Before the housing developments and shopping centers come to north county, there was a drive-in movie theatre on Ritchie Highway where there now stands a Lowe's home improvement store. The land surrounding the Motor Vehicle Administration building was once farm land. And there was a grocery store in Brooklyn Height called Pumphrey's.

This is the way it was when Irene McCartin came to town around 65 years ago. Her late husband James McCartin worked at that drive-in theatre while she worked at Pumphrey's.

David McCartin shared this history of his mother, who celebrated her 90th birthday on Sunday, and talked about...