Queen Elizabeth is celebrating her 90th birthday this month. She is just six years older than I am and I can remember being in high school when she married in 1947. I set my alarm for 4 a.m. and lay in bed to hear all the pomp and circumstance.
The big difference between us now – she can still walk up steps which I can no longer do. Last year she carried out 341 engagements and as for myself, going to Kiwanis each Tuesday and the newspaper staff meeting each Thursday were the limits of my engagements last year.
The United States has had 44 presidents and she has met 12 of them.
One more difference: a constitutional scholar in London commended the queen for always keeping her views to herself. I don’t need to comment here any further.
I understand two famous television stars were walking around the recent Suds on the Square. I guess we’re going to have to get used to seeing famous movie and television stars from now on. I can remember when cotton and cattle farming were important to keep Fayette County growing. I’m pretty sure that has evolved into another field entirely.
I see that “Take Our Daughters To Work Day” is fast approaching. Mine happens to live in Denver and works full time. I know she would be here if she could.
I have to admit that once, when she was 15 years old, I had her break the law.
I took her to Griffin to get her driver’s license. The patrolman told her to turn around a corner that for some reason or other was illegal. Because she was nervous and had been taught to respect a uniform, she did as she was told. She was denied a driver’s license. I don’t know the law now, but at that time if you failed you had to wait 30 days to try again. I was so furious when I heard the reason for the failure, I had her drive up Highway 16 from Griffin to the Newnan State Parol. She received her license in Newnan pronto. And no, I’ve never felt bad about doing that.
Judge Waymon Hollingsworth built a house in Fayetteville in 1890. It was moved one third of a mile down the road in 2000 to its present location and has become an event center. I remember the occasion well. The house. located near the Baptist Church, had been moved to the curb and at 11 p.m. the process began. All the lights and cable had to be taken down at the corner of Highways 85 and 54 causing total darkness. A huge spotlight went backwards down the road so the house could see where it was going and two hours later it sat in its present location.
Sam and Susan Burch live in the Burch house just across the street and invited us for lemonade and cookies on their porch at 1 a.m.
There is a Hollingsworth Ancestral Association and it met in the house last Saturday. Descendants came from all over the United States for its 23rd get together. If you have some Hollingsworth in your blood, you will be interested in the first Hollingsworth in the United States, it was Valentine Hollingsworth who came here from Ireland in 1682.
