Bakehouseest.1948
Celebrating
Anniversary!70thour
The e Bakehouse Bakehouse & Caf
Café
120 N. Poplar St.
Aberdeen
Tues-Sat: 8a-3p
Sun: 11a - 3p
www.thebakehouse.biz
European Artisan Bakery and Café
Special Occasion Cakes • Wedding Cakes
Baked Breads • Pastries • Breakfast • Lunch
football team at State, Libby’s dad was a great
sportsman who loved all kinds of games. All of
the boys would challenge him, but Dad always
won! Libby smiles, “We had a very happy home
with a big house, a big table, and everybody was
always welcomed.”
In spite of the hard times, the Spencer family
continued to help others and spread joy. In fact,
Libby’s mother used to say, “I know they’ve got
the sidewalk marked down front. Cook as much
food as you can because we’ll have people asking
for food.” There were loads of men, women, and
children all wandering around town in need
during the Depression years.
When the banks closed in Carthage, and
never reopened, that really hurt Carthage
because everybody lost everything. Around the
late 1930s, when President Roosevelt was in the
White House, Eleanor Roosevelt wanted all the
small towns to have a meeting place. The town
had to provide the land, but Carthage neither had
the money nor the land. Dad figured, “We don’t
need all of this yard; let’s donate the lot. Eleanor
built her stone building incorporating the WPA
workforce. “She came for the dedication; Oh,
it was wonderful!” exclaims Libby. When she
married in October 1940, her wedding reception
was the first event in the building.
Carthage utilized the crank-style phone for
town use. Libby remembers the one hanging on
the wall in their house. “I would crank the thing
and say, ‘Central? I want mother.’ And she’d say,
‘Well, your mother’s sitting on the hotel porch.
Is it necessary that you call her?’ Another time,
when I was dating my husband, he called, and
Central said, ‘Well, I tell you she’s not home; she’s
at the Pinehurst Country Club dance.’ I could’ve
shot her because it was none of her business!
Central knew everything about everybody as
they would listen over the phone!”
Just as Carthage was a social place, Pinehurst
was a small, elite community. However, they did
offer the Village Theater, and on the nights of
the show, Mr. Pickay would be out there in his
tuxedo greeting everyone by name. Libby says,
“He knew father and mother and would say, ‘I’ve
got your box seat ready.’” When the show was
over, he was there to tell everyone goodnight.
Pinehurst also made Christmas special for the
locals in hosting a party at the Pinehurst Club
House.”
Southern Pines was more of a regular town
with homes and interesting shops. Libby’s
mother used to shop in Southern Pines mainly
for clothing, although they had a family
seamstress. As a child Libby hated those days.
“Sometimes I’d have to spend the whole day with
the lady who would put me up on her table and
measure and measure. I’d think, ‘Oh, lady, hurry
up.’ She would call some of her grandchildren to
come and play with me while she sewed.” Libby
also remembers going to eat dinner for special
occasions at the hotel in Jackson Springs that
one of her dad’s college friends ran for a while.
Graduating from high school at 16 years old,
Libby considered many options for college. She
wanted to go to Duke, but of course, they didn’t
accept girls. When a friend recommended that
Libby attend Florida State College, the largest
girl’s school in the United States, she enrolled
and joined the Sigma Kappa sorority. When
her Mother encouraged Libby to attend school
locally, she enrolled at Carolina after two years
in Florida because UNC didn’t accept women
as freshmen and sophomores. Graduating from
UNC in 1939 with a degree in education, Libby
smiles, “I loved both schools! I met Sam, my
future husband, at one of the sorority dances.”
Wanting to finish college and earn her own
money before getting married, Libby tells, “I
thought it was going to be the greatest thing
ever to earn some money. I got my first job in
Candor as a 7th grade social studies teacher. My
paycheck was $97.50 a month, and I thought I
was rich! For around $35 a month, I stayed with
Mrs. Steed, the widow of a big peach farmer
who boarded teachers for financial reasons. We
had so much fun that I didn’t want it to end.”
(Steed Hall at Sandhills Community College was
named for Mrs. Steed’s son who donated the
Agricultural building.)
Meanwhile, Sam attended college in
Gainesville, Florida. When he wanted to learn
how to fly, Sam enrolled in Ryan’s School of
Aeronautics in California and took flying lessons
with Amelia Earhart and a friend named Jack.
Somehow Jack crashed Sam’s airplane, so that
ended that. Nonetheless, Sam kept pursuing
Libby through letters.
Hailing from Chicago, Uriah Samuel Deahl,
Jr. known as Sam, soon won her heart, and they
were married on October 26, 1940. Libby was the
first one of the siblings to marry, and her father
was in tears. He wanted Libby to check out
Chicago before moving there, so Libby explains,
“His mother had to write my mother to invite
me. They had a home on Lake Michigan, and
that’s where Sam proposed.”
Once the newlyweds moved into the
apartment near Northwestern University, Libby
realized she had to learn how to cook. Betsy
jumps in, “Now this is my favorite story!” Libby
continues, “Every day I would take the train to
Marshall Fields. On the 8th floor, they had a
cooking school, and I attended class and then
went home and tried to cook the recipe.”
In those days, weddings were highly social,
and Sam and Libby had a big wedding. Libby
remembers, “We received a lot of gifts but not
one kitchen item. When we were first married,
Sam’s mother saw me stirring a pot with a
sterling silver spoon. All I had was sterling silver!
However the butcher down the block helped
me. Whatever he said, I would do it. We ate lamb
chops for the longest time because that was the
only thing I knew how to fix.”
Betsy tells, “Mother still has a lot of her
wedding gifts, and the favorite item remains
Mom’s Joy of Cooking cook book which is literally
falling apart because she lived in that cookbook
and became an excellent, excellent cook.”
Sam took over his family’s commercial
laundry business called Derby Linen Supply and
handled laundry for hotels and restaurants in
downtown Chicago. As Libby kept the home, she
also learned how to get around all over Chicago.
She exclaims, “I didn’t even have a driver’s
license, but you didn’t need one back then.”
Enjoying their honeymoon until well-after
Thanksgiving, Sam and Libby traveled from
Williamsburg to New York, then a cruise to
Bermuda and onto South America with Ralph
Bellamy, a popular movie star at the time.
Coming home to Chicago in the winter was
unforgettable. “When we went by the Lake, we
saw this big white thing go up—it was a wave
frozen in the air; I thought it was just gorgeous!”
states Libby.
When the couple realized a baby was on
the way, they moved from the apartment in
Evanston to the suburbs and soon welcomed
their first baby. The first of three daughters, Ann
Lamar was born in 1942; Mary Carol in 1945;
and Betsy in 1948. Miss Libby was able to stay
home with all of her daughters; she and Sam
were blessed with a wonderful marriage.
Betsy exclaims, “My childhood was idealistic.
In our neighborhood, homes were graced with
big trees and sidewalks where we could roller
skate and ride our bikes to the lake. All winter
long, we went ice skating and skiing. Everybody
attended one school from kindergarten to 8th
grade; there were no buses, so you either walked
or rode your bike. Everybody was either a girl
scout or a boy scout, and everybody went to
church. I enjoyed a classic 1950s mid-American
awesome upbringing.”
Betsy continues, “I hate to say we were
privileged, but we really were. Last fall, I
attended my 50th high school reunion, and we
had the best time remembering growing up in
Kenilworth!” As the three girls grew up and went
off to college, Sam and Libby downsized to a
smaller home and Libby returned to teaching—
nursery school this time around.
Coming home to North Carolina came with
joy and sadness. When Colin passed away from
a heart attack, Lena was devastated. Libby tells,
“My parents were very close. After his retirement,
they’d go to a State game in the afternoon
and then to see Carolina and Duke play in the
evening. They both were musical. Dad sang his
way through college, and mother majored in
music and played the organ in church. Thank
goodness my brother Colin, Jr., lived next door
and could check on mother.”
As time progressed, Colin, Jr. couldn’t handle
all of Lena’s care. Considering retirement
anyway as they had closed the linen service in
Chicago, Sam and Libby agreed to move to NC.
Lena lived for another three and a half years.
Upon moving to NC, Sam enjoyed a chance
to do things of which he had only dreamed. He
built a workshop onto the garage, and Libby
declares, “He had every tool that was ever
invented, I’m sure!” Interested in the Gideon’s
ministry, Sam became involved and served in
a jail ministry and correspondence course for
inmate. Serving on the town board for a while,
Sam really loved Carthage.” The couple were
married over 50 years before Sam passed.
In celebrating 100 years of life, Miss Libby
offers a few contrasts from the good old days to
the present. “Oh there is too much traffic, too
many people, and everywhere you look, they
are building more buildings!” Why all of the
people? Libby continues, “The people come for
the weather, but most importantly, they come
for the lifestyle.”
Miss Libby still gardens at 100 years old.
Libby continues, “Life’s so geared up; children
don’t know how to relax. All these phones and
ipads are wonderful but at other times—really
sad. I don’t understand how families don’t make
the time to sit down and enjoy a family meal
together. Families are too busy with both parents
working. I look at my grandchildren and think,
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100 YEARS continued 100 YEARS continued
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p.28 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. No. 133
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