Meet Herb. Herb runs Valdese Amoco Service Station in the 1950s. “Runs” means he owns it, operates it and works 12 to 14 hours, six days a week, waiting on people. Yes, he provides service for customers. Most of Herb’s customers buy gas for their cars or trucks. Sometimes they need tires and oil changed, filters replaced, and their car washed and waxed. Herb does it all. Herb’s service station looks like a white cement box with a two-car garage attached. The front of the building has two plate glass windows and a center door. The garage section is not for parking and working on cars, nor is it even called a garage. It is referred to as “the bays.” In front of the station are two gas pumps attached to a cement platform. Hidden underground are two tanks which hold 500 gallons of fuel each. The gas company, Amoco, which supplies the service station with fuel, sells two types of gas—regular and “white gas.” Most of Herb’s customers use “white gas.” With the proper adjustment of the engine’s timing, “white gas” is supposed to give an automobile greater power. The Valdese Amoco Service Station is on the outskirts of the town of Valdese, Burke County. It is on a two-lane road that brings most of the workers from the South Mountains into Valdese to work in the bakery, hosiery mills and furniture factories. Traffic in front of Herb’s store is made up of local people who live within a 10- to 15-mile radius. They are people Herb knows by first name and family. |
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