by Charly Mann

Most mothers I knew growing up in Chapel Hill had three or more children. In addition to being great mothers and wives, almost every mother was involved in several volunteer activities as PTA mothers, club scout den mothers, brownies leaders, organizers of fund raising activities, and more.

For every mother in Chapel Hill, her children were the priority of her life, and she did everything possible to make sure they had a happy and stimulating childhood. Expectations of what a mother should be and do were probably never higher than during my childhood in the 1950s and 60s. I do not believe that any mother of that era had what we now call personal time; they were just too busy.

This page is dedicated to all the mothers of Chapel Hill, and is open to all current and former Chapel Hill residents to post a photograph and a brief recollection about their mother. Send information to chmemories@gmail.com

from Bob Jurgensen:

Paquita Mignon Morton, my mother met and married my father, Robert Fine in 1941. They had three children: Robin (deceased), Robert (now living in Virginia) and Debbie, who lives in Sanford. She was known by most family and friends as simply "Kiki."

My mom worked as a journalist and columnist for several newspapers, including the News & Observer as state desk editor, a columnist and society editor ("Town and Gown") for the Chapel Hill Newspaper from the 1960's to the early 1990's, winning countless state and national writing awards. Her work spanned nearly 40 years.

After enduring a difficult divorce, she became a single mom raising three children. She often worked two or more jobs, to make ends meet. During that period of time, she was independent, never asking for help from anyone.

In the mid 1960's mom met and married Kai Jurgensen, a professor of drama at UNC. She moved from Glen Lennox apartments to Whitehead Circle. Kai passed away in the early 1970's, and mom lived alone near Eastgate for many years. With no car, she often walked up Strowd's Hill to the west end of Chapel Hill, where the newspaper office was located. Only if it was bad weather would she "waste" money on a taxi to get back and forth!

Mom met and married a retired Ernst & Young partner, Robert (Bob) Shafer in the 1980's and lived comfortably with Bob for many “fun and fascinating” years, traveling and exploring places she never thought she would see. Then Bob passed away from a stroke.

Alone, mom lived a number of years after Bob’s death. Then she was diagnosed with cancer, requiring 11 months of treatment before she passed away in her home in 2003.

Now, as I recall my visits to mom, I remember that everywhere we went -- be it McDonald's, the Carolina Inn or the Ram's Head Club -- she was greeted by a steady stream of people from every direction. In 2004, an office at the School of Journalism at UNC, was named in her honor, the result of a fund raising effort.

Having been an integral part of Chapel Hill life, my Mother was, and is, missed by many.

from Robert Humphreys:

My Mother was Nancy Leigh Humphreys and she lived to the age of 97 with reasonably good health and mental capacity. She smoked until about the age of 93 and never had cancer or any other related problems and drove until she was 91. In 1956, I was the age of 8 and we lived in a rental house on Patterson Place, just a block and a half South of Franklin Street. Mother worked alongside my Dad in building Chapel Hill Cleaners, a business they started in 1947 on West Franklin Street. In retrospect, They built that business from the ground up, although in those times, it was my Father that got the credit. But Mother was an integral part of its foundation and operation. She went to work every day and in later years ran the Laundromat that they opened on East Franklin Street in '57. But she did get off early everyday about 3:00 PM so she could come home to take care of her 3 children and cook a full dinner Every evening. Her work didn't end then as she also did alterations and sewing for the cleaners, many times at night! She did many of the alterations for the ROTC on campus and for the 5 men's shops that were on East Franklin Street and used the remnants of shortened pants legs to make pants and shorts for my brother and me. She worked hard and took us all to University Baptist Church on Sundays; well, all but my Dad. She was known for her generosity and kindness to everyone around her. The only bad thing I can say about her is that on the night of the UNC Basketball Championship game in 1957, she and my Dad took my brother and sister to Franklin Street to celebrate the win and left me at home asleep in my bed!

 From Ruth Vickers:

My mom, Bessie Bland Hundley, born 1894 and 42 years old when I was born, had the most beautiful white hair at a young age. She bore 5 children, lived to bury 4 of them, as well as her husband, Chris. Working in Venable's (Carrboro) cotton mill at age 12, she still managed enough schooling to become a well-read, musical, educated lady. President of Carrboro Schools PTA, Sunday School leader, contributor to folk song collector, Richard Chase's accumulation of old time songs and poems. She lived to be 91 years of age.

From Dianne Rolwing:

Dorothea S. Thompson was known throughout the garden world for introducing the silica-gel process for drying flowers. This process, described in the magazine, American Home (1960), was a sensational success, and the magazine commented that they were "literally swamped with inquiries" following publication of the story. She was also the author of the book, Creative Decorations with Dried Flowers. She was Registrar of UNC School of Nursing for 20 years.

I have very fond memories of my mom. She was always a very hard worker and did without many things so she could provide for her family. She grew up in Wilmington, NC so we spent most of our many vacations at the coast.

She was always helping the poor. We had a maid who was very poor. One Thanksgiving, she made a huge dinner for her and her family. When we took the meal to her, we saw that she was living in a deplorable state with no running water, no electricity, newspaper stuck in the walls to keep the cold air out and dirt floors. When we took her home, she would never let us drive her to her house. She always said that her driveway was in bad shape and we might get stuck so we let her out at the top of her long driveway. Our whole family was so overwhelmed with sadness that my mom immediately made some phone calls and got her quickly into a brand new public housing apartment. She went around our house and collected lamps, etc., made some phone calls to round up things she would need to make her apt. a home. Daisy, as she was called, cried and told my mom that her apartment was the most beautiful home she had ever seen.

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