Howdy, boys... As you may or may not know, I turned 66 years old on the 28th of December, 2012. Boy, that seems old, doesn't it? Some of my first memories were when I was about Ethan's age (5) and at that time I thought anyone in their 60s was very, very old... and I guess they were? My dear Mama's Daddy died when he was just a few years older than your Mommy (36) and my Daddy's Daddy died when he was only 59 so I guess 66 really is pretty old and sadly with some of my physical ailments (including prostate cancer) I'm beginning to feel kind of old.
Anyway, I thought I'd tell you about some of the memories I have from back then. When I was Ethan's age, my family lived in Nashville, Tennessee. As you can see I don't live very far from Nashville right now (Sewanee). Nashville was a wonderful place to grow up and I literally thank the Lord frequently for allowing me to grow up during the 1950s in the south.
When we first moved to Nashville from Forrest City, Arkansas, my brother Chris was Caleb's age (2) and my other brother Steve and my little sister Mimzie hadn't even been born yet. We lived in this house (below, 208 Paddock Lane) but it looked a little different then because it has been added on to over the years. At the time the house was just a little rectangle (it only cost $10,000). It had a living room, a dining room, a Pullman kitchen, one bathroom and 3 bedrooms off a central hall. We didn't have central heat or air conditioning in the summer (There was an attic fan in the ceiling of the central hallway that drew the cool night air in through our open bedroom windows and into the attic so we had a night time breeze. The attic fan was very loud and sounded like an airplane taking off. During the day it was just very hot but we never complained... I guess we didn't know any better). During the winter you had to be very careful because the metal grate on the floor furnace in the hall got hot enough to burn you if you stepped on it bare footed.
Everyone in our neighborhood had a very big yard so we had lots of room to play. Cowboys and Indians was one of our favorite things to play. My friend Lee Kraft, who I still stay in touch with, used to wear his toy gun and holster all the time just in case we decided to play cowboys and Indians so he'd be ready and not have to go home to get his "stuff." Nancy Hamman and her three little sisters lived next door (to the right). Nancy was my first girl friend. She had brown hair parted on the side and I thought she was really pretty. It was very different during the 50s because we pretty much could go anywhere we wanted by ourselves as long as we were home by supper time. When I was just a little older (8 or 9), we used to ride our bikes miles from home but we were always home by supper. No one worried about something bad happening because it never did. It was a sweet time to grow up.
I went to Parmer School first through the fifth grade. It was just three houses down the block so I walked to school. Here are my class pictures from the first, second and third grade.
I'm seated, third from the right (click on picture to enlarge)
I'm standing, third from right (click on picture to enlarge)
I'm standing, first on the right (click on picture to enlarge)
My friend Duane Allman who lived on the street behind ours became a famous guitar player (in the first grade picture he is sitting to my right). In 2003,
Rolling Stone magazine ranked Duane at #2 in their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Sadly he was killed in a motorcycle accident when he was just 24 but his younger brother Gregg continued with their Allman Brother's Band and enjoyed great success over the years. Here's Duane playing in a concert just before he died:
Click on this image to hear Duane playing his guitar
Well, that's all for now, boys.
Click on this image to view the video
