Louise Felix

"I’m a people person, you know that, I love people. And I love to talk."

- Louise Felix

In this interview, Mrs. Felix exudes warmth and happiness. She highlights her family’s deep history of construction. Beginning with the Hargraves Community Center and continuing on throughout Chapel Hill and Carrboro, her grandfather and his team were responsible for numerous buildings within the community. Mrs. Felix reflects on the many relationships she has created over the years; Michael Jackson, community leaders, students – she welcomes everyone she meets with her friendly attitude. She briefly describes her previous work with the Jackson Center and Habitat for Humanity. Her legacy shines through as a combination of her family’s construction history and the community she has fostered for so many. Several times within her interview, Mrs. Felix notes her love for students of all ages and credits them as the backbone of Chapel Hill.

Louise Felix: I worked on campus, I worked in housekeeping. My mother worked for, she did houses, you know like cleaning houses and stuff like that. I did too, but I’m the one, I used to work in Chase Hall cleaning up for the offices and stuff like that. It’s good. I liked it, you know, I met a lot of people and I got a lot of jobs, houses, cleaning, just talking to people and then they would tell one person about me, then I’d get down there and they’d tell the rest. We worked for Ann []. Her granddaddy, she lived down there in front of where Ms. Georgia Kyser’s house stood right across the street. My mama raised Ann [], and Bill, her brother. Yeah, sure did. But it’s been a time. I think everybody in Chapel Hill worked. I think they had to work and they did work. Yeah.

Louise Felix: “And my mom, she worked all Chapel Hill. I’ve worked for President Bill Friday, I've worked for Ms. Georgia Kyser, I've worked for lawyer Jay Brown, I've worked for lawyer Bob Ellison, and I helped clean all the houses. I worked the university for years, and me and my mom worked all [of] Franklin Street, that’s right because everybody knew her. And the other day it was really nice. I was over there talking to Missy that owns Alexander Jewelry, I mean clothing store [Julian’s]. I used to work for her father, I used to iron. And I told Missy, I said, “Hey Missy,” she said, “hey, Ms. Louise.” I said, “You know what, your daddy owes me some money. Now you need to write me a big old check now cause he ain’t paid me all the money he owes me.” And they just laughed because she knows me. She knows how I am.