He was a good man. He was a big man- 6ft.3 ins. and weighing  220 pounds.  He came to Chapel Hill, N.C. when he was 17 in 1924 to work in the Carrboro mills.  He saved all his money possible.: his paper money in a strong metal tool box and his change in a demijohn.

Several years passed, he worked hard , bought a small house and married a young Carrboro lady.  The twenties passed,  the stock market crashed, and the mills shut down and the banks closed. The thirties "great depression " was here.  The tool box had made an excellent bank for by now he had in it a goodly sum.  

Not being a lazy man and relatively uneducated, he dwelled upon how he was to make a living.  Finally, he made a pot of chili, chopped some onions, bought some rolls and weiners and started selling hot dogs  for ten cents each on Franklin Street, mostly to students.   He saved what money he could.  He did rather well and when people in debt began to go bankrupt, he took out his tool box and began to buy land, parcel by parcel.  Soon he owned most the land on one side of Martin King Blvd (then Airport Road) from the beginning of the top of the hill to the bottom and from Airport Road to Carrboro in the other directions.  He also bought several other pieces of property.He tried to buy wisely but sometimes he made mistakes,.  Until his death ,many years later, he rebuked himself for not buying the farm on which "Estes Hills" was much later developed  for the offered price of three thousand dollars.  He told this story often ,and alway ended with "and I had the money.  I thought the price was too high." In  1941 World War II started. 

Cigarettes had gone to war and Legget and Meyers Tobacco in Durham was hiring everyone possible.  He had two boys by then; he  closed the hot dog stand and took a job in Durham. still continuingd to live in Chapel Hill.   He worked  there until his retirement. 

He needed a better car so he took out the demijohn full of quarters, put it in his old truck and headed for the Ford dealer in Chapel Hill who by then was a friend of his. He told the dealer if he would count the quarters , he would buy a newer car for $500. which was a reasonable sum back then.  The dealer counted the quarters , the car was bought and the story went the round of the old boys in Chapel Hill for many years.

During  the fifties and sixties he , having gained confidence in the banks, sold off many parcels of his land, piece by piece at a nice profit,   Keeping a goodly amount of  it however.     

He made a point never to owe money since he believed another depression would come.  Though uneducated himself and the oldest , he helped his five younger siblings with money to get college degrees.  He never mentioned his worth ,always acted and dressed conservatively.  He was a good man.