Living the American Dream

By Patricia A. Jordan

The American Dream is achievable for most Americans. I know because my parents did just that. They established a successful souvenir wholesale company, Cherokee Supply Co. Inc. in Whittier, North Carolina. Ive written their story of how they did it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 29, 2017
• ISBN: 9781512775853

Patricia A. Jordan

My goal is to help and encourage others to improve their own mental health. To take authority over their own mental-wellness plan that includes developing a positive outlook for their lives. I want to help set you free from “stinking thinking” about yourself. No one else has your skills, talents, and intellect all wrapped up in your own unique personality. You are the one that has to “set yourself” free from morbid thoughts in order to tap into who you are as a beautiful and total person.

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Copyright © 2017 Patricia A. Jordan.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Author Credits: This is my second book. My first one, My Journey in Overcoming Dysthymic Depression was my first one.

This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.

All Bible scripture verses are from the New Living Translation.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-5127-7586-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-7587-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-7585-3 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017902640

WestBow Press rev. date: 3/17/2017

Contents

Special Thanks

Foreword

Section I: Up To And Including The Depression Years

Living The American Dream

My Grandparents, The Lloyds

Building A Legacy

A Father Rejects His Son

Shoulder To The Wheel

My Paternal Grandparents, The Bells

The Joy Of Living In A Small Town

Section II: Ww Ii And Afterwards

Freedom Is Never Free

After Wwii, America Experienced Peace And Prosperity

The Bell’s

When My Parents Met, And Fell In Love With Each Other

Small Beginnings Do Add Up

Self-Starters Change Their Life’s Direction

Overcoming Stuttering

Thinking Outside The Box

Shifting Their Paradigm

Moving To The Cherokee Indian Reservation

A Story Within A Story

Wealth Building: Having A Million Dollar Idea

Section III: Living The American Dream

Turning The American Dream Into Reality

Trouble In Paradise

Big Picture Thinking Vs Detail Thinking

On A Positive Note

Fissures In The Foundation

Saving Grace

Location, Location, Location

Tested By Fire

The New Warehouse

Warning Signs Always Warn Us

Rolling Stones Gather No Moss

Wrongful Attitudes Or Signs Of Depression?

Becoming Christ Like

Finding My Niche

Who’s Going To Be In Control?

The Pluses And Minuses Do Add Up

Stop Signs Always Mean Stop

The Love Of A Pet

Making The Days Count Instead Of Counting The Days

Becoming A Successful Salesperson

How Big Is Your American Dream?

In Memory Of My Mother

Honoring My Dad

In Appreciation To My Aunt Jo

Section IV

Working For My Parents: Not An Easy Task

Overcoming Depression

Writing Living The American Dream

The Unbroken Circle

Author’s Note

For my Parents:

May the story of your

Entrepreneurial success

Never be forgotten.

DEDICATION.jpg

My parents, M. G. and June (Lloyd) Bell

in Knoxville, TN, 1946

SPECIAL THANKS

A special thank you to my husband Jeff. Thanks for loving me, believing in and supporting my writing projects. Your encouragement and enthusiasm have been essential to me. I’m not sure I would’ve gotten this project down on paper without you. I love you as much today as I did almost forty years ago.

A special thank you to each of my children Ruth, Rachel, and Esther. Each of you have made your dad and I proud of you. Plus, you three have added more to my life than what I could ever express on paper. But, here is my effort to do just that. I love you three and my two granddaughters, Mia and Isabelle beyond what words can express.

Thank you to my sisters Carol (Bell) Smith, and Deena (Bell) Long. You both have always been there for me. That means a lot to me. I love you both.

I appreciate my deceased brother Gene Bell taking time to take me to the old home sites, graveyards, so on.

Thanks to my cousin CPO (Ret) Ken Lloyd and his wonderful wife Bonnie Lloyd. Thank you for meeting me in Murphy. And for getting me connected to our relatives there. You both have helped to bring this project together. I love y’all!

I have written a special Thank You and a Tribute to my parents and my Aunt Jo near the end of this story. Each one of them helped me more than they realized in writing my book.

FOREWORD

For my birthday, this past May, my children provided me with a DNA kit from Ancestry.com. Then, on Father’s Day they did the same for their dad, my husband Jeff. We followed the instructions and sent off our little vials of saliva. Then, we waited. Then, we got busy and kind of put it on the back burner.

Finally, our results came in our email accounts. I knew it all along, I’m one hundred percent Celtic. And now I have proof of it. Well, kind of. We Celtic people have always liked to co-mingle. So, I’m a tad Mediterranean, a lot of Southern England, Irish and, a touch of Viking. My ancestors lived where ever the Celtic people have settled down and called home. That alone proves it for me.

The peaceful Celts spread their clans out from the Celtic Sea to the British Channel. Then to avoid war with the Angles (later Anglos) they crossed the mountains and settled down in Wales. Mountain life suited my Celtic ancestors, as it has my closes relatives and myself. As far I can count, there are eight generations of relatives that call the Great Smokey Mountains home.

My ancestral Celtic relatives loved Wales, and prospered there. Even today Welsh people still speak the ancient Celtic language. But, the early Celts like we have today, discovered that peace is hard to find.

Later they took their herds of cows over to Ireland. Then, up to Scotland. The Celts were farmers, and makers of useful pottery. They weaved warm colorful sweaters for their families from their sheep. They were a practical people much like my relatives have always been.

The Celts history is being repeated in my own genealogical history. Oh, we’re no longer fighting Saxons over grazing lands. But, much of the Celtic way of life still lingers on through me and my relatives’ blood lines. Especially with gardening by the signs, and living the simple life. But, most of all in their story-telling tradition.

I’m carrying on the tradition of story-telling in Living The American Dream. In writing my book I’ve woven together generational stories of my extended family. Some stories told to me, some I experienced first-hand.

My older relatives vision of the American Dream included plenty of hard work. Their vision is in part how I got to where I’m at. I’m thankful but, arriving at this place in time came about by traveling some rough roads. On a personal level, and painting with a broader stroke on life’s canvas as well.

In writing this book I started with an old story I had written about a year ago. I write because it’s something I enjoy doing, and it’s a cathartic exercise for me as well. So, for reasons unknown to me, I picked this story up again in the middle of this past summer (2016). I began writing with a new vision of what I wanted to