John Brittingham - Hamlet

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David
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John Brittingham - Hamlet

Post by David »

Hamlet North Carolina was the perfect place to grow up. We left our keys in the car so we could find them. Everything was as it should be. John Shortridge said " Living in Hamlet was like growing up in a Norman Rockwell painting." He should know as he was often at the center of it all. Kids used to walk in and our of the Shortridge house like they owned it. Big John and Julia were welcoming to... all the kids and made them feel at home. I thought we were related until I was about 15 years old.
My family moved to Pinecroft when I was in the first grade. There was always something to do there. There were lots of kids. We made up the Pinecroft Gang. There was Richard Stone, Tony Mcollough, Bootie Pate and Rickey, Jack Robinson, Jerry Stutts, the Crook twins Donnie and Ronnie, Geroge Fetner, Kim Covington, Wyatt Pigram, Ronnie Gullege, Woody Gunter, Harry and Jimmy Bruner and quite a few that I have left out I am sure. There were a group that was a few year younger and some who were older. There was always something to do in Pinecroft. We played football, baseball, basketball, did the gocart thing, shot guns and archery, and climbed trees and did all sort of other things. It was like Disney World without money.
Then the day we all looked forward to we graduated from High School. It seemed like at that moment we flew from Hamlet like a covey of quail. We went in all different direction and in all manor of careers. Many of us went to the army, some to college and some to work. We turned around and it was all over. Those of us who left knew little of what we were giving up. Those who stayed wondered what they missed by staying. I am sure there was some of both. Going home gives us a chance to revisit old times if only for a day or two. I think that is a good thing. I will see you at the Seaboard Festival.
Linda Lancaster
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Re: John Brittingham - Hamlet

Post by Linda Lancaster »

I also remember Pinecroft as a wonderful place to live. We would wander from one yard to another all day. We could ride our bikes in the street with baseball cards attached to the spokes in the wheel. That was so much fun!!! I still remember all of our neighbors lived in the same houses for many many years. It is hard to find that now days.People are so transient.
dcrooke
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Re: John Brittingham - Hamlet

Post by dcrooke »

More Pinecroft Gang:
Wayne Terry
Brooks Gulledge
David and Steve Winchester
Bobby McDougald
? Ussell
Jimmy Case
Jerry Clark
Tom and Randy Smart
Scottie Hansen
Jimmy Madry
Billy Cook
Joe Scarborough
Sherwood and Mike Lewter
Michael Cubertson
John Moriarty
GB Shelton
Billy Hitt
Richard and Steve Taylor
Nookie Quinn
Allan Billingsley
Michael Bolick
Robbie Clark
Bobby Napier
Steve and Craig Newsome
"Bill" the Crooke's pony
Bruce Osburn
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Re: John Brittingham - Hamlet

Post by Bruce Osburn »

Now, that's a rariety... a whole neighborhood of boys and not a single girl. What in the world did you fellows do for fun on Saturday nights... hug and kiss one another?
Bruce Osburn
--We live so long as we are remembered... old German adage.
freddie hassler
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Re: John Brittingham - Hamlet

Post by freddie hassler »

@ Donnie, Sherwood, was a classmate of mine, his Dad kept moving from Cayce,SC and back to Hamlet, he was a RR man, Sherwood worked for the RR on Cayce Yard where he got killed
Wayne Terry
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Re: John Brittingham - Hamlet

Post by Wayne Terry »

Ok, Bruce...here's a partial list of the females...

Lydia Case
Ilene Gunter
Carolyn Ormsby
Lucy McNair and her two sisters
Nancy Hitt
Saundra McCracken(and I still have a dent in my chin bone from one of her kicks)
Sissy Campbell
John's Sister Ellen Brittingham
Jane McManus
Vicky Winters
Carol Clark

There were more, but my grasp of names is pretty weak right now...I guess I need to pull out an annual. I have intentionally left out the "younger ones" cause they "was virtual babies" in 1957 when we moved over to McDonald Ave..like my sister, Linda, Cherie Gunter, Bootie's little sister.
Wayne Terry
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Re: John Brittingham - Hamlet

Post by Wayne Terry »

Wasn'it is "Uzzel", Ronnie??

And don't bring up that mean freakin' pony, Bill!!! He took off with me one day near the Gulledge's house and dumped me when he got to the barn at your house!
Linda Lancaster
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Re: John Brittingham - Hamlet

Post by Linda Lancaster »

What about Donnie Helms & Jerry Stutts?
Wayne Terry
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Re: John Brittingham - Hamlet

Post by Wayne Terry »

JB mentioned Stutts, but forgot some others:

Jerry Clark
Joel Blakley
Earl Case
Jimmy Case

Lee Fetner
Lee O-Don't even ask me to spell her last name

Jimmy Penegar
???? Penegar, Jimmy's sister
Joe Pete Robinson
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