SILER CITY — Siler City-born Christine Paige-Reye, 80, and her brother Henry Paige, 82, spent their lives working to break barriers and make memories locally and afar — from becoming the first Black woman to be a school bus driver in Chatham to hunting on an American president’s land outside of Boston.
And after living in larger-than-life cities and having many life-altering experiences, the siblings have returned to Chatham County decades later to live out the rest of their lives in the place they prefer as home.
Christine and Henry were born in Siler City and lived on a 150-acre farm off of what is now Airport Road with their mother, father and 10 other siblings, and they still own the farm land decades later.
“That land is something my parents bought way back when, and everybody thought they were crazy to buy all of that land,” Christine said. “They persevered and all the kids worked and helped out, and it worked.”
Growing up as children in the 1940s and 1950s meant Christine and Henry grew up in a world where segregation was rampant. Each of the Paige children went to one of the only schools designated for Black students — Chatham County Training School, which was later renamed to Chatham High School. Christine said she also remembers having separate seating areas in eating establishments for Black and white residents in downtown Siler City.
“(At) Bill’s Cafe…right down on Raleigh Street, if Black people wanted any food,” Christine said, “they had to go through the side door.”
However, Christine and her brother described their upbringing as “normal,” despite the circumstances of the times in which they were born and raised.
“To say that I have experienced prejudice, I really haven’t,” Christine said. “I can say that and be honest about it — I’ve never, ever experienced that. I know people that have, but I haven’t.”
In high school, Christine broke barriers by becoming the first woman and first Black woman to drive a school bus for Chatham County Schools. She drove one of the largest buses in the school system at that time, Bus No. 33, making $25 a month.
“I loved it because at that time, I was just learning how to drive,” she recounted. “Some days if I needed to do work on the farm, Daddy would come pick me up from the school, I would go home and work in tobacco (fields) and then he would bring me back so I could bring the kids back in.”
Henry graduated from high school in 1957, and Christine finished right after him in the spring of 1958.
Following high school, Henry decided he wanted to go into the military reserves for the U.S. Army. He later moved to Boston, where he spent the majority of his adult life.
While in the Northeast, Henry worked for the post office for over 30 years, as a taxi driver for almost a decade, a security officer for Boston Public Schools and even hunted on land owned by one of the most famous individuals in American history.
“I used to hunt on President Kennedy’s land,” Henry said. “Me and some guys used to go down and hunt on that property, about 80 miles out of Boston.”
Henry was also able to see several famous Black music artists while in Boston, ranging from Aretha Franklin to James Brown and even The Temptations. If it were not for him making the move to Boston, Henry said he would have missed out on some of his favorite memories.
“Every weekend somebody would come to Boston, but here, nobody comes down here,” Henry said. “In Boston, there were places where you could go out and dance, but there are not places like that in Siler City. Living in Boston, you would see a lot and learn a lot.”
While Henry decided to move to Boston after high school, Christine chose to move to New York the day after her high school graduation to explore the world outside of Chatham County.
“I graduated at night, and then I left the next morning to go to New York, and I did not live here anymore,” Christine said.
Christine then studied at a teacher’s college in Vermont, where she said she experienced some of the most difficult challenges in her life, most of which surrounded her education.
According to Christine, the level of education she and her siblings received from the training school was a “basic curriculum.” She said only learning the basics, such as arithmetic and reading, made it harder for her to transition once she left to go to college.
“Because our curriculum here in Chatham County was so substandard, it was a challenge for me to compete with the other kids my age,” she said. “I did OK, but it was hard.”
After graduating from college, Christine went to Boston, but soon found herself moving to Michigan where she worked for a federal program for over a decade, focusing on helping people obtain their general equivalency diploma, also known as a GED. Christine then spent the rest of her professional career working for General Motors in various administrative and management positions.
“I worked for the biggest corporation in the world, and I never dreamed that would happen to me,” she said. “I never thought a little country girl from Siler City would do all the things that I’ve done in my life. I look back on it, and you know what, it came from hard work.”
After decades of living outside of Chatham County and North Carolina, the Paige siblings made their way back to Siler City in 2004 to live out their retirement with the other two of their living siblings, Shirley and Graphel.
The Paige siblings will often have spontaneous meet-ups in Siler City, but they will also travel together to Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Charlotte and Greensboro to do one of their favorite things together: try new restaurants.
“I’m living my best life with the four of us,” Christine said. “We do so many things together, and it’s just so great that we can just get together.”
Both Henry and Christine have lived their days with joy and intent, and they also have their own secrets to living a happy, fulfilling life.
For Henry, he has kept up his physical health by eating healthy foods — including his daily routine of having an apple and three links of turkey sausage in the morning — as well as keeping up with doctor’s appointments. He wants younger people to take control of their health to live long, fruitful lives, like he has.
“Your health is all you have,” he said. “I go to the dentist every six months, I get my eyes checked every year, and I go to the doctor’s office every three or four months. You’ve got to go to the doctor, do what the doctor tells you.”
For Christine, she said she wants the young people who live in Chatham County to see new places outside of North Carolina. Learning about new cultures helped Christine to see the world differently, and for her, it changed her attitude and outlook on life.
“The people here have never been anywhere else, so they don’t know anything else but Siler City — going to Walmart or Family Dollar, they don’t go to other places,” Christine said. “They need to be exposed to different cultures and different things that’s happening in the world — different ideas and (a) different change of pace. Go to New York, go to California, go to Michigan, go to Boston…you just need to be exposed.”
Both siblings have one more message for the younger generation in Chatham County, and, according to them, it is the biggest key for living life with joy and fulfillment: self-love.
“You cannot depend on someone else to make you happy — you’ve got to make your own self happy,” Henry said.
“You have to love yourself,” Christine said. “You are the one that has to take control, take ownership and do something about it. This is how you live your best life and be happy with yourself and with your life.”
Reporter Taylor Heeden can be reached at theeden@chathamnr.com.
