Alton Myles Haynes, Jr.

Myles is the son of Alton Myles Haynes and May Hines Watkins Haynes.

He lived with his parents at #20 Main Street in Cliffside from May 1927 until 1929. They moved to Avondale in 1929 and lived with his grandfather, John B. Watkins, who supervised the building of parts of the mill and was cashier of the Haynes Bank in Henrietta.

Myles went to Cliffside School until the 9th grade, then transferred to Tri-High. After the 10th grade he entered the University of NC at Chapel Hill. (He got his diploma from Tri-High after his freshmen year at Carolina.) He received a law degree from George Washington University.

The teachers he remembers well are Mrs. Davidson, Mrs. Tinkler and Miss Logan.

His good friends were Joe Swing, Larry Harris and Henry Shuford.

Special or funny incident:
“I remember the day [in 1934] when the men marched on the mill, I was in the first grade. We watched from the school window as they assembled and left. Then Mrs. Davidson made us take our seats.”

Special about his life there:
“It was special to call Cliffside my birth place and I have a picture on the wall of downtown drawn in charcoal.”

Miss about Cliffside:
“Everything I remember about it but especially the movie and memorial building.”

Adult life:
“I have lived in Raleigh working for Nationwide Insurance as an attorney, then Charlotte since 1959 practicing law. I have served in the House of Representatives in the N. C. Legislature, on the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, on the Board of the Mecklenburg County Bar Association, and am listed in the Martindale–Hubbell publication ‘Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers.’”

Family today:
Myles is married to the former Christine Boger. (She is the granddaughter of Robert K. Hollifield, who memoirs are available on this Web site.) They have three children: Alton Myles Haynes, III; Mary Beth Haynes; Robert Cameron Haynes; two grandsons and two great-grandchildren, a boy and a girl. Myles and Chris live in Pineville, just south of Charlotte.