My Portfolio

The American Legion Hall was upstairs in the building across the street from the theater.  Most of the time it was used by veterans for meetings, drinking, poker games, and whatever.  Every few weeks, on a Saturday night, the Legion brought in a Country/Western band and held a dance that was...

A few steps down Fourth Street from the high school a wedge-shaped marquee hung over the sidewalk.  In neon letters and paint it identified the Gregg Theater.  Clean, soft carpeting, comfortable furniture in a sunken lobby, padded seats in the theater and a well-stocked popcorn and candy booth made The Gregg...

Every small town in America has a “main” street.  Caney’s was called “Fourth Street. Our High School and the “Clifton House”, a hotel which I thought was quite upscale as a child, marked the end of the business district on the eastern end.  Four blocks west “Main Street” ended where Pendleton’s...

“Smelder Hill,” kids never used the correct pronunciation “Smelter” when talking about it, was a mile or so northeast of town. a rocky and rutted road ran north from the east side of town, went past “Smelder Pond” and on to the top of that hill.  Smelder Hill was too steep...

The earliest recollection I have of what I wanted to be when I grow is probably elementary school age. I wanted to be a stewardess. This was before we had to call everyone a "flight attendant".  This was a short-lived dream for two very big reasons:  First I had a growth-hormone...

  "The Famous James" English-built Motorcycle - 1946 As with all humans, the Whizzer, after a few weeks, became less than what I wanted.  While the Whizzer was being developed and marketed, the Cushman Motor Company, a small firm that had produced motorized “scooters” for the Army looked at what they...

Wow... this one is making me dig into the memorybanks... I have often wondered what would have happened if I had made Junior Nationals at the Zone Swim Meet in August 1983..  How far could I have or would I have gone? Instead I missed qualifying by a fingernail...Literally .01 of...

My career goal was to be an attorney... Mom was going to be my paralegal.  I even went to Auburn and earned my BA in Political Science and Philosophy with minors in English, History and Business. (Yes over achiever I know).  I even became a certified Paralegal with Mom. Then I...

Well without a doubt we make choices when we are young, and most of the time we are unaware that we are choosing one way or another. Despite our parents best efforts we often choose foolishly! Thinking back, the one thing I would change would have been to be more serious...

My Darling Jill Today, when “The F word” has been enshrined by the United States Supreme Court and hard core pornography is but a mouse click away, Erskine Caldwell’s book, “God’s Little Acre” could be read with impunity by any school kid.  But in the `40’s, the mere mention of that...

I wouldn't change anything I did in my adolescence.

When “the war” ended and after the wild celebrations ended, Americans released the breath they had been holding for four long years with an almost audible sigh.    Peace, prosperity, and an end to rationing came almost immediately.   No more denial.   Consumers were like sharks circling a chumming boat waiting for factories...

One of the better jobs was delivering the Tulsa Daily Tribune to its subscribers in Caney.  Being a paperboy meant “being your own boss” and “making however much money you wanted to make” – or so the “recruiter” said when he was looking for a new paperboy.  Like many good build...

There was a lot of coming and going of employees in Caney’s cafes, but the line between “boy jobs" and "girl jobs" was clear and bright.  Boys washed dishes or cooked.   I was too young to be a cook, so I became a dishwasher in “Chet’s Café” on Fourth Street.  If...

Caney was located at the crossroads of two railroads.  The Santa Fe ran trains north and south while the Missouri and Pacific, the "MOP", brought trains from the East and West.  The Santa Fe had all the glamour.  It had "The Streamliner."  In the `40's most trains were pulled by steam...

Caney had a bowling alley unlike any bowling alley ever seen before or since.  It was in a storefront building on Fourth Street, our “Main Street” just east of Winkler’s Drug store.  It did a boomingly noisy business until television came along.  It also was a business where the owner didn’t...

The hike to the dam was a leisurely walk.  There were plenty of things along the way worth doing.   Those cone-shaped glass insulators found today in flea markets were sat on the crossbars of the telephone poles that alongside the railroad tracks. They shattered with a glorious display of shrapnel when...

In early times someone built a dam across the Caney River out west of town, just at the bottom of Standpipe Hill.  It was a rudimentary dam, not much different in construction from those which small boys to dam up rainwater that runs in street gutters.   That dam had only one...

Normal 0 false false false EN-AU X-NONE X-NONE Dear Diary, Since Dad died in 1962, my life has changed in many ways. I don’t know how much alimony he paid, but just about everything is different now. I guess we were lucky as we have lived on Mum’s salary and have...

This is a tough one.  When this question came out it made me really have to stop and think.  I was EXTREMELY shy as a child but I loved school. My first grade teacher - Mrs. Howell - I was terrified of her.  At that time corproal punishment was allowed in...