Garthy

Rick is tough as nails but has a heart of gold. He never met a stranger. In previous careers he had jumped out of airplanes, worked as a bouncer, and been a department manager in a building supply store. He was now helping me start up an assembly operation in partnership with an Australian security company.

I have a small farm in a nearby county where I built a metal building and was assembling a DIY security system to be sold through building supply stores. Rick had worked for one building supply chain until they went out of business and was now helping me. We were located in a very rural setting where I had land and a ready supply of ladies who were able to wire circuit boards at wages far below the prevailing rates of the Triangle.

People in the rural areas of North Carolina have a good work ethic and take considerable pride in what they do. They may be described as ‘salt of the earth’ but there is no doubt that they are solid, hard working bread winners that can be counted on to do what they say. My experience has been that they truly care about what they do and about one another. I think of them as the ‘cream of the crop’.

When you drive on the country roads around the farms where Rick and I were assembling security systems, virtually everyone that you meet will throw up their hands to greet you. The greetings are sincere and not like the gestures you might find in states farther up the coast. It takes a while to get used to, but then you come to realize that they recognize and accept you as a neighbor.

Garthy owned and operated a small general store a couple of miles down the road. His store had everything from hog rings to Cheerios. Hardware was in the back just to the left of the butcher case. Tires were changed in the storage building where you picked up your fertilizer. Garthy met the needs of the community in a single location.

The customers served by Garthy and his family all lived within a 5 mile radius. The families had been there for generations and just about all the children who planned to go on to college had worked for Garthy during their summer breaks.

Garthy carried the accounts for most of the families whose incomes fluctuated with the season or whose living was relegated to paycheck to paycheck. Often when a family went through the checkout, Garthy or one of his helpers would reach for the spiral notebook and write down the amount of the purchase before carrying their bags to their car. Garthy never discriminated by race or nationality. He always said that no one would go hungry as long as he had that store.

Rick would often go to Garthy’s store for his lunch and hang around shooting the breeze. One day Rick made the observation to Garthy that his prices were lower than the stores in town. Rick made a comment about leaving money on the table and asked Garthy point blank why he didn’t charge more. Garthy turned around, stared at Rick with an incredulous look and said, “But they’re my neighbors.”

When Garthy died a few years ago, the church could not hold all of the mourners. The man was a saint. Those helped and befriended by Garthy stretched in lines out the tiny church and around the parking lot. He set a standard for decency that few will ever meet.

Knowing Garthy causes one to reflect upon who your neighbor is and how you should treat them.  We read so many sad stories of people being attacked, or being injured while others look on and refuse to become involved. That never would happen in Garthy’s neighborhood.