My Portfolio

The “Korean Police Action,” as Truman called it, had been fought up and down that miserable peninsula for many bloody months and had come to a point where daily “success” was measured by how many North Korean and Chinese dead bodies had been created that day.  It looked as if it...

At Mid-20th-Century radio stations broadcast only on what is now called “talk” or “AM” radio.  The static-free sound of FM radio was far in the future.  Our radios gave us news, entertainment and music.   And what music it was.  The “highbrow” music lover had only to avoid “The Grand Ol Opry”...

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...

World War II ended on August 6, 1945. “The boys” began coming home, all of them that ever would, anyway within weeks. From the moment they arrived all they had on their minds was getting a new car, new clothes, a job, and making babies and not necessarily in that order. ...

I jumped the gun and wrote about my first "love," and to this day I do believe it WAS love and I've written about Mary Sue, my 4th grade "first date."  Between Mary Sue and Lois, my first love, I dated VERY seldom.  However there was Sue M.  She was a...

PLEASE NOTE:  This true anecdote from my childhood is not meant to disparage any religious denomination.  I am a practicing Christian.  I do believe, however, that since we were made in His likeness, God has a sense of humor and does "chuckle" with love when He see's some of the things...

Willard, my third oldest brother was next in line to become a soldier.  He became a proud cavalryman.  The Cavalry’s history of riding off to battle while the regimental band played “Garry Owen” and brave young ladies waved yellow ribbons, gave the Cavalry a glamour second only to the Air Corps...

There was an upside to my finger being crushed by that rod line.  Dad must have contacted the oil company who operated the lease because several months later he, Mother, and I drove to Oklahoma City to visit an official in the oil company's executive offices.   Dad came out with $300.00;...

We bought our groceries on credit in “Jim Trout’s” store in Drumright.  Dad paid the bill when he came home.  On bill paying days Mr. Trout always filled a paper bag with penny candy and gave itto Mother, to be doled out to the kids.  I am sure he was pleased...

The strain of being a single parent living in poverty at one point proved to be too much for Mother.  One day when I was tagging along behind Willard and Gene as they roamed around playing in a field across the highway someone came to tell them to come home quickly. ...

To her dying day, Mother had a terrible fear of “storms.”  Soon after moving onto an oil company lease near Drumright OK, she gave my brothers Rudy, Willard and Gene the job of digging a storm cellar.   It would be a refuge for her and her brood when the always-expected tornado...

Entering my senior year of high school my experience with girls was that of a Carthusian monk but without whatever spiritual consolation they enjoy.   When I was in ninth grade my previously fair skinned face erupted with volcanoes.  One look in the mirror convinced me that only a girl with severe...

  "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...

Pleasant Hill school had a Rhythm Band  made up of a couple of dozen little kids, who, with kazoo's, triangles, tambourines, rhythm sticks, sleigh bells, drums and cymbals created sounds that were said to be music.   We wore white shirts or blouses, and pants or skirts and actually made public appearances. ...

Sometime in the late 1930's Dad came up with an improvement that was even more remarkable than his running water.  He brought electricity into our house.  A light bulb replaced the coal oil lamp.  The radio’s battery no longer had to be charged in the car.   All this electricity came from...

Pleasant Hill’s school bus, like those of today, had a lever with a big handle attached to a rod that opened and closed the door.  The younger boys considered it fun and an honor to stand alongside the bus driver to open and close the door at each stop.  The bus...

The Thomas Long oil lease was a vast playground but it was filled with dangers for kids that no one seemed to notice or tell us to avoid.  The community water well from which several families drew their water sat a couple of hundred yards from our back door.  It was...