Nonnie's Stories

The family stories told to me by Mary Helen Harrison Lindsey.

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The GMAC Man

About 1937, “Daddy” Harrison owned a Chevrolet dealership in Fulton, MS. Helen (Nonnie) and her twin sister, Louise, were in high school.

A GMAC man came from Memphis to talk business with Mr. Harrison. At lunch, the two girls went by the dealership to see their father. The GMAC man’s Chevrolet convertible was parked on the street in front of the dealership. As only the 2nd convertible in town, it caught the girl’s eyes.

Watching the girls and his car, and probably thinking he would do something to make him more favorable in the eyes of Mr. Harrison, the GMAC man gave the girls the keys and told them to keep it for that afternoon. Nonnie said that Louise wouldn’t let her drive.

We can only imagine the scene of the twins driving that car back to school with the top down. Nonnie said that people were “hanging all over that car.”

Nonnie & Pop’s First Car

When they were married, Mr. Harrison gave the couple a 2 seater Chevrolet as a wedding present. When Popl was sent overseas, Nonnie asked Mr. Lindsey to sell it for her. She put that money and the money from Pop’s military service ($37.50 a month) into a savings account until he came home. While Pop was overseas, she and I lived in Fulton with the Harrisons. After World War II, when Pop came home, they used that money that Nonnie had saved to build the kitchen in their house on 7th Avenue in Laurel.


How Nonnie & Pop Met

Since Pop went to Mississippi State University and Nonnie went to Blue Mountain College, the hows of their meeting has always been a mystery; until now when Nonnie told me the story.

It seems that Blue Mountain would perform an opera every year. A director from New York would come down and they would rehearse and put on the opera. They would also tour, performing this opera at various colleges and universities around the state. Nonnie was in the choir when they performed at Mississippi State. Pop was in the audience and told his room mate, Jamie Carr, that he was going to get a date with that girl in the chorus.

I asked Nonnie why Pop would attend an opera; she said that State didn’t have many girls attending at that time and he went to see girls.

Pop didn’t get a date with Nonnie that night; she had a date with someone else, but she can’t remember who it was. However, her address was obtained, and he wrote her at Blue Mountain often before they ever had a date. While she was at school, Pop would call her every night at 10:00 PM (curfew time). Finally, the dorm mother told him that he would have to call earlier if he wanted to talk with her.

Mr. Lindsey had a Pontiac that he let Pop take to State. Pop used it to go to Blue Mountain on the weekends and date Nonnie. They dated for 18 months before getting married.
 

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