Long Ago Memories

[Bud Kennedy]

Story Tellers of my Youth

Tonight, I am sitting here thinking back to my youth and how life was in those days.  The time frame that I am talking about is in the mid to late 1950s.

Things then were certainly a lot different in those days.  Television was fairly new and for the most part had not yet invaded our lives the way it has over the past 25 years.  Radio was the biggest medium for news that usually was mostly local.  In north Central Ohio most folks worked in the many factories or were farmers. Having an education meant you went to high school and college was only for very rich people.  That was not really our environment in those days.  Men went to work and women were mostly homemakers but were starting to reenter the workforce after their stint of working the factories during the war years and the men were all in the military doing what they had to do.  It was just the way it was and many of us were fortunate to have experienced that very simple time even though as kids we thought it was quite boring.

A couple of my favorite things was to listen to stories that the older men would tell during their social periods.  The following is my recollection of those times.

Clear Fork Rod and Gun Club

This club was a few guys who would get together for fishing or hunting and then once a month would go to the Clear Fork Rod and Gun Club just to hang out and play cards while smoking cigars and drinking some adult beverages that were often home brewed.  The club meetings were held in an old abandon one room school house that the club members had somewhat fixed up to make it useable.  Winters in Ohio were cold but no problems at the club house that had a single pot belly stove that kept things nice and warm.  The socials usually lasted about 2 hours or so before everyone headed home.  I remember about the stories but don't quite recall exactly what they talked about but I had an idea that some of those things were about good liquor and loose women that at my very young age did not quite understand but it sure created a lot of laughs for the old guys of the club.  Obviously, these were the times that are likely gone but I sense that they were an important element of the outdoor community of that era.

Coon Hunting in the woods

In our area we were overrun with racoons.  There were hundreds of them everywhere.  Our corn crib always had a bunch in there snacking on the stored corn.  I always remember pulling into our driveway in the darkness and seeing the multitude eyes reflecting the headlights of the car.

Coon hunting was a big deal and many hunters had prize dogs that became the main tool for finding the racoons.  We would go out into the woods and the older men would make a campfire and pull up pieces of logs to use as stools and just sit there and shoot the bull waiting for the hounds to get on a trail.  They all knew the sound of the dogs and which one was howling.  After the racoons were treed the voice of the hounds would change from a howl to a bark and then we would go and find the treed racoons.  Someone would shine a lantern into the tree and while other shoot the raccoons.  I know they sold the pelts to a local processing place and would make about $5.00 for the best pelts and less for the ones that had damage from the bullets.  Those campfire sessions were also full of stories and other hunting lies then followed by a discussion of whose dog was on the tree.  What a memory this was and I am thankful for having had the experience.

I am writing this story just to maybe explain why some of us old geezers like to talk about the good old days.  They were special times and I am saddened that so few are able to experience this part of life and growing up.  I realize there are still a few places like this but in my time, this was just a way of life that unfortunately is mostly lost in the noise of modern-day life.

[Donald Garner]

Bud tks for sharing this with us. 

I didn't have anything like that growing up in the 60's / 70's.  I do remember my parents loading up the station wagon and heading to Piggott, Arkansas on Memorial Weekend.  My dad's parents lived in the hills outside Piggott which sits in the NE corner of the state close to Missouri.  My brother Mike and I would get to stay there till the 4th of July.  It was high adventure being on the farm.  At the time I had a couple Uncles and Aunts that lived in the same town.  Once in a while they would show up at Grandpa's and I'd be siting on the porch listening to them talk.

While I was stationed at Ft. Knox, KY my parents had moved from St. Louis to Bowling Green Ky.  Needless to say every opportunity I had free I was down there visiting them.  Sometimes we'd sit on the front porch and my dad would talk about growing up in Arkansas during the 40's and 50's.

Yep those were the good ole days.  And sadly everyone has passed on.  But I still remember some of the stuff that happened on the farm and sitting on the porch listening to my dad talk.

[caddyjoe77]

the rod and gun club stories sound like UB rallies 

thanks for the recollection Bud. 

[Oldfart9999]

Having been born in May of 45, I'm a war baby, I do remember a some of the times then. My Grandpa, on my dad's side, had a 100 acre farm he retired to, 10 acres of wheat, 10 acres of concord grapes an acre or so of peach trees and chickens for eggs they sold. I remember having to stay at the farm house during pheasant season, no wandering. I remember tagging along during the grape and wheat harvest at least once, nothing like grapes fresh from the vine and wheat from the stalk. I remember going out with Grandpa to get a chicken for dinner, chopping off the head and watching the bird run around the yard, Grandpa died when I was around 4, maybe the reason I remember as much as I do, I really missed him. Some of the rest is a blur, we moved around a bit. I remember Sunday drives, building a boat in the basement, fishing trips and hunting trips with Dad and being one of the bigger kids on the football team. As Bud said, those were some great years to grow up. We had our hero's, some real, some from tv shows, none doing drugs and that crap, at least in public. No internet, you had to actually look at somebody to converse with them. No cell phones to watch while you were at the dinner table, still not allowed in our house. It saddens me when my wife and I are out seeing a family having dinner with everybody locked into one of those things, family time? I'm thankful for the times I grew up in and am grateful for the memories, a lot of what passes for modern life, not so much.
Rodney

[zarraspook]

Having been born in May of 45, I'm a war baby, I do remember a some of the times then. My Grandpa, on my dad's side, had a 100 acre farm he retired to, 10 acres of wheat, 10 acres of concord grapes an acre or so of peach trees and chickens for eggs they sold. I remember having to stay at the farm house during pheasant season, no wandering. I remember tagging along during the grape and wheat harvest at least once, nothing like grapes fresh from the vine and wheat from the stalk. I remember going out with Grandpa to get a chicken for dinner, chopping off the head and watching the bird run around the yard, Grandpa died when I was around 4, maybe the reason I remember as much as I do, I really missed him. Some of the rest is a blur, we moved around a bit. I remember Sunday drives, building a boat in the basement, fishing trips and hunting trips with Dad and being one of the bigger kids on the football team. As Bud said, those were some great years to grow up. We had our hero's, some real, some from tv shows, none doing drugs and that crap, at least in public. No internet, you had to actually look at somebody to converse with them. No cell phones to watch while you were at the dinner table, still not allowed in our house. It saddens me when my wife and I are out seeing a family having dinner with everybody locked into one of those things, family time? I'm thankful for the times I grew up in and am grateful for the memories, a lot of what passes for modern life, not so much.
Rodney

I have a lot of the same memories, as I was born in 1944.. I also remember hearing the folks, that played cards with my parents on saturday nights, saying  that "Elvis is the Devil and was going to destroy the world"..  Thanks for the memories in this thread !!!

[Wizard]

Bud, are you sure you're not from the Ozarks?

Wizard