Petty Family, including Walt Ridley, 1930s

 

The Pettys at the home near Cohutta, Murray County, Ga., they called the Red Hills, c 1937.

Left to Right.

First Row: Osmo Petty (1915-1978), Opal Petty (1913-1992) , Thelma Cox Petty (1908-1994) (wife of Wallace), Wallace Petty (1910-2007), and Sarah Petty (1927-1999) (will become wife of Bill McLemore).

Second Row: Cecil Grant (1901-1958), Georgette Petty Grant 1906-1966), Walt Ridley (1888-1954) (Grandma's brother), Janie Petty Hunter (1918-1996) (Mama and wife of Ed Hunter), Viola Ridley Petty (1885-1968) (Grandma), Mary Jo Johns Petty (1913-2000) (wife of Tom) and Tom Petty (1908-1979).

Behind Walt: Probably Roy Petty (1921-2000). But where is Leonard Petty (1924-2001)? If that is Leonard, where is Roy? Maybe the missing one is taking the picture.

Nashville and Panama City

 

Yesterday, we had an evening social in our neighbor Jane’s carport.  I was offered a beer, which I took.  I think it loosened my tongue.   I told these two true stories:

In late May or early June, 1959, Marietta students went to Panama City.  To  yet be famous singer Billy Joe Royal wanted to go to be with his girlfriend Georgia.  His brother Jack, and Jack’s friend Charlie, and two others wanted to go too.  We had saved $30 so we pooled our money.  We had a total of $35. I don’t know why my parents allowed me to go but somehow I got to go.

In Panama City, we stayed in a cheap hotel for $8 s night, the name was Key of West Motel.  The room’s bathroom was also the bathroom for another room. 

We went to the beach and got all sunburned.  We met up with other friends and we all went back our room to get out of the hot sun and drink cheap beer.  Our friends had yet got a room, mainly because they had no money, so they stayed with us.  It was crowed so some of them used the adjoining room.  In the middle of the night a honeymoon couple rented the adjoining room.  They opened the door and a bunch of friends of our were all over the bed and floor, sunburned, so almost naked.  We were kicked out.  The owner wisely searched our suit cases and found 2 or 3 motel’s towels.

With no money and no place to sleep we drove to Valdosta, Ga to look up Billy Joe’s and Jack’s kinfolks.  They did not have enough room for all of us, so 2 or 3 of us went to their other uncle in Tifton, Ga.  That night the uncle and aunt in Tifton took us to the American Legion in Syvester, Ga. And we all got drunk.  I slept behind their house by a pond that night.

We went back to Valdosta.  Billy Joe played a lot of music on their piano and a guitar.  Their uncle was a member of a local band that played in a furniture warehouse weekly.  He invited Billy Joe to play with them.  That was Bily Joe Royal’s first singing gig.  

Billy Joe decided to stay and play with the band.  He was the one with the car.  Their mother, Mrs. Royal came and brought us back to Marietta.

 

Another true story I told in th carport last night:

In the Spring of 1963 I was to go into the Navy active duty soon.  I wanted one last fling before I went so a bunch of us went to the Grand Old Opry in Nashville.

We went in my Volvo, which my friends just fixed my brakes.  In the mountains between Chattanooga and Nashville going down a steep hill my brakes gave out.  Back then on state highways they had “runaway ramps”… which I’m sure saved our lives.  The same friends that installed my brakes were in the car so they fixed the brakes.

In Nashville we got a room almost next door to the Ryman Auditorium .  Before we went in to the concert we went Woolworths to eat.  We were sitting in a booth in the window when an old man in raggedy clothes with a guitar stood outside and watched us eat.  We motioned for him to come in, which he came in.  We bought him a dinner.  He told us he and Cowboy Kobus grew up together.  He said Cowboy Kobus told him if he was ever in Nashville he would put him on stage at the Grand Ole Opry.

We had balcony seats in the Opry.  We saw several big name stars sing, such as Patsy Cline and I forgot who else.  Then, in the aisle on the first floor I saw the old man in his dirty old raincoat and guitar wanting up the aisle towards the stage.  I told my friends, “Look!  Our buddy!”

Our buddy got only a few more steps and was blocked by ushers or security.  As they drug him off he hollered to Cowboy Kobus to let him up.  Cowboy Kobus went on with his routine without  even looking at his fold friend.

Afterwards we went to a bar named THE JUNGLE.  We made friends with the waitress name “Bunny”.  She told us to call her anytime.  Which we did the next morning and got to listen to her irate husband.

 

Shortly after that, maybe that same night or the next weekend night Cowboy Kobus and Patsey Cline  was killed in a plane wreck in Tennessee.

 

Fun and Laughter in front of Krogers

Today at Kroger’s I parked in one of their Handi-capped places.  While I was parking two elderly* women were unloading their groceries from a shopping cart into their car.

When suddenly their cart started rolling away.  The tallest of the two elderly women started chasing it.  The other elderly woman broke out laughing.

As I was getting out of the car the taller lady retuned with the runaway shopping cart.  She ask me, “Did you see me chase this cart?  I did not know I could move that fast!”

I replied, “Yes, I saw it, that was funny.  What was even funnier (pointing to her friend) was she cackling laughing.”

They both cackled.

*They looked even older than me, and I’m 83.

Us Mountaineers Scavengers

 

About ten miles north of Dahlonega on Hwy 19 is a fork in the road. With a big pile of rocks or stones. The body of Indian Princess Trahyla is under those rocks. She lived nearby. She heard if she drunk a certain potion it was give her eternal life. Well, the proof is in the pudding. She is dead under a pile of rocks.

Also, Princess Trahyla started a fad. A new superstition that travelers traveling by, if they would throw a stone or pebble on the Princess’s grave they will eternal youth. Again?

If you stayed on Hwy 19 you would enter Union County and go over blood Mountain. On the way down you would cross over The Appalachian Trail, see Volge State Park, and finally reach Blairsville,.

If you took the left Fork you would be on Hwy 60. There you would so through the little town Suches, and next a bigger town, Morganton.

In 1960 I got drunk, or tipsy, with Billy and Buddy. And ended up spending the night at Buddy’s house, who lived on Page Street. I suppose I made arrangements with Larry to pick me up at their house. Larry and friends came and picked me up before midnight.

We had a plan.

Larry drove us through Dahlonega and turned left at Princess Trahlyla’s stone grave, went a couple more miles and pulled over.

On one side of us was a mountain and the other side was a cliff.

The bottom of the cliff was the root of our plan. Larry heard that at the bottom of that cliff were many smashed cars. He heard the locals would push their cars off the cliff at that point and then collect from their insurance policy. Larry figured there were probably some good auto parts we could salvage.

However, at that moment it was pitched black over the cliff. We would have to wait for daylight to come.

Anytime we had idle time Larry would build a fire. We looked around the edge of the woods and found kindling wood, logs, and all we needed. We built a big fire in the middle or the road. We figured no fool would be driving on it in he middle of the night.

We were sitting around the roaring fire talking and laughing when I thought I heard the distant noise of a truck engine. I called my friends attention to the noise. It was getting louder. Then we cold see two headlights going around curves not far away.

We decided the only thing we could do is run!

A big truck was upon us as we scattered. The driver did not even apply his brakes, he might have even stepped on the gas and plowed right through it. With burning logs rolling and red sparks flying up in the black air.

I don’t know why we didn’t get the heck out of there. But we didn’t.

When daylight came Larry pulled out long ropes and cables out of his trunk and we began to lower ourselves down on the ropes.

As I said, only a few hours before I was drunk. Now, I was dangling on a waving rope in midair. I got sick, my head started spinning and all I could do was hold on for dear life. I vomited.

Jenky was below me hanging on the same rope. My puke splattered on him. He hollered, but hung on. He did not see the humor in at that moment but later he did.

At the bottom of the cliff there were a few cars turned all which ways. But all he parts have been stripped. A bunch of crooks beat us to our plan.

Jenky died in a drag race a couple months later.

It also reminded me of an Atlanta Postal Maintenance guy named Mr. Wellborn. Mr. Wellborn worked at the Federal Annex in Atlanta. He was an air conditioner specialist. I was a clerk in the maintenance department for a few months. I was a clerk there when astronauts first made “One Step for Mankind” because we were all kidding saying such an elaborate present for my birthday.

Anyway, back to Mr. Welborn. He was from Blairsville and went there often to see his property. He also worked on my home air conditioner for several years I remember he was easy going and deeply religious.

One time on the way to see his property he pulled ovrer to admire the valley. He stood on the edge of a cliff admiring the view, God’s gift, when a car sped around the corner and couldn’t make the curve and hit Mr. Wellborn’s car, which hit Mr. Wellborn and off he cliff he fell. He lived, but narrowly. He retired after that.

Dick Day, Old Navy Friend

 

Out of curiosity and pure nosiness I googled my old Navy buddy Dick Day to find out what ever happened to him.

We were stationed at NAS Lakehurst, NJ, at Helo Squadron HU-4. He was the squadron's journalist and I worked almost next door at the Information and Education Office.

After we both got out about two years later I visited him and his wife Nancy at Harrisburg, Pennsyvania. I spent Saturday with him at the NBC radio station he manned for a few hours. Our friend Don Lash also came in and had a mini-reunion.

Another time he and Nancy visited us in Smyrna, Georgia. We showed them what we felt were the high lights of Atlanta.

Later that night, after bedtime, Scatzi, our Snauzer dog, decided to give births to her puppies, in bed with Dick and Nancy.

I have not heard from Dick in decades, not since we had kids, which is near 50 years ago

SAG-AFTRA member and WTOP news anchor Richard Day signed off for his final time on Sunday, January 27, 2013 as he journeys into retirement. He had been with WTOP since 1985, though his first job in radio was in 1958 in his hometown of York, Pennsylvania. He also worked at NBC in Washington, WCBM in Baltimore, and as a reporter/producer for syndicated television.

Richard Day

Day was also an accomplished musician and actor; he was in a band before he was old enough to drive, and worked in amateur theater before attending the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, where he trained in Shakespearean theater. While there, he was a page for CBS, before pursuing a career in advertising. But the world of broadcasting beckoned him back after a three year stint in the Navy.

Richard Day will be spending his retirement doing the things he loves, like playing tennis, skiing, reading, playing piano, and taking in concerts and the theater. Jim Farley, WTOP’s VP Programming, said in an email to the station that “Day is a Class Act and I will sorely miss his quiet professionalism.”

We wish him the best in this next chapter in life, and congratulate Day on his retirement

Don't get me started.

 We went by the Cobb County Water Department to pay my late sister's water bill.  We are still sorting things out and told the lady at the window we still need the water, and wanted to pay it is person instead of losing it in the mail.

She more or less said, "Postal delivery?  Don't get me started!"

SUNDAY FUNNIES! TRUMP Magazine GIANTS

 

A couple weeks ago on TV we watched a special on Elizabeth Tayor.  It looked at her marriages some of her movies.  It had a few scenes from the movie GIANT.  GIANT is a movie about Texas, cattle and oil and Texas habits.  James Dean is in it.  It was James’ last movie.  He was killed in an auto wreck before if was completed, but somehow the editors and producers worked around that.

It reminded me of TRUMP Magazine and its satire on the GIANT.  They called it GIANTS.  TRUMP Magazine was a satire magazine published by Hugh Hefner, publisher of PLAYBOY.  It lasted only 2 issues.  TRUMP Magazine was Harvey Kutzman who earlier created MAD Comicbook.

TRUMP Magazine was in no way connected to Donald Trump, except the name.

Here is TRUMP Magazine’s GIANTS movie.  Story by Harvey Kurtzman and illustrated by Georgia’s own Jack Davis.

Go West, Young Pettys!

 

John Franklin and Adeline Woody Petty. John is the son of Elijah Petty and Sarah Parker. Adeline is the daughter of Conrad Raburn and Elizabeth Hunt Woody. Adeline was born in Fannin Counry, Georgia, 1859 and John was born in the same county in 1856.

They were married 1881 in Fannin County. They had ten children.

Here is the only note I have about John:

John received the bulk of his father's estate.

In the book "PROGESSIVE MEN OF WYOMING" They moved to Sand Creek, Laromie County, Wyoming in 1887. Later owning a farm on the Wheatland Flats.

- Gary Griswold

Here is a far fetched thought: John Petty is the brother Daniel Webster Petty. Daniel Webster Petty is the father of William Elijah Joseph Petty (my mother's father). William Elijah Joseph was also born in Fannin County. William Elijah Joseph Petty moved his family to Gillette, Wyoming for a few years. I wonder if Wm Elijah Joseph was aware his uncle John lived in the same state? And if so, is that why he moved there?