My Autobiography
Part One--Background

July 2, 1976. Hickory, North Carolina. Catawba Memorial Hospital. I was born.
I was born to a Vernon Wayne McDowell, originally of Spartanburg, South Carolina. He was born on November 4, 1927. I know very little of his life other than he was a member of the National Guard. He somehow ended up in Charlotte, North Carolina where he was a bus driver. He was married twice. The first one was for several years and resulted in two children. The second lasted only a few months and was annulled. He moved to Hickory and met my mother at Temple Baptist Church in Hickory, North Carolina.
My mother was born on March 3, 1947 in North Tazewell, Virginia, and a small town half an hour south of Bluefield, West Virginia. She was born Betty Jeanne Witten. Her father’s name was John Edward and her mother was Maude Viola. My grandmother’s maiden name was Byrd. My mother had three brothers. Carl, Jim, and Bill. Carl became a truck driver and married a girl named Martha and they reside in Martinsville, Virginia. They have two kids, Sherrie and Melissa. Both children married and divorced. Melissa remarried and has two kids. Jim married Brenda and became a pastor in the Church of God denomination. The last time I heard, they lived in Richmond, Virginia. They have two kids, Sam and Olivia. Sam is now married and resides in Yadkinville, North Carolina. Bill never married and has struggled off and on with a drinking problem. He still resides in North Tazewell.
My parents were married on November 16, 1973. Three years later, out comes their little bundle of joy, their only bundle of joy. I was born David Gordon McDowell.