I was born right outside of Davidson College on a hundred-acre farm with eight brothers and sisters and a great mama and daddy,
and most of us have gone on to hold some type of public office. We've had three mayors. As my mama said, she never had a favorite among us but none of us ever went to jail,
and I always thought that was a nice compliment. Joe was mayor of Mooresville for about thirty years and Russell was mayor of Davidson for sixteen years
and I became mayor of Charlotte for four years. Well you know it's the greatest thing if I could have everybody grow up the way I did.
It was where you killed or hunted for whatever you wanted to eat, you raised it on the farm, a great mama and daddy with no money. We all had chores,
responsibility, whether it was carrying in the firewood, milking the cows, or doing whatever but it gave you hard lessons about what life was about,
and we were relatively poor. I can't tell you that it was a bad life because we had a great mama and daddy who took us to church and commanded that we go to church.
I recall singing a solo almost every Sunday. My daddy would give me a dollar and my brothers and sisters would offer me two not to sing, but that was just sort of the way it was.
But we still have a very close family relationship with the ones that are surviving, just me and Ray and all the grandchildren.