Geraldine decided after a year at GW that she was finished with school....back then when you reached 15 you could quit school. ( Actually, I know a few guys who quit when they younger). She got a job at Dan River as an inspector in the white mill, which was actually a pretty good job. You could wear nice clothes to work and you didn't get nasty like you did on some jobs, and the pay was pretty good. I remember when she was older she was a telephone operator with Chesapeake and Potomac phone company. "Number, Please?" I think she'd seen Douglas around for years...she'd gone to school with Wallace. After Douglas got out of the Navy, he started going to church again....not Keen St. with his mom, but our little church where he'd gone to Sunday School when he was a boy. I think this was just so he could see Geraldine, cause they got friendly pretty fast. I know I used to love "our dates with Douglas...(sometimes they'd let me go with them to the North theater which was within walking distance cause at that time he didn't have a car.) I remember one morning Geraldine got up and there was a little package between the screen door and the wooden door. When she opened it, there was a note and an engagement ring. He'd put it there sometime during the night or early morning hours and then had gone to Altavista to see his dad, which we didn't even know he had. I mean we knew he had a dad somewhere, everybody does, but I think he had just found out where he lived and wanted to talk to him. I got the feeling that the divorce between Douglas's parents wasn't a friendy one. Any way, he came back before long and after a short engagement they got married in November of 48.

The Wedding, etc.

Geraldine and Douglas got married November 25, 1948 at the house on Bellevue St. Marie was the matron of honor and Julian Phillips was the best man. It was the first wedding I'd ever been to and it was very pretty and Gerry was a beautiful bride. After they got married, they ran a little soda shop on Henry St. for a year or so and then they moved to Reidsville, NC where Gerry ran the soda shop and Douglas worked for some guy and helped with the soda shop in his off hours. The first Christmas they were there, Gerry called Mama and told her they wouldn't be home for Christmas. Well, Gerry cried, Mama cried and I cried. On Christmas eve, late in the evening, we finally started putting the tree up. Mama cried 'cause Gerry wasn't there and I cried cause Mama was crying. We weren't doing so good when all of a sudden something bounced on the front porch and the door burst open and there was Geraldine. From that minute on it was suddenly and finally Christmas!

Back to Danville

I don't remember how long they had the soda shop in Reidsville, but I think it might have been a couple of years. They moved back to Danville and Douglas got on at the steam plant and they decided to start a family. Fara Lynn was born May 17, 1952 and two prouder parents couldn't be found. They were living on Bellevue St. at the time and I don't think I ever saw her awake until she was six months old. She was an excellent sleeper!! In September, 53 they had another little girl who was born early and only lived a few hours. Shortly after that, they decided to move to South Carolina. Broke my heart! Buck was born while they were there and when he was about 3, they moved back to Danville. After Gerry and Douglas moved back here from S.C., we would, on occasion, leave the kids, and go to the movies. Generally we went to the North theater because it was within walking distance and there was a drug store with a soda fountain across the street. I remember one evening after supper, we went to the North, saw the movie and went across the street to get a limeade..they were made with shaved ice. Gerry was a pretty woman and men would flirt with her all the time. This particular time, we were going into the drugstore and saw this little short guy. She looked at him and then turned around and said, "hey Willie". He gave her a funny look and said, "I'm not Willie, but I will be if you want me to." From then on, for a long time, that was our "secret" by word....."Hey, Willie". They were a two child family for years when all of a sudden(well, it did take nine months as usual) Lisa made her appearance in October of 1966. Then in 1970, Douglas got the urge to move again and they eventually ended up in Portsmouth. Their home in Portsmouth was a "home away from home" for Richard,Keister, Tami, Bobby and Sharon for many summers. I know they must have gotten tired of a stream of visitors from Danville, but they always made you feel so welcome, and every body always hated to leave to go back home.

Nearing the End of My Story

In August of '88 we had our family reunion and I really think everyone had a marvelous time. I have beautiful pictures of the Douglas Adams family with all members smiling and looking extremely happy. How were we to know that just a couple of months later Douglas would leave us? After the initial shock and grieving period, Geraldine, while not her old happy self, nevertheless, made great strides toward being happy alone. She continued to welcome her visitors from Danville and we continued to go whenever we could. The summer of 97, Richard and I went to see Gerry. This was the first time in a long time that Richard and I had gone together. We went during his vacation in June and one morning Geraldine and I decided to go to the store and Rick stayed at the house.As we went out to get into the car, she flipped her cigarette into a flower pot beside the porch.Later that day we kept smelling something burning and kept going outside to investigate because the smell was stronger out there. But we never found anything. Finally, late in the afternoon we were all outside and all of a sudden Richard picked up the hose pipe and sprayed the flower pot and the Norfolk Island pine slowly crumpled over. The poor thing had been smoldering all day.....mulch burns real good and real slow and so does plant roots. In December, right after Christmas, Lisa called to say that Geraldine had broken her hip, but had had surgery and was doing well. She came home from the hospital in January and I did get to chat with her on the computer a couple more times. I still miss her so much and still, on occasion, when I want to know the name of a song or have something I think she would get a laugh out of, find myself thinking, "I need to call Geraldine." Oh, if I only could............

A few after thoughts about Geraldine

Geraldine and Connie used to sing together and really sounded good. He played guitar and they did a lot of country songs and old hymns. When she worked in the mill, she got in the habit of bringing brother Tom something off the "dope" wagon. If everything got sold or she forgot, he was mad at her all day. One night,( she worked the second shift at the time),she came home from work, got a snack and started up stairs to bed and fell over Tom, who had snuck out of bed and was laying on the steps waiting for her. When they lived behind us on Bellevue St., Douglas had the icecream trucks and on Sat. nights about midnight, we'd go to the building where he kept them and clean them and make icecream sandwiches for the next day. We really had fun doing it, too! I remember when our brother Connie got married for the first time, Geraldine had a bolt of pretty blue printed dressy looking material. She made us both dresses to wear to the wedding and his new bride looked at us and asked, "What are yall....the Bobbesy twins?" When Tom married, Geraldine made all three dresses for the attendents. The were different colors and all three were beautiful. Geraldine was a sweet, pretty person and I think everybody who ever knew her loved her. Every now and then I run into a lady who went to school with her and she always tells me how grateful she is for having known her. Sometimes when I'm out and I see a lil short guy with red hair, I'm tempted to say "Hey, Willie", just for her!