The original
Automotive Parts store was opened in the mid-1930s
on Smithfield's North Second Street – in a building
next to the current law office of Allen Wellons.
PIctured are Elmon Batten, David
Johnson, and Red Wall.
Elizabeth
Sawrey shares the story
behind family's long-standing business
Here's
the transcript of Gary Ridout's recent
interview with Mrs. Sawrey:
I have called Smithfield, N.C. home for the
entirety of my 92 years. I have been involved
with a family business that spans three
generations. The Johnson and Sawrey family has
been selling auto parts for over 85 years at
the Automotive Parts Company.
My
mother’s name was Ethel Johnson. She was born
in 1905 in Micro.She
passed away in 1991. My
father’s name was David Johnson. He was born
in 1903 and passed away in 1986. He quit
school at age 12 and started working.
I
am the oldest of three sisters. I was born in
1928; my sister, Anna Margaret, was born in
1931; and Dorothy was born in 1935. When I was
a young child, our family rented a small farm
on Short Journey Road. This road connects
Cleveland Road and Swift Creek Road. My father
truck-farmed there before he began the
automotive parts business. Truck farming is
the activity of growing fruits and vegetables
to sell to the public.
In September 1935, I started school in the
first grade. My mother hated the idea of my
riding a bus, so at Christmas that year our
family rented a house on Second Street near
what is now Cindy Huntsberry’s law office. We
lived in that house until 1937. The Gabriel
Johnston Hotel was completed in 1937. There
were two apartments in the hotel and we rented
the one in the front section.
Next to the hotel was a tennis court
that had been built by the WPA. People
who wanted to play tennis on the court had to
sign up.
I did not know how to play tennis but really
wanted to learn. At 9 years old, I got a
tennis racket and started learning how to
play. I played tennis with John Narron and
some of the guys that had been playing tennis
for years.
My father opened Automotive Parts
Company in Smithfield in 1935. It was one of 13 stores
he eventually opened, primarily in Eastern North
Carolina.
Pictured below is the interior of Automotive Parts
Company when it was located on North Second Street:
Pictured (left
to right): David Johnson, Elmon Batten, and Red
Wall.
My father hired and trained the managers of the 13
stores he started. The requirement was that they would
buy their auto parts from the warehouse in Wilson.
Some of the managers would then buy him out so they
could own the store.
I remember one day our family was be riding through
the country and my dad said, "Ethel, there is a car in
front of us that needs a tail pipe. Write the year of
the car down and the license number; we will get in
touch with them." He was always thinking of ways to
increase the auto-parts business. My father set up a
charge system and instituted a delivery system for the
parts.
A second Smithfield location for
Automotive Parts Company was on Third Street near
the back of the Johnston County Courthouse.
From 1950 until 1970, my father sold auto parts in a
separate building to the left of the Newitt Williams
Buick dealership. During this time, I was the
bookkeeper for the company. The dealership was
located on Market Street next to Centenary United
Methodist Church. An earlier picture of the
dealership is below. The separate building is not
shown here. That building stood where the five cars
are parked in the picture:
The interesting thing about this picture is that to
the right of the dealership is a café. To the right
of the café on the edge of the picture is the Sugg
home where Betty Sugg (now Betty Welch) grew up. The
Sugg home was torn down a few years later and Doug
Driver’s Dry Cleaners was located there.
I married Vance Sawrey in July 1951. He worked
in the tobacco business when we first got
married. The next year he went to work for the
Automotive Parts Company. In 1953, Vance Sawrey
and James Richardson bought into the Automotive
Parts business. In
1960, Vance Sawrey and James Richardson bought
the Johnson portion of the Automotive Parts
Company.
In 1970, Vance Sawrey and James Richardson
bought the Doug Driver’s Dry Cleaners building
(on the corner of First Street and Market
Street) and moved the Automotive Parts Company
there. Below is a picture taken in 1970 at that
location:
Pictured
(left to right): Anna Margaret Johnson Stanley
(Elizabeth's sister), Ethel Johnson (mother),
Elizabeth and son James Charles (Scooter)
Sawrey.
We were very happy in 1976 when my son, David Sawrey,
came to work for the Automotive Parts Company after
college. David became a partner in the business in the
late 1970s after the passing of Mr. James Richardson in
1978.
In
1995, Vance Sawrey passed away and David
Sawrey became the owner of the business.
Since that time, I have done part-time
bookkeeping with the company.
In 2002, David decided that there was a need
to modernize and expand the sales area.
Automotive Parts Company is now located at
an expanded location on 1415 South Bright
Leaf Boulevard beside Willowrun Veterinary
Hospital.
P.S. Gary Ridout concluded
his interview by asking Elizabeth about her
plans for the future. "David says I’ll
continue to work here until I can’t climb
the twenty steps to my office," she replied.
