Rendezvous Ridge Winery sits on land that has been in the Parsons family for a very long time. Fifty-six acres that backs up to Rendezvous Mountain Educational State Forest with a huge wooden house steeped in family history, that’s where Benny Parsons is from. Mama Julia, the great-grandmother who raised him, the Parsons family cemetery in Parsonsville, Stony Hill Baptist Church, West Wilkes High School, these are his memories.
Benny was a tiny child of five years old when his parents, Harold and Hazel, moved to Detroit to seek work, better pay and a way to support their children. Benny’s great-grandmother, Julia B. Parsons, was in her seventies and very attached to her small grandson so Benny was left with her. The family feared she would grieve herself to death missing him and as it turned out, Benny never left her.
Mama Julia and Benny joined Harold and Hazel in Detroit for six months in 1950 when Benny was nine years old. During their brief stay in the north Benny was sent by his mother to the market. Benny always gets a laugh when he recounts the story of that short but eye opening adventure into another culture. “I saw these nice tomatoes at this market one day, but I didn’t see anything to put them in. I went inside and said, ‘You have a poke to put these ‘maters in?’ Man, I was a real hick.” Mama Julia longed to return home to her familiar North Carolina mountains where everyone knew what a poke and good old "mater" was. She of course brought little Benny back with her.
Benny grew up in a house with no running water until he was ten and Silas Parsons finally figured out a way to get water to the house using a system based on gravity. Even then it was cold water and no electricity. When electricity was finally available Mama Julia still couldn’t afford it so it was just one more thing to be longed for by a child. Then, Benny was so ashamed to have his school friends know where he lived and with such an aged woman. Now, as a grown, successful man, he looks back and sees how blessed he was to be raised among so many good people. Benny says, “There were so many people in the Parsonsville and Purlear areas that cared about me. When I was growing up and I was out I would stay where darkness found me, usually at the homes of classmates or my other grandparent’s house. They didn’t have a lot of money either but they instilled values in their children.”
Benny was like any young boy growing up in the ‘50’s. He dreamed of cars and his future. His childhood heroes were stock-car racers Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly. His dream wasn't to play football or basketball, "It was to go around corners fast! Man, in Wilkes County, every kid worth his salt had a two-door coupe with two exhaust pipes and two carburetors! Cars were awesome!"
After graduating high school Benny ended up in Detroit with his parents who by then were owners of a taxi company. Benny worked in the family business and started racing in 1963 at Mt. Clemens Speedway in Michigan. Thus a long and prosperous career was launched by a poor, small town boy who cut his teeth on cold mornings and the inspiration of a great-grandmother who gave him all the love she had. Benny Parsons has multiple achievements on his resume including Nascar Winston Cup Champion, first person to ever qualify a stock car over 200 mph, Daytona 500 winner, named one of the 50 Greatest Drivers in NASCAR History, member of the International Sports Hall of Fame, winner of an ESPN Emmy and an ACE Award. But what Benny mostly has that won’t show up on any resume is family, both past and present.
Mama Julia passed away in November of 1969. She never saw the bulk of Benny’s accomplishments. She didn’t watch his children, Kevin and Keith, grow up or meet his granddaughters Emily and Libbie. She never heard of ESPN. But Benny knows she and his family are the reason he made it this far and now he returns to the land where he was raised. Family and roots are very important to the whole Parsons family. Remembering who you are and where you came from and the people who got you to where you are today.
Rendezvous Ridge Winery is just another stepping stone. It too is now part of the inspiration of a generation long gone and with that inspiration comes a strong desire to succeed. To be the best at what you do. Replacing an old family orchard, ten acres of a variety of grapes will yield fine wines for generations to come and pass along all the love, hard work, and spirit that Mama Julia passed on to Benny.