My mother worked for New Method Laundry & Dry Cleaners and my father was a fireman with the Durham Fire Department for 25 years. In 1945, he resigned and accepted a position as fireman with the government at Camp Butner. In 1947, Camp Butner was purchased by the State of North Carolina and became one of the first North Carolina state mental hospitals. With this transition, state government housing became available and so we moved from Durham to Butner in the fall of 1949. My father then became a firefighter for the State of North Carolina where he remained until 1962 when he died of a massive heart attack.

My mother was a housewife, a dedicated mother taking pride in her home and family, and needless to say, "an excellent cook." She was the primary disciplinarian in our home due to my father's absence with work related responsibilities.

Of this union, the only children born was myself and my sister, Ann Wray Ellington, who is now deceased. She passed away in 1996 of lung cancer. We both graduated from Creedman High School. Our mother kept our children while we worked until she suffered a major stroke in 1966. Afterwards, her health rapidly declined and she suffered several more minor strokes. She lived with my husband and I for two to three years before we were forced to admit her at Hillcrest Convalescent Center, where she remained until her death in 1972 at the age of 68.