Originally Published on April 4th 2024
I have the privilege of joining my friend Jim Pollard for breakfast a few times a week at Connie’s Stagecoach.
Alongside his coffee, Jim is given a shaker of cinnamon – an old-school approach to adding flavor without resorting to sugar. Did he learn that from his mother, Helen, or his father, Harold? Having the opportunity to break bread with my tall friend, I’ve learned his secret to a long life is to add spice to everything he does.
Jim is a collector at heart, and as he approaches his 90th birthday on April 10, he’s amassed quite a collection of friends. When he was just 8, Jim befriended a rugged, athletic boy named Sammy May.
As the only sons in their families, they pledged brotherhood in the second grade. Sammy, known by nicknames like ”Porky,” “Sammy the Bull” and “Sammy Baby,” was a fullback for the undefeated 1951 Amesbury Indians football team that triumphed over the Newburyport Clippers with a staggering 99-6 victory.
Sammy and Jim were inseparable, battling together against all odds. Jim is always ready with a story about their escapades.
Their circle grew over the years to include others like Teddy Goodridge, nicknamed “Chief,” he was the brave and tough leader, his quote in his yearbook was “first in the fight and every courageous dead.”
The redhead was the police chief’s son; Billy Evans, the nice kid out of the bunch who worked hard at his parents’ restaurant, Ann’s Diner (later Pat’s Diner); and Jim’s older cousin Robert Pike, a man of unique character and speech that intrigued even linguistic experts.
He was a treasure trove of knowledge about Salisbury’s infrastructure, knowing the town’s layout as well as a bloodhound knows a scent trail. Jim was the romantic of the group, and he still is for that matter. Magnetism toward pretty girls is Jim’s lifelong gift. He paid homage to his love of the opposite sex in his yearbook, “AH Women!”
Salisbury’s very first selectwoman in the 1930s was Emma Pike, she was married to Jim’s Uncle Alex. Together, they ran the largest dairy operation in the region, distributing milk from Hampton to Newbury.
Emma was known for her kindness, her husband was not. Many townsfolk worked on the farm, Jim and all of his cousins found work at the Pike Dairy Farm on Lafayette Road, which stood on the very site where Salisbury Elementary School is now located.
The Pike family’s roots in Salisbury trace back to its very foundation. The lineage begins with the original Robert Pike, who was born in 1616 in Wiltshire, England.
At 19, he arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony with his father and four siblings, initially settling in Newbury. It wasn’t long before Robert found his way to the east bank of the Merrimack River, becoming one of Salisbury’s earliest settlers.
Robert, an adept writer, quickly rose to prominence, serving as a deputy to the General Court and leading the local militia as a major. He played a pivotal role in safeguarding the Northeast frontier, overseeing territories that now include much of modern Maine and parts of New Hampshire. Despite the General Court’s Puritan-dominated assembly, which consisted of many who had fled England for the New World.
In the winter of 1662, three Quaker women were arrested for preaching and faced public whipping in 11 towns, Salisbury included, as mandated by authorities from Dover. In Salisbury, three of the original sons, Thomas Bradbury, Henry Sherburne and Robert Pike, intervened, leading to their release. Pike, serving as constable, played a key role in their liberation.
This act of mercy was later immortalized by a Quaker poet in “How the Women Went from Dover,” with one verse commemorating the event inscribed on Robert Pike’s memorial in Salisbury:
“Cut loose these poor ones and let them go; Come what will of it, all men shall know. No warrant is good, though backed by the Crown, for whipping women in Salisbury town!”
Robert Pike also stood up against the hysteria of the 1692 “Witch Crisis,” making several points that soon became the narrative of others who questioned the witch trials. His efforts diminished the trials, and ended the executions.
On Labor Day just a year after the victory over Japan in World War II, 12-year-old Jim and his gang gathered on the steps of the “Barn,” the large dance hall owned by the Moghabghabs at the intersection of Beach and North End Boulevard.
They watched as summer visitors left the “Lawrence Rivera,” their station wagons packed with mattresses tied to the roofs, vacating the cottages for the summer, leaving the boys to rummage through and raid. The group, reigning over Salisbury’s south end by leaping from one rooftop to another, felt like the undisputed rulers of their beach town. The good memories only became bad when they got caught.
Together, they landed a job picking strawberries on Colonial Jack Krohn’s farm, making enough to cover a railroad trip and a cinema visit to The Strand in Newburyport.
The group, including the notably large Jim and the tough-as-nails Sammy May, was a force to be reckoned with, these boys didn’t lose a fight.
Before the building of Triton Regional, Salisbury could choose between Newburyport and Amesbury for school, and the boys collectively opted to become Indians, partly because of the athletics, and partly because of the pretty French girls. Jimmy always finds the pretty girls, even though his slightly older friend, and sometimes rival, Arthur Ober has been known to be an effective flirt also.
The sons of Salisbury all eventually found their way. Teddy became an ironworker, he raised five children before passing on at the age of 73. Billy Evans was a local businessman before his death in 2006, and Sammy May retired as a Salisbury police officer and raised three daughters before he passed away in 2015.
Jim Pollard is a star, surrounded by groups of planets that stay within his gravitational pole, Stateline Field and Stream Club, the Romeos, Salisbury Senior Center and the Freemasons.
His most important satellites, of course, are his three amazing children, Debbie, Jay and Joe, and his eight grandchildren, including a bicentennial-born granddaughter, Michelle.
He is the majesty of the Pollards, having high expectations for them all. He is quick with his opinion, but fiercely protective. He cared generously for his parents, aunts and neighbors when they needed him. He is the guardian of his ancestors. The O.G. Pike would be very proud.
Jim continues to gather new friends while cherishing the old ones. Speaking on behalf of his close friends, being part of Jim’s inner circle means becoming a brother, just as Sammy did back in 1942.
We talk about that original group of childhood friends every time we meet. Though I’ve never met them, I feel as though each one is my brother.
Salisbury resident C.J. Fitzwater is a curious traveler, perpetually on the lookout for fresh frontiers. With each journey, he blends historical threads into his stories. Email him at: cfitzwater@ymail.com.
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