Synopsis
October 31,1947 to December 25,1954 - Knoxville, Tennessee
I came into this world at 9:48 A.M. on October 31st, 1947. I think being born on Halloween was God's way of telling me I was going to be different. I see things differently from most people. I sometimes feel I was sent here or volunteered to come here for a purpose. My Guardian Angel has protected me and kept me alive more than once, when I could have been dispatched to the next world. I think my task currently is to point out that there are better ways to live than those with which we have been brought up. The world is not working. Well, it's working better for some than others. It could work a whole lot better for all of us if we operated on facts rather than opinions. Plato and the French philosopher Voltaire, among others, had something to say about this. We all mature blindly for the most part following whatever doctrine we have been taught. Then we fight with each other over whose doctrine is best. What a waste.
Earliest Childhood Memories
I had my tonsils taken out at age 4 (1951), and my adenoids removed at age 5 (1952). I remember vividly, as both times I was given ether to sedate me. The doctor placed a mask over my nose and mouth, and after smelling a weird vapor, I was out. Both times I remember having crazy cartoon dreams.
I have pictures of myself much younger, but I don’t remember the times or places, before Beechwood Drive in Knoxville, Tennessee.
I remember Mother taking me to the doctor after jamming a stick in my mouth while running and falling. I remember walking up the wooded hill behind our house with my younger brother George. I played with Neela Duncan, who lived across the street. Neela was my first girlfriend. I have pictures. I saw some white dog doo in the yard and asked one of the older kids what it was. He said it was fertilizer. Dad and I played peek a boo on the stairs inside. He took me to a father son group once where I made a tom tom out of a coffee can and an old inner tube. We didn’t go back. I think he got bad vibes there. I watched Dad build a retaining wall out of concrete blocks on the side of the hill by the driveway.
Two of my most vivid memories involve Dad’s Cushman motor scooter which he kept in the garage. I was sitting on it once and it fell over. I was scared I would get in trouble, since I wasn’t strong enough to get it back on its stand. I knew better than to get on it, but I did it anyway. Luckily Dad wasn’t mad at me and he effortlessly put it back up. Mother didn’t like Dad riding his scooter and she told him he had to get rid of it. One night after work, Dad loaded the scooter in the trunk of our car, and me, Mom, and brother George, went along for a drive out to the country. It seems like it took a half an hour or so. We pulled up to a farmhouse and the family came out to greet us. He gave the scooter to a son in the family who was probably around 15 years old, maybe younger. Kids grew up faster in the 1950’s. The boy had been riding his bicycle to deliver newspapers on a route. What struck me then and still does now, was that the boy started crying tears of joy. He couldn’t believe someone would give him a motor scooter. Dad probably asked around at work, a heavy equipment parts warehouse, to see about selling it. We didn’t have much money either, but that’s how my Dad rolled. It was important to him to help others.
We lived in several homes until we moved to Hawaii after Christmas of 1954. I think we got up Christmas morning, opened presents, and got into our Plymouth sedan which was already loaded, and drove to San Francisco. Dad's brother Dan, who was going by George then, lived in San Francisco. We flew to Honolulu, and then Hilo. We shipped the car, American Factors (now AMFAC) paid to ship all our belongings, including the car. Dad did have to repay $800 for shipping our refrigerator. When Uncle Babe Chillingworth said everything, Dad thought that meant "everything".
My first memories were in our Beechwood Drive house. It was at the bottom of a hill that George and I used to climb up and play on. George was born June 6, 1950. Dad graduated from University of Tennesse that day. He went back to college on the GI bill. He also worked for Wilson-Weesner-Wilkinson until we moved to Hawaii. They sold heavy equipment parts and the coolest sandbox I ever had was a large rear tractor tire he scored. When we moved from Beechwood Drive to an apartment on Chapman highway, I was sad to leave my tractor tire sandbox. However, there was a field next door to our apartment that had a bunch of telephone pole size holes in it. I used to go over there and play soldier. One of the other cool things I remember playing with was an old radio. I took all the tubes out of it and somehow they seemed special.
I remember Dad bringing home a dining room table that he made in a woodworking class he took. We were on the second floor. I remember him struggling to get it up the stairs and through the door. George still has the table.
I also remember throwing sand in one of my playmate's face when we were playing downstairs in the small back yard. He went home crying to one of the other apartments. His Dad came over drunk and began beating on the door. Mother was scared and called Dad at work. He came home, but I don't know if he had to confront the other father or not. I would bet that he spoke to him at some point. I had a small toy dump truck that I was fond of playing with. It got pretty dirty from playing in the red Tennesse clay outside and Mother made me keep it outside our door. I had another playmate who used to swipe it to play with, but his Mother made him keep it outside their door too. It went back and forth numerous times until just before we moved to Jonquil Lane. I made it a point to go get it and stash it safely away so I could take it with me. I was four, maybe five, at the time. I remember being very aware of what was going on from about four years old. I always felt like Mother and Dad held me back in some ways. I wanted to run away from home when I was eight and we lived in Maryville. I mean seriously. I would have except I couldn't figure out how I could support myself. I was already going door to door selling Christmas cards and White Cloverine salve. I was also mowing our one acre yard with a gasoline powered push mower for 50 cents a week. This was before recoil starters: you had to wrap the cord around the top of the mower shaft every time before pulling. I had to reach up somewhat to grab the handle.
The bookmobile came one afternoon in front of our apartment on Chapman Highway. Mother took George and me inside to look at books. I did something I shouldn't have, I don't remember what, and she told me to stop. I did it again and she got madder than I ever saw her the rest of my life. She took me upstairs and pulled down my pants and spanked me. I got plenty of spankings, which I deserved and have no hard feelings about, but this was the only time she ever spanked my bare bottom.
To be continued
1/24/2010
