
said I couldn't work no more." But he come in from work, and I started
a-begging him. And my daughter and son, Doris and Geddes, Jr., was in
high school. They said, "Daddy, please let Mother go to work. With us
both in high school, she could be such a help to you." So we just like
to worried him to death, and he said, "Well, send Mrs. Thackston work
that you'll be down there"—because I drove the car, and she rode the
streetcar—"and pick her up about fifteen to eleven." And I sent Doris
down there. I never will forget. And I helped put them two children
through high school and then helped them get married, and started the
other one through school, but she jumped off like me and got married.
And the other boy jumped off and went and joined the Air Force. See,
they was all grown up then. When she wrote me that note up here, she
said Mr. Foster, the bossman, said the work was just a tight place he
was in; it would just last about three months. So I told Geddes, "See,
I'll just be working about three months, and I can make good money in
that time." So he said, "Okay." So I worked fifteen years, and every few
weeks he would
Page 17 say, "When's that three months going
to be up, hon? You said you wasn't going to work but three months."
Well, we was on the third shift, and I worked three years on the third
shift. And then so many boys and men had to go to the Second World War
till they had to stop the third shift off, and they put us all on the
second shift. And I worked down there then twelve more years, on the
second shift.
And I was there when they put up the notice saying they was going to
close the mill down on account of Japanese imports. And I'd see somebody
go out towards the entrance, and they'd come back and they'd just be
a-crying. And the lady next to me, Evelyn Goodwin, she come back and she
was just crying. I said, "Evelyn, what in the world's happening out
there? What's taking place? Everybody that goes out that way comes back
with a handkerchief, crying." She said [imitates crying voice], "Well,
I'm not telling you. You go out there and see for yourself." And I went
out there, and I come back a-crying. The mill was closing down. So I
come home and told my husband that night, "Well, I hope you're
satisfied." I was a-crying. He said, "What's the matter?" I said
[imitates crying voice], "They're going to close Camperdown Mill down."
And there were lots of people working in there that was at retirement
age, but they were just holding on. So that's the last mill work I done.
I stayed at home two years, and see, I was just used to working. And I
saw in the paper where the city needed some school guards, and I called
to put in my application. Sergeant Mitchell said, "Yeah, come up here
and get your application blank. I need you, and you can go to work
Monday." And I said, "Sergeant Mitchell, how about letting our daughter
bring me an application blank out here when she gets off from work
today?" He said, "Who is your daughter?" I said, "Doris Marshbanks." He
said, "Oh, she's my right-hand buddy. She does lots of work for me." She
was a secretary up there. He said, "Sure, I'll send the application
blank by Doris." And Doris brought it out here and
Page 18
helped me fill it out. I didn't even have to go up there until I got
ready to pick up my uniforms. So I run that job twelve years, and I
enjoyed every minute of it. That's the last public job I had. I retired
in `70. I went to Washington, D.C. seven times with the patrol boys and
girls and went to Florida one time. I went to Six Flags over Georgia two
times, and all our school guards got the trips free; it didn't cost us
anything.