Page 58 - Firehouse Pond

I have three half-brothers and one half-sister. I've only met them once, and

they don't like me. When my dad passed away, they told me not to come to
the funeral. I liked to fight, so I was going to go down there just to do it, but
my aunt convinced me not to go down. She warned me they were going to

beat me up.

I had four cousins, and they'd go out and fight anyone. They would have
gotten my back. My dad died at about seventy-four or seventy-five. I had no

contact with him. He drank heavily to the end. As far as I know, he never
quit.

I started drinking at about age seventeen. I quit when my first wife, Barb,
gave me an ultimatum. I got married in sixty, so it would have been about
1967 or 1968 when I quit. I was a happy drunk. I didn't beat on women or

abuse them or anything; never laid a hand against my wife. But I'd get in a
scuffle with someone else if I could. I had no trouble getting the beer, but you
had to have a book to buy alcohol. I'm not proud of the drinking, or those

days.

I never hit my son, Charles (Chuck), our daughter, Cindy, not once. I never
whooped them. Chuck knew how to pull my chain; he knew I had a temper. I

called the police to come to get him once so I wouldn't hit him.

I personally think I could have been a better father. I wouldn't trade either

child off, but I always worked two jobs and that takes time away. After I quit
drinking, I think I was a pretty decent husband, but I ruled with an iron hand.
As the saying goes, "I was the man of the house." But my deceased wife put
me in my place sometimes, in some ways.

I remember Chuck and Cindy as babies. Cindy was quiet. Cindy took after me
every way except for all my talking! She's a hard worker, tough, determined,

and one of the top wood floor people on campus. My best time with Cindy
was giving her away at her wedding. We had pork ribs for the reception, and I
fixed 60-90 pounds of ribs at the wedding plus potato salad. My advice to my

daughter: start saving, get insurance, and live within your means. Chuck died
on March 17, 2014, of a diabetic coma.