I really enjoy writing about my hometown of Pendleton SC. We are a very small historic town nestled in the foothills of upstate South Carolina. It is the people who make Pendleton such an interesting place to live and an excellent place to raise a family. I had reconnected with someone from my past when she saw a post on Face Book about my Pendleton Old Photos. She contacted me and after several email conversations, I realized that her family was the one that had purchased our home when we moved from Pendleton to Scottsboro, Alabama in 1963. My dad was with J.P. Stevens Co, a textile firm, and was transferred only 3 months after our folks had built what they called their Retirement Home. This person, Jeanie Sims Hunt , was a couple of years younger than me but I did remember her and she was so interested in the history of Pendleton and was sharing her memories from the 50's and 60's through her emails. I realized that she was a very talented writer so I suggested that she seriously write down her Pendleton Memories and I would make a lens about it. We both started getting excited about the possibility of asking other Pendleton folks to do the same. It was about that time that I was asked to speak to the 2009 Leadership Pendleton Class as part of the Future Module talking about social media. At that meeting I heard the speakers for the Past Module and was so impressed with them. One was Sandra Gantt who told about growing up as a black female in Pendleton during the 50's and 60's. Another speaker was 94 year old Nell Seawright Reeves telling about growing up in Pendleton in the 20's and 30's. I later mentioned to both of them about using their speeches to be a part of our Pendleton Memories Series. They both agreed and so now I have 4 lenses including a lensography Pendleton Memories - A Series and am looking forward to other Pendletonians contributing their memories. All three of these lenses are so different and interesting. This project continues to be an education for me.
All of these lenses show what it was like in days gone by: Businesses that used to be on and off the square and the people who ran them. What kind of memories are you making for someone with your business?
Jeanie enjoyed our project so much that she joined Squidoo and created Life In My Grandmother's Time as her first lens. She followed this with the continuing story of her daughter, Audrey, who was a foster child. Jeanie has now published her continuation of Audrey's Story with Growing, Not Under My Heart, But Within Part 2.
The Pendleton District Commission's Curator has become interested in this series and want to archive each of them as part of their Pendleton Historic Collection.
