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vV.4‘4’V.V* _MBMv/iwoc nit; on ui/iui c 111 ui ucirepair the structure.nuau, naww iTim 1. v^iiu ivvau, vainpRawls Road and New Holland Road.•VJ«r$•iM-i*Reddock sews up spot in local historyBy DONALD M. LAW(Editor's note: Since this story was written. Mrs. Reddock has suffered a relapse and has returned to University Hospital in Augusta. We wish her a speedy recovery.)Callye Reddock still has vivid recollections of her grandmother, Flavelia Chavous, who was born in 1859 of French and Indian, as well as African, descent.And she has many stories to tell of her own long life;Mrs. Reddock celebrates her 89th birthday today.Besideshert Bill Bengtsonnter’s new iay’s play-g in mind,birthday, she’ll celebrate being back in her own home on Gray Mare Hollow Road after anted tic-tac- i illness that sent:her’s aide e 13 years,kena news arti-lism vs. evo-the Aiken cation whileown with an ing on with te,” she said, hat it is hap-i mean any-aken note of initiative as/e, Ms. King *e in English e in interna-perr for a Sept. lat claimed nt workers, feth, David re killed at t.E. Phelon y near theities, who it, said the s dismissalher hasart merits18-2311r paper byweekendscustomerpm nds.I her to the hospital; she was discharged from Carriage Hills Nursing and Rehabilitation Center on Tuesday of this week.It’s a home Mrs. Reddock and her mother, Estee Chavous Johnson, built in the 1960s when Mrs. Reddock moved back to Aiken from New York.She came back to join her mother in the needlecraft and dressmaking business Mrs. Johnson had operated for many years before that. Their shop was on Barnwell Avenue in the Ram Building opposite the First Presbyterian Church.The two ladies were well known for their sewing skills, and among their clients were some of the Winter Colony’s most prominent members, including Mrs. Alfred Bissell, Mrs. Conrad Ruckelshaus and Mrs. George Wrenn.Mother and daughter were called in often at redecoration time to make slip covers and draperies for Winter Colony homes and also to make dresses.Other clients included Diane Toole Miller, formerly Miss South Carolina, and her mother, the late Mary Durban Tbole, as well as her aunts, the late Mrs. David Fisher and Mrs. Duncan McDuffie.“She and my mother were great friends, and they liked to create things,” Mrs. Miller said. “I remember going into her shop on Barnwell Avenue when I was a little girl. She made a lot of my wardrobe when I was in the Miss South Carolina contest and during the year I had the title.“She also did some sewing for me when 1 got married. Her tailoring was exquisite; the detailing was so Fine.“She’s a very dear person to me,” Mrs. Miller added. She and Charles F. Miller, now with Westinghouse at SRS, were married in 1984. They have three daughters.Mrs. Reddock is a member of a family that has been in Aiken County for many generations. She speaks of her grandmother,Flavelia, who was born the year before the War Between the States and who died in 1934. The Chavous family legend is that they were never slaves but were free and were landowners.Submitted photoCallye Reddock in the late 1920s as a college girl.of land in the Gray Mare Hollow section of Aiken County. Most prominent members of the Chavous family today are cousins who achieved fame on the gridiron, Barney Chavous, formerly of the Denver Broncos, and his nephew, Corey Chavous, a defensive back with the Arizona Cardinals.As a girl, Callye Finished SchoField School in Aiken and thenattended Florida Normal College in St. Augustine, Fla. for two years. She then went to New York, where she “did all kinds of jobs.” That included work as a receptionist at Katherine Gibbs School, and she also did catering. She Finally went to work at an exclusive dressmaking shop on Long Island, doing mostly alterations.In 1964 she heard from her mother, who told her, “I’m not coming to New York. I want you to come back here, where we were born.”That was the beginning of the partnership between mother and daughter. They built a house on land that Mrs. Reddock still owns on Gray Mare Hollow Road, land that was part of the original Chavous tract.Their dress making and drapery business flourished. Clients included Mrs. Hugo Rutherfurd, who later moved to Florida; the late Dr. Margaret Weston, a close personal friend of Mrs. Reddock’s; and also another Aiken girl who became Miss South Carolina: Nancy Moore, now Mrs. Strom Thurmond, and her mother, Mrs. Paul Moore.Mrs. Thurmond still remembers Mrs. Reddock fondly. “She’s a much-beloved person, with real God-given talents,” Mrs. Thurmond said this week.Mrs. Reddock was First married to a childhood sweetheart, Albert Horry, son of the pastor of Cum berland AME Church in Aiken. After the marriage ended, she mar ried Fred L. Reddock, a Birmingham native and Army veteran who operated a carpet shop in Willis ton. Mrs. Reddock cared for him during a long illness and he died last year.Until her own health problems increased, Mrs. Reddock led a busy life, still serving some clients but remaining active in community activities. She was a member of Cumberland Church for 50 years, but in recent years has attended St. Marie’s Baptist Church near her home — her mother’s church. She has long — for 34 years — been a member of LaBlaze, a group of seven ladies who meet monthly to play whist and other card games.A friendship that began years ago when she employed Mrs. Dixie Harman in her dress shop has continued to this day, and Mrs. Reddock has found Mrs. Harman to be like a daughter to her, taking her to medical appointments and attending to her shopping and business needs.“She’s like a mother to me,” Mrs.The Chavouses owned 100 acres Harman says.
Newspaper Details
Aiken Standard
Aiken, South Carolina, US
Sat, Jan 13, 2001
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Library O.
USA 16 Jan 2023
Other Publications Near Aiken, South Carolina
Aiken Daily Mail
Aiken County Rambler
Aiken County Register
Aiken County Journal
Aiken Standard
