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In summarizing life, she smiles, “Growing up
in Carthage was fun; I loved every minute of it.
When I came back, I felt like I’d never left. I’ve
been fortunate to have had a very happy life and
be surrounded by people who were happy.” As I
congratulate her incredible journey, she humbly
smiles, “I don’t know about that; I just bounce
with the knocks.” Betsy questions, “Is that like
saying, ‘You just roll with the punches?’” We all
laugh along with this lovely little lady who is as
amazing as her one hundred years. Come join
us, there’s room for another.
On April 23, 1918, Libby was born at home,
one of five children, the second in line. During
those days, women gave birth at home; a doctor
would deliver the baby, and then a nurse would
stay for a month or two to assist in the care.
With an older sister Mary Fowler, Elizabeth Ann
(Libby) was followed by a brother Colin George,
Jr., a sister Lamar, and the youngest boy John
Addison Spencer named for a great grandfather
who is buried in the Cross Hill Cemetery in
Carthage. Of the five children born to Colin
George Spencer and Lena Fowler, Lamar Spencer
Verch of Rockhill, SC, and Libby remain.
While their families vacationed in the
mountains of North Carolina, Libby’s parents
met, and a relationship blossomed. Upon
graduating from the school of agriculture at NC
State, Colin married Lena. They were living in
Mebane, when Colin’s father remarked, “There
are lots of pine trees down in this area; you should
start a lumber mill.” Soon after, Spencer Lumber
Mill was established where the John Deere and
McDonalds stand today in Carthage. Workers
at the planer mill would go into the woods, cut
down the trees, and bring them to the mill. Colin
had the largest saw dust pile in the area! When
the mill closed at noon on Saturday, they would
blow the whistle, and the children would come
from everywhere to slide down on their planks
of wood. Miss Libby explains, “We would carry
our planks all the way to the top—over 100 feet
high! Then we’d slide down! The planks were as
slick as glass from the rosin in the saw dust, and
we held on for dear life! We had great fun!”
With the growing family needing more space,
the Spencers moved to downtown Carthage.
When her father bought the house, Libby
remembers, “Mother said, ‘Oh, that’s the ugliest
house in town. I don’t want that house.’ But Colin
bought the property for the land and explained,
‘We’re not going to live in it for long. We’ll build
a stone house with all of the beautiful blue stone
from the farm.’ As time passed, the five children
came along with the Great Depression, and the
stone house never got built.” Nonetheless, the
home became a beautiful place to raise their
children and the best hangout in town! The
neighborhood children came to play baseball,
and others came from all around to see the
flourishing gardens as Colin and Lena loved
growing camellias, fruit trees and flowers.
Back in the 1920’s, a railroad went through
Carthage from Cameron. The road is different
now, but there used to be a cotton gin on
one side and the planer mill on the other.
When the train came into town once a day,
the children would run down to the tracks
to wave at the conductor. Libby laughs,
“We thought that was the greatest thing ever!”
Libby still remembers picking dewberries
that went out on the train. “My brother and I
would get a bucket and a straw hat, and we’d
walk to McDonald’s dewberry patch. They would
give you a wooden basket with four little baskets
and put you on a line to pick. They paid you with
a little token, and you went back on Saturdays
to get your money. I can’t remember if we ever
made a dime, but we thought we were rich
because we ate as many berries as we picked.”
Carthage was home to a vibrant downtown
with many places to shop. Just about everybody
in town worked for the Tyson and Jones Buggy
Factory, but once the automobiles came in,
Tyson and Jones went under. Carthage even
had their first automobile sales store in town
along with a hotel, a food store, drug store, and
a dry goods store. Libby tells, “We only had one
drug store, but years later, Shields Drug store
opened on the corner and carried a little bit of
everything. All of the ladies would go up there
and have a 10 o’clock Coca Cola from the soda
fountain.”
Miss Libby with her daughter
Besty Spencer.
In those days, the women didn’t work but
were privileged with paid help to manage their
housework. However, the ladies would visit and
chat, “Gossip really,” laughs Libby. “Carthage
was very social. I remember Mother taking
me to visit the Carters who had six boys, and
Mother always took some vegetables because
dad owned several farms over in Glendon and
some on Bethlehem Church Road. Many of the
farmers were sharecroppers meaning if a farmer
didn’t have enough resources to farm the land,
then he would let others plant, and they would
share the crop. I can remember waking up to
bushels of produce on the porch as the farmers
would share their garden with us.”
Carthage Elementary School offered five
grades, and all of the children walked to
school. On Friday nights, they’d feature a silent
movie with popcorn. Libby’s neighbor Roselle
Williamson played the piano, and whenever
the movie, mostly Westerns, got exciting, she
banged on that piano.” Ever since they tore the
old school down, the lot near the apartment
house has remained vacant.
Roselle’s mother grew up in the house that
the Spencers were living in, built in 1839. Using
logs to roll the two houses together in 1860, the
house remains on logs and is put together with
wooden picks. One part of the home was the
Humber Boarding House. When Mr. Humber
died, Mrs. Humber took in boarders to survive.
“In those days, you had to make a living because
there wasn’t anything like Social Security,”
explains Libby. “You either saved money, worked
all your life, or your family took care of you.
Normally generations lived together.”
From grade school, the students attended
Carthage High School over where the
elementary school is now; Mr. Welsh was the
wonderful superintendent. Libby shares, “All the
boys and all the girls would pair off. Our parents
didn’t want us to date one boy exclusively to
keep us from getting interested. One time, the
boys heard that the train in Southern Pines was
offering a round trip to Jacksonville, Florida for
$2.50. While most of the kids had never been to
Florida, we decided to go. Of course, we always
had chaperones, so Mr. and Mrs. Poole agreed
to go as did Mr. Beasley, the editor of the Moore
County News, currently the Pilot, published
right on Main Street in Carthage.”
“All night long we ran up and down the aisles
of the train,” laughs Libby. “If anybody went to
sleep, then we put toothpaste on their face and
they’d slap it! Once we arrived in Florida, we
took a side trip to see the sites of St. Augustine,
the oldest town in the US.”
Back then, people traveled from school to
school to organize shows of song and dance;
everyone in town participated. Well, they had a
show coming that same weekend the students
went to Florida. When Principal Welsh learned
that the kids wouldn’t be there, he nearly
fainted, but he appreciated the opportunity for
the children and rescheduled the show. During
the Depression, schools only had 11 grades
and operated for 8 months from September to
the end of May. Regrettably, these were also the
days of segregation, and the Pinckney School
welcomed children in the neighborhood as well.
Just as everyone walked to school, the
Spencer family also walked to the Methodist
Church. They attended church so frequently,
they wore a path to the church yard.
Summertime was so much fun, and all of the
children would put together a circus. Gathering
all kinds of animals, they would dress them up,
parade them all around town, and put on a show.
Libby adds, “Dad used to bring home different
animals from the farm, and one time the boys
thought, ‘Why not paint the calf in stripes and
make him look like a tiger?’ Of course, my dad
didn’t think that was such a good idea!”
During this time, the growth of the
automobile brought change; Libby recalls her
first car memory. Because her mother grew up
in Apalachicola, a sea coast town, the family
traveled to Florida several times a year. “It took
us three days to drive to Florida with five kids
in the car and the luggage tied on the running
boards,” begins Libby. “We had a big Franklin;
which didn’t require water to run like all of the
other cars. Back then you drove up to a filling
station, and the first thing they would do is top
off your radiator with water. Dad would drive up
and say, ‘Now, watch this kids.’ The attendant
would run to put water in and fuss and fuss over
trying to get the ornament off. Of course, all of
us were laughing our heads off when the poor
boy realized, ‘I’m sorry, Mr. Spencer. I can’t get
this off.’ He’d say, ‘Don’t worry about it; I don’t
need any water.’”
Everybody loved being at the Spencer’s
home. With the Depression, no one had ten
cents to play a round of golf, so Libby’s dad said,
“We’ll fix that.” He made a little miniature golf
course in the yard for all to enjoy. Captain of the
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p.26 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. No. 133
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