Instead of the story on the rehab center, The Laurinburg Exchange ran this one: Norma’s There is no historical marker on the southeastern corner of Main and Church Streets in Laurinburg, North Carolina, just memories of a unique part of Laurinburg’s history. At that time just to the north and across Church Street was Bill Adams Esso (simply called “Bladams”), Laurinburg’s 24 hour, full-service gas station located squarely in the center of town. Across Main Street and to the east of Bill Adam’s was the bus station where Greyhound and Trailways busses made regular stops in Laurinburg. Finally, just south of the bus station across Church Street still sat the First Methodist Church, now known as the First United Methodist Church. The southeastern corner of the intersection was the original home of Jean’s Dinning Hall, operated by Jeannie Warwick in the 1930’s and early 1940’s. However, very few in Laurinburg remember those days. About three or four generations have passed since “Miss Jeannie” retired and the business was continued by the Forde sisters; Norma, Mary Palmer, and Pompie or “Flip” as she was called. Flip dropped out early in the game and Carrie Lee Hennigan, a funny, lovable, and quick witted black lady moved right in as the main assistant. Norma and Mary Palmer were the Forde sisters. They were amongst seven children born to Francis F. “Frank” Forde and his wife, Willa Beacham Forde. Aunt Willa was my great aunt, as her sister, Ila Beacham McDougald was my grandmother. An interesting lesson in family history: my grandmother had nine children and adopted one niece. Family stories have been oft repeated about when Aunt Willa was about to give birth, the Forde children were rounded up and sent over to the McDougalds, and when my grandmother was about to give birth all of the McDougald children were rounded up and sent over to the Fordes. Today, all of the McDougalds and Fordes of that generation have passed on. Norma Forde was the last to go. It was Norma that became an icon to a couple of generations of folks traveling to, thru, or living in Laurinburg, and a true favorite for the students at St. Andrews. Although the restaurant was officially listed as “Miss Forde’s Coffee Shop,” it was known only as “Norma’s” to its thousands of customers. Norma was the one that all of the customers met. She took food orders, delivered plates and glasses of tea, and cleaned the tables. Mary Palmer and Carrie Lee stayed in the kitchen preparing the food and washing dishes. To meet Norma was an experience in itself and never forgotten by anyone so fortunate. If her loud, billowing voice did not catch your attention, then being a male in the 1960’s or 1970’s and sporting a pony tail meant that your pony tail got yanked, and yanked hard! You were then loudly reminded that you needed a hair cut. If you leaned back in one of her chairs, you received the opposite effect. Norma’s hand would blindside you on the back of your head with enough force to send you across the table. In a loud voice she would then remind you: “There are four legs on that chair and all four belong on the floor!” Local politics were also her specialty. If she had an opinion to voice; you listened to it and always readily agreed. Failure to do so meant no food and no iced tea. In the 1950’s and early 1960’s the Scotland County Courthouse was located just a half a block away, and “Norma’s” would be crowded at dinner when court was in session. Travelers coming thru Laurinburg would get directions to “Norma’s” from most of the filling stations, also travelers waiting to change busses at the bus station would often come in for a meal. Undoubtedly, thousands of students from St. Andrews Presbyterian College flocked to “Norma’s” for a unique dining experience. During the 1960’s and early 1970’s breakfast or dinner (the mid-day meal was called dinner) would cost you 50 cents. For that you would get a choice of meat, three vegetables, a roll, and a glass of sweet tea. In the early 1970’s inflationary pressures sent the price of the meal to 75 cents. On Sunday as people got out of church many would fill the dinning room to the deluxe dinner. The meat choices were roast beef and fried chicken and a dessert was available. The price for Sunday dinner was 1 dollar in the 1960’s and early 1970’s, rising to $1.50 later. “Norma’s” modernized in the early 1970’s. Prior to that time the diner was not air conditioned, but air was circulated by two powerful fans mounted on posts that moved enough air to launch an Apollo rocket. Her cousin, Joe Parker, a local heating and air conditioning repairman, gave the Fordes an air conditioning system. Summertime Sunday dinners now had a real touch of comfort! Despite having to prepare a big Sunday meal, Norma still found time to attend Sunday school, not the morning worship, but Sunday school at 10:00 a.m. When she moved to Scotia Village later in life her Sunday school class went to Scotia Village to have class with her. She had 79 years of perfect Sunday school attendance! When I finished college in 1975, breakfast and dinner at “Norma’s” were daily events up until my marriage in 1980. Norma, Mary Palmer, and Carrie Lee baked our wedding cake as their gift to us. Afterwards, it was rare that Lynn and I did not have Sunday dinner with them. The building housing “Norma’s” was sold in the early 1980’s, and the Forde girls closed shop. Norma and Mary Palmer went home, and Carrie Lee joined them as they continued their cake baking. Their specialties were wedding cakes and birthday cakes. The most requested birthday cake was a train cake; featuring a steam engine, coal car, two other cars, and a caboose. The train cake was almost four feet long. Following the closing of their restaurant, they continued to serve dinner to two of their regulars; Steve Prevatte and Pa. Mary Palmer later died in the mid 1980’s and Carrie Lee died in the early 1990’s. Norma obviously could not continue feeding friends without help, but she continued to bake cakes for about another year. On one of my last visits with Norma prior to her death in 2010, she talked about old times with a touch of confusion. One topic was Henry Ford, the founder of Ford Motor Company. “I can’t understand why he dropped the “e” off of his last name. You have to have that “e” to be a real Forde.” For her funeral, she was carried to the church and to her resting place in our 1922 Ford hearse. Everywhere the name “Ford” appeared on the car an “e” was crafted and properly placed to properly change its name to “Forde.” Norma would have approved!
Posted on: Sat, 17 May 2014 17:59:45 +0000
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