Sandra Waldrop Doolittle > Robert Gerald Pope

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Sandra's Glory Day's - Growing up in the Fabulous 50's

Sandra, I thought I would send you a little more detailed story about our family. Let me know if there are questions or comments. Robert Gerald Pope

Mom, Estelle Pope Columbus Manufacturing - 3rd shift as a spinner for 40 years
Dad, Woodie Pope Hardaway Ford - Started as Lube and Oil change, left after over 40 years as Service Mgr.

Me: Robert Gerald Pope (Jerry)
8/16/1939
Born on 6th Avenue (at home)
Columbus, Ga.

Brother: James Norris Pope (Jimmy)
8/14/1941
Born at Bush Hospital
Columbus, Ga.

We lived on 6th avenue close to Columbus Manufacturing for about 3 years, and then Dad moved all of us to Charleston, SC. He worked in the shipyards there during WWII. We actually lived on the naval base there. We moved from Charleston to Phenix City after the war in 1945 and lived in the old projects down by the river. A couple of years later, Dad bought a little shotgun house (you could shoot a gun through the front door, out the back door, and not touch a thing) on Railroad St. in Phenix City. The house is still there and is a couple of houses from what was called Brick School. A couple of comical things happened in that location. My Grandfather was a barber, and somehow I found his scissors and combs (at 6 years old), and promptly gave haircuts to all the kids in the neighborhood. Their parents were not really thrilled, so my barbering career was short lived. The next episode in my effort to be a businessman occurred a couple of years later when I took my Dad’s wheelbarrow, loaded all of his garden tools in it and pushed it down railroad street to the old Junkyard. The owner of the junkyard purchased the entire lot, including the wheelbarrow, for $2.00. It only cost ten cents to go to the Palace theatre, so I figured I made a pretty good deal. Can you say, “GROUNDED”? I remember Dad telling the story about how he had to go down to the junkyard and retrieve his tools. I don’t think he was really happy with the guy that bought them.

We were Methodists, but somehow my parents were coerced into believing that the Catholic Elementary School (St Patricks) was a good fit for early discipline and education. The early morning march to Mass lasted until the 4th grade when I wound up in Mrs. Fuller’s class at Central. About 4 years later, Dad bought the house at 2000 Old Auburn Rd. and we became suburbanites. The house was a 2 bedroom, 2-bath house, and seemed like a castle to us. It had an acre lot and my Mom and Dad lived there for over 45 years.

The Pope family Estelle and Woodie with the boys Jerry and Jimmie

I don’t know if anyone remembers the beginning of Little League in Phenix City, but it occurred in 1951 and I got to play one year before getting too old. My team was the home team, and I was the pitcher, so I had the honor of throwing the first pitch in a Little League game there. It was such a big deal that WPNX actually came out and did a live broadcast of the game. My Dad was really excited and I think all the radios at Hardaway Ford where he worked were tuned to the game. The first pitch was naturally a curve for a strike. I have no idea what happened after the first pitch.

After an assortment of scooters and small motorcycles, Dad took a 1940 model Ford Coupe and dressed it up with rolling pleat upholstery, white walls, and a new engine. He then painted it the Central school colors (Red and Black). He gave it to me on my 13th birthday along with a driver’s license that indicated that my 16th birthday had recently occurred. I may have been the only kid in the 8th grade that drove to school. Dad had friends in law enforcement. That car lasted until my 16th birthday, and was replaced by a 1951 Ford equipped with a 1955 interceptor engine. It had the same upholstery, but it was painted red and white. Wonder what those cars would be worth today?

Reflections and memories of those days include things that would be unthinkable today. On my 8th birthday, Dad gave me a 410 Stevens shotgun. Later, that gun was always in my car, since most of the time after school, we went hunting or fishing. Most of the kids that had cars probably had their hunting guns at school too. Also, when I was 10 years old, I had my 3rd mastoidectomy at the Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta. The operation required a weekly follow up visit for about 2 months. Every Friday, my Mom would put me on the Man of War train early in the morning. The train got into Atlanta around 10:30AM. After a cab ride to the hospital, a walk to the Fox theatre for a movie, and a cab ride to the train station, I would re board the train and go home, arriving around 7:30 PM. Who would put a 10 year old on the train today to go to Atlanta alone?

During the summer of 1954, Phenix City suffered a catastrophic event. Albert Patterson was brutally murdered. He had been elected back in the Mid 40’s to the Alabama Senate with the help of the racketeers that ran the gambling and prostitution operations in Phenix City. He was in fact the lawyer for the mob. Later in his career, when he ran for Attorney General, his platform included cleaning up Phenix City. This was a problem for the racketeers, since Mr. Patterson knew where all the closets were and how many skeletons each one contained. Mr. Patterson was also my Dad’s lawyer, and on the night that he was killed, Dad had stopped to talk to him in his office. Jimmy and I remained in the car, and when Dad came back, it was only a matter of minutes until Mr. Patterson was killed. Dad was subpoenaed for the trial, and Jimmy and I got our first ride in an Alabama State Patrol car. We probably wore out the siren on the trip. Anyway, Albert Fuller, a Deputy Sheriff, was convicted of the killing. The verdict was also a little strange for us, because one of my Dad’s best friends was Buddy Fuller, Albert’s brother. We spent lots of good times with Buddy and Betty Fuller. I remember that they had a great fishing lake out on the Crawford road and Jimmy and I caught and released most of the fish that lived in it.

Jeanne Franklin graduated from Jordan High School in 1957,

Back in 1955, I met a great girl from Jordan High named Jeanne Franklin. We attended our Junior and Senior proms together. I was always known as one of the River Rats around Jordan. I am almost sure that was a term of endearment. After graduation, I left for Fairhope, Alabama for a summer job before going to Auburn in the fall of 1957. I never got back to Phenix City until after I was married to my 1st wife, Mary Lou Starr from Silverhill, Alabama. The Starr’s had moved there from Alex City and were a part of the family that produced a former quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. Mary Lou and I had a daughter (Daphne Starr Pope) who recently retired from the Air Force after 22 years of service. She now lives in Las Vegas, and her husband SMS TJ Jordan just returned from his 2nd tour in Iraq. He leaves for his 3rd tour in October of this year. While Mary Lou and I were married, I worked for Georgia Power and later was an Industrial Engineer for Vanity Fair. What a career change, from making electricity to making Ladies lingerie, or as Cousin Al used to say, Ladies unmentionables. I hope someone remembers Cousin Al.

Jerry and date Jeanne about 1956. (Jeanne, but not Jeanne Franklin)

When United Parcel Service came into the Southeast in 1966, they recruited me to manage an engineering department in Missouri. Mary Lou and I had already divorced, and I later met Carol, my wife of 41 years in St Louis in August of 1966. Carol and I have 3 daughters and a son. We moved our 4/5 (Daphne part time) kids all over the United States while I was with UPS. We actually moved 5 times in 6 years during one stretch. When I started with UPS, they had 13,000 total employees, and when I left in 1982, they had 13,000 managers and 170,000 employees.

The next chapter in our lives began when after 16 years I left UPS and all the moving for a job in Waco, Texas as Director of Engineering for Central Freight Lines. We bought a ranch. Carol ran the Ranch, and I eventually was promoted to Vice President of Operations. On the ranch, we had almost 300 Brangus cows and 26 Paint horses. Roadway Motor Freight bought out Central after I was there 14 years and decided two years later they didn’t need VPs. Kind of ironic that both of my careers ended after 16 years (32 years in transportation). They made me an equitable severance offer, and I retired and have never looked back. Our first retirement home was in Shallotte, NC, just North of Myrtle Beach. After 5 years there, we realized that we needed to come home to Georgia. We have 3 daughters with families here, (Michele, Kimberly, and Cathy) another daughter in Las Vegas, (Daphne), and a son, (Joe), in Tucson. We have been extremely blessed in our lives. I am 67 years old and have been retired now for almost 10 years. My job now is a one-day a week starters position at the BridgeMill CC in Atlanta, Ga. Both Carol and I enjoy golf, so the job helps with the expenses.

Carol and I were married by a Justice of the Peace in St Louis on November the 26th, 1966. After the ceremony, I kissed her and returned to work. On November the 25th of 2006, 40 years later, we renewed our vows with a full-blown wedding at the Kennesaw United Methodist Church with all of our children, grandchildren, and many friends in attendance. Since we never had a honeymoon, I asked Carol where she wanted to go. She chose Disney World in Orlando. After spending a 13-hour day with her in 3 theme parks, I realized that we should have gone much earlier. I have lost a couple of steps in 40 years.

We attended the 50th reunion of the 1957 graduating class of Central High School last year. It was a weekend of bittersweet memories with lots of remembering and lots of tears. I was totally unprepared for the emotional feelings that occurred. I had only attended the tenth reunion, so part of my problem was a feeling of deep sadness for having missed all the other reunions. The thing that hit me the hardest was when I looked at my best friend from high school and realized that even though we were inseparable in high school, we had not spoken in 50 years. My advice to anyone would be to attend your reunions every chance that you get. There are no second chances in this life.

After attending the reunion, I decided to look up some of my friends from the past on the Internet. While searching for any articles about the old Bi-city athletic conference which was made up of the Central Red Devils, Baker Lions, Columbus Blue Devils, and Jordan Red Jackets, I came across an article written by Sandra Doolittle about the Glory Days in Columbus. Imagine my surprise when I read the article and found my name mentioned in the 14th paragraph. How could anyone remember me after 50 years? Since then, Sandra and I have been trying to meet in person, and I am sure that we will in the near future. In the meantime, she asked to share some of the events that have occurred in my life since the “Glory Days”. I hope they bring back some of the memories that we had together. Until we meet, I will continue to read Sandra’s articles and reminisce about those “Glory Days”.