CHARLES FOSTER (CHARLIE) HIGDON
Charles Foster Higdon (Uncle Charlie) was born December 10, 1894, and he died on January 22, 1979. He was the son of Thomas Bragg Higdon and Martha Frances (Pattie) Rich Higdon.
In April 2001, my husband, H.A."Jack" Smith, and I went to Gastonia NC for the funeral of one of his aunts. While we were in Gastonia, we did some reminiscing.
We knew that, after my Uncle Charlie Higdon married Sallie Crawford, he had worked in Gastonia. One day, while walking across a railroad track in Gastonia, Uncle Charlie had a very serious accident. (Jack showed me where the railroad track was located.) A train on the track was not moving when Uncle Charle began to cross the track. This train kept him from seeing that another train on the next track was moving forward. That train hit Uncle Charlie's head. After this accident, he was in very serious condition. Aunt Sally said that, while he was lying in bed during his recovery, his body would jerk. This was a "close call" but fortunately he survived.
During his life, Uncle Charlie had several "close calls". When he was a child, he and a brother were playing in their backyard at their home in Higdonville, Macon County NC. In the backyard, there was a large pot with lard being melted over an open fire. (The lard may have been used to make soap.) When Uncle Charlie fell, the pot turned over onto his back, which was badly burned. Heads of cabbages were split open, and cabbage leaves were placed on his back. As soon as a cabbage leaf was cooked, it was removed and a new cabbage leaf was put on his back to draw out the heat from his back. How many cabbage leaves were used is not known, but there were many. Fortunately,Uncle Charlie survived, but his back was covered with scars for the remainder of his life.
Another time before Uncle Charlie was grown, he had a very serious illness and remained unconscious for a very long time. He was so seriously ill that his chances of living seemed very small. Many, many people were praying for him during this time. Uncle Charlie told me that he remembered getting sick in the Fall (or Winter) and that his next remembrance was in the Spring when he gained consciousness and began to recover from this illness.
During World War II, Uncle Charlie went to work in Massachusetts. Aunt Sallie and their daughter Ellen Ann went there with him, and they lived in Massachusetts for many years.
The buildng in which Uncle Charlie worked had an elevator for workmen to put supplies in which needed to be taken to another floor to be unloaded. This elevator had a pull-down door, not a sliding door like most elevators have. One time, when Uncle Charlie was working at this elevator, the door fell down on him, and he was trapped under the elevator door with his head and upper part of his body outside the elevator. There was no one there to help him free himself. It had to be with the Lord's help that he was able to free himself before the elevator went to another floor.
His daughter Ellen Ann once said, "God must have had a reason to keep him living." And I agree. Uncle Charlie had so many "close calls" that I believe the good Lord was looking after him. Uncle Charlie was a sweet, kind, gentle, and loving person. I remember him reading his Bible every day, especially in his latter years. Whenever Jack and I went to visit him, we'd drive up and see him sitting in a chair reading his Bible. He was a very special person.
When I was a very young child, I visited him in the summer-time in Macon County (before he went to Massachusetts). I have many special memories of time spent with him. Also, when he returned to Macon County after his retirement, I enjoyed some nice visits with him.. I was blessed to have him as my uncle.
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