Workday Wednesday : At the Warehouse *

Oscar Perkinson, Sr, ca 1950s

My grandfather, Oscar Dean Perkinson, was a local businessman his entire life. After his father died, he was involved in the management of the family store, Perkinson-McAfee, in Woodstock, Georgia. Later he was an area cotton broker. In his last position, he managed the warehouse for the Jones Mercantile Company of Canton, Georgia.

Here my over six-foot-tall grandfather is standing in front of bags of seed or fertilizer, piled high in the warehouse. The warehouse was filled with a variety of things associated with farming -- bales of cotton or hay, bags of fertilizer, concrete mix, seed -- each with a distinctive smell. An interesting article on PsychologyToday.com speaks of the strength of connections between smells and pleasant memories. I've certainly found that to be true for me. Even today I can be somewhere and smell something like hay or fertilizer, and I am immediately reminded of being that little girl visiting her grandfather down at the warehouse. 

* This is one in a series of old family photos showing my ancestors and relatives at work.