Five decades of community reunite

Audrey Dixon and George Mainor saw each other for the first time in over 30 years on Saturday.

“We went to prom together,” Mainor said, beaming.

Saturday morning was a time for reunion and shared memories for the residents, past and present, of Jacksonville’s Bell Fork Community Homes. The neighborhood celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and people came from as far away as New Jersey, Houston and Atlanta to remember and honor the close-knit community.

Historical residents of Bell Fork Homes include nearly a dozen Montford Point Marines, the first African Americans to serve in the Marine Corps; veterans of World War II and the Korean and Vietnam Wars; and political leaders from board of education members to legislative officials.

Toni Milton Williams, a teacher who now lives in Greensboro, spent more than 30 years living in the neighborhood. She gave a pep talk aimed at the youngest members of the crowd, exhorting them to treasure and respect their community.

“I didn’t ever realize when I was growing up here the richness of the community here,” Williams said. “I want them to give back. These are my roots.”

Seeing so many from the neighborhood reunited, she said, was a feeling hard to put into words.

“I can’t even explain it to you,” she said. “It’s like a warm and fuzzy times a thousand.”

Neighborhood resident Brian Jackson found it difficult to keep his composure when he stood up to talk about what the people of Bell Fork Homes had done for him.

“When I was up there, all of it started coming back,” he said.

The neighborhood had been a family to him as he grew up, he said, with community residents babysitting him as a child and mentoring him as a young adult.

If all children had a similar support system growing up, he said, “our country couldn’t help but be better.”

William Holland, president of Bell Fork Homes, said it was no surprise to see so many turn out to reminisce about the neighborhood.

“They’re like carrier pigeons,” he said. “They know how to get back. That’s what keeps it going.”

The Bell Fork Community Homes reunion continues today with a worship service at St. Julia A.M.E. Zion Church at 2 p.m. Other events over the weekend included a “Disco at the Dome” on Friday Night, and a recognition ceremony and dance on Saturday night.