Jim Turner
Jim Turner grew up in Pacolet and has furnished the website several interesting stories. He now lives in Lodi, California. We have asked him to tell about himself and he has given us the following information.
My parents were Lannes C., Sr. and Mallie Turner. She will be remembered there longer and by more people than I will be. Not so my father, who died at 41 in 1936. A stonecutter, he made many of the monuments in local cemeteries.
From South Carolina's Piedmont town of Pacolet, I gazed westward to the Blue Ridge mountains, and as far as my boy's eye knew, there was nothing beyond them. What the atlases said was suspect; if I couldn't see it, it wasn't there. After 85 years I've changed my mind.
Now, from California's San Joaquin Valley, I look eastward toward the Sierra Nevada and know that beyond those mountains perception moves eastward through space and time to my boyhood. So much for what wasn't there! In case you are interested, I have been:
A barefoot, carefree boy;
A chopper and picker of cotton; lover of grits, biscuits and gravy, black eyed peas and pinto beans, collard greens, homemade sausage and smokehouse ham, fried chicken and rabbit; fresh-churned buttermilk and an infinity of other delights;
A hunter/killer of small game; sharp with air rifle, pistol, rifle, and shotgun--still good but my eyes and reflexes ain't what they used to be;
A good student--3rd best of 44 in the Class of 1942 at pacolet High School;
A bicycle messenger for the C&WC railroad;
Backseat driver of Navy dive bombers in WW2: Dauntless, Hell Diver;
So-so student at Clemson and Univ. of Missouri, BA in 1950; School teacher, cafeteria manager,
Mail messenger at Mare Island Naval Shipyard;
Newspaper reporter, city editor, managing editor at the Lodi News- Sentinel
Originator/owner of small city's first bookstore;
Played softball with a local league until, at age 56, had two ribs broken by a fast pitch--end of career--couldn't get back on the horse;
Real estate broker;
Fun owner of used book store;
A private pilot;
A Ham radio operator;
An on-again off-again golfer;
Somewhat of a cook;
A retired waster of what little time is left.
Now I think I'm a poet. Look for some of what I call poems on Myspace.
Jim has furnished the following website stories:
The 1903 Pacolet Flood
Pacolet History by Anna Black Brooks
The Mortar Shell Incident
Pacolet Reaction to the War of the Worlds
This web site has been started as a public service to share the story of Pacolet.
