By birth and by choice, the Hughes celebrate the Fourth of July

Paddie and Ken Hughes will celebrate this Fourth of July with family, cooking barbecue ribs, marinated steak and corn on the cob, and flying the American flag, which they do every day.

“I’m making a dessert that is red, white and blue,” Paddie said. “It will be vanilla ice cream with strawberries, blueberries and blackberries.”
Growing up, Paddie didn’t celebrate the Fourth of July.

In fact, in her native home of Surrey, England, she said she couldn’t recall anyone talking about the Fourth of July.

“It was just the day before July 5,” Paddie said. “I was completely unaware of any celebration going on in this country.”

Ken remembers a different kind of Fourth of July growing up.

“I grew up in New Jersey,” Ken said.

It was a small town similar to Hartsville in size. Ken said they always had a parade on the Fourth of July, and all of the children would decorate their bicycles with red, white and blue streamers, and join in the parade.

“I did that from the time I was six or seven years old until just before I was a teen,” Ken said.

He also said they had big fireworks displays in an empty field much like Hartsville does.

“We had hot dogs, cotton candy and candy apples,” Ken said. “I had my share.”

Paddie came to America in 1961 as a 19-year-old to work as a nanny for a family in Pennsylvania. Her first Fourth of July celebration was in Pennsylvania.
She was awed by the huge display of fireworks. That was something she had never seen in England.

“I was excited because I loved the fireworks and the camaraderie,” Paddie said. “The fireworks were a symbol of patriotism for the people.”
Paddie said Fourth of July is an important holiday for her.

“When I decided to become a citizen it was one of the proudest things I’ve ever done,” Paddie said. “I have always been proud to say I am an American because I chose to be one.”

It was in the late ‘60s, Paddie said, that she got her naturalization papers. She had to study to pass the test. She said you had to know at least eighth-grade American history. In England, Paddie said they didn’t teach much American history. She guessed that they had so much of their own to teach.

“I accepted the fact that I was not going to return to England to live,” Paddie said.

And that was when she decided to become a citizen of the country she would now call home.

“I’ve lived here many more years than I did there,” Paddie said. “I don’t address myself as being British unless people recognize the accent.”

Paddie and Ken recalled an incident that happened on one of Paddie’s first trips back home to England. She was in the Post Office and a man addressed her by saying, “You are a bloody Yank.”

“I wasn’t an American at that time,” she said.
Paddie said that it was probably the clothes that made him think that.

“Americans’ clothes are a lot more colorful, especially in the wintertime,” Paddie added.

Paddie and Ken met at a sport car club in Philadelphia where they were both members.

When Paddie joined she said the only car she owned was a Pinto. She was the club secretary, and Ken was the treasurer.

Once they started dating, Ken realized he’d have join Paddie on the weekends on her ambulance service work if he hoped to see her.

The couple moved to Charlotte, N.C., where they lived prior to moving to Hartsville, and joined the life-saving rescue squad. They spent many Fourth of July holidays on the ambulance at Freedom Park where they would watch the firework displays. For several years after their son Sean was born, they would take him with them.

Over the years they have shared many other interests, and they have had their own individual interest. Paddie is involved with the Hartsville-Coker Concert Association, and Ken is a member of the Hartsville Community Players. Paddie is a Toastmaster; Ken is a Kiwanis member.

Paddie’s father and a brother still live in England. She also has a brother living in Australia.

Paddie said, “My sister came to visit and forgot to go home.” She lives in North Carolina.