By Vicki Scott
I recently read where Glencoe is good place for people to retire. This news caused me to reminisce about some of the best years of my life. This was a life loved down Herren Camp Road and a life my babies grew up in.
My husband Alan and I were married only one year when he just up and decided he wanted to live on the lake. In our neck of the woods, the lake meant beautiful Lake Martin in Dadeville. We searched with Nancy Duchene, a Dadeville-area realtor, to find a shell of a house on Herren Camp Road. It was under construction by Nancy’s husband Leroy, who reminded me of Wolfman Jack.
Shortly after purchasing the house, we read in the Wall Street Journal that Lake Martin was the No. 1 place to retire. That made sense, because most of our neighbors on Herren Camp Road were retired.
We made our new house a home to our two most precious babies in the world, Joseph, and Eva. After losing our first child, Jessica, shortly after childbirth, God used our neighbors in this tragic time to try to ease the depression, but nothing worked until my babies arrived. God used our daughter Eva to help me come to know Him. Even when I was pregnant with Eva, I laughed all the time. One time we were walking down Herren Camp Road, and our dog, named “Dog,” was sniffing more than she was looking and flipped into the lake. I almost went in labor laughing so hard.
It was a quiet neighborhood and I was a stay-at-home mom. I praise God for that and the fact that five families of our neighborhood would babysit at a moment’s notice. Our children played with other children from our church, and they all are still close.
One of our neighbors would bring Easter baskets and put them on the porch for our babies, who thought there really was an Easter Bunny. It didn’t get my attention until Mrs. Maxi called and asked if they enjoyed their treats. She would stop by, as many of the neighbors did, every time she saw us walking down the road. When Mrs. Maxi moved, I forgot to get some treats. Alan and I scrambled to keep Easter happy that year. I miss her.
Eva and Joseph would rack up on Halloween, too. Our neighbors would call ahead of time to make sure they would have trick or treaters. Eva and Joseph’s bags were not big enough to hold all their candy!
Some neighbors decorated their house just for our children and give them more candy. I was so excited when I moved to Glencoe, because I knew that I would get trick or treaters. This is an event that Faye, my neighbors and co-worker at George Wallace Senior Center, looks forward to. We have met many neighbors over the years.
It takes a village to raise a child rings true in our life. Our children are who they are partly because of the fun times they experienced down on Herren Camp Road. As our children grew older, other children moved in the neighborhood and more memories were made. Some of these children were in our children’s weddings, as were the children they grew up with in church.
We have been so blessed, both on Herren Camp Road and here in Glencoe. Both places feel safe, and I enjoy the young ones that visited the senior center before this pandemic. I also enjoy watching soccer practice and going to football games. My husband thinks he is retired, and I have a little age on me, but we can be fun, I think.
We have candy!