My story begins in October 1959. I do not remember the Kennedy assassination in Nov. 1963 but I do remember attending kindergarten at the Lively house on Walnut Street, located “cattycorner” a block away from the house at 421 Moss Street. That was in 1965 -66. Back in that time, Moss Street had several yards with Mimosa trees. They were all gone by 1990.
The first day of the first grade was in August or September 1966. The metal student desk with hinged wooden top would not accommodate my new satchel so my mother nicely guided me to the back of that classroom at Margaret Newton Elementary School, where the northern terminus of Cedar Street intersects with Church Street in Tiptonville. I remember my Dad calling my attention to part of the halftime act on our television while I was playing on the floor. It was Super Bowl I and on TV was a US Army soldier wearing a jet pack, gently taking off and landing once at midfield. It did not mean much to me at the time, but four years later I would be an ardent Kansas City Chiefs fan. They lost to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl I but beat the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV.
That grade school got new playground equipment during my second grade year. The area behind the elementary school being where the football field was located back in the days of Tiptonville High School. In 1969, my mother oversaw a nice remodelling of the back of the house which eliminated a wall separating the den and the kitchen. A freestanding utility room was built on to the carport. A sliding glass door was added.
The family car: The first auto underneath that white metal carport in the early 60’s was a Chevrolet. It was aqua green over white in color. It was built in 1959 (?) and did not have high fins as did a ’57 Chevy. One of the neighborhood kids (Debbie McKeel) innocently threw a little plastic bucket of water on a passenger window while we were playing. That window was completely down so my mother was consulted. It did not do any harm as back in those days a lot of car seats were covered with a fabric that was made with weaved thick nylon strands. The second family car was a white 1964 Ford Galaxie. It was sold to Elzie Hicks in 1968 when a white Chevrolet Impala sedan with blue interior was bought.
Sometime in the mid-60’s, when I was a wee one, I was playing near the driveway when I noticed a big, white bird had landed on to the edge of that metal carport and was just perched there, peering out at Foster Street. It must have been a white turkey as it was so big – and to boot, it was just before Thanksgiving. I ran inside and got every toy I could fling at that big bird. Unfortunately for me, those toys stayed up there for a while.
More content to be added later.