Truckin' on the Western Branch
Dr. Harry Cox One of Kirk’s neighbors was Dr. Harry D. Cox, a veteran of the U.S. Navy Medical Corps and the beloved pediatrician who treated many of the children in town. He practiced pediatrics for 50 years as a staff member of Portsmouth General and Maryview Hospitals, loved a good tennis or golf game, and coached Little League. Aside from his medical acumen and bedside manner, Cox was probably best known for striking up a sing-along on any occasion, usually with his accordion strapped around his neck. His annual Christmas tradition, Kirk said, was to lead a couple dozen children house to house, caroling around his neighborhood just off High Street. Cox died in 2012, just short of his 90th birthday.
Frances Sledge Frances Sledge, Arthur Kirk’s cousin, grew up in downtown Portsmouth and graduated from Wilson High in 1935. She went to the University of Mary Washington (then Fredericksburg State Teachers’ College) for two years, working her way through until she could not afford the $315 annual tuition. She came home and got a job with Virginia Smelting for three years. Then I caught a man, Charles Rives Sledge, and got married in 1940. When he was discharged from the Navy, he worked for WSAP in Portsmouth. We lived in Port Norfolk until Arthur Kirk convinced us to move to his neighborhood in Churchland in 1955. We could walk to the football games— the stadium was practically in our backyard.
Charles had become the chief engineer in charge of facilities at Craney Island, then went to work for Raytheon in charge of all Naval radar repairs.
I taught seventh grade in the high school building on High Street and ended up teaching math at Churchland Junior High when Henry Willett was principal. I had gone to Old Dominion University nights and summers to finish my degree at the age of 50.
Frances Sledge. Image by Sheally
I loved the contact with the children. I went to each of their homes and talked to the parents—other teachers didn’t do that but I did. I taught with the Duke sisters. They were institutions in Churchland.
I don’t remember any major problems with integration although we had a little rascal every now and then. The parents took care of students’ problems. I quit when it got to be that the teacher was always wrong.
J. Robert “Bobby” Bray Bobby Bray was a key player in turning Hampton Roads from a minor seaport to the third largest port on the East Coast. But his 40-year career with the ports was, he said, pure happenstance. He grew up in Glensheallah and went to the Churchland Schools until fourth grade when Portsmouth annexed Glensheallah. He graduated from Wilson High and remembers working for Fred Beazley, cleaning up land for the new Frederick College. The young workers laughed that Beazley seemed to hide behind the trees with binoculars, he said, catching them every time they caught a short break.
After struggling for a year in medical school, Bray came home to teach math at Churchland High.
I was hired by Ed Chittum and taught five sections of geometry. It was a fantastic experience—lots of good kids. Parents expected you to do something then— you had to meet their expectations. After law school at the College of William and Mary, I became an assistant city attorney in Portsmouth when the city was just putting together the property for a terminal at Pinners Point. When the new Port Authority opened in November 1967, I became its general counsel.
J. Robert “Bobby” Bray. Image by Sheally
Bray married Jane Kremer in 1966 and bought their home on Garland Drive in Churchland in 1968.
“The 1950s were the greatest years in this country,” he said. “You still believed that you could achieve whatever you wanted.”
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