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?

Kudzu, Cactus, Rabbits, & Squirrels

 In our college biology class the professor gave a lecture that essentially said this: When the British took over Australia an officer’s wife brought cacti to decorate the back yard with plants. The cacti took over the country side. Why, because there is no natural enemy to cactus in Australia. To get the cacti under control they imported in rabbits to eat it, which got it under control. But the rabbits had no natural enemy, so the country side had too many rabbits. Then they imported snakes to take care of the rabbits and then…..” guess what?

Georgia had a similar problem. The farmers were having a hard time with erosion. Good fertile soil was hard to keep in one place with heavy storms and all. Some genius (?) suggested they plant Kudzu. It was deep rooted and keep the good soil from being washed away. Georgia bought Kudzu from Japan and planted it. Guess what? It had no natural enemy and got out of control, I took this picture only one mile from our house about 25 to 30 years ago.

Problem solved! The Kudzu is no longer there. A subdivision is in its place. Humans need housing, roads, ball fields, tennis courts. Yep, they found the natural enemy: Humans

POW!

 

Remember when you were a kid and you broke your arm, got a deep cut, or got a black-eye you wanted to show it off in a subtle way, like “nothing to it!”? I know I did. This picture was my Navy friend Don Lash, on the outside stairs of our Navy baracks showing me his blackeye he received the night before.

How it happened, we were station at NAS LAKEHURST, NJ 08733*, deep in the winter, literally snowed in. No one could come or go.

People were getting stir-crazy and cabin fever.

We couldn’t leave the base, even if they said we may, we still couldn’t. Too much snow.

But we could walk to the EM Cllub!

Back in the near mid 1960s all bars, it seemed, had video jukeboxes. The EM Club was no exceptions.

The EM Club was full of drunk people. Many was irritable too. It seemed the Marines were louder and more irritable. One Marine were really dancing to the rock and roll music wildly. We started imitating him. One of his friends saw us and punched him and pointed to us.

Mind-set he rushed over to us and smiling Don complemented him on his music moves. Then the guy floored him.

That’s All Folks!

*08733! Every time I type Lakehurst, NJ, I automatically type the zip code 08733. This is me bragging that I still remember the zip code there.

James Marion Prance - COTTON 10 CENTS PER POUND

 

Ava Pearl Prance 1890-1915

 

Ava Pearl Prance (1890-1915). She lived only about 25 years. She is the daughter of James Marion Prance

3 Legged Andy and Nancy Pannell Morris

 

From Marie's Picture collection: Andy and Nannie Pannell Morris. Nannie is sister to Mary Jane Pannell Prance. It looks like Andy lost a leg

Sarah Moody Tyson

 This is a blog post that I posted in 2006. Because last Saturday we were at Conn's Creek Baptist Church Cemetery, in Ball Ground, Ga., Sarah Moody's old stomping grounds, pull it up out of the archives, just for breath of fresh air. And to spruce up the editing of it:

This tin-type is my great-great grandmother Sarah C. Moody Tyson (1815-1895). She was born in South Carolina and died in Cherokee County, Georgia. She was the second of ten children of Allen Nancy Murphy Moody. I think she spent her formative years in Ball Ground, Cherokee County, Ga.

She married Robert Cabel Tyson (1821-1864) on September 3, 1843, and they had eight children.

She looks like she may have been Indian.

Ball Ground was named Ball Ground because it was where the Indians met to played ball. Now it is a place to go unique restaurants and go antiquing.

SUNDAY FUNNIES!! MAD Magazine #24 Veracryz

Story by editor Harvey Kurtzman and art by Georgia's own Jack Davis

Boy Scout Camping & Tree Tricks

 

Boy Scout Camp, Troop 132. Camping out at George and Mike Hobby's daddy's property he bought off Macland Road.

Left to Right: Mickey Griffin, ?, Me, and Tony Hester.

That was the night George Hobby raised my sleeping bag up on a flag pole and blasted it with a shotgun. .... all, in good old boy fun.

Mickey Griffin was a fun loving kid. He used to walk around with me and my dog named Skipper when I delivered The Atlanta Journal newspapers and we do all kinds of mischievous tricks.

When I think of Tony Hester I remember the time I was showing him and Gene Sanges a trick I learned: climb up one small tree, and at the top get it swinging and when it swung wide enough I could gracefully grab an identical size and type tree, latch on to it and artfully shinny down the tree. I already did it twice alone, now I was ready to show off for an audience. I got Tony and Gene down at the bottom watching me and I skillfully climbed the tree near the top and got it swinging back and forth like I did two other times. That is the last thing I remembered for several hours, the tree top broke and I fell to the ground and was knocked out. Tony thought I was playing a joke and went home and got his wagon and came back and he and Gene put me in the wagon and carried me to his back yard where his two little sisters Peggy and Lulu were playing with their dolls. Tony told me if I didn't get up he was going to take off my clothes. I didn't get up and they took off my clothes. Then they thought I was dead. They put me back in the wagon (naked) and carried me home, over a block away. Nobody was at home so they left me in my bed an left.

Later my parents came home and was startled to see me in bed in the middle of the day, naked, and I had no idea why.

The lightening in that picture looks something like the Blair Witch Project doesn't it?

John & Lizzy Hawkins Huey

 

John and Lizzy Hawkins Huey. John is the son of my (and my Hunter 1st cousins) g-great grandparents John T. and Drucilla Wilson Huey. The Hueys lived on and near Carmel-Bascomb Road in south Cherokee County, Georgia.

It looks like John and Lizzy just got caught smooching behind the barn doesn't it?

MAD PODCAST

I am  beginning to check out Podcasts some while I walk.  I just finished listening (3 days of walking) to a Podcast apparently comedian Drew Friedman is the captain, or M.C. or whatever.  In the PODCAST section on my phone I searched for Harvey Kurtzman.  Who is Harvey Kurtzman?  Harvey created MAD Comicbook and I have been a life time fan, since the 7^th grade.  Harvey died in 1993 at age 68.HH]H

The Podcasf I listened had Drew Friedman, Al Jaffee, and Dick DeBartolo.  Harvey died in 1993 at age 68.  In the 90 minute or so PODCAST Harvey was mentioned a couple of times but it was mostly a conversation of MAD artists Drew Friedman, Al Jaffee, and      MAD writer Dick DeBartolo.  It was very educational of what went on behind  the scenes.  MAD artist Will Elder was mentioned also.

I enjoyed it all but the horse laughing.

Clay Homes Vanished!

 

I took this years ago from a window by the big clock of the latest Cobb County Courthouse.. Like all pictures, it is the subject matter that is the important part of the picture. But in this case it is what is not in the picture. The Clay Homes is not there. You can see the old Greyhound Bus Station that transformed itself into a unique shaped lawyer’s building but not the Clay Homes. They had been bull dozed away and left a vacant lot. But now yuppie replacements dwellings have arrived.

I know a bunch of people who spent their formative years in the Clay Homes. When they bulldozed the Clay Homes they bulldozed away an important part of our lives.

It was sudden Gentrification.

Wildman, Bluto, & Skip

 

Left to right: Dent “Wildman” Myers, “Bluto” Peck, an the late Underground Cartoonist Skip Williamson. I took this picture in November 2001, about a week or two after 9/11

It is fairly well known that Dent Mayer’s Wildman Store specialized and delt in “Old South” Lore, which had a lot of racial material. Months ago Dent Myers died and the community thought so did Wildman’s store in Kennesaw. On the news tonight thy announced it was back in operation. The lady that has a shop next door to Wildman’s is not happy at all, she is moving.

I remember Dent took his Civil War relics very seriously. He was also considered very well educated and an expert on the Civil War, troop movements, and so on.

Blood Blockage

 Collateral Circulation

I am reading the book SET LIST: a novel by Raymond L. Atkins.  It is mostly about a bunch of young men with a common like for Rock music and an insane mother and maybe the daddy too. 

Yesterday I read that the protagonist had heart troubles.   His artery was blocked.  Nature saved his life.  Nature built a series of blood vessels to carry the blood over the blockage.  The cardiologist in the book called it Collateral Circulation.  He added the protagonist was lucky to be alive. 

I had a similar series of blood vessels creating a bridge over a blockage.    My cardiologist did not call it Collateral Circulation.  But he explained the blood veins rerouting my blood stream than shook my hand and said, “Nice doing business with you.”  That was probably more than 30 years ago.

I felt lucky too.

Charles Roscoe Collins of Union County (kin)

 

This is a bust statue of Charles Roscoe Collins (1907-2000) in the Union County History Museum which was the old courthouse in Blairsville, Ga. Roscoe and I are both descended from John Hunter, pioneer of Union County. When I went to the Hunter Reunion in Union County every year I would talk to Roscoe, he always came alone, I was always surprised he remembered my name and that I was Marietta - every year, he had a sharp mind. I am always surprised when someone remembers my name after an hour or two lapses, but a whole year...wow!

I remember he and a Union County Congressman relative who also attended the reunions were the only two who wore ties or in Roscoe's case, a bowtie and a button cap - that is like Sunday Casual

Roscoe was a pioneer educator and founder of several things, such as the Air Civil Patrol in that county.

I have read several essays he had written about John Hunter's children. The one that comes to mind is john's son Andrew's trips to Augusta to sell the whiskey his father had made. Augusta was the closest market. His trail was the name of a certain highway, which was no wider than a cow path.

He is my 3rd cousin, once removed. I'll take a claim to fame anyway I can get it.

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

 

HAPPY LABOR DAY!

Goodbye Summer!

 

art by Jack Davis