By Marvin Langley

All writers in Op Ed are here to inform and acknowledge issues of importance to our communities, however these writings represent the views and opinions of the authors and not necessarily of The Advertiser.

There is an old saying “time changes everything.” Things change.. Things come and go but there has been more change in the last hundred years than in all of history. In my lifetime I have seen a lot of change; not only in technology but in society, in families and how people ive. It doesn’t seem right when people buy exercise equipment so they can exercise. We go to the doctor and he tells us to walk. Years ago, walking and exercise came naturally. People worked for a living and walked a lot because they couldn’t jump in a car or ATV and drive a few hundred yards.

          One of the things I niss is the old country stores. When I was a boy there were country stores in every community. There were several in our community and sometimes my cousins and I would walk to one of them to get cold drinks. We could walk to Mr. Herbert Williams’ store which was in the yard where Zack and Lynn Strom live now. It was the center of Cleora Community and was the biggest country store in our area.. Mr. Herbert sold groceries, feed, farm supplies as well as gas and oil. Back then a dirt road went between the house and the store. We could walk from Brunson school (also called Cleora school) to the store. We never had much money but we could get a drink and a moon pie or candy bar for twelve cents.I remember when the drinks went from  five cents to six cents. Daddy said we would have to stop drinking coke as they were too expensive.

          I remember going there with daddy in his old pulpwood truck. He would always get five gallons of gas for One dollar and fifty cents. When Mr. Hertbert died, Miss Sara Mae closed the store  and opened another one on Walker Road across from  where John Henry Ryan lives now.

          There were several smaller stores in the area. Mr. Henry Smith had  a small store near Turkey Creek. Mr. Reynolds had a store in the other direction toward Edgefield. There were several stores on highway 25 and Pleasant Lane. Sometimes the bus would stop at Raymond  Chambers store on highway 25 and the kids would go inside to buy snacks.

          When I was in the FFA in ninth grade our teacher, Mr.Meredith, would take us on field trips to a forestry plot in the Antioch Community. He would stop at Freeman Quarles’ store at Antioch crossroads and we would buy snacks.I would borrow a dime from the teacher to get a double dip ice cream cone. I would get a dime from my mother to pay him back the next day. 

          Some of the country stores were not only convenience stores but meeting places where the farmers would gather to sit around and talk. Some back in the 1930s had post offices in them.and voting places. I rememberTommy Mims’ store on highway 23 was a voting place . My daddy would work there sometimes on election days.  

          The old stores are gone now and people drive to town or other towns for what they need. The old country stores are just a memory and soon they won’t be remembered,. when all the old folks are gone. The people will have to read about them or see them in movies and  t.v..How much more can things change before it  turns around? This Hiteck lifestyle may come to a sudden stop and nobody will be prepared for it.