Friend and mentor Bettie Peworchick Popso.

I remember the wonderful years I spent in Lopez while growing up, because of a wonderful lady named Bettie (Peworchik) Popso.  Bettie lived in a little house on the side of a hill that seemed far above the creek.  The cemetery was across the road and it felt like we were far out into the country.  When night fell, the only light was the moon.

Bettie was a friend and mentor to all the kids and teenagers growing up during that time.  A person you could talk with and felt she understood about you.  I remember being fascinated by the outhouse across the yard.  I remember going down the steep bank to the creek where we would play on the slippery rocks and try to find a spot deep enough to wade in.

I remember being huddled in blankets on the small front porch, being able to stay up late talking and laughing in the darkness of night.  I remember being dared to go into the cemetery late at night!     I remember at fourteen getting a first kiss on the front porch from a pretty niece with long black hair who stole my heart!

I remember Bette letting us drive her car to a place in the woods near Dushore where we could listen to the jukebox and dance.  Elvis was singing, “She’s Not You”.  Then, we would drive back on a sultry summer night keeping an eye out for deer.

I remember drinking my first glass of Blackberry Brandy with Bettie.  I remember, at sixteen, the thrill of driving my first long distance when I drove Bettie from Lopez to Hazelton to visit her relatives.

I remember falling in love at twenty-three in Lopez, only to have a broken heart. I remember that I had some of my best growing up memories in Lopez and will always have the memory of a sweet and kind lady who touched my life and so many others.

(Tony never lived in Lopez, but was related to Bettie through family.  Bettie’s brother married his mother’s sister, Kate.)

Tony Pivinski
172 Cottonwood Drive
Hertford, NC  27944
tony pivski@aol.com