Flo attended grade school at Ruffner Elementary School on Bedford Avenue and then junior high at Bigger School at 5th and Clay Streets (both since demolished). After she graduated from the old E.C. Glass high School on Park Avenue in 1941, she went to Hollins College (now Hollins University) in Roanoke to further her education. Unfortunately, like so many other college students at the time, Flo’s education was put on hold after the attack on Pearl Harbor – she would complete her Classics degree at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College when she was 55 years old. She has fond memories of her time at R-MWC, particularly the excellent Classics faculty, Herbert Lipscomb (for which Randolph’s library is named), Mabel Whiteside (for which the Dell is named), and Robert Lloyd.
Flo met her husband, Heber, known to everyone as Bo, during World War II. Bo spent 2 ½ years overseas during the war and she feared his fate every single day due to slow communications. Thankfully, Bo would return and resumed his marketing career. As newlyweds they could not afford their own home, so Bo approached several property owners asking if he could fix up their carriage house to make it into an apartment that they could rent. The Pearsons, who lived at 2144 Rivermont and who owned the three Pearson’s Drug Stores in town, did not want to have their carriage house converted but offered to rent an apartment on the 3rd floor to Flo and Bo. While living there the Pearsons were very nice landlords, bringing the Traywicks ice cream from Pearson’s Drug Store and offering to babysit so the young couple could go to the movies downtown. That first child would be joined by two more who, like Flo, grew up on or near Rivermont, though never in one house all that long. Spending most of their married life on Rivermont, Flo and Bo found the time to renovate houses at 3128, 3101, and 3400 and renovated one of the two large units on the second floor of the Woodstock Apartments at 2934.
Throughout Flo has adored life on the Avenue with its ease of access to downtown. For many years, she and Bo frequented establishments like the White House and Columns restaurants. When they sought motion picture entertainment, the Paramount, Isis, Trenton (later the Warner), and Academy theaters were all very fine choices. Though many of these venues have disappeared from the Lynchburg experience, the stories of what they were like as well as the story of the changes on Rivermont Avenue live on through families like the Traywicks.
Interviewed 6/11/2010
