ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, October 20, 1996 TAG: 9610210020
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CHRISTINA NUCKOLS STAFF WRITER
R.J. Garman Jr. and his wife, Mildred, have a personal stake in maintaining peace in their corner of Roanoke County.
Both were born in Bradshaw and have lived there all their lives. Garman, who is retired from the National Forest Service, is considered the mayor of Bradshaw.
"I think that started way back," recalled Lois Ferguson, who has lived in Bradshaw herself since 1939 and drove the local school bus route for more than 29 years. "My kids came up with that, and my oldest daughter is 55. My youngest is 45. They used to say he was the mayor and I was the police because he was always into something and he was kind of bossy-like sometimes. And a lot of times Momma would figure out who had been into trouble."
Garman is too embarrassed to claim the title, but not too modest to welcome visitors with the declaration, "You're in the most wonderful place there is."
He also makes it a point to welcome new families moving into the village.
"His family has been in this area forever, and he's kind of assumed a leadership role ... of the old-time folks here," said Kate Schefsky, who has lived in Bradshaw 51/2 years. "Since we've moved in, there have been several new families, and Mr. Garman is now establishing rapport with them. He's trying to get people a lot more active and closer-knit out here, and I like that."
When long-time residents like Ferguson and the Garmans get together, they often talk about the old days when the community was closer. When it comes time to reminisce, it's often the women who do most of the talking.
"When we went to school, we rode on that little square school bus to Salem, and grass grew up in the middle of the road," Mildred Garman recalled.
"Back when we were kids, we had the old crank telephones and the party line. Everybody in Bradshaw community was on the party line, and when it was bad weather the phone didn't ring but about once a day. Everybody would pick up to see who was talking and chime in and it would go on for hours."
She can remember when three out of every four people in Bradshaw were her relatives by blood or marriage. Family members would gather on Sunday afternoons for a game of croquet or a mock gun battle in which men and boys pelted each other with rubber bands using wooden pistols that had steel clothes pins for triggers.
"The older men got right into it," she recalled. "Sometimes somebody got their glasses broken. If you got hit in a place that really hurt you, though, it didn't count."
Ferguson lived in Catawba until she married, but she was often at her grandparents' farm in Bradshaw.
"They had the best gardens and watermelons and butter and milk," she said.
She described how everyone in the community would get together to string beans, make apple butter or ride through the fields on a horse-drawn wagon to collect grain for thrashing.
"We just went around and helped each other," she said.
The Garmans still travel 11 miles to buy a carton of milk, but Bradshaw is losing its rural character. The farms, canneries and sawmills have disappeared. Most people commute to work.
"In early times, if a car went down the road, you knew it was someone that lived in the [Bradshaw] Valley. You never even thought of locking the door," Mildred Garman said. "Sometimes people move in now, and it's a year before you know their name."
She has seen electricity, paved roads and regular telephone service come to Bradshaw, but she says the biggest change was the arrival of the landfill.
"We thought we lived out here so far that nothing would come out here."
LENGTH: Medium: 67 linesby CNB