Minnie (Odom) Burr

Is it the soil, climate, or what? Around these parts, the money crop for most farmers has always been tobacco, at least until recent years: but Minnie never saw tobacco growing until sometime after she was married. You see, Minnie was born on December 10, 1930, to Jessie and Beulah Odom, who were tenant farmers on a piece of land between Bennettsville and Cheraw, SC, and cotton was the big thing there. Minnie was well-acquainted with cotton since she and her three sisters and two brothers were put to work in the fields when they were just little fellows. The opening of school was even delayed there until after cotton-picking season was over, which sometimes was into November. Once in a while, however, for a change, they were permitted to work for their mother in the vegetable garden and sometimes even got to accompany a load of veggies to the farmer’s market in Bennettsville.

All in all, Minnie’s childhood was pretty normal for that time and locale. She worked hard, went to school and had a mediocre family life: but when she was only thirteen years old, her mother tragically passed away and any chance of further normalcy went with her. For reasons still unknown to Minnie, her father was unable to keep the family together and the next few years brought a period of moving from relative to relative or house to house. Minnie even dropped out of eighth grade to become a surrogate mother, one might say, to a younger brother and sister and when that didn’t work out either, she went by herself to live with an aunt in Rockingham, NC, where she worked at a dry-cleaning job for a short while before finally finding a permanent job at Safie Cotton Mill in the spinning room.

After moving with her aunt to a different community, one of new neighbors introduced his friend, Ralph Burr, to Minnie and Minnie thought he was so-o-o-o cute! Having just turned a bold sixteen, Minnie brazenly sent Ralph a note and did he bite! He came by to see her, and then came again and again, and only a few months had passed when they got married on April 5, 1947 and Minnie was still only sixteen years old, mind you.

They lived with Ralph’s mother for a spell and then moved into a little home of their own. It was there that their son Larry was born on May 29, 1949. After another move into a duplex, daughter, Diane was born on December 22, 1950, and this little lady was so eager to see the world that she wouldn’t wait till her mother got to a hospital…she just made her appearance right there at home! Minnie enjoyed the luxury of staying home with her little family until Diane was about six years old. Then she went back to work at Safie and remained there until the mill closed down some two years later, which meant that Ralph lost his job also, since he had the same employer. In his search for work, Ralph finally heard that Cone Mills was hiring, so he came to Greensboro and started working at the Revolution Plant. In December of 1958, he moved his family to an apartment complex here in Greensboro.

After only a couple of months in Greensboro, Minnie found a job at Lorillard. She went to work there in February, 1959…Groundhog Day, she laughingly reports (is that significant?) She was there 33-1/2 years. Of course, she did take time out to give birth to another daughter. Annette was born on November 24, 1964, some fourteen years after Diane came along, and we might add, after another move was made to Glenwood Avenue, where they finally settled down for some twelve years. A final move occurred in 1973 when they bought the house Minnie lives in presently on Corliss Street. Minnie lived there alone after her husband passed away, but all three children remained fairly close by: Larry in High Point, Diane just down Randleman Road and Annette with a Randleman address. Larry has given his mother two granddaughters, Sherri and Ashley, and Minnie is proud also to be a great-grandmother to two lovely girls, Logan and Hanna and two handsome boys, Landen and Blaine.

As a child, Minnie had gone to churches that were closest to wherever she lived, no matter what the denomination, since they had to walk to them. She remembers attending Methodist, Holiness and Baptist, and making her profession of faith when she was quite young, but she and Ralph had not been attending church faithfully after their move to Greensboro. She was at work one day on second shift when Margaret Morgan came by and Diane asked her to come back the next morning when her mom would be home. Faithful Margaret showed up the next morning and Minnie says that having just gone through a down-period she was very receptive to Margaret’s visit. Thus, it was June 1978 that Minnie joined Rocky Knoll Church and she was faithful in attendance and service. She was an assistant teacher in a children’s S.S. class and was president of the Ruth Class. She was a member also of the Young-at-Heart Club. Minnie used her expertise in decorating the Fellowship Hall and many also enjoyed her beautifully decorated cakes on special occasions.

This lady was always busy doing something. She took courses in cake decorating and doll making (check out the display case of beautiful dolls in her living room sometime). She went through the macramé stage and most recently caught up in quilting, having already made a quilt for each of her children. She worked outside in her yard and has many pretties to show for it. She enjoyed traveling with Diane on some Holiday Tours, but the highlights of her travels were a trip to the Holy Land in 1978 and to the Passion Play in Germany in 1980. (This writer remembers seeing Minnie baptized by Ralph Webb in the River Jordan on that 1978 trip…much to the consternation of some Methodists on the tour who probably thought it took too much time for a full immersion.)

When Ralph died June 11, 1998, Minnie could have just folded her hands and sat down, but she didn’t. She met that problem head-on just like she did the problems in her early teen years and she is to be admired for having the stamina to carry on so well.

Upon her retirement on July 29, 1992, from Lorillard, she had been given a lovely retirement dinner and was generously showered with gifts and one lady, who had been so impressed with Minnie’s ready willingness to help others, appointed herself a committee of one to take up enough from co-workers to present her with a special doll (some $500 value, we’re told), plus a bouquet of one dozen special roses made out of $10.00 bills and flower arrangement consisting of blossoms, stems and leaves fashioned out of $1.00 bills.

Most all of us agree that we don’t have the talent or the means to make such extravagant gifts, but we can and do offer our love, and that freely, to a dear lady who has touched so many lives with the sunshine of her smile and her friendship. We love you Minnie!

……….(Original writer)….Thelma W. Spoon

Minnie went to be with her Lord and Savior on Wednesday, November 2, 2022.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, November 8, 2022 at Rocky Knoll Baptist Church, 501 Kirkland St., Greensboro, NC 27406. She will be laid to rest next to her husband immediately following the funeral service in Guilford Memorial Park Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 6:00 until 8:00 pm Monday evening, November 7, 2022 at Hanes-Lineberry Sedgefield Chapel, 6000 West Gate City Blvd., Greensboro, NC 27407. Online condolences may be made at www.haneslineberryfhsedgefield.com. Memorial contributions may be made to The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.