Pineville, a historic refuge
Part Extra: A tribute to Mrs. Bobbitt
By Keith Gourdin keithg@tds.net

Mrs. Ellen Bobbitt of Pineville turned 101 on March 17, 2008.

Ellen Huxford Bobbitt (affectionally known as Mrs. Bobbitt) recently celebrated her 101st birthday. She was born on a farm near Pineville March 17, 1907, the last of eight sons and six daughters.

She attended a one room, one teacher school in Russellville. The teacher was her sister, Stella Huxford Russell. Sometimes there were as many as 32 children in the room.

She moved to Moncks Corner and lived in a dormitory with five other girls so she could attend Berkeley High School for the 10th and 11th grades. She went on to Winthrop College and took the three classes required to be a teacher. She took the State Teacher's Exam and earned a first grade teacher's certificate.

Her first teaching job was in a one- room school near Alvin. She taught for two years until she had to return home to care for her parents. After her mother died, her brother, Camel, and his wife moved in with the father. Bobbitt was able to teach her third year at the same school.

In 1929, she went to Cincinnati, Ohio, to live with her brother. She attended the University of Cincinnati in the winters and came home to teach summer school to earn enough money to continue her education. After graduation, she came home to teach in Russellville in the new school building built by Camp Manufacturing Company.

Robert Edward Bobbitt, superintendent of Camp Manufacturing Company, swept young Ellen off her feet at one of the many square dances held in those days. They were married January 26, 1935, and moved to Franklin, Va. Robert Jr., was born in 1935 and Edward in 1937.

The family returned to Pineville in 1944 and bought the general store built in 1915 from Lenue Crawford. They lived in the back of the store, and Mrs. Bobbitt operated it. Mr. Bobbitt joined three local men and built a new Pineville Gin Company (replacing Gourdin and Gourdin Gin) where he was the manager of operations.

In no time at all, Bobbitt knew everybody who came in the store and their families. She says she always looked at the person, not the color, and used her Christian values and beliefs in her treatment of people.

Pineville was a farming community. When the Bobbitt's opened the store, they had very little money but allowed anyone to have groceries on credit until they harvested their cotton and corn. Fortunately, enough people had money to pay and keep them going until harvest time. Mrs. Bobbitt says they lost a little money, but most people paid.

After World War II, the young people began to move up north for jobs. Today, Bobbitt still has many folks coming by and thanking her for allowing their parents to have groceries on credit.

In the late 40s, the Bobbitts purchased several acres of land across the road from the store and built a movie theater! It was a long rectangular building with two rows of benches. The movies were black and white without sound, but every time a movie was shown, the building was full of kids and grown- ups alike.

In 1951, Mr. Bobbitt relocated the theater building further away from the road and converted it to a home. He added a room on the back for a kitchen and another as a bedroom.

The Bobbitt's sold the store in 1961 and Mrs. Bobbitt began teaching at St. Stephen Elementary School and continued until 1974. After her retirement she organized a library for St. Stephen Academy. She continued to work for the great love of her life, the Russellville Christian Church. In 2004, she completed writing the History of Russellville Christian Church.

Mrs. Bobbitt still lives in her home in Pineville and enjoys her church and family. She is affectionately known as "Mammy" not only by her own grandchildren and great- grandchildren, but by many "adopted" children and grandchildren.

While continuing to be very alert, she has care around the clock. Her hobby is working Bible crossword puzzles. She has the use of only one eye but still can read the small print Bible she uses to find answers even though she remembers most of them. Mammy is proud to say that she never looks at the index to find the books of the Bible. She uses Psalms as her point, and then thinks whether the book is before or after Psalms. She says everyone should use this practice as a tool for locating scriptures.

Bobbitt's advice for the youth of today is

• Attend church and listen to your church teachings.

• When you are old enough to attend school, remember you are building your own life, so behave yourself.

• Respect your teachers and study hard.

• Eat lots of fried catfish.