Jackie Owens, VBCC Crew Leader Extraordinaire and Vic Olds, longtime beach resident and Maintenance Worker are finally finding time to clean carpet after a very busy six months of events. Jackie promises it will look much better in a few days, just in time for high school graduations.
Since this message goes to a “stories” mailbox, I should tell a little story.
As a young teen of 13 years or so, I had the opportunity to work as a part time farm hand for a semi-retired custom homebuilder in Virginia Beach. He’d purchased a 200 acre farm adjacent to Dam Neck and raised ponies for his grandchildren and a couple of hundred head of Angus beef for market. While he lived in a waterfront home in Birdneck Point, he never forgot his humble beginnings living off the earth. He was the closest thing I had to a grandfather since both of mine had died before I was born. He was called “JC”, short for James Courtney Kesler. Mr. Kesler employed one of the hardest working men I think I’d seen in my 13 years. He was a laborer, and his name was Enoch Olds. I remember him calmly cutting a ditch across a field in the hot sun to drain standing rain water. I didn’t work with him much but appreciated his work ethic whenever I was around him. He seemed pretty old to me in 1968, but it wasn’t until later in my life that I learned how old. As a volunteer EMT I was called to Enoch’s home some 25 years later. He lived at the end of Olds Lane off of S. Birdneck Road in Seatack. Several generations of his large family lived in the homes that lined the street with their surname. It was a hot summer afternoon. I don’t remember the nature of the call but do remember seeing Mr. Olds lying in a bed with crisp white sheets and a gentle breeze coming through the screened windows. Each of his grown children and grandchildren alternated providing care for him daily. They did so better than any nursing home I’d been in – and I’d been in many. I believe I gave Mr. Olds his last ride to the hospital at nearly 100 years of age.
I share this story because I see similarities in Vic, Enoch’s grandson. He’s calm and steady and works hard. Just like his grandfather in his elderly years a half century ago. Searching way back in my memory banks, I can see the resemblance.
- Courtney