Chapter 05 - Synopsis
August 1957 to June 1959 -Jacksonville, FL
In August of 1957, Dad said, "We're moving to Florida." I asked him if I could build a soap box derby car there, and he said, "You could son, but it's pretty flat. You'd have a hard time getting it to go downhill." So in August, we packed up and moved to the Riverside section of Jacksonville. Dad rented us a two story house at 1611 Donald Street, on the corner of Donald and Herschel Streets. We moved to 2962 Herschel Street, a block away, about a year later. Dad had a 1949 Buick Roadmaster, black with four doors. It was all he could afford after we came back from Hawaii. He paid $475 cash for it with money he likely borrowed from Mother's Dad, Albert Fry. I know Grandfather loaned Mother and Dad money to get back on their feet after returning from Hawaii. My good friend Mike Akers, who I met during this time, says the Buick had to be a 1946, 1947, or 1948, as it had a hinged hood that opened to either side. Mike says in 1949, that the car was redesigned with a hood that opened to the back. Dad had a job while we were living in Maryville, selling miscellaneous things on the road. I don't know if he was a factory representative* or sold for more than one company. He wasn't making much money. He brought samples home with him, the only one that stands out in memory was a toilet seat. Dad wasn't too proud to sell anything that put bread on the table. He got a job in August with the S.K. Wellman company selling clutch and brake friction parts for heavy equipment. He kept this job until he retired in 1981.
Our dog, Rebel, moved with us. He developed distemper that year or the next and had to be put to sleep. I don't know if he ever went to the vet before. Pet dogs and cats were sort of like farm animals. You didn't take them to the vet unless they were sick. I don't know if they had distemper shots then. Things were different then. Most people let their dogs run loose. I remember him being tied up in the front yard and Dad telling me not to get close to him. He was frothing at the mouth and Dad knew something was wrong. Rebel looked at me and wagged his tail, like "come on let's play, or at least come pet me." I didn't go pet him and have regretted it ever since. He wasn't even feeling bad, I know he wouldn't have bitten me. I can still see him standing there next to the house, wagging his tail. It makes me sad every time I think about it.
I started the 5th grade at Riverside Elementary School in September of 1957. My teacher, Mrs. Margeret Lewis, was very dedicated to teaching. She pushed us, and I learned a lot. The next year I had Mrs. Girlinghouse. She was a so so teacher and I still did OK. I was a school boy patrol member and went to Washington DC in the summer of 1959 with the patrol. We went to the Smithsonian, the Lincoln Memorial, and climbed the steps to the top of the Washington Monument (It is not allowed now, as the wear and tear on the stairs from all the traffic was causing damage). One of my buddies instigated throwing water balloons out our hotel window (3rd story?) at passersby. It wasn't too long before one of our chaperones made us quit. I was surprised we didn't get in any trouble for it.
Elvis was slaying the girls and I wanted to be just like Elvis. Mother and Dad bought me a Les Paul Junior electric guitar with a sunburst finish. Mother took me for lessons once a week to the American Music Store on Main Street (near 8th and Main). We bought the guitar and a small portable amplifier there for $100. I didn't get very good, and I'm still not very good lo all these years later. My teacher had me playing Red River Valley and other songs I wasn't excited about. I have never practiced like I should either.
I started fist fighting with hoodlums and bullies who picked on me. I was not very big and sometimes should have kept my mouth shut. I continued street fighting throughout high school and into my 40's. I got in a few fights working in bars later, but that was part of the job. I haven't had a fist fight for several years now, although I still work out and I haven't forgotten how. I took a few years of martial arts along the way. I would like to learn American boxing. It was Bruce Lee's preferred martial art. I have been in @ 50 fist fights in my life and have about a .500 average. I don't go looking for trouble with odds like that. I don't go looking for trouble anyway, but I try to be prepared. There are a lot of bad people out there.
Dad bought a Remington 22 caliber pump rifle for $50 from one of his customers in 1958 and gave it to George and me for Christmas that year along with a gun cleaning kit, which I still have. I don't know the age of the rifle, and I have never been able to find a serial # on it. He took us out to the woods and taught us how to shoot. I was 11 and George was 8. I think everyone should know how to handle firearms, whether they enjoy shooting or not. Sometimes you might need to use a firearm to protect yourself. Target shooting is a lot of fun. I still have the rifle.
I also remember Mother taking the tinsel off the Christmas tree, and saving it. We were poor, but I don't think we were that poor. Mother had inherited the Buick by then. I'll have to think about what Dad was driving. Mike Akers says it was a 1957 4 door Ford sedan, 2 tone green (light green and lighter green).
We lived near Willow Branch Park and the library. I built a raft once that was a piece of plywood fastened to 2 inner tubes. I floated down Willow Branch creek to the St. Johns River and quickly realized my folly and turned back. The river is pretty wide there and flows pretty fast. Actually, Mike says we built the raft together and originally used tires, not inner tubes, and after a mighty struggle to get it to the creek, it, of course, sank. I think I re engineered it and tried again.
I met Mike Akers soon after we moved to Riverside. He was from Knoxville, too, amazingly enough, and lived one block away. We became good friends and hung out and played together a lot. We would ride the bus to downtown, go to the Krystal, and then see a movie at either the Florida or Imperial theatre. We are the same age. He used to play the accordion. He plays the guitar now, quite well. He played and sang for Mother when we lived on Cherry Street in Neptune Beach. She really enjoyed it.
George, Mary Beth, and Cran Montgomery came to visit us one time on Donald Street. Crannie introduced me to Mad magazines and I was hooked until the end of high school. I still have a pile of them from 1958 through the 60's.
We moved to Jacksonville Beach in the summer of 1959. Again, according to Mike, Dad was then driving a 1960 Rambler station wagon. He later traded up for a 1960 Chevy V-8, as the Rambler didn't have enough power to haul him and his sales samples and catalogs around the Southeast. I had not been looking forward to starting the 7th grade at John Gorrie Junior High School. It had a bad reputation for hoodlums and fighting. I started the 7th grade at Fletcher High School. All six grades from Mayport to Ponte Vedra/Palm Valley went to the same school. I had kind of been looking forward to going to Lee High School as it was very prestigious then, but I got over it.
*This is an excerpt from Dad's autobiography:
Before leaving Hawaii, I had applied for a sales position with the S.K. Wellman Corp. I was hoping for an opening soon, but none came available until July 1957. In the meantime, I worked as a sub-manufacturers' agent under a Nashville firm in the plumbing and heating field. This was really out of my line and did not prove very lucrative for me. My first month's commission check was for $11.77. This did not even cover one day's travel expenses. Jennie went to work for Miller's Department Store in Knoxville [I remember it being Rich's] . We had moved to Druid Hill Apartments in Maryville, where Dad and Erma live. We now had a 1949 Buick Roadmaster 4-door sedan [black], which we bought for $475.00 cash. [We kept the Buick for a few more years and sold it for $50 to a black man in Jax Beach, Joe Lee. I heard Joe cut the roof off behind the front doors and used it as a pickup truck to haul furniture. The car had a straight 8 flathead motor, and a hood that would open on hinges to either side. It had a Dynaflow automatic transmission. Someone hit us once in a (right, I think) rear door. Dad went to a junkyard and they installed a black 1949 Cadillac door. It was exactly the same as the Buick's except for the trim, door handle, and upholstery. Mother drove too far under a railroad crossing guard bar once. It got stuck under the hood ornament trying to raise after the train went by. She got out and pushed the guard bar out from under the hood ornament. When the bar came free it whacked Mother in the face. She wasn't hurt bad, but she had a black eye for a while. She was pretty embarassed too. We used to have picture, but Mother probably found it and threw it away. She was good at throwing away things she didn't want around, or was tired of.]
2/9/2010
