"Whoopin’ and Hollarin’ in Onslow County" is a book by Hilda Silance Corey, long time resident of the Jacksonville, North Carolina area.  The book will take you on a nostalgic trip back to the 1950’s and 1960’s.

The book, written as a family memoir, is a collection of stories which reflect the life and times of three generations of family, all of whom lived in Onslow County, N.C. Story titles include "The Cemetery Picnic," "Dating and Dishwashing," "Grandma’s Spittoon" and "The Hoot Owl on the Hog Gate."

It is full of fun and humor, and is beautifully written. It will make you long to go back to those days of trust, love and happiness.

This book is available through Righter Publications.  Cost $10.00. Please go to:  www.righterpublications.com.

This book was co-authored by Elizabeth Silance Ballard Ungar.

About the author:

Hilda Silance Corey is a retired elementary school teacher who grew up in Jacksonville, N.C. She received her undergraduate and master’s degrees from East Carolina University. She is a member of Alpha Delta Kappa honorary sorority for women educators. She currently volunteers in the writing program at an elementary school. She is a member of Tabernacle Baptist Church in New Bern where she is on the Faith visitation team and the refugee ministry team.

She is married and has two children and three grandchildren. She lives in New Bern with her husband, Wayne. Together they enjoy traveling and volunteer work in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Review: 

Whoopin’ & Hollerin’ in Onslow County brings to mind any family gathering where one person opens the conversation with "Do you remember when…?".  Immediately out pours vignettes, complete down to the flavor of the ice cream.

Most of the events described in Whoopin’ & Hollerin’ take place in Jacksonville, North Carolina, in the 1950’s.  Through the author’s recollections, the reader can almost see Jacksonville and its sole elementary school with the multi-paned windows, black chalk boards and cloak rooms.  We can enter the local five-and-dime through the heavy doors and walk on wooden floors that creak with each step.  We can attend the church and participate in the Sunday services and then almost smell the aromas from the good things to eat at the "covered dish" social that followed. 

Underlying the recollections is the sense of strong community ties, family warmth, and small town charm that no longer seems to exist in today’s faster paced world.

Flashbacks of such ordinary things as piano lessons, family pets, kitchen tools, picnics, and early TV programs make this book a pleasant jaunt down memory lane for those who lived in this era.  For those born later, these tales provide a record of every day life before air conditioning, single party telephone lines, and two-wage earner families.

North Carolina residents and those familiar with Onslow County will love this book for the local history.  Everyone else will treasure this book both for the nostalgia and for the memories it will trigger in one’s own mind.

Judy Jacobs  - November 13, 2006