Truckin' on the Western Branch

Anne Barbour Schwab Anne Barbour Schwab was born on American Legion Road not far from her father’s grain plant.

Daddy, Robert Hendron Waldo, was 6'4", lanky and called “Speedy” for his lack of speed on the Churchland football team. His father died while Speedy was at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and when his mother heard he was making bathtub gin in the fraternity house, she called him home. He ran the hardware store and granary and put a Christmas tree on top every year. I remember the huge silos filled with corn. Twice spontaneous combustion caused the silos to explode and burn. I was in Churchland Elementary, and when I heard the explosions and the fire sirens, I knew what it was. We had an idyllic childhood in Churchland. We rode horses all over and all the way to Pughsville. We made tunnels of hay bales. We were lucky to come out alive. I don’t remember being afraid of strangers or ever locking a door. At the time we were growing up, we knew everyone and had each other’s backs. And for those of us who stayed here it is still that way. At our 50-year reunion, it was as if no time had gone by, like we had never been apart. Daddy was very gregarious. With other business friends he started the Friday Club—a lunch club that met at different restaurants on Fridays. It grew and still meets today. Daddy always spoke because he knew everyone and something about each one. The same group of men also met at Rodman’s each Saturday at breakfast. Teens went there, too, for hushpuppies and soda.

Daddy ran for board of supervisors and lost. Then he opposed the commissioner of revenue in Norfolk County with my uncle as his campaign manager. He was in office when the annexation went through and he was in the middle of it all. We lived on American Legion Road and the annexation line was drawn around our house so we were still in Chesapeake. He was first a Democrat but when he disagreed with the party he became an independent. He went to every city council meeting and kept a pulse on Chesapeake City. He had the first aerial map of Chesapeake made. Daddy was interested in state and federal political possibilities but mother said no.

Larry, Anne Barbour, and York Schwab.

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