Peninsula In Passage

Hinton D. Hurff When Hinton Hurff talks about his grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins the names flow like a directory of the Driver/Bennett’s Creek community - Ames, Harrell, Cross, Gaskins, Darden and more. Born and raised on Bennett’s Pasture Road, Hinton lives on Bennett’s Creek, a short walk behind the family home where he, his older brother, Frank, and older sister, Ann, grew up. Frank, a pilot, died in 1973 after retiring from the Air Force. He had been exposed to nuclear weapons on his tour of duty in Vietnam. Frank Hurff lived in their grandparents’ home in Suffolk. Ann, who was married to Robert Hall Ballard, died in 2006. Frances Jones Cleveland remembers “When we were growing up Hinton’s parents and mine would visit back and forth – Hinton was just a baby then and his parents were very easy going. Hinton’s

father would say, “Lil, the children are running on the dining room table again,” and she’d have to get them to stop.” Hurff says their parents Lillie Mae Everett and Walter Hurff were pretty laid back and let them play ping-pong on the same mahogany table. He still has the table with its share of dents. There was a sense of security in the community then, Hurff remembers – I walked to Driver to play with a buddy, Shirley Arthur. No cars would pass me on the road or if they did, I knew them.” My father was a farmer and, with his father, ran a men’s shop in Suffolk. I had no desire to be a farmer – too much work. I saw my father leaving before dawn and coming home after dark.

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