Yanceyville Esso Station

(Click on Photograph for Larger Image)

(Click on Photograph for Larger Image)

This Esso Service Station on South Main Street in Yanceyville, North Carolina, was built and owned by William Laroy Gunn (1910-1984). He sold the business to Robert Pleasant, who eventually (possibly in the 1950s) sold it to a Mr. Barker. In the 1960s Samuel Wilson Shaw (1925-1980) operated the service station. Note the Bartlett Yancey Elementary School in the background of the first photograph.

The owner in the 1950s may have been Maurice Lee Barker (1935-2021), who also at one time owned and Barker Auto Sales, Inc., in Yanceyville, Caswell County, North Carolina. It may have been a Plymouth/Dodge dealership.

__________

Mr. Maurice Lee Barker, Sr., age 85, of Milton, North Carolina, passed away on Thursday, April 29, 2021 at Person Memorial Hospital in Roxboro, North Carolina. Mr. Barker was born on July 22, 1935, in Danville, Virginia,  a son of the late Willie Greenwood Barker, Sr. and Janie Talley Barker. Mr. Barker was the owner and operator of Barker Auto Sales, Inc. and was a member of Semora United Methodist Church.

Mr. Barker is survived by his loving wife, Carolyn Wood Barker; children, Maurice Lee Barker, Jr. (Sheila Smith Barker) and Jan Barker Sylvester (William Arthur Sylvester); grandchildren, Samuel Lee Barker (Dianna), William Maurice Barker, Richard Galen Sylvester (Jessica) , Kathryn Leigh Sylvester. Also surviving are eight great-grandchildren.

Graveside services will be conducted on Saturday, May 1, 2021 at 2PM at Prospect United Methodist Church Cemetery with Reverend Adam Benson officiating. Swicegood Funeral Service is respectfully serving the Barker family.

__________

Samuel Wilson Shaw's first wife was Bessie Lea Bowes (1927-1977). Bessie Lea Bowes Shaw worked at Cole Chevrolet in 1947 when the dealership moved into the new building in Yanceyville. For a great photograph of Bessie Shaw, see Cole Chevrolet.

After Bessie died, Sam married Elsie Mae Hines.

Many young boys spent time "hanging around" the Esso Station (under various owners). There was a preferred seat on the soft drink box, usually reserved for the older boys of the neighborhood. Gasoline was around thirty cents a gallon and the strongest drink available was a Coca-Cola.

To see more on the Shaw and Bowes family go to the Caswell County Family Tree.

For photographs of these families go to the Caswell County Photograph Collection.
_____

William LaRoy Gunn (1910-1984)

Yanceyville - William Laroy Gunn, 73, died Friday at Duke Medical Center, Durham. Funeral will be 2 p.m. Sunday at Yanceyville United Methodist Church, where he was a member. Masonic graveside rites will be in the church cemetery. He was a retired superintendent of Yanceyville Water Works, a member and past master of Caswell Masonic Brotherhood Lodge 11 and a member and a past president of Yanceyville Rotary Club and a member of Paul Harris Award. Surviving are wife, Mrs. Elizabeth Foster Gunn; son, William Gunn of Danville, Va.; daughter, Mrs. Nancy Bush of Phoenix, Ariz.; brother, Henry Gunn of Yanceyville; five grandchildren. Memorials may be made to the church building fund. The family will be at the home. Hooper Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements. Greensboro News & Record, Greensboro, NC Sat. 1-28-1984.

Public Works Superintendent of the Yanceyville Sanitary District for thirty-eight years.

1930 US Census
Name: William Gunn
Age: 19
Estimated birth year: abt 1911
Relation to head-of-house: Son
Father's Name: John E Gunn
Mother's Name: Hattie F Gunn
Home in 1930: Yanceyville, Caswell, North Carolina