Page 57 - Firehouse Pond

FAMILY AND FRIENDS

I dated several girls when I was in school. Many dated me because I had a
southern accent they liked and because I was so tan. Some thought I was a

black person and didn't want to associate with me, however.

I met my first wife, Barb, through one of Barb's friends. I was coming home
from work and stopped at a restaurant for coffee. Barb came in with a friend.

They sat down with us. I had met Barb one other time at a dance but didn't
know it.

Someone was trying to pick up Barb at that dance early and trying to get her
into his car. I went out and saved her I am told, but I can't remember it
because I was drinking. She remembered it. At the restaurant, her friend said:

"Barb has something she wants to ask you." I said, "Well ask me!" She was
scared to talk and didn't talk much, but finally, she spoke, and she asked me
to a 'girl asks boy' dance. She was really scared and shy, so I had to push her

to speak up.

Unfortunately, I got her grounded, because I broke her curfew. The problem
was I believed her brother when he said it was okay to be out late. So I didn't

get to go to the "girl ask boy" dance with her after all. We got married after
dating a little over a year.

I lost Barb on December 7, 2002. She was on oxygen for four years for
COPD. I quit smoking when I had my heart attack twelve years ago. I started
smoking at eight or nine, sneaking them from my sister. My sister taught me
how to roll my own. She'd roll them and we'd both smoke them. Pall Mall

was the cheapest they cost fifteen cents a pack back then. I'm just happy that I
quit, that I was able to quit.

How was my dad' s life in the end? He remarried, and he went back down to
Missouri and started a business that was successful. Anything he did he was
good at.