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Note: John Bertis Westmoreland, born April 8, 1905 was the 6th child of John G. and Mary Bell Boheler Westmoreland. He large in stature, dreams and plans. He never met a stranger and found it very easy to make friends. He possessed an out going personality, a keen sense of humor and spoke his own version of the King's English. Bert, as he was known, worked at many jobs. Early in life he learned the blacksmithing at John Gildon's blacksmith shop in Grover. He also worked in several cotton mills but quit and went into his first love, that of farming and cattle trading. He was a sharp trader and usually profited from each effort. In his later working years he managed Archdale Farms for the Neisler Brothers whose offices were in Kings Mountain, NC. He always worked hard and found it difficult to keep help for he demanded that they work as hard as he did. He could easily lift a 200 lb. bag of fertilizer. Plowing cotton or corn or gathering hay from sun up 'til sundown was a usual practice. Bert was known far and wide as a matchless raconteur. I recall his usual Sunday afternoon activity in his later years, was as I called it, "holding court." Anywhere from 5 to 15 men would come to our home, gather in the shade in the back yard and listened intently to him as he regaled them with stories about hunting quail, rabbits or deer, or about his favorite bird dogs "old Jack and Peggy". He talked about cattle, raising horses, working oxen and plowing mules. Sometimes the stories strayed over into poker playing, bootleggers, chicken fighting and sometimes just plain fighting. Bert's most favorite activity was his annual trip to Oakland Plantation, owned by the Neisler Brothers for the purpose of deer hunting. I'm sure he entertained other guests, as they had never before been entertained. He loved all the 5 Neisler brothers as family and they returned the compliment. Bert married Vangie Norman in September of 1929 and six years later I was born. Theirs was largely a happy marriage but one that included hard work and "living close". After their retirement they loaded up the pick-up truck and the airstream camper and headed for Florida every October so the sun could "warm his bones" as Bert said. In Florida, the two of them went fishing almost every day. I can just hear him telling the story about the big one that got away. Written by Dean Westmoreland, about his Father Bert.
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