Ernest Ledwell

Ernest Ledwell was the oldest son of Oscar and Wincey Jane Ledwell. Most of you may not even recognize the name or who this man was within our history. But, what a character and pleasant person to get to know. You see Ernest developed some mental issues in life and for time spent many years

in a psychiatric facility.

So imagine being a young girl at the age of 9 or 10 and your father tells you that he is going to get his brother from a mental facility. Well, I was petrified. I had all these horrible thoughts about what was going to happen when he arrived. Well, boy was I wrong. Ernest was one of the sweetest people that I knew. More than that, he would protect me from being punished even when I deserved it too.

He would share stories with me about being the local Asheboro, NC iceman.

He told me about how he hauled ice with his horse to local customers and stores. He would always laugh and say the horse knew the route better than he did.

The one thing that stands out in my mind is how my brothers would borrow money from him. The key to borrowing from uncle Ernest was to make sure you repaid him in the same type of currency he gave you. For an instant, if you acquired a five dollar bill and paid him back with five one dollar bills, you had not repaid your debt. Many times the boys found themselves paying twice due to the fact they did not return him the money in the form of the way he loaned it. My father was adamant in making sure you gave back to him exactly what he had given the boys.

Another memory that I have of uncle Ernest was that he would not allow Ann's son Eddie who was a baby at the time to cry. He loved that little boy and would grab any bottle that was nearby and attempt to feed him. We had to make sure at all times that there were no dirty bottles in his reach.

In closing, I learned at a very young age just how precious a person with mental illness could be. I grew to have so much respect and love for that gentle, loving man.

Written by Jane Ledwell-Gant

(Photo to come later)