Myrtie

Family History Writing Challenge, Day Two +Lynn Palermo 

Like her husband, Al, Myrtie’s heritage was German. Unlike Al, she was Southern born and bred. Born May 24, 1898, Myrtie Virginia Pound was a middle girl in a very large family – what we would now call a “blended family”. Back then, however, it was simply a family.

Born in Red Bank, South Carolina, Myrtie attended school with her siblings, working on the family farm between chores and schoolwork. After the death of her father in 1917, she took a job teaching at a grade school in South Carolina. She wasn’t a teacher for long, however.

Around 1922 she moved to Columbia, South Carolina where she worked as an operator for Western Union Telegraph Company. By 1925, Myrtie had moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, living with a brother and a sister,  still working for Western Union; eventually their mother joined them in Charlotte as well. Myrtie stayed with Western Union even after her marriage in 1929. She left Western Union before the birth of their first of three boys in 1930.

Grandmother was raised Methodist in South Carolina, likely a member of  Red Bank United Methodist Church (originally called Hicks Chapel Methodist Church), the first Methodist church in Red Bank. However, she and Grandpop joined Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Charlotte after they were married. She was an active member of the church and the Rebekah Circle there for the remainder of her life in Charlotte.

Prim and proper, Myrtie was a slight woman. Being four years older than her husband was something that bothered her, but it hardly mattered as they raised their family together. She reared her boys in their small, tidy home with Southern grace and manners. Her youngest boy recalls attending women’s meetings with her as a small child, being given a plate of refreshments, and sitting quietly in his chair watching the proceedings about him.



As a grandmother she was doting, always concerned with keeping her nine grandchildren full of coconut macaroons and lime Kool-aid. A small, white high chair was kept in the kitchen, each of the grandchildren having their turn to it over the course of fifteen years. Small powdered donuts and individual boxes of cereal were always kept on hand for visits, and there was plenty of vanilla ice cream and fresh raspberries for a treat.

When the grandchildren weren’t with Grandpop in his workshop they could likely be found reading one of the many books Grandmother kept for them, or sitting on the porch with her waiting for the mail or rolling marbles down the uneven porch boards.

Grandmother remained in her home for over forty years, until the death of her husband in 1988. From their she moved to Lumberton to live with her oldest son and his family. She lived there until moving to a nursing home back in South Carolina, in the hometown of her middle son. She returned to Charlotte once again, being laid to rest with Al, after passing away at the age of 94.

AFB, I

Day One Family History Writing Challenge +Lynn Palermo

Charles and Linda met at a lunch counter in Charlotte over 50 years ago – six months later they were married. She was barely out of her teens, he was already out of college and had recently returned from Fort Lewis in Washington after being discharged from the US Army.

Charles was the youngest of three boys born between the Great Depression and World War II. They were raised in the “big city” (Southern North Carolina style). Like most families of that time, they got by, all three growing to become educated, hard-working family men. His oldest brother, Al, was his senior by seven years; Frank was only two years older.

Their father was also an Al – Albert Frank Bernhardt, I, who was born in October of 1902. A native of Philadelphia, according to Charles, Grandpop attended Drexel Institute of Art, Science and Industry (now Drexel University). He was an electrician in Philadelphia before moving to North Carolina between 1925 and 1930. He met his bride, Myrtie, during this time, and on January 24, 1929, they were married in Philadelphia at Bethany Reformed Church (now Bethany U.C.C.). Bethany was the German-speaking Evangelical church that Grandpop attended as a youth. He began his membership with Bethany by baptism in 1918 and remained a member of the church until moving to North Carolina. There the couple joined Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, in part due the large German community there.

One of Al's first jobs there was as a weaver in a hosiery mill, a skill he likely learned from his father, a weaver and a tailor. By 1933 he was again working in his chosen field as a radio serviceman for a company called Glascow-Allison.

With a brief exception, Grandpop lived in North Carolina for the remainder of his life.

During World War II the family moved to East Orange, New Jersey. Al worked for Bell Labs in New York City, working on materials sensitive enough that he was required to wear a sidearm. Grandpop was perhaps fortunate in this regard, as anti-German sentiment was high during this time – perhaps this spoke to his knowledge and ability in the field in which he worked. He was also an auxiliary policeman for civil defense during the war.

It seems likely that the brevity of this time in New Jersey was expected, as the family moved back into their home in North Carolina around 1945. Upon returning, Grandpop worked for a company called Williams and Shelton before opening a television repair shop just around the corner from his home. He ran this shop until retirement. After retiring he focused on wood crafts - on a large scale such as cabinetry, and on a small scale, building dollhouses and furniture for his five granddaughters. Al also had four wonderful grandsons he enjoyed working with in his basement. He tended raspberry vines that he grew in his backyard.

Grandpop was active with the Boy Scouts of America and a member of Phalanx Masonic Lodge in Charlotte, North Carolina. On the weekends he could usually be found in his blue armchair smoking his pipe or in his basement work shop. These times left memories that are often stirred by the smell of sweet tobacco, wood-burning tools, and musty, earthy basements.

Grandpop passed away in December of 1988 due to complications from congestive heart failure. He lived to be 86 years old, perhaps a testament to the strong German stock from which he came.