Reminiscences on a Sunday Morning

I started the conversation with how he got his nickname, and I don’t mean Chink. His first nickname was Honey because he had honey gold hair.  Grandma used to call him “Honeyla” just as she used to call Joyce “Joyciela”. He didn’t keep this nickname however. When he was between 5 and 7 years old, he recalls living on Zeno St. At that time he used to play with the Prost boys, Fritz, Linny and Eddie Dale. One day while making hay tunnels in the barn loft, Eddie Dale said he looked like a little China man, a little chink. From that day on, it became his nickname. You’d think he’d be called Jim, but that was only his name at his job as a plumber in Murphysboro, IL. Everywhere else, he was Chink or J.J.

Dad said he always had things to do as a boy, although money was tight. You made your own fun. One game he played was called “Shinny”. This involved having a stick with a knot on the bottom of it. They would use a Pet Milk can (evaporated milk) as a puck. The object of the game was to slam the can into each other’s shins.  He says he has knotty shins to this day.

They made hand guns and machine guns out of a board and old rubber tires that they cut into strips. They were homemade rubber band guns.  His best buddy at the time was Charlie Henderson. They did everything together. When asked about his brothers, he said he didn’t play with them. “They didn’t much want to do anything.”

Dad used to ice skate on a pond on Church St. close to Edgemont. He had beaten  up old skates that “just about took the soles off of my shoes.”  The best fun was getting an old tire to set on fire to keep warm, and then skate. He recalls falling through the ice several times.  Luckily the pond wasn’t deep.

He recalls going to Sunday Mass at the Assumption, even though St. Boniface was much closer and considered a “German church.” They walked out to the Seminary for Mass. They didn’t have a car and wagons were pretty much no longer used.

Dad said that after Robert joined the Marines, he tried to get Grandma to sign for him to join the Merchant Marines. As he was only 17 years old, she wouldn’t do it. A year later, after he turned 18, he joined the Navy. When questioned why join the Navy and not the Army, he said he “didn’t want to die in no foxhole!” He waited until he was drafted and then signed “for the duration” (of the war). He said he had no idea how bad it would be. (Dad’s war stories are for another time).

After he and Mom were married, he decided he needed a motorcycle. He got the itch from riding behind “old Peg Leg.” This poor soul only had one leg and he couldn’t stop the motorcycle. Dad jumped off in the middle of St. Joe St.  After that he had the motorcycle bug. He said he went to the Cinderella Beauty Shop where mom was working and asked her if she cared that he took $50 to buy a motorcycle.  She said he could.

Dad’s memories of Mom are always of her letting him do the things he wanted. In his memory, she was fine with whatever he wanted and willing to go along with him. He makes her sound like the perfect wife. It’s sweet that that is how he remembers her. (I have my doubts. My sisters will recollect the story of the “one clean shirt.”  But that story is for another time!)

Dad had at least 3 Harleys. I recall seeing a picture of him on his Harley with Joyce sitting in front of him. She had to be only a year old. He used to ride Gail and Joyce up and down Edgemont.

After the motorcycle phase, Dad was into cars. This is a phase that has lasted all of his life. He talked about an Oldsmobile that he painted the tires red and painted whitewalls on them. He also had a 1950 Oldsmobile that “was pretty. Nobody in Perryville had a car like that and everyone would stare at it.” As a kid, I remember Dad coming home on a Saturday morning with a new car. This happened more than once. I especially remember the sky blue Gran Torino. I think that was my favorite. Poor Mom, she would get the sloppy seconds. I remember the old station wagon with wood panels. Mom would have to pop the clutch to get it started. I also remember the time she had a black Volkswagon beetle. She got 10 kids and a watermelon in that car one summer!

Dad’s next phase was horses. That pretty Oldsmobile was the car he used to bring a pony home. He took the back seat out and put the pony it.  He brought it home with its head hanging out the window, like a dog. He had several horses after that.

After that, it was airplanes. He started learning to fly after the war. This got interrupted with raising a family. He finally got his license around 1970. He bought an airplane in Marion, IL. We shake our heads over the adventures he had in that plane. Luckily, when Mom went up with him, as soon as he got in the air, she would fall asleep. This was just like vacations, asleep with a kid on her lap. Poor Mom, she was exhausted!

Dad recalls that when he turned 40 he thought it was the end of the world. He hadn’t done half of the things he felt he should have done. We lived in Cape Girardeau at the time and Jaye was just a baby. This was a low time for him, but as kids, we knew nothing about it. If he only knew how long he would live and all the adventures he would have after 40!

It’s always good when we can get Dad to reminisce. His stories are a window for us to another time. That’s it for today!

Lois