My Tuxedo No Longer Fits

by Robert Ballard

ISBN: 978-1-4357-2410-5

Publisher: Lulu.com

Rights Owner: Robert Ballard

Language: English

Country: United States

Download $2.50 Add to Cart
Paperback book $14.04 Add to Cart

Download: 1 documents, 14368 KB

Printed: 151 pages, 6" x 9", perfect binding, black and white interior ink

Description:

This is a book of memories of one who grew up in the small Western North Carolina mill village, Tuxedo, Over time many of these villages have all but become ghost towns. It is my objective to share a few of the stories and tales of my growing up process as a mill village brat. The first few chapters deal directly with the mill. When I was a youngster it was family owned business and workers became discontented and attempted to form a labor union resulting in a nasty strike which ultimately closed the factory and hard feelings developed which were never resolved. The bulk of the book chronicles personal interest stories, some hilarious while others have a more sobering story to tell. Some family background is included and over thirty pictures taken in and around the village. This is a fun book to read and is certain to bring back precious memories of many who grew up in the rural south, especially in a textile community.

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Biographies & Memoirs

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I wet my panties

11 Jun 2009 (updated 11 Jun 2009)

by Robert Ballard

Recently, an elderly relative, a dear lady told me "Robert, you owe me some new Depends." I ask,"Why?" She said:"I would read a chapter from your book and laugh so hard, I peed in my panties, so you now owe me some new underwear!" Well, I don't know if reading my book really had that effect on her but some of the material is downright funny. It is a simple humor that many will enjoy while some might tend to think it to be somewhat crass.

Others have given my book some great reviews as one from a 87 year young lady who lives on Merritt Island, Florida who called me just to thank me for the remembrances my book had excited in her own life. She had grown up in Tuxedo during the 1920's, a former Mrs North Carolina, 1955. She talked to me candidly about her growing up years in Tuxedo which were neither pleasant nor easy to talk about. For over 30 minutes she related about her youth and the tragic death of her mother in childbirth. The years that followed were dark and filled with poverty and abuse. Later she married and moved and raised her own family.

These type comments have made my writing efforts worthwhile. We all have to get passed those times in our lives and move on as did Kathryn Morgan, the lady who called me. My Tuxedo No Longer Fits is just that, a book of memories and like Mrs Morgan,others may also be touched and have their own memories stirred and maybe after some time of thought, be thankful that life goes on and our experiences can impact others, hopefully in a good way.

My Tuxedo No Longer Fits

22 Nov 2008

by Robert Ballard

The story of every civilization is truly the collective stories of the lives of its people. James Mitchner filled his volumes with them. He painted the heart and soul of a land and its people by the anecdotes he used to describe them. Robert Ballard does the same in his My Tuxedo No Longer Fits as he describes the humor and tragedy of one of America's milltowns in Twentieth Century America. However, Ballard differs from Mitchner in on significant respect--he was a firsthand witness of those about whom he writes.

Ballard's book is a quick read (145 pages), and the reader is made to reminice about the landscape of his or her past.

--Kelvin Johns
Raleigh, NC

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