THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 5, 1994 TAG: 9410040113
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Coastal Journal
SOURCE: Mary Reid Barrow
LENGTH: Long : 105 lines
Rosa Lee Norman surely is the queen of Birdneck Road.
As she sits on her porch late on a sultry afternoon, folks driving home from work honk their horns and call out to her.
And she waves back and responds with a hearty greeting.
Everyone knows Norman, it seems. They know her not just because of her warm, friendly, gregarious personality. They also know her because she has lived in the 100 block of north Birdneck Road all her life and her family has owned property in that area for generations before her.
The family name is Durphy, Norman's maiden name. Recently more than 100 folks attended the Durphy family reunion and one of the big reunion events was a cookout on the last vacant lot owned by the Durphy family on Birdneck Road.
``I'm the oldest member of the Durphy family left here,'' the 69-year-old retired practical nurse said.
Although family members are scattered now, Norman estimates there were 65 or more Durphys living nearby just after World War II.
Today, she still lives right in the middle of Durphy family territory next door to a vacant lot. And she grew up in a house on the other side of the lot.
Only then it wasn't called Birdneck Road, she said. She knew it as Camp Pendleton Road.
When Norman was little, it was a dirt road with water-filled ditches along the sides. For fun, she and her friends caught crayfish that burrowed in the ditch mud. ``And we made mud pies and puddings in the yard,'' she added.
Whenever a child had a bad sprain or bruise, family members would gather wild mullein leaves in the woods, she said. The leaves were wrapped around the injury as a cure.
Once when Norman was little, she fell on the oyster shells that lined the railroad track and cut her leg to the bone. To stop the bleeding, the wound was packed with black tar scrapped from the wood burning stove.
``You would have died from that today,'' Norman said, with a laugh. ``God protects fools.''
Then, everyone had a vegetable garden out back, she recalled. They also kept laying hens and chickens and raised hogs. On hog killing days, neighbors would help each other out.
After the work was done, the little girl looked forward to gathering for a hearty ``haslet'' stew. It was made from potatoes, onions, the heart, liver and other hog innards. ``My, but it was so good,'' she said.
The children walked down Camp Pendleton Road to elementary school where the Seatack Community Recreation Center is now. ``We would pack our own lunch and we had outside privies and a water pump,'' Norman recalled.
School picnics took place down where the Owls Creek Municipal Tennis Center is now, she went on. The children picked wildflowers and walked back in the woods with their teachers.
``Wonder the snakes didn't eat us up, but we didn't do any better - couldn't do any better,'' Norman said.
``Lord, we've come a long way,'' she added as an afterthought, ``and I'm so grateful for it.''
Later the trolley came to Camp Pendleton Road. During World War II when Norman was a teenager, she rode the trolley to the beach where she worked in the ballroom at Seaside Park Casino. Later she worked in the casino's Rendezvous restaurant.
``They named the pancakes after me,'' Norman remembered, ``Rosa Lee pancakes.''
After the war, life changed. Norman became a practical nurse and many of the close-knit Durphy family moved away.
So this year Norman finally coordinated the first Durphy family reunion. The family tree on the reunion T-shirt, conceived by Norman, featured such long-time Virginia Beach names as James, Ackiss and Goodwyn, in addition to Durphy.
The guests had gone when Norman took time to relax that afternoon on her porch. She wore her reunion T-shirt, a black and white polka-dot skirt and a jaunty straw hat. Despite her age, not a wrinkle crossed her smiling face. She was crocheting an afghan.
``I try to see that all my children have one,'' Norman said, ``so when I pass off the scene, they'll have something to remember me by.''
She will leave lots of good Durphy family memories behind, too.
P.S. IT'S OYSTER ROAST TIME AGAIN! The Life-Saving Museum of Virginia kicks off the season with its annual Pig and Oyster Roast from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Fort Story Officer's Club. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Call 422-1587.
HISTORIC LYNNHAVEN HOUSE is featuring spinning, weaving, soap and candle making and other 18th century activities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday. Scouts and Scout leaders will be admitted at half price.
THE HERB SOCIETY OF AMERICA will meet from 1 to 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Norfolk Botanical Gardens. Members will demonstrate how to make a living wreath and a sleep pillow.
HAVE YOUR PETS PHOTOGRAPHED from 1 to 9 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday and 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday at Timberlake Shopping Center. Each $10 sitting fee will be donated to the Virginia Beach SPCA by Pet Portraits by Michael. Call 1-800-822-1379 for an appointment. MEMO: What unusual nature have you seen this week? And what do you know about
Tidewater traditions and lore? Call me on INFOLINE, 640-5555. Enter
category 2290. Or, send a computer message to my Internet address:
mbarrow(AT)infi.net.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by MARY REID BARROW
After more than 100 folks attended the Durphy family reunion, Rosa
Lee Norman - at 69 the oldest living family member - relaxed on the
porch of her Birdneck Road home and crocheted an afghan.
by CNB