Navy - Devils in Bucks Counfy

 

Devils in Bucks County

While stationed in Lakehurst, NJ, one sunny Sunday, about 1964, Don Lash, Dick Day, and I drove over to Bucks County, New Hope, Pennsylvania. New Hope was, hopefully still is, a quaint little down with outside café’s, antique stores, outside fountains, and on and on. They also have a playhouse, and hey! I think James Mitchner was buried there.

Here are two pictures:

Don Lash and I gentlemanly, with our dukes up, boxing in front of an antique store

And

Dick Day and I trying to shoo the haunted spirits out of a mystic pot, also in front of another antique store.

Daytona Beach Invaded

 

The end of May 1960 I graduated from Marietta High School, along with 299 other co-seniors. Many of us that night went to Daytona Beach.

My friend Monty, two others, and I left about that night. We figure we would make better time with less traffic on the roads. There were no Interstate expressways then. We all drunk beer on our trip down.

In mid-south Georgia in a little town with a square that you had to drive around had confusing conflicting signs. I think one of us had to pee and there was a public park with no one around, so we stopped the car to let the guy relieve himself. Just as he was coming back behind a tree a policeman walked up to us wanting to know if he could help us. We told him where we wanted to go – so which road should we get on? He leaned over and was telling us when he saw beer cans in the car. He said, “Are those beer cans? Get out of the car!” Instead, Monty turned on the engine and sped away. The urinator was standing by the policeman. Monty circled the Square (it was one way) and we headed back towards the two. The urinator started running and we pulled up and he jumped into the car and off we went… south.

Note: I’m not sure about the above paragraph. I may have got the year and location confused, and may be a collage of other events, if it happened at all.

We arrived in Daytona Beach. I did my homework. I reserved some rooms for a bunch of us at the Renee. The Renee was a green stucco building directly across the street from Daytona Beach’s giant Orchestra Opened Concert Shell).

The manager was a little short bald headed name we nicknamed “Wart”. He seemed highly nervous and at everyplace at once. A regular stayer at the Renee was an elderly gentleman who had dignity about him. We thought he might secretly the owner, he too, seemed to everyplace at once watching us, but he was wittier than wart.

Before arriving I found an ad for breakfast for less than a dollar, I mean not just 99 cents, but maybe 75 cents. It was about three blocks inward away from the beach. That worked fine for two or three visits, but the novelty wore off of getting up early just to eat breakfast to save some money.

There was a lot partying going on among us Mariettans. There were hundreds of us that decided to go to Daytona Beach that year.

One unique scene I saw was a fellow graduate in her Metropolitan driving down the street of downtown with Bubba Johnson standing on the back bumper, leaning back, with a large straw-hat flopping in the breeze and urinating. He was holding “it” with one hand and a can of beer in the other. It was amazing he did not lose his balance and fall. Bubba died early as a young, but old enough to be married with a child. I know of one child I don’t know if there were more or not. He died in Texas on a business trip for Shamrock Mills, which his father owned.

The Metropolitan he was riding on the back of, if it belonged to who I think it did, when she needed a gas cap or whatever, her and girlfriends would scour Lockheed Aircraft’s huge parking lot until they found the identical car and help themselves.

At the Renee several groups of Marietta bunches stayed there because it was cheap. Three or four spent the whole time in Daytona Beach in the same Renee room, only leaving to get more beer. They had a huge pyramid of empty beer cans. They were so proud of it they would ask their fellow Mariettans to visit them to marvel at their creation. Then the cleaning help came and try to take it down, to them empty cans meant trash. They had strong words and the cleaning people threw down their towels and left their jobs. What was not known until then, there were a strife between motel and hotel workers and the owners and managers. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. All the workers in all the inns got word and walked off the job. Martin Luther King came down. So did NBC News.

That wasn’t the only show that was erupting.

Atlanta School’s teenagers were also parting at Daytona Beach. I don’t know about now, but then, cars were allowed to drive up and down the beach. Marietta people would ride up and down the beach hooting and hollowing at the Atlanta students and visa versa. Then someone in a big shiny new car that received it for graduation got keyed when it got too close to a group. I don’t remember who’s side the keyed car was on but I do know all hell broke loose. A whole lot of screaming and threats. It looked like a rumble was about to take place. Then, as far as I know, without any reason, it fizzled, and people returned to having fun.

I sighed in relief. I can only suck in my stomach and protrude my chest just so long.

There was a sheltered pier that played rock and roll music and hoards of teenagers went there, us included. I remember one of my Marietta friends had a new red Camaro. He parked on the beach out in the opened so he could keep an eye on his car. He didn’t want it keyed. He met a girl and they found themselves someplace to go. Then high tide came in engulfing his car. I don’t remember what happened about that.

At the Renee, there was sort of a patio outside the ocean’s side with chairs and tables that we sat around a lot. Mainly, we picked that place to sit a lot because some of the Marietta girls had a room with the windows right there at the patio. Beside the patio I think there was about a 40” high wall separating the patio and the sidewalk, then the street, then another sidewalk and then the Daytona Beach Bandshell.

We were sitting on the patio when a car with two teenage girls drove by the Renee very slowly. The windows were down all the way. I am usually more shy and timid but this time I had a surge of hyped up – I ran up to the car and leaped through the back side window into the car. I didn’t know it at the time nor anybody else knew it, but that leap changed the lives of two people forever. Wait, it is not what you are probably thinking. When I resituated myself, I used the oldest pickup line ever, at resorts” “Where are y’all from?”

They said Cartersville, Georgia.

My friend Larry Holcomb saw it all and walked over to where the girls parked the car. I introduced the Cartersville girls to Larry. Larry hit it off with one, I think her name is Sheila. After Daytona Beach they dated, and after he graduated from college they got married and stayed that way until death parted them. Larry died in the year 2000. They had a 40-year relationship.

One night one of the Marietta group of girls had a party at the beach house they rented. Several us went. It was about a two mile walk down the beach. Later that evening and half drunk walking back down the beach to the Renee there was two women walking, that appeared to be drunk also. As we walked alongside them and talked to them we learned that the older woman was the mother of the other woman, who was pregnant. Ronnie Witcher was in our group and he tried to flirt with the two women, I remember him saying, that he knew they both knew how to really make out, being that one was pregnant and the other one was the mother of the second. When Ronnie was on to something, I remember he would nervous flick the ashes off his cigarette. Ronnie died about ten years ago in Mexico while skin diving.

One guy about our age from Chattanooga started to hanging around with us. We called him “Hambone” because he was very good slapping his opened hands across parts of his body in a rhythm and of course sung, “Hambone Hambone, where you been?” and other songs with a beat.

I do not remember the reason, but I rode back to Marietta with David and Bobby I think. Someplace near Waycross and on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp we rode off the road. It was quiet a scare, but we managed to ;get back on the highway.

At a roadside tourist trap they were selling monkeys. I would have bought one but they were costly.

Back in Marietta we had a new friend. Monty brought Hambone home with him. He hung around for a few weeks and I suppose went back home in Chattanooga.

I do not remember going into the Atlantic Ocean at all that trip.

There are probably some things I forgot, so it is left out, and I will probably remember, as soon as I post this.

Pictured: The Renee Hotel and the Daytona Beach Bandshell, both Googled.

Dining Car Scenery

This was the Marietta Train Depot. Trains became less and Tourism became more and more. So, now it is The Marietta Visitor Center.

Have you ever been to a train depot that there wasn’t a lone dog lying around? Apparently the dog in this picture did not know it changed to a visitor and drop by to fill the lone dog position and WAS shooed away.

Another thing about train depots, back in the 1961s or so, after I had graduation from high school my late friend Larry’s sister, who was NOT old enough to drive yet and her running buddy, one Friday night, asked Larry to take them to the Marietta High Football game. Larry took the two girls. In downtown Marietta at Whitlock Avenue, they had to wait on a passenger train to move on. I suppose some people got on and off the train too, and probably lef some freight too. All that took time.

The dining car was striding Whitlock Avenue. Larry’s sister and her buddy, both hell raisers, got in the front seat, turn around with knees on the seat, pulled down their pants and panties and MOONED the diners. True. Or, I suppose it is True, because Larry was a trueful person.

Our Panda Keeper

 

Show for the Inmates

Every time I take a load to the dump I see this brick building which is just a block down the street. It was the Adult Confinement. I don’t know what it is now. When I see this building I always remember back about 1976 when again carrying a load to the dump I saw a few bellsouth. Service trucks out front and 3 helmeted line people sitting on a guard rail taking a break. On second look I saw that one of the lineman was a line woman and she was exposing her chest to the inmates inside. The 2 linemen were laughing.

AAARRGGgg

 

Time

 

Rev John Henry Lance, Murdered & Punishment

 

ev John Henry Lance and his grave at Old Salem Cemetery, Choestoe Dsit, Union County, Ga.

Here are two interesting men on a limb that I missed when telling strange stories of our relatives, Samuel Riley Lance and John Henry Lance, father and son.

Samuel Riley Lance (1814-1895) was married to Rebecca Hunter (1812-1898), who was a daughter to our ancestors John Hunter (1775 - 1948) and Polly Edwards (1780 - 1848).

Samuel Riley was a good duelist. He stood in for people who was challenged to a duel, for a fee, I'm sure. He and Rebecca lived in Haynesville, North Carolina. He was requested to go to Union County, Georgia, and stand in on a duel, which he did. After he killed his opponent, he looked around and saw that people were friendly and it would be a good place to raise a family. He went and got Rebecca and children and moved to Union County. They had twelve children.

One of those children was John Henry Lance (1834-1890). John Henry Lance was rowdy as a young man. He drunk moonshine, got into fights, and gambled. Some time as a young man he changed his ways and became a minister. He preached against moonshine. Which cost him his life.

He was almost decapitated by an ex-friend in a fight over drinking and moonshine and partying.

There is a book out called REVENGE ON BLOOD MOUNTAIN by Charles Hill.

Here is what I have in my notes:

John Henry Lance moved to Union County, Georgia, when he was six years old.

John grew to adulthood in Union County, and was always ready participant in the rough and tumble games of the mountain boys. He earned a reputation of being one of the toughest individuals in Choestoe and seldom lost a fight. The tenacity of his fighting spirit would accept defeat and in the end he prevailed. He was fearless and it is reputed that he would "look a wild cat in the eye and then spit in its face". John readily took to drinking mountain 'shine but it only drove him into committing more boisterous acts, which further added to his reputation.

But something good happened to John when he married Caroline Turner, the daughter of Jarrett Turner in 1857. He settled down, laid the old ways aside and started rearing a family.

He farmed and they lived in a small cabin alongside Lance Creek at the foot of Lance Mountain. John taught himself to read, write, and sometimes later became a Methodist minister. John remembered how he acted when he was drinking, so regardless of his text he always got around to condemning the practice and he always spiced his sermons with a multitude of "amen, amen, amen."

Rev. John was preaching at Hoods Chapel, a church some five miles from his house. On the trail leading from his house to the church, Tom Swain and Fred Cannup had set up a "wildcat still" in plain view of all who traveled the trail. They were openly flaunting the law and corrupting the good name of Choestoe, so Rev. John called on them at their illicit place of business and demanded that they cease their operation. Threats were tossed about as to what would happen if anyone or anything interfered in their business.

A short time later on February 17th 1889, Rev. John Lance preached at Hoods Chapel. He chose as a text, Matthew 25, verses' 1-13, the parable about the virgins. It has been passed down that he preached with a fury like he might have some sort of premonition about the death and he was afraid that he might have much more time to speak out on this evil. He closed with "watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh".

On the way home, he passed the home of Tom Swain where a crowd had gathered and were having a drinking party. The crowd started taunting Rev. Lance by saying mockingly "amen, amen, amen". Rev. Lance wasn't intimidated by this drunken crowd and he kept on walking. They became so enraged that some of them took a near cut, went straight over the ridge and hid behind a big fir tree that was adjacent to Wolf Creek. When Rev. Lance came by and they brutally assaulted him. His neck was cut almost entirely around and was held on by only small strip of flesh. The wind pipe was completely severed and the rest of his body was covered with a multitude of deep cuts and stabs. He was so mutilated that T.J. Butt, a member of the coroner's jury remarked that he "had never seen such a fiendish attack."

Jim Lance, the second oldest son, lead the posse that hunted down the murderers. Tom Swain's sons, Frank and Newt were arrested for this brutal murder but only Frank was found guilty and he was given a sentence of Life imprisonment. He served thirteen years before he was paroled. Frank Swain went directly to Tolar, Texas, and never dared come back to Union Co., for the rage that consumed Jim Lance had not abated one iota.

This murder indirectly touched every citizen of Union Co., and directly changed the life of the Lance family.

- Charles Hill, Blairsville, Ga. (in THE HERITAGE OF UNION COUNTY, GEORGIA, 1832-1994).

Bus, Jerry, & Me

 y uncle Robert Ray "Bus" Hunter (1906-2005). Bus could remember things in infinite details, quote poetry and lyrics without pausing searching his memory glands. I remember what he was saying when I took this picture of him at his arrival of his 98th birthday party. He told me to lose some weight. He was also a Dutch Uncle, so to speak. I think the reason he would say things to set me straight was his only son, Jerry, one month older than me, was a Citadel Graduate, pilot, and was lost his life being shot down in Vietnam. I think whenever he saw me he thought of Jerry.

He said....

 

Benjamin

 

Ancestor Wm A Trammell fought on Kings Mountain

 My great-g-g-g-grandfather William A. Trammell and his brothers fought on Kings' Mountain, part of the Mountain Boys Brigade (whatever). One of William's arm was sliced off during hand to hand combat, however, he lived to be an old man. Because I do genealogy KING'S MOUNTAIN was required reading, sort of. My wife Anna had the meetr Sharyn McCrumb years ago at a book signing event at The Book Exchange in Marietta, Ga. William A.'s great grandson, also named William A. Trammell, fought in the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain, near Marietta. He was shot in the knee and recuperated in a private residence nearby. I think it is interesting that both William Trammells were wounded in a time of war on Mountains that both were on that both mountains started with K. My great grandfather William Trammell later changed his name to William Hunter, but that is a long story why.

Descendants of William A. & Emaline Ray Hunter Part

 

1.  Charles Jefferson Hunter (1865-1954).

2.  Arminta Jane Hunter (1866-1955).

3.  John Rafas Hunter (1870-1955).

4.  William Jason Hunter (1875-1896)

5.  Frank Paris Hunter (1879-1950)

6.  Oscar Ray Hunter (1884-1963)

7.  Arthur Riley Hunter (1884-1967

1. Charles Jefferson Hunter (3 Sept 1865 Macon Co., NC - 15 Feb 1954 Cherokee Co, Ga).  Charley owned Hunter's Store.  In the store was a small post office of the community of Kelp, which he was the postmaster.  He also wrote a weekly local society/gossip column for a Canton newspaper.  The name of the column was Hunter's Store.

He eventually moved next door to his father on Main Street, Woodsock, Ga.  His land low is a subdivision.

Charles first married Paraline Victoria Dobbs (25 Oct 1861-30 Jun 1897), daughter of Franklin Green Dobbs (1829-1862) and Clarissa Clara Mayfield (1836-1911).

Their Children:

A.  Clara Victoria Hunter (c1891-? ).  She married a Turner.

B.  Alfred Charles Hunter 15 May 1891- Cherokee Co, Ga - 3 Nov 1973, Kenville, Tx.  He became a dentist, moved to Tecas and married Mamie "May" Akridge (18 Oct 1892, Summerville, Ga - 18 Apr 1933, San Antonio, Tx.)  

They had one son:

Akridge Charles Hunter (1917-1997)

Akridge Charles Hunter (26 Jul 1917-Pleasanton, Tx - 14 Jan 1997. Houston, Tx) Alrodge also became a dentist. He married Helen Crain (4 Aug 1920, Pleasanton, Tx-7 Apr 2003, Richmond, Tx)   Akridge and Helen came to a Hunter Reunion in Marietta, Ga., in the early 1980s.

They had 3 daughters:

(1) Josana Elaine Hunter (1950-    )

(2) Paula Jean Hunter (1954-    )

(3) Holly Ann Hunter (1957 -   ).

(1) Josana Elaine Hunter (14 Dec 1950, San Antonio, Tx-   ) married Alan Wagner (14 Jan 1948, Ft Lewis, Wa)

Children:

a. Jovan Elaine Wagner (1982-    ).

b. Rachel Michelle Wagner (1985-     )

(2)  Psuls Jeane Hunter (5 Jan 1954, San Antonio, Tx) married Nathan Rakestraw..

Child

a.  Nathan Rakestraw.

(3)  Holly Ann Hunter (12 Sept 1957, San Antonio -    ) married Daniel Cliff Huston.

Children:

a.  Lana Huston (1993-      ).

b.  Hayley Huston (1995 -    )

c..  Dolly Mae Hunter (aft 1892-     ? ).  She married a Pips.  She was a school teacher.  Her husband was wheelchair bound

d. Eva Bell Hunter (21 Aug 1895 - 30 Jul 1973, Beaver, Pa).  25 Jul 1920, Fulton Co, Ga., she married J. Harvey Poor (25 Mar 1896, Holly Springs, Ga - 30 Jul 1969, Allquippam Pa) Harvey served as an airplane mechanic in France during WWI.

n 1922/23 (between births of 2 daughters) moved family to Aliquip a, Pa in serach of work.  He was a machinist for J & L Steel Ccmpany.

- Christie Sullivan.  

They had 3 children:

(1) Marjorie Lee Poore (1922-2012).  She married John Patterson Osborne (1918-1997), born in Fayette City, Ps, and died in Chattanooga, Tn. Marj worked primarily as a homemaker, although she did office work during the war. She would stay with her parents during the week and work, and then go by train to stay with John's family on the weekends. She also briefly worked outside the home after they relocated to Chattanooga. Aft er John's death, she moved in with her daughter Margie. She is very active in her church and keeps busy with sewing projects for her grandchildr en and great-grandchildren.

- Christie Sullivan

John worked for the railroad prior to getting drafted (he was stationed in Hawaii & fought in the Pacific campaign). After the war he went to s chool and became a draftsman, working for Combustion Federal. In 1960 he w as transferred to Chattanooga, TN. He is buried in the National Cemetery in Chattanooga, TN.

- Christie Sullivan

They were married 31 Aug 1942, Cumberland, Md

They had 2 daughters:

(a) Marge Louise Osborrne (1947-      )  Marge married H. Edgar Talley, son of Hosmer & Belle Talley, 1974 in Ringgold, Ga.Margie attended Techoa Falls College for 1 year. She worked for years at Chubb Insurance in Chattanooga, but was laid off in the 1990s. She took t he Civil Service exam and has been working at the National Cemetery in Chattanooga since then.  Ed served a stint in the Air Force, out in Nevada or New Mexico before meeting Margie.

They had one daughter:

(.1) Jennifer Lynn Talley (1976, Chattanooga, Tn -   ).  She married Terrell Allen Stallings (1974, Ga)

Jennifer received her education degree from UTC, and teaches at Westside E lementary School in Whitfield County, GA - Christie Sullivan. Terrell is certified in landscaping and is currently employed by Dalton Pa rks & Recreation department.

- Christie Sullivan

(b) Mariane Faith Osborne (1948, Fayette City, Pa  -  ) She mary Gary Leslie Sulllivan (1940, Nashville, Tn -     ) 24 Aug 1968- Chattanooga, Tn.-     ), son of Irvin Sullivan and Jessie Mae Bass

Marian received her BA from Tennessee Tech in Accounting. After settling h er family in Powell, TN, she went to UT and got her teaching certificat e. She has been a teacher for 20+ years at Halls Elementary School in Knoxville, TN. - Christie Sullivan.

Gary received his EE from Tennessee Tech, where he was also in ROTC. He se rved 4 years in the US Army and then took a job with TVA in Knoxville, T N. He took early retirement in 1988 rather than be transferred to Chattano oga, and then worked as a Project Control Engineer in Oak Ridge, TN. Curre ntly he has his own business, Sullivan Services Group, and does contract p roject control jobs. He also retired from Naval Reserves. - Christie Sullivan

They had 3 daughters

(b)Mariane Faith Osbourne (1948)

(2) Elizabeth Rae Poore (1923-2011) Born in Alquippa, Pa.  Cremated.  Married Leonard Boone Johnson.my great-aunt Betty pasted away (Elizabeth Rae Poore Johnson) this past Thursday. She's been having kidney issues since late summer, and died during a "routine" kidney stone procedure.

Her body is being cremated (like her husband's was) and the family is having a memorial service this Friday in Brookville, PA.

Here is the link for the obituary, although there is not much to it.

<http://www.thecourierexpress.com/courierexpresscourierexpressobit/941288-380/elizabeth-r.-johnson.html>

Christie

Len worked in the wire dept at J & L Steel Co.   He lost his battle with stomach cancer..

They had 2 children

(a) Virginia Lee Johnson (1940-1986)

(b0 Ralph Leonard Johnson (1942-     )

(3) Harvey Eugene Poore (1928-1973)

(3) Harvey Eugene Poore (1928-1973).  He was born & died in Aliquippa, Pa.  He married Anita Certone (1928-  ) He was a lathe machine operator,  After Harvey passed away Nita began teaching.

They had 3 children:

(a) Mary Ann Poot

(b Michael Harvey Poore

(c) Raymond Edward Poore

Charles Jefferson Hunter and Paraline Victoria Dobbs had 3 daughters:

E. Anna Laura Hunter 

F. Katherine H. Hunter

G. Ruth H. Hunter

E. Anna Laura Hunter  (aft 1887 - ?  West Palm Beach, Fl).  She married  Turner.

F. Katheine H. Hunter (af 1898 - ? )

G. Ruth H. Hunter (31 Jul 1917 Woodstock, Ga - 24 Mar 1965, Cherokee Co, Ga..  She married Pete Mauldin.  

They had one daughter

(1)  Letha Mauldin

The Force

 

Van Perberg, gone

 Posted Jan 22, 2022

We will miss Van Pearlberg. He died Saturday. We have been a Van Pearlberg fans for many years. I was on Jury Duty and watch him in action as a Assistant DA under Buddy Darden. I remember he was a very detailed lawyer enforcing the law. I admired watching him presenting his case at the Marietta History Center of the hanging of Leo Frank concerning the rape of Mary Phagan in 1913. He researched the details in that. I only got to speak to him once, during a Marietta Homes Tour, his and his wife Pat’s house was on the tour. He was in the back yard showing off his restored antique Model T Ford to a few people. I joined in with the “Ooohs and Aahhhs!”

I remember once he buckled horns with another Marietta councilman over a tree he planted in front of his house on Church Street. Their feud was in the papers. Apparently, they made up.

I enjoyed reading of his antics through the year. He had a restless mind.

He will leave a void in Marietta.

The new owner will continue with the decorations.

Benjamin dressed up

 

We were lucky

 Remember the Georgia Drive-In Theater? It was on what is now the campus of Kennesaw State College. Also in the picture is Clay Street Crossing the 4-lane, and probably a slice of Pine Forest Apartments, the Bowling Alley, and I’m not sure Hodge rothers Army Store was there yet or not.

Back to Georgia Drive-In:

When I worked for the Big Apple after I would get off on weekends it was a good fun social place to go, it was a good place to run into friends.

Once Jenky Latimer went. What was on that night was a good movie, I forgot what. Right at the serious important part Jenky drove his very identifier car down front, turned around to face all the cars and turned on his brights. All the cars blew their horns and we got the hell out of there, we already saw the movie anyhow.

Another adventure. Once Monty Calhoun and I were in a driving north on the 4-Lane. A car with 4 boys about our age rode by and shot us birds. Somehow we identified them as Sprayberry High School boys and I think they identified us as Marietta High School Boys.

We began to chase them. Finally, the red light at the 4-Lane and Clay Street stopped them. We jumped out and dared them to come out. We even rocked their car. All 4 boys innocently looked straight ahead.

When the light changed, they sped off. And I was very relieved. WHEW!

If they had stepped out of the car, they would have seen me, I don’t know about Monty, run like hell.

Ya-Hoo!

 

30060's, Small World

 

At the grocery store yesterday, while at the pharmacy counter I heard back in the back one pharmacy clerk say to another pharmacy clerk a certain name I recognized instantly.  The name was of a postal carrier I worked with years ago.  It had to be him, it is a screwy last name.  Even tho we are facebok fiends   I haven’t seen this guy since 1999, before  I retired.

Later I told Anna about hearing the name aand somehow in the same conversation she brought up another person of my past that we see often at Krogers.

Which reminded me of another interesting fact:  That lady’s mother-in-law lives at a special number on the road she lived in.  It is where 2 cariers’ routes meet.  What ever her  number is is not the same the carrier delivers to.

Her house is a turn around spot.

Small world, and being a native of the Postal Service you worked in for 20 plus years makes it even smaller.

Mr Mack

 Boyd McKeown. Or also known as "Mr. Mack" or "The Band Teacher" I think he was the Marietta High school Band Director my whole time at MHS. He taught his bands to do it right with music and marching. When they marched out on the field you felt a certain thrill or excitement. They pumped the spectators' adrenaline. It is ironic that now he wears a hearing aid. I run into him from time to time, he looks the same as I remember him in the late 1950s. He has brought up my blog Chicken-fat to me without me mentioning it. It took me by surprise because I am invisible to most people. I wasn't even a student of his. He has a keen mind.

The Royal Brothers

 

Adventures with the Royal Brothers: Throwback Thursday: Speaking of Billy Joe Royal again.

My family and I moved out of the Clay Homes low rental project a short time before the Royal family moved in. If we had stayed they would have live just across the ally from us.

We moved in with my grandfather after my grandmother died. It was the summer between my first grade and second grade. Both the Clay Homes and our new address were in the Waterman Street Grammar School District so I did not feel the need to find new friends, they were already there.

However, I did have a neighborhood in the Clay Homes I did not want to let go of, so I didn’t. I was old enough to ride a bicycle, so I kept the roads hot going often to my old stomping grounds. I had a duel neighbor-ship, so to speak.

Then I met Jack Royal and his older brother Billy Joe. Their front was a big grassy rectangle about a block long. On Sunday nights sometimes, a man brought his 16MM projector and residents brought out their blankets and metal yard chairs. At one end was a playground and the other a street,

Sometimes after dark before going home we would sit on the grassy lawn and told jokes, ghost stories, and so on.

Across the rectangle lawn in the dark, on a porch many nights was the red glow of the end of a cigarette. We bothered him. We were having a good time. Every time we sat out he would give us fifteen minutes or so of giggling and hooting with laughter then he would walk over and to ask us to hold it down. A couple of minutes later, we would see him walking more quickly over. We would see a red shaking glow come faster than the last time and more rudely threatened to call the police. But he didn't disturb our little social gathering, just gave us fuel to laugh.

I did not know it at the time that the bitter old nervous old man was the father of a cashier that worked at the Big Apple the same time

I did.

I remember one day at the Big Apple a family bought a lot of stuff. The bill was much higher than the family expected. The man of the family demanded that the groceries be re-tallied. She manager, L.L. Thurmond, and the cashier reran every item and it came out exactly the same. Good for her.

We were not rich kids. We had to scrounge for all our spending money. A lot of times, as teenagers, we worked on weekends as temp help at Minute Car Wash on Roswell Street. I think it paid $5 on Saturdays and $3 on Sundays. Billy Joe really enjoyed his job there. The full time laborers were black and were very much into music. I think Billy Joe learned a lot by working with them. I also remember the regulars nicknamed Jimmy McEntyre “Chicken Head”.

One time I asked the manager of the Larry Bell Park Bowling Alley for a job as a pin boy. He said yes, and would I help him clear off some land off Macland Road and any friends too, he said he would pay well. I told Billy Joe, Jack, and Jimmy McEntie about it. They went with me to Macland Road to help clear off the land for our maybe future boss. For a boss he wasn’t that bright. He poured gasoline on a pile and rubble and lit it and Poof! The pile of rubble went up in smoke and so did he.. That was before 911`. And cell phones, and we were out in the sticks. We put him in Billy Joe’s car and took him to the hospital.

I don’t know if he survived or not, but we did not see him again. So, we did not get to be pin-boys.

In time, the Royals moved to East Dixie Avenue. We, on Manget Street, lived near the east end of East Dixie and the Royals lived on the west end, near Hicks’ Grocery, about three blocks away. Ironically, the house they moved in to was the same house my parents moved in in 1937 when they was first married. My mother said she saw a red headed man standing over them, in a blue suit, and one arm. As it turned out the landlady said her late husband was red headed, one arm, and buried in a blue suit. I asked Jack did he see anybody like that in their house and he said no.

The Royals moved to Smyrna, if I remember correctly, their house was off and thoroughfare that went from Atlanta Road at the Smyrna Drive-In to South Cobb Drive. One evening Billy Joe had the weekly Ratskats meeting in their basement. During that evening Billy Joe showed off a new guitar he had just purchase. He began playing and singing. Everybody enjoyed it. Then, for some reason, I wandered out of the basement in their back yard. I found a broom leaning on something, the next thing I knew I jumped back into the basement and did a great imitation of Elvis Presley and his hip action.

All the boys cracked up laughing. Billy Joe said, “Thanks a lot Rock.” Then, I regretted doing it.

About that same year, or time, I remember driving down Old Atlanta Road, probably coming from the Royals, going about 40 mph and I felt a tap or bump on the back of my car. I looked in the rear view and Jack Royal was driving behind my laughing. I probably laughed too.

One time Billy Joe made a deal with James Wilder, owner of WBIE, for his band o have something like a 30 minute show once or twice a week. WBIE Radio station was on the second floor of the fist block of Atlanta Street. Once while they were on the air live playing music some of us slipped up the outside stairs and threw a firecracker in the room and ran out. I never heard a word about it afterwards. I don’t think the firecracker went off.

One time Billy Joe and his band played at a big dance with lived famous stars, such as the Coasters, at Larry Bell Auditorium. While he was singing, his best friend Mickey got into a fist fight on the dance room floor. Security drug him out with him swinging and trying to break loose. I saw Billy Joe glance and the commotion from the stage while he was singing, but did not miss a beat..

Years later, after I was married I heard Billy Joe interviewed on the radio. When the interviewer asked what his age was, whatever he said, it was one year younger than I was at the time. That was not true. Billy Joe was one year older than me, and Jack was one year younger than I. But in that interview, he used his little brother’s age.

The last time I saw Billy Joe was about a year beforer he died. I’m sure it was him, even though I spoke to him and he did not know who I was. I understand that, he has met a lot of people since our teenage years. But he claimed he was not Billy Joe, he said I had him mistaken. Same voice, same body language (old man style)… maybe I was mistaken. Not to mention I am invisible and the most forgettable character you would ever meet.

Billy Joe died in 2015 and Jack died in 2017.

Picture of Jack and Joy Lewis Royal, 2016

Free Cigarettes

 

This is the back of the Old Courthouse.  The building behind was the Old Sheriff’s Office.  Both buildings have been replaced.

Next door to the Sheriff’s building, you cannot see, is the Jail House.  A.K.A. Calaboose.  It has been replaced too. 

I am not sure but I think the upper part of the Sheriff’s office was a holding section, or jail, for county detainees. 

And I think calaboose was for City of Marietta guests (detainees).  The Calaboose was made of granite rock and the barred windows high, beyond reach.

As preteens we used to take short cuts to get to the Strand Theater by walking by the Calaboose.  It is according to when we walked by but many times there were  women outside and below the barred windows hollowing for their boyfriends or husbands.

Interesting many of the women outside the barred windows would throw cigarette boxes.  The cigarette boxes were free sample boxes.  I think a cigarette pack of 20 was too big to go between he bars.  But the sample boxes of 2 or 4 could be lobbed right in.  Where there is a will there is a way.

 

I found this picture is Frances’ collection.  I think this was taken on their property near Cohutta, Ga.  The guy on the left is Thomas Jefferson  “Tom” Petty, the oldest male of my mother’s siblings.    The guy on the right is either the Leonard (the youngest brother) or Roy, the brother up one notch.

Tom married Mary Jo Johns from nearby Calhoun, Georgia.  They had no children.  Tom was a cabinet maker.  They mostly moved around near Dalton and Chattanooga.    Once they moved to Marietta and joined the Baptist Church, near us on Manget Street.  There we learned they were gospel singers.  They moved back in just a year or two.

This is interesting: when the family was young they moved to Gillette, Wyoming, to Homestead.  That is where my mother Ethel America “Janie” Petty was born.  Living a pioneer life was too hard  on the family.  They moved back East.  The mother (Viola) took the females and youngest males back on train.  Tom, his brother Wallace, and their father William Elijah and their belongings returned east in their horse drawn wagon.   That would have been Quality Time!

Claim to Fame in Hollywood

 

Today on TV seeing Hollywood on fire reminds me two times I visited there.

The first time was in 1967.  My Naval Reserve unit spent two weeks in Yuma, Arizona, at a Marine Base  On Friday there was a plane or helicopter, I forgot which, going to the LA area of California.  The ride there was free but we had to find our own rides back Sunday.

A bunch of us took advantage of the free ride.   The Naval Air Base there was across the highway from DISNEYLAND.  As I hitchhiked there I could here the music and clacking tracks of train ride tracks.

I finally got a ride to downtown Los Angeles.  I got a room at a nice hotel.  Then I went to a USO dance, which was interesting.  I felt out of place.  Then I went to a bar, which was OK.

Finally I went back to the hotel.

I sat in the big lobby in a big cushiony chair and watched people walk by.

Then my Chief walked by.  He glanced my way but kept on walking.

Good!  He did not see me.

Then the chief backed up and looked in the window, saw me an waved.

Well heck!

He asked if we could share a room and the epense for the night.   Sure.

He called an old Naval friend of his, who lived in Hollywood Hills.  He invited us to let him picked us up the next morning (it was late).

Which he did.  He was an engineer for DISNEYLAND. 

His wife a Asian.  Where my Chief and his friend talked of old times.  His wife entertained me.

We had a good time.  She showed me interesting in the house and  around their back yard.. 

Then two big dogs came galloping up.  They were not mean, they just wanted petted.

Which we petted..  If I remember correctly she pulled out some treats and fed them.  She explained they were Steve McQueens’s dogs.   Steve McQuen lived behind them, or they lived him, whatever.

That is my claim to fame, I petted Steve McQueen’s big dogs.

 

The next day our friend took us to the bus stop and back to Yuma Marine Base.

Ancestry Graft

 

The Carters in Plains in 1976

 

In November 1976, the weekend after Jimmy Cartee was elected President Anna and I left our infant child Rocky with his grandparents and we drove to Plains, Ga.  To take pictures.  We did not see Jimmy but did see his brother Billy and mother Mrs. Lillian.

The pictures were publishe in th book JIMMY CARTER IN PLAINS, THE PRESIDENTIAL HOMEDOWN  

BY Robert Buccellato, pictures by Charles Plant and mee.

Here are the ones I took:

Billy Carter Service Station up

Billy Carter driving down

Billy Carter shot me a bird.  I missed photographing it.  I don't blame him, I was almost in his face.

I must ad that Miss Lillian was very congenial and friendly until a lady almost hugged her.  Miss Lillian bitterly said something like, "No hugging!!"  Once a nurse, always a nurse. 

Billy Beer