The horse lot, located on the east side of Hamlin, bordered the highway that led to Anson, then to Abilene. Then the T&P railway would carry you to Fort Worth. I rode my bicycle when I went to cut Johnson grass to feed Mom’s horses. Couple of Tennessee Walkers that Dad took as payment when the drilling contractor announced he was going to take bankruptcy, protect his ranch as a Texas ‘homestead.’ Remember when this
Category: Dick Elam
Going on 95
Remember the lyrics from “I’ll Take Care of You,” sung by an older teenager to a younger teenager. Scene happened in the garden of Sound of Music movie. Now a bunch of adults–including my four children–take care of this ‘old’ man. The facility here bills itself as Senior Assisted Living. My translation is “old folks boarding house.” More than 60 seniors try to keep from falling. The wheelchairs are battery powered, but walkers and canes
BAWL Vol 3
Author’s note: when you publish two birth announcements, you must not miss the third. The next year. Didn’t. The Publisher and the Mechanical Superintendent agreed. She would name the girls. He would name a boy. Michaela was the feminine form of Michael, a boy’s name in the running since the first born. Lara was chosen for the neighbor who baby sat Sheryl and also named our rescued dog ‘The Brown Bomber.’ ‘Mickey’ didn’t lead cheers,
BAWL for Cindy
If you publish a birth announcement for daughter one, then you publish a BAWL for Cynthia Elam the next year. As a string correspondent for Time magazine, I could also make $25 if I sent an accepted West Texas story idea to sister-publication, LIFE picture magazine. Needed the money with another mouth to feed. Many photographs for this edition, which took less time and were quicker than writing words.
Marching Orders
Haven’t been sleeping well at my old folk’s boarding house. However, marching orders haven’t changed. Still try to love my neighbors as much as myself. And a cheerful countenance counts. No. Not a preacher. But for years I belonged to a small congregation in a large university town. Our small congregation, 300 counting babies and a few graduate students, chose to furnish our own preachers. You can find some experienced speakers if four of your
Water Boy
When I saw “mandated breaks for construction workers,” I remembered my second boyhood job as ‘water boy assistant.’ You didn’t need to pass a regulation to tell Oscar Rose to keep his construction workers well-watered on hot West Texas days. Mr. Rose knew a few minutes every hour drinking water from a water bucket would keep his hands working. His son, Earl Glenn, was a year older. He often hired me to help make the
Not a Luddite
Back in the days when rowdy Englishmen protested progress by blowing up newly-invented steam engines, they called the resisting hoodlums “Luddites”. Skip two centuries ahead, and now we’ve got protestors calling for the government to regulate this new computer progression called AI, Artificial Intelligence. The University czars fear high school students will use words stored in computers to write entrance-exam essays. As if they didn’t know many parents already add and correct words their adolescent
Deadlines
During World War II, the question wasn’t if I was old enough to work part-time at the newspaper. The question was “can he spell?” “Does he drive a jalopy that will get him to work?” Recalled my 16-year-old experience when I read there was a shortage of teen-age workers, especially for summer jobs. Also read: putting teenagers to work can go a long way toward increasing their earnings later in life and keeping them out of
Madge not Mage
You may have watched Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, the race of three-year-old horses at Churchill Downs in Louisville Kentucky, and don’t know how to pronounce the winner’s name. If I can find a TV screen, I watch the Kentucky Derby. And usually I shed a tear when the band plays Stephen F. Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home” while the horses parade to the starting gate. My mother often told me she lived in Bardstown. Broke an arm
Keeps
That October when Dad drove Mom and me to the hills of Kentucky, his birthplace, I carried my sack of glass marbles in my pocket. Hey, I was the champion marbles shooter in Hamlin Grammar School fourth grade. As soon as we got near dirt I intended to practice. I joined my younger cousins. Climbed over Grandfather’s fence. Attended class in their two-room schoolhouse. Read from McGuffey’s Reader. At recess we went outside. Cousins dropped