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Become an Alabama Pioneers Patron
Paid in full, this is hard to do nowadays
by Joyce Ray Wheeler
When we moved to Birmingham in 1953 we rented an old bungalow style house near Howard College where my husband would be a teaching. This house was the size we needed and was near a good elementary school for our small children. The owner of the house assured us that it would always be rental property. It would never be for sale.
The house looked fresh and clean
So we happily busied ourselves to make this house a home. My husband replaced the rotting boards and the banisters on the front of the porch and painted the walls of each room. The house looked so fresh and clean!
Two weeks later a FOR SALE sign appeared in the front yard! Two weeks later the house was sold! My dear husband declared, “That will never happen to this family again!”
Pay in full
Thus began our search for a house we could afford, that was the size we needed and was near a good elementary school. We purchased our first house at 417 86th Way in East Lake. The price was $8,000. We were so proud!
My husband and I both were reared by parents who, of necessity, bought nothing until they had money to “pay in full.” We were taught that same frugality.
We could be trusted for a loan
When working out the financial arrangements for the house with Cobbs, Allen, and Hall we were asked to show proof of our credit rating. We looked at them blankly and my husband proudly announced that we had always paid cash for everything! There was a pause—and then I looked up brightly and said, “I know! Last year when we lived in Tallahassee we had our milk delivered to our door and I paid that bill monthly–paid in full!”
The Cobbs, Allen, and Hall representatives laughingly decided we could be trusted for a loan.
We really didn’t see anything so funny about it!
Discordance: The Cottinghams (Volume 1) – A novel inspired by the experiences of the Cottingham family who immigrated from the Eastern Shore of Virginia to Bibb County, Alabama
Filled with drama, suspense, humor, and romance, DISCORDANCE continues the family saga from the Tapestry of Love series with the children of Mary Dixon who married Thomas Cottingham.
Inspired by true events and the Cottingham family that resided in 17th century Somerset, Maryland and Delaware, colonial America comes alive with pirate attacks, religious discord, and governmental disagreements in the pre-Revolutionary War days of America.
