Michael Jordan_ The Life ( PDFDrive.com )_compressed (1)_compressed

the wagon, hitched the mule, and moved on.
He didn’t have to go far for a fresh start. Dawson, his son, his pregnant
daughter-in-law, and their small son settled in the farming community of
Teachey, a mere twenty-five miles from Holly Shelter. Not long after they
moved in, Rosabell gave birth to a second son, Gene.
In all, Rosabell Hand Jordan bore four children for Medward, and they in
turn would produce a dozen grandchildren who regularly populated the modest
household. In time, the Jordans saved enough through Medward’s work to
purchase a tiny, inexpensive house on Calico Bay Road just outside of Teachey.
It had three small bedrooms and an outhouse, but it was a castle for Dawson
Jordan and his family. It would also serve as the center of a young Michael
Jordan’s world.
Before long, the Jordans purchased additional lots along Calico Bay Road, as
they continued to prosper with Medward’s work and Dawson’s moonshining,
and the area blossomed into a small residential community. The emotional
significance the property held for the family can be gauged by the fact that
decades later the Jordans, despite all of Michael’s wealth, maintained ownership
of the house and leased it out as rental property.
Along with their new prosperity, the most important shift in the lives of
Dawson and his son was the presence of the deeply spiritual Rosabell Jordan.
She shared an abundance of love with all her children and grandchildren—and
even the children her husband fathered in his dalliances around the community.
“Ms. Bell,” as she was often called, seemed to be especially proud of her oldest
son. There was just something different about James Raymond Jordan. He had a
special light and energy. For starters, he was plenty smart. By age ten, he was
driving a tractor to help his father in the field and showing him how to fix it
when it broke down. By the time he was a young man, he had impressed the
entire community with his mechanical abilities and dexterity. Medward was said
to be openly negative toward James, but the boy idolized his grandfather
Dawson. One of James’s traits was the intense concentration he’d reveal by
sticking out his tongue as he focused on a task. According to some in the family,
sticking out the tongue was something James picked up from Dawson.
As he grew from a child into a teen, working alongside his father and
grandfather, James moved easily in both Holly, where he was born, and in
Teachey, where he grew up. “He was kind of quiet,” recalled Maurice Eugene
Jordan, who attended Charity High School in Rose Hill with James. “If he didn’t
know you, he didn’t do a whole lot of woofing.” However, if James knew you,