It was a very hot day on August 22, 1958. I will never forget that day as long as I have my right mind. Late in the evening when it got a little cooler, My Lady and I along with my sister Linda and her husband got in their old 1949 Ford car and left Herman Junction. We drove to St. Louis where we spent a little time with Linda's brother-in-law and his wife before resuming our journey to Rochelle, Illinois to work in the Del Monte Company canning plant. We got lost on the way and spent some time on roads that we had never heard of and it was during a terrible thunderstorm. We began to wonder if we would ever make it to our destination.
Our plans were very simple. We would work at Del Monte for a few weeks and go back to Herman Junction, build a Jim Walter home on Dad's place, get a job at the Singer sewing machine plant in Truman, and live happily there until we went to heaven. I hadn't really thought about people going to heaven except the folks at Herman Junction and a few from Bay and Truman. Our plans and dreams were simple and we had no doubt that everything would work out perfectly for us. We even took very few clothes because we fully intended to be back to Herman Junction very shortly.
But, it was not to be. The Del Monte plant was slowly closing down because the harvest was almost over and they were not hiring additional workers. I don't know when nor why we decided to go over to Michigan City, Indiana where our oldest brother, C.W. and his wife lived, but that is what we did. Sister-In-law, Emmie worked at the M & M diner on the main street of Michigan City and we walked in unannounced to her surprise. Barbara ordered a Dr. Pepper and the whole place responded in laughter at that little ole Southern girl coming in there and ordering a Dr. Pepper. That didn't set too well with her either. We went on to 202 California Ave. where C. W. and Emmie lived right on the edge of Lake Michigan. I mean when you stepped out their door there was sand on the driveway and it was just a few steps to the beach.
What a wonderful place. We slept on pallets on the floor and wherever we could find a place to lay down.
I got my old job back at Weil-McClain, a company that manufactured boilers for heating systems in huge buildings and maybe even some smaller ones for homes. I loved working there until the snow came and it got extremely cold. I think that I have mentioned before how hard it was to go to work at 6:00 in the morning to shovel the snow off the sidewalks so the people who worked in the offices would not have to wade through it. It was a hard job but one that afforded My Lady and I the opportunity to soon move into our own apartment on Franklin St., the main street of the city. The building is standing there today and we love to drive by and see it. We asked one time if we could go up to the third floor and see it but they would not allow us to do so.
Soon, I was offered a job with a company, Independant Steel where I would work inside where it was warm and it even paid a little more than my job at Weil-McClain. Ray Brown was a good friend and he called and told us that the job was mine if I wanted it. I considered it for about two minutes and took off for home to go with him to work at 1:00 in the afternoon. I really liked that job. I went in at noon Indiana time and was back at home at 8:00 PM and I loved that. When I got home My Lady would have a great meal and I ate like a full grown hog and went to bed and before long I weighed 250 pounds and was still gaining.
I love Michigan City, Indiana to this day and go there every time we have the opportunity to do so. But, we missed Herman Junction so very much, especially My Lady. A truck driver came through one day and he had a stalk of cotton and she just looked at it and cried like a baby. Seeing it almost made me cry too but not for the same reason. It was March of 1959 before we got to go home for a visit and it was a delight for us both.
We have never lived at Herman Junction again but we have visited there hundreds of times and we still do as often as possible. Why don't we just go there right now?
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
SMART BOY FROM HERMAN JUNCTION: POST #63: May 19, 2009
We had some pretty intelligent people at Herman Junction when I was growing up. Dad said that Booie Woods had more 'common sense' than anyone that he knew even though Booie could not read nor write. My brother Rayburn won the Math award when he was graduating from high school so I guess he was a pretty smart old boy. My Dad seemed to be able to do anything that he wanted to like farming, carpentering, painting, rail-roading, gardening, and all kinds of things. As I got to thinking about this, shoot, we weren't a bunch of Dumb Bunnies down there.
But, I learned this week that I am lacking somewhat in Computer knowledge. My computer began doing a few things that I didn't tell it to do and would not allow me to do some things that I wanted to do. Marty was too busy so I called "The Computer Doctor" that I found listed in the telephone book. What a nice guy! He took my computer off on Wednesday and said that he would get it back to me on Thursday. He didn't! Barbara called him on Saturday and he told her to send me to his office and he would go over some of my problems and I would see why he needed to keep it a little longer. So, I went over there.
He began telling me all this stuff and clicking on things and telling me things but I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. He said that I didn't have enough Mega Bytes and I told him that my Doctor said that I had been having too many Mega Bites and that was why I had to take the medicine that he prescribed. He said that wasn't the kind of bites that he was talking about. He said that I really needed a GIG! I hadn't heard of a GIG in years and had never used one because I never hunted for frogs in my life and had no idea where to get a GIG! He said that wasn't what he was talking about either and that he would take care of it. He must have clicked on 500 buttons and things would pop up and he would click them off or sometimes he would say, "Uh, Huh" and go on to something else. He sat there and talked to that computer just like it was a real live person and it never answered him one time that I heard. He would tell it to do this or do that and sometimes it would and sometimes it wouldn't and he would ask it, "What in the world is wrong with you?" Since he could tell that I thought that The Computer Doctor needed a Doctor, he told me that I could go on so I did, thinking that if Booie was here he could probably fix that thing!
He brought it back to me and it is working faster and some better than when he took it, but the problem that prompted me to call him in the first place is just like it was when he got it. He said that I would have to call my ISP for that problem and I did and after about an hour they told me that I needed to call Microsoft. I have a call in now for Bill Gates and he will probably call back in a few minutes.
At Herman Junction we didn't have this problem. When something went wrong with a tractor or plow or something, Booie and Dad just fixed and went on with their work. Where did those simple days at Herman Junction go? I think that I'll just go back there today and get some of the fog in my head cleared up!
But, I learned this week that I am lacking somewhat in Computer knowledge. My computer began doing a few things that I didn't tell it to do and would not allow me to do some things that I wanted to do. Marty was too busy so I called "The Computer Doctor" that I found listed in the telephone book. What a nice guy! He took my computer off on Wednesday and said that he would get it back to me on Thursday. He didn't! Barbara called him on Saturday and he told her to send me to his office and he would go over some of my problems and I would see why he needed to keep it a little longer. So, I went over there.
He began telling me all this stuff and clicking on things and telling me things but I didn't have a clue what he was talking about. He said that I didn't have enough Mega Bytes and I told him that my Doctor said that I had been having too many Mega Bites and that was why I had to take the medicine that he prescribed. He said that wasn't the kind of bites that he was talking about. He said that I really needed a GIG! I hadn't heard of a GIG in years and had never used one because I never hunted for frogs in my life and had no idea where to get a GIG! He said that wasn't what he was talking about either and that he would take care of it. He must have clicked on 500 buttons and things would pop up and he would click them off or sometimes he would say, "Uh, Huh" and go on to something else. He sat there and talked to that computer just like it was a real live person and it never answered him one time that I heard. He would tell it to do this or do that and sometimes it would and sometimes it wouldn't and he would ask it, "What in the world is wrong with you?" Since he could tell that I thought that The Computer Doctor needed a Doctor, he told me that I could go on so I did, thinking that if Booie was here he could probably fix that thing!
He brought it back to me and it is working faster and some better than when he took it, but the problem that prompted me to call him in the first place is just like it was when he got it. He said that I would have to call my ISP for that problem and I did and after about an hour they told me that I needed to call Microsoft. I have a call in now for Bill Gates and he will probably call back in a few minutes.
At Herman Junction we didn't have this problem. When something went wrong with a tractor or plow or something, Booie and Dad just fixed and went on with their work. Where did those simple days at Herman Junction go? I think that I'll just go back there today and get some of the fog in my head cleared up!
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