I Remember Suffolk, especially Cedar Street

It occurred to me that perhaps no one had written a neighborhood history of mid-twentieth century Suffolk, Virginia, thinking that everyone already knew all that there was to know. But then I though about how the town has changed and most of those who were adults when I was a child are gone and many of my peers have died or moved away. So, these are just a few things that I remember over and over in my mind and my heart, when I remember Suffolk.
We lived at 329 Cedar Street at first. This was actually the home of my grandparents, Mr. & Mrs. George Franklin Whitley. Directly across the street lived Gladys Pope. Mrs. Pope eventually went blind. This was a horror and quite traumatic for me as a young teenager, she was the first blind person I had ever known. Mrs. Pope was the grandmother of Skip Webb. The Webbs lived on West Washington Street in Suffolk. I don’t remember a Mr. Pope, perhaps he had died before I was old enough to remember.#
Next door to Mrs. Pope, going south, lived Mr. And Mrs. Melito—Mr. and Mrs. James and Minnie Holland Melito, the hotdog king. Mr. Melito had a small café on the west side of South Main Street just down the street from “The Square.” George Marshall and I used to go there for lunch when we were in school. Mrs. Melito was a cousin of my father, Burch Watson. More later.