Collected Item: “Father's woodshop turned into a Covid haven and hub of creative activity”
Your name/Nombre y apellido(s)?
Sharon Justice
What kind of item would you like to submit?/¿Qué tipo de artículo quiere donar?
Image/Imagen
Title of your submission?/¿Título de su entrega?
Father's woodshop turned into a Covid haven and hub of creative activity
Date created?/¿En qué fecha se creado?
July 2020
Your submission will be published online. Would you like for it to be anonymous?/¿Le gustaría que se publicara su historia de manera anónima en líneo/online?
No
Place of residence?/Lugar de residencia?
Greenville NC
Please write a short description of your submission./Escriba, por favor, una descripción breve de su historia (entrega).
This story was written by Kim Grizzard and published in the Daily Reflector 7/2020.
For Bobby Dixon, keeping busy since retiring from work as a general contractor has never been a challenge. He routinely met friends for breakfast at Panera Bread and often stopped at Lowe’s home improvement afterward for supplies he would need for projects in his workshop. Over the last 12 years, he and three generations of his family had built three boats together.
But when the pandemic hit, Dixon found himself in the same boat as other senior adults, needing to stay at home to avoid the risk of contracting COVID-19.
“I didn’t have any plans,” Dixon said. “I was just going to probably sit in the house and watch TV.”
But a phone call from his daughter caused Dixon to table that idea. Sharon Justice, a teaching instructor in ECU’s college of business, asked her father if he would help her build a piece of furniture during the university’s extended spring break.
The two finished the project before ECU’s online classes began. But with Justice back at work, Dixon continued his daily woodworking.
To avoid stores, he used wood he had left over from previous projects. When he needed more, he turned to grandsons Collin and Tanner Dixon, who had remaining wood from home remodeling they were doing.
Over the next two months, he built 15 tables, four cabinets and a bench, so much furniture that he invited his two children and five grandchildren to take whatever they would like.
“I had a raffle and I let them choose a table by drawing a number,” Dixon said. “They were all able to choose until they were all gone.”
For each piece, Dixon recorded the history of the wood, noting where it came from and how he obtained it. Some wood was from oak trees that blew down in a hurricane, while other pieces came from pecan trees his grandfather owned. Besides the 75-year-old wood he recovered from his grandsons’ remodeling work, there were teak boards he had left over from refurbishing a boat.
Whether mahogany or holly, the leftover lumber kept Dixon from growing bored during the pandemic.
“I just wanted something to do and I kept looking at this wood that I had had for years,” he said. “This has been a great thing. The weeks have gone by fast, and I look forward to every day getting out and going to work.”
Since the family furniture drawing a few weeks ago, Dixon has been back at work. Already, he has finished a desk and another table, and he continues to turn out personal treasures from his workshop.
“I’ve never been one for just sitting around and not doing anything,” he said. “I always try to keep busy. It’s not been a time of shutdown for me.”
For Bobby Dixon, keeping busy since retiring from work as a general contractor has never been a challenge. He routinely met friends for breakfast at Panera Bread and often stopped at Lowe’s home improvement afterward for supplies he would need for projects in his workshop. Over the last 12 years, he and three generations of his family had built three boats together.
But when the pandemic hit, Dixon found himself in the same boat as other senior adults, needing to stay at home to avoid the risk of contracting COVID-19.
“I didn’t have any plans,” Dixon said. “I was just going to probably sit in the house and watch TV.”
But a phone call from his daughter caused Dixon to table that idea. Sharon Justice, a teaching instructor in ECU’s college of business, asked her father if he would help her build a piece of furniture during the university’s extended spring break.
The two finished the project before ECU’s online classes began. But with Justice back at work, Dixon continued his daily woodworking.
To avoid stores, he used wood he had left over from previous projects. When he needed more, he turned to grandsons Collin and Tanner Dixon, who had remaining wood from home remodeling they were doing.
Over the next two months, he built 15 tables, four cabinets and a bench, so much furniture that he invited his two children and five grandchildren to take whatever they would like.
“I had a raffle and I let them choose a table by drawing a number,” Dixon said. “They were all able to choose until they were all gone.”
For each piece, Dixon recorded the history of the wood, noting where it came from and how he obtained it. Some wood was from oak trees that blew down in a hurricane, while other pieces came from pecan trees his grandfather owned. Besides the 75-year-old wood he recovered from his grandsons’ remodeling work, there were teak boards he had left over from refurbishing a boat.
Whether mahogany or holly, the leftover lumber kept Dixon from growing bored during the pandemic.
“I just wanted something to do and I kept looking at this wood that I had had for years,” he said. “This has been a great thing. The weeks have gone by fast, and I look forward to every day getting out and going to work.”
Since the family furniture drawing a few weeks ago, Dixon has been back at work. Already, he has finished a desk and another table, and he continues to turn out personal treasures from his workshop.
“I’ve never been one for just sitting around and not doing anything,” he said. “I always try to keep busy. It’s not been a time of shutdown for me.”
In order to contribute, you must read and agree to the terms and conditions. I am submitting a digital file related to my COVID-19 related experiences on my own behalf. I grant East Carolina University Academic Library Services permission to include my submission in a publicly available online collection. I understand that my submission shall be made available to the public for original research, subject to no limitations or qualifications. I retain the copyright to my works./Para poder contribuir debe leer y aceptar los términos y condiciones. Aquí en mi propio nombre presento un archivo digital relacionado con mis experiencias durante la pandemia de COVID-19. Con éste les doy permiso a los Servicios Académicos de la Biblioteca (Academic Library Services) de East Carolina University para que incluyan mi entrega en una colección online abierta al público. Entiendo que mi presentación estará disponible al público para investigación original y no estará sujeta a restriccionés ni reservas. Mantengo, asimismo, propiedad intelectual de mis obras.
Yes/Sí