Daye, Paul

I lived in the Merrick-Moore community since 1960 through, I guess, 1984. Then I got remarried and moved away. I guess the most memorable moments probably came from going to church at Mount Zoar Baptist Church, on Cheek Road. Of course, that was a tight-knit group there at the church, and all my friends were pretty much there. We had some great times. I still have some family that goes to church there; childhood memories are still attached to Mount Zoar.

One area of the church that I guess so many of us had a connection with was the youth choir while we were at the church. That was a great source of social gatherings and just a good time for all of us. Some of the same folks I went to church with, all of us went to Southern, which was the old Southern, 1818 Ellis Road. At Southern, I played football, wrestled, and, you know, I guess did all the regular high school stuff.

One of my most favorite teachers turned out to be Mr. Murphy, who was a biology teacher. When I went to college at North Carolina Central University (or Southern State), I majored in biology, and a lot of that was from being around Mr. Murphy and diverging off of him. I think we had a good mix of teachers that really cared for you and tried to help guide you in the right direction there at the school.

We had a few—of course, they had one Black football coach who was really instrumental in my football career at Southern, as well as being helpful and advising you in life lessons growing up. We had James Lillie. We had Mrs. Jackson, who was a teacher who later became assistant principal. She was really influential in a lot of folks' lives through her guidance. For the most part, regardless of the race of a teacher, I had great experiences there at Southern with pretty much all the staff there.

You could not really do any wrong around the community without somebody knowing about it and it getting back to your parents. So, yeah, it was basically a village. When it came to raising kids and a family there, we were one community.

I think one incident was Mrs. Catherine Harris, one of my buddies Tommy Harris’ mom. When I graduated from high school, she came up and gave me basically a savings bond, which was really touching to me. She was like another mom to me and several other folks there in the community. I think we had other folks like that as well: Mrs. Green, Mrs. Bostic, you know, the list goes on. Plus, I had several family members who lived there in the community as well.

The adults in the community helped shape most of us that were there. We were taught to do the right thing and take care of your family. My mom, that was her favorite thing to tell me: "Just do the right thing."

Generational Wealth

Well, the renovations that I thought were going to be just minor turned out to be fairly extensive. It turned into gutting the house, new floors, additions, and everything to make it more suitable for today's times. It turned out to be not as expensive as I thought it was going to be because I did a lot of labor and work myself, as well as trying to get him to contribute, which was a little hard at times, but we got it done.

Just seeing the changes in the community has been drastic. A lot of folks have left the community or passed on, and properties have changed names as they’ve been sold. New construction and everything in the area have sort of changed the face of the community. But I still think that it’s a fairly close-knit community, and I’m trying to get my son to buy into that and just be more active in community activities.

Paul & Darian Daye

Darian Daye: It’s a great feeling, definitely not something I plan on ever getting rid of. So, I plan on keeping it in the family as long as I can, hopefully being able to pass it down to my daughter. Just being able to keep it in the family and do a lot of the work ourselves, and continue to do work ourselves, it’s a great feeling.

Our experience here has been great. Everybody knows everybody, especially the ones who have been here for a long time. A lot of people on this street know me from when I was a little kid playing outside. I feel like that was one of his plans from the start, so I'm just happy I can keep it going for him so he doesn't have to get rid of it, sell it, or do anything. So, I’m pleased, and I’m sure he’s happy about it.

Paul Daye: Yeah, that was the plan—for at least one of my kids to sort of take it over or add to it. I’m glad he’s the one that decided he wanted to live here. My parents, his grandparents, used to keep him when he was little. So, he has, I guess, a little more connection to this site than his siblings, but I’m sure he has some good memories of being here with them as well.

Darian Daye: I just remember me and my brother and sister coming over here. Every time we came here, it was nothing but laughs and fun. We got in trouble with our grandparents, but we always laughed about it in the end. It was just great memories, and we talk about them all the time to this day.

Daye Family Legacy

Paul Daye: My parents were Lucious Howard Daye and Nona Fae Goss Daye. I started here in the Merrick-Moore community at 2509 Cheek Road, which was right down the street here. We lived at that house until I was 16, when we moved to 811 Center Street, which is on down this way. I stayed there until I went to college, got married, and started a family of my own.

All my friends were out here: Tommy Harris, Mark Vebal, and so many more, like the Boones. They came over to go to church here at Mount Zoar, which was a great time growing up—knowing everybody and just living here in this community.

I had three brothers: William Howard Daye, who is deceased; Douglas Leon Daye, who is also deceased; and Thomas Harold Daye, who is still living and lives in Hillsborough. We had several years between me and Doug, who was next to me. It seemed like growing up I always had three extra dads around trying to guide me and keep me going in the right direction. By the time I was six or seven years old, they were pretty much out of the house, so it was almost like growing up as an only child, except on special occasions and stuff. They started their own families, and then, of course, they would come back to the house.

My mom stayed at home for a while, and then she started to work at the Holiday Inn in the laundry room. She worked there several years until she retired. My dad retired from the American Tobacco Company in, I want to say, maybe 1976 or something like that, after almost 40 years of working there, I believe.

While Mom and Dad were working, I was just hanging around in the community and at the house, but I always had somebody around, uncles and aunts especially, within walking distance. James Goss lived right down the street next to the playground here. My Aunt Evelyn lived right beside us on Center Street. I had an uncle, Otis Daye, who lived right down on Cheek Road. There was always family close by here in the community.

Our family on the Goss side is related to the Holloway family: my grandmother Lorena Holloway Goss, Algin Holloway, Ralph Holloway, all those John Holloway offspring. John and my grandmother Lorena were brother and sister, so that’s our connection with the Holloway family.

A lot of us grew up having mothers and fathers in the house. They sort of told me to try to make good choices. The choices you make early in life can sort of come back to set the tone for the rest of your life in some cases. I think that was one of the biggest things they impressed upon me: just make good choices in whatever you do.

That was 40 years ago or something like that, maybe.