Foard's Hardware - Chesapeake City

Foard Bros. Hardware and Service Station, with Roy Foard

First Photo: This is Foard Brothers’ general store and gas station, circa 1930. Notice the gravity-fed gas pumps and the appliances in the store window. The men posing L to R are Thomas Foard, Clinton Foard, and Leroy Foard. One summer, when I was 14, I worked there, and I can remember my first day on the job when Mr. Roy Foard told me to “Get out there, boy, and sweep all that road area clean.” Well, I didn’t sweep to suit him so he came out and showed me the proper short-stroke method. That was 65 years ago and I still remember how to sweep. Clinton Foard, Roy’s brother, was my main boss. He contracted polio early in life, which confined him to a wheelchair. In the mornings, my job required me to push him down the street to the store and take his dinner to him in the evenings. This is now the site of Foard’s Funeral Home.

Second Photo: Here is Mr. Roy Foard, my first boss. He also owned a farm and I recall getting up hay for him. He is Bobby Foard’s grandfather. Bobby is the town’s funeral director.