Truckin' on the Western Branch

Bob Madden Bob Madden’s family moved to Westwood in Churchland in 1961. His father, Joe Madden, and his uncle, Philip “Flip” Boyette, started the Boyette-Madden Development Company. I remember how small and rural it was when I first came out here. Even in 1972 Harris Tire Center was the last building heading out of town. Cedar Lane was a two-lane road, paved with pea gravel and tar. We rode horses on the Hardee farm. There were small shacks on the back of the property for the farmhands. We would jump on the horses from Charlie Russell’s farm and ride them back to the stables. The Churchland shopping center was only the Colonial Store and later the pharmacy and the Ben Franklin store. Boyette and Madden had an option on all four corners of Tyre Neck Road and the bypass (now High Street) but couldn’t afford to hang on to them. I graduated from Churchland in 1970 and went to Chowan College and Old Dominion. I worked at GE as a forklift driver and parts person then went to California and hitchhiked up and down the West Coast. At Easter dinner when Debbie’s father, Dan Harris, said that he needed help for a week at his place, Harris Tire, I volunteered and, 36 years later, I’m still there. I always wanted my own business, in spite of the long hours and no vacation. The business has been good to us.

Dan Harris’s philosophy was “treat people fairly and you’ll be OK,” and Harris Tire has served some families for three generations.

In late 2014, the Maddens sold the business but it will remain Harris Tire.

Debbie Madden Debbie Harris Madden said her father, John Dan Harris, had been the office manager for J. E. Nash logging company in Churchland until the late 1960s when his brother, Raymond Harris, opened several tire stores in Norfolk.

When they decided to expand to Churchland, my father wanted an easier commute—maybe he was ahead of his time—and became the manager. With Churchland developing, he moved the family to the more rural Nansemond County and paid tuition for me to finish at Churchland High in 1970.

Debbie and Bob Madden. Image by Sheally

I graduated from Old Dominion and was hired to teach at Churchland, but because of racial balancing with integration, the principal, Edgar “Butch” Morgan, told me I had to teach at Manor High. I taught there for two years and then at Churchland for a year before we started our family.

I think we still have a friendly, caring community—still somewhat tight knit. We still have the same attitude of the old core Churchland.

John Dan Harris

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