IRH - Blue's Oil Company

This section is to honor the works of Russ Lancaster who started the “I Remember Hamlet” web site years ago. Without his pioneering the web at that time we might not have gathered all these memories of our Hamlet, NC. We thank you Russ for what you started in 1996, may you Rest in Peace. Russ was kind enough to let me download his web site before he took it down. Thank you Russ.
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David
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IRH - Blue's Oil Company

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Blue's Oil Company
run by a gentleman
1960's - 1980's
by: Russ Lancaster
"Hey, Dad!" I shouted over the phone. "I'm moving into a house and I need some help".
Help from my dad was only a phone call away back in 1966 when I needed him. I was working for Pee Dee Bottling Company at the time as a route salesman and renting a trailer beside the company. They took the monthly rent out of my paycheck.
Adam Hardison, the owner, had given me a week's notice that he needed the trailer for personal reasons and that I needed to find another place to live.
Back then there was just my wife, Helga, and two children, Petra and Robbie. The first rule in my family was and still is to keep a roof over our heads. Of course it has become easier as my jobs over the last 40 or so years have paid better and better. Looking at being on a fixed income now that I have retired is the reason I remembered Blue's Oil Company and how Mr. Blue looked after me way back in 1966 and beyond.
I found a house to rent outside the city limits just off Highway 38 (Bennettsville Road). Inez Millson referred me to the gentleman that owned the property, put in a good word for me, and we moved in that very week. It was then that I made the phone call to my dad.
It was fall and winter was not far away. The house had no means of heat and I needed expert advice. My dad was always the expert at things I didn't know and this was no exception.
He first called an old time friend of his (the name escapes me now) and arranged for me to buy a used oil heater from him at a very reasonable price. It was brought over to my "new" house and installed in the living room. Pipes were quickly run from the heater to the chimney and I thought I was "all set".
Then my dad reminded me I needed a source of fuel... an oil tank, a stand, copper tubing to run between the tank and the heater and OIL!
The afternoon was spent as my dad and I constructed an oil stand outside the house. Tools were borrowed and the copper tubing was run through the wall and into the back of the oil stove. I mostly stood by and admired the knowledge and workmanship my dad showed as he hooked all together.
Then he told me whom to call to supply an oil tank and fill it with oil... Mr. Blue of Blue's Oil Company.
I thought to myself, "This is not going to be easy." I barely knew Mr. Blue but I would make the phone call that would end up making this man a friend forever.
My only acquaintance with Mr. Blue (I always called him that, never knew his first name) came from his being on my soft drink route. His combination gas station, oil supplies and lawn mower repair were located out on Highway 74 East of Hamlet. I stopped by his station once a week, on Saturday's and he always bought at least one crate of Dr. Pepper. That would net me 20 cents profit (I was paid 20 cents for each crate of soft drinks I sold).
I picked up the phone and called Blue's Oil Company and Mr. Blue himself answered the phone. I explained who I was and he assured me he knew me. I told him where I now lived and my predicament. I explained I needed an oil tank and oil and could only pay him on a weekly basis. I lived paycheck to paycheck back then and had no money to pay him in advance.
This man, Mr. Blue, assured me he needed no further explanation. His oil truck showed up an hour or so later along with a pickup truck. The pickup truck contained the 50 gallon drum I needed. The oil truck promptly filled it up and I was handed a bill. I thanked both Mr. Blue and the other driver as they hooked my fuel line into the oil drum.
Mr. Blue kept me warm that winter and I never received another bill, not that year, nor the next or ever. Each Saturday as I drove my drink truck up to his station, he bought his one crate of Dr. Pepper and I paid whatever I owed or more often whatever I could. He always accepted my payment even when less than it should be without concern. I could tell he was in the business of taking care of folks and I was fortunate to know him.
The next year, my lawn mower wouldn't start. I promptly hauled it off to Blue's Oil Company knowing he also had a lawn mower repair business. He told me to come back in two or three days and it would be good as new. He was right.
I moved out of that house just off Bennettsville Road after the ice storm in 1969 (remember that?). I moved to my first home that was all-electric thanks to Dr. Bill James. I no longer had a need to purchase oil from Mr. Blue but I still had a bill to be paid and eventually did so.
I no longer worked for Pee Dee Bottling Company either after June of 1968 so a trip to Blue's Oil Company to pay my bill was a weekly thing until the bill was paid off. I have to say he was a patient man!
I did, however, rely on Mr. Blue to continue to repair my old JC Penney lawn mower from the year I bought it in the 1960's until I moved away from Hamlet in 1988. Because of that lawn mower, I saw him at least once a year for more than 25 years. That old lawn mower was left with my dad when we moved to Jacksonville in 1988.
Mr. Blue ran a first class gas station, maybe the cleanest one I ever saw. But he specialized in helping those in need and making friends. I am thankful to have known him.
Yes.. I remember Blue's Oil Company and Mr. Blue. I remember the old lawn mower he fixed so many times. Sadly, I don't know for sure if either one is still around any more. But if they are, Mr. Blue is probably still making friends and that old lawn mower may still be mowing someone's lawn somewhere in Hamlet... especially if they took it to Blue's Oil Company for repair once a year.
I remember that old friend and his business well and am thankful to say that they allow me to say yet once again..... I remember Hamlet.
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