Thursday, March 22, 2007

Yanceyville Esso Station


(Click on Photograph for Larger Image)
(Click on Photograph for Larger Image)

This Esso Service Station on South Main Street in Yanceyville, North Carolina, was built and owned by William Laroy Gunn (1910-1984). He sold the business to Robert Pleasant, who eventually sold it to Samuel Wilson Shaw (1925-1980). Note the Bartlett Yancey Elementary School in the background of the first photograph.

Samuel Wilson Shaw's first wife was Bessie Lea Bowes (1927-1977). Bessie Lea Bowes Shaw worked at Cole Chevrolet in 1947 when the dealership moved into the new building in Yanceyville. For a great photograph of Bessie Shaw, see Cole Chevrolet.

After Bessie died, Sam married Elsie Mae Hines.

Many young boys spent time "hanging around" the Esso Station (under various owners). There was a preferred seat on the soft drink box, usually reserved for the older boys of the neighborhood. Gasoline was around thirty cents a gallon and the strongest drink available was a Coca-Cola.

To see more on the Shaw and Bowes family go to the Caswell County Family Tree.

For photographs of these families go to the Caswell County Photograph Collection.

William LaRoy Gunn (1910-1984)

Yanceyville - William Laroy Gunn, 73, died Friday at Duke Medical Center, Durham. Funeral will be 2 p.m. Sunday at Yanceyville United Methodist Church, where he was a member. Masonic graveside rites will be in the church cemetery. He was a retired superintendent of Yanceyville Water Works, a member and past master of Caswell Masonic Brotherhood Lodge 11 and a member and a past president of Yanceyville Rotary Club and a member of Paul Harris Award. Surviving are wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Foster Gunn; son, William Gunn of Danville, Va.; daughter, Mrs. Nancy Bush of Phoenix, Ariz.; brother, Henry Gunn of Yanceyville; five grandchildren. Memorials may be made to the church building fund. The family will be at the home. Hooper Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Greensboro News & Record, Greensboro, NC Sat. 1-28-1984.

Public Works Superintendent of the Yanceyville Sanitary District for thirty-eight years.

1930 US Census
Name: William Gunn
Age: 19
Estimated birth year: abt 1911
Relation to head-of-house: Son
Father's Name: John E Gunn
Mother's Name: Hattie F Gunn
Home in 1930: Yanceyville, Caswell, North Carolina

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