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| Making Human Junk poster, date unknown. Thanks for Glen Johnson. |
Several years after I posted this story, I received this interesting email from Laurie Hammette (her grandfather,
Roy's brother, added the "e" to his last name) "I was researching my ancestry online when I came across your story about my great-uncle, Roy Hammett. He was
the older brother of my grandfather, Lewis. I never knew much about Roy, except that he accidentally shot himself. While Roy
certainly had a difficult childhood, many of his siblings fared much better, including my grandfather Lewis. He moved to Washington,
D.C., when he was just 18, and he became a sales manager in the newly opened Safeway (supermarket chain). He had no college
education, but he did have exceptional mathematical skills. After getting married, he moved to Maryland, then later to New
Jersey. He raised two kids there, and he worked in the Empire State Building as the office manager of a textile company. He
later was one of the top salesmen nationwide with the Panther Oil Company of Fort Worth, Texas (while still living in New
Jersey). He returned to South Carolina in his retirement years."
"The Hine photograph does accurately capture a moment in time, but it does not tell the whole story. It is interesting
to see how one moment in Roy's life that is caught on film might lead viewers to imagine that he and his siblings were destined
to a life of misery and poverty. But many of his siblings, including my grandfather, led very comfortable lives."
Back to Southern Textile Mills, Page One
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