cIhe c
Cook And Sons SI
%
They are keeping i
By AUDREY L. WILLIAMS
Chronicle Staff Writer
XVlOrn'r U". m .. ? ' " " ? ' ? ~ -J ? "
* i?vi w 3 5V)iin.-uiiiig qudim anu antique aouui mc snoc
repair and shine shop on W. Fifth Street, not even including
the old black singer sewing machine that Samuel
Cook Sr. has had since when.
The antiquity comes with the way Cook, 71, runs his
shop, Cook and Sons Shoe Shop, just across from the
Post Office. He still uses an old ring-up cash register and
passing the time away still means laughing about the old
days with James "Blue" McDaniej, 75, his partner in the
shoe shine business back in '32.
The quaintness comes from the way folks just come in,
sit and talk with Cook.
Until about a month ago, Cook, his son Samuel Cook
Jr., and his grandson, Samuel Cook 111, occupied space
in the Medical Arts Building on Third Street. When the
building was bought by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., the
elder Cook, who opened his business there 23 years ago,
had to find another location;
"Shoes are about over with me," says Cook. "That's
the reason my.son's here with me. I'm too old to work.
After you get 65 or 70, you sit back."
But he really doesn't. A longtime customer ot Cook's
comes in. He excuses himself and greets the customer at
v/yH^ n|
^PIjbJ^^^^^Ki
> igm^:M x
V I
Br %<.^B k '
F*:
I^bmbb jB
Second Time Around
Dock Grier: He tried retirement one time; now h<
by James Parker).
Newcomer
Reid says Winsi
t1VTTTTrT>T^*T,l I II I ' ? - ? - I?a I IITTI-- I?? in i Tim ii.un i. a ..II
? ?By^AtJDTTETTrWTLCTAMS
Chronicle Staff Writer""
Frank Reid will set anyone straight who would even
imply that the reason he's in Winston-Salem is to fill a
minr\ri>u mmti f/-\r I nlnnnn
i i 11 i i vy i i i j uv/iu i v /1 I IIIN.^V'11,
"I wouldn't have even taken this job if I hadn't been
aware of the opportunites that were here for me," he
says. "I left a good job."
Reid, 28, and his wife Robin, who just landed a job at
N.C. Baptist Hospital, left Tulsa, Okla., and came to
Winston-Salem in January.
However, Reid is a native of Atlanta, while his wife is a
native New Yorker. Their new home is now under construction.
At Integon, Reid serves as an employment specialist in
charge of management and professional recruiting. In
Tulsa, a city that he often makes reference to when
speaking of progressive black people, he was personnel
manager for an insurance firm there. His reasons for
leaving not only stem from a greater career challenge, but
he and wife's geographical preference also came into
play.
"We decided we wanted to get back to the East
Coast," Reid says. "The 19-hour drive from Tulsa to
Atlanta made the homecomings a lot less interesting.
"I took the job here because I like the company here
first of all," he says. "The people I work with are very
professional and knowledgeable. 1 also found WinstonSalem
to have a very good business climate."
A Morehouse graduate with a degree in economics,
Reid is the only one of his parents six children to go to
college. He says he was born and raised in the projects in
%
iMagazin
hoe Shop:
t all in the family
the counter. After the brief business exchange, Cook
jingles the tip in his large hands and turns it over to his
grandson.
"My great-granddaddy was in the shoe repair
business," he says. "1 imagine 1 took after him. It was
gift given to me and 1 passed it on."
A native of Lawrence, S.C., Cook came to WinstonSalem
with his parents when he was just a youag^boy.
The family moved to 14th Street, where he and his wife,
Eva, still live. To get himself some pocket change, he
_? . . i * - ^ -
siariea snimng snoes when he was about 12 years old in a
barbershop at 12th and Sessom streets.
After graduation from Atkins High School, where he
was voted best dressed, lettered in track, tennis, football
and basketball, Cook was the sacrifice for his brother,
L.A. Cook, who became an elementary principal in the
local school system and eventually had a school named in
his honor.
441 started working at the old Greyhound Bus Station/'
says Cook. 441 couldn't afford to go to college 'cause my
brother went over to Winston-Salem College^ (now
Winston-Salem State University). So 1 called myself going
into business for myself.
44l've been in the shoe repair and shine business every
Please see page B8
ises to make his si
Jfj ???-?:? ^ ?.??.
would accompany Hanes to
- nual fishing trip.
"'Mr. Hanes was cordial a
?'s trying it again (photo relationship," says the s
ton turns him on
-Atf-grotarbut1refmvithtrHet' wftt'ii* he Hveiiitecrdc his fate.
jamin Mays as a few of his role models.
"Buc Benny (Mays), only the men at Morehouse could
call him that, would always walk down the campus and
ask you if you'd been challenged today," says Reid,
"and if you had, you had to tell him what it was that you
found challenging."
Morehouse College is not only where Reid met his
challenges and learned how not to compromise, but it's
also where he met his wife, Robin, a Spelman College
graduate.
Since moving to Winston-Salem, Reid says he spends
much of his leisure time on the tennis courts. But when
looking for relaxing entertainment, he says he prefers
Greensboro because the Twin City doesn't have much to
offer minorities seeking good entertainment.
That mav well be his onlv crioe about Winston-Salprrr
says Reid, who views the city as one with a lot of potential
for minorities.
"We like it here," he says, "and what really turns me
on about Winston-Salem is that there are a lot of opportunities
here for people who are willing to work.
"But it takes folk from inside to ensure that everybody
will get a fair shake," he says.
Quick-witted and frank, Reid, who describes himself
as a straight-laced go-getter, is confident about his career
and the direction he's going, and he takes great pride in
his new job.
"1 love my job," he says. "I enjoy it tremendously. I
. really enjoy the recruitment and counseling end of it. It's
e Section
If *Vu * ? .< CSS
\ if
BS^' y|^fc? *Jiw '^m|1
worn \% ^vjJ
WJIPf?r
_^k V H
k \ 1 M!
HDh i -Ji
3K"x1 r^^^L4M
r .J* ^
It's An Art
Samuel Cook Sr. started shining shoes when he was 12 y
James Parker).
%9+
icond retirement pert
"They were nice people to work for. He was the
last of the Southern gentlemen."
Crier's job also afforded him the opportunier
retired from his . f , T, .
? , ty to meet many famous people. The one he
coordinator of the " u . . D. . . KI. . .
remembers most is Richard Nixon when he was
contemporary rt pwjg|lt q Eisenhower's vice president.
of the Jamc^B. ?Jn teesburg, Ga., at Mr. Hanes' house, 1
c Drive n
, . ' ? ,, saw Vice President Richard Nixon for two or
veryt ing or me, three days," Crier says. "He was ambitious
taye (retire one an(j jnsjste(j on being called Mr. President.
, f . , He said, 'You may call me Mr. President
Cr S* S h3n because 1 am the president of the senate."'
again. e^ l rJ^ To young blacks todav, Crier's job as butler
named the SEC CA . . ,, . ... f .. .
... and chauffeur to a wealthy white family may be
jrier Library, in his . . ... .. KI . ^ .
viewed as humiliating. Not so, says Grier.
~ re.^re iT-__ne/i L. - "b was difficult back then, coming out of
u May lungci , ne ^
? difficult than it is '" '/ it was "?< f?r ">e Pe?P'e the
te has spent the last kitchens and laundries, we wouldn't
me place. have any black doctors and lawyers. "
old, he left his job ? Doek Grier
ie Haneses out for ????
is just leaving that the Depression/' Grier says. "A person considered
himself fortunate if he had a job. Now,
ind stay two weeks, I know it's different because people have a
er says. "W ith the choice of jobs.
lalf years in the Air "They paid the going price and it (the job)
m every since." had its benefits," he says. "1 did as well there
laneses' butler and as 1 would on any other job."
tose duties, he and Grier continues: "When I first returned from
the Haneses' staff the Air Force, 1 was offered a job at the Post
led with Hanes to Office. And I told Mr. Hanes about the job. He
occasionally Grier was getting old and the job (with the Haneses)
Canada for his an- was complicated :l.. and he said he would pay
me just as much with the raises and clothes (as
nd we had a formal the Post Office job would have). That was as
oft-spoken Grier. good a deal as you could have gotten at that
^ii11ii iir tar mi ; ~ *iii ^ t^n mVi^ifcfcr -AdlMflK!*
?E?&5ra5Ki''*',?, r*V y.i.y'^^B
> ? ";
"V , . '
mm* mm hy
.? **. **.>, ...< u< iKjOj^mmi* hi
. . ' ?*?.- < -i-i
Frank Reid has only been In Winston-Salem four months, I
Twin City better (photo by James Parker).
kind of neat when someone has a problem and you waiting
counsel them and later they come back and tell you that Kiwanis.
their problem has been solved." More
A member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., the Man of young
executive says he has plans to become involved in "I'm
Winston-Salem's influential circles and already he's that's wf
Section B
fhursday, April 26, 1984
l'-1 '*
*' '
.> '^^9k
* -.
ears old. At 71, he's still at it (photo by
f
itanent
time without a formal education.
"I've done well at it," he says. "If I was a
young person today, I wouldn't take it on. But
if it was not for the people in the kitchens or
laundries, we wouldn't have any black doctors
and lawyers. You have to live in your day. You^
can't live in another day."
If he had had a career choice, Grier says he
would have probably been a minister.
"That would have been an interesting,
helpful career," he says. "We really need good %
ministers. We need dedicated preachers."
Now that Grier is ncaring his final retirement
he says he will spend his time traveling, doing
yard work around his home on Maryland
Avenue and becoming more active at his
church, Reynolds Temple C.M.E. Church. He
also plans to become a member of the
"Honeydew Club."
"You know , hearing my wife say, 'Honey do
this and honey do that,'" he says.
Dock and Vema Grier do not have any
children to drool over in their retirement years,
but they make up for that by spending time
with their many nieces and nephews and greatniece,
actress Pam Grier.
"There were 10 of us and eight in my wife's
family," Grier said. "So 1 think they paid the
debt for us."
After 50 years of tending to somebody else's
home, you would think Grier would have
grown so attached to it that it would be hard to
leave. He says leaving the Hanes home and
SECCA won't be that hard.
But whether or not he will hold to his word
remains to be seen. After all, he tried retirement
once, and didn't like it.
,.. * ..v.?/ ' if?& Mte"
I jj^ ^
tSsSBr- " "
^SsHg^'rlli'.'.'^Av
-, '
mm
.?. * ' , *?
?a(dwfcS4?fc -.-?^ ?.' < ? -.
>ut he's excited about getting to know the
for membership into the Greater Winston
recently, Reid was voted Outstanding Young
America by the Jaycees.
not a member of the Jaycees," he says, "but
tat makes being named even more of an honor."
cjy
\