Attitude, self-confidence and determination
By this time in the hot summer when we were growing up in the 1950s, we were always ready to start shopping for new school clothes, new school shoes and anxiously await the first fall football game.
If you can imagine, when I started 9th grade at Bauxite, the first day of school was the Tuesday after Labor Day in September, usually very close to September 4. The air would already begin to cool and many times a sweater or light jacket might be required as you walked to school in the early morning.
Walked is right if you lived in town. Not many of the students were fortunate enough to have their own vehicle. Unlike today, families were usually a one-car family and working men used the family vehicle to get him to his job.
Many of us grew up without a vehicle to call our own, an unheard of situation for youngsters now days. In most families when one turns sixteen, a vehicle is expected as the surprise gift.
During my 1958 senior year in high school, in the mornings my dad usually took me to school as he made his daily trip to check the mail at the Bauxite post office. I now treasure that special time alone I had with him, but back then I really looked forward to the ride home after school on that old school bus with friends and neighbor kids. We had fun - The Bus Brats.
Coach Charles Kennedy was our main driver after football season. We had a route from high school to Pine Haven Elementary where we picked up several students and delivered them on Gattin Road, down Aaronfield and on as far as Summit.
Along our route, we bid goodbye to Walter Laster as he stepped off the bus at home. Shy as he was, Walter usually ignored us when we shouted our parting greetings. Jackie and Pat Smart, Lawrence and Linda Spence were usually next.
Then came a young lady who always had a sinus problem and had to breathe through her mouth most of the time. As she stepped off the bus, she would always turn back to face Kennedy with her salutation of,
“Bye ‘Goach’.” We would laugh, but later in years realized that the poor girl had to talked and also get air through the same opening.
Today, most high school seniors never have the pleasure of riding a school bus unless it is to an athletic event or some other special school sponsored trip. They never experience the comradery bus brats treasure.
While driving by
Bauxite High School’s parking lot many times during a regular school year, I am always amazed at the variety of makes, models, colors and sizes of the vehicles in their parking lots.
Where does all the money come from to finance such luxury? Sometimes I wonder if one set of parents is trying to out do another? “Keeping up with the Jones” is what we used to call it.
There are the latest in sports cars, monster trucks with Hemi’s and oversized tires. Many of these vehicles are totally covered in mud, indicating that the driver might not respect this expensive toy.
Sometimes I wonder if we are doing the right thing giving such luxury to our children at such a early age. Only my humble opinion, but I do believe if one works hard and pays for his own mode of transportation, it will be more appreciated .
There again, times are so different. In my teenage years, most mothers were full time housewives, fathers were the main source of income and most of us didn’t have after school jobs, as is the case today.
One Christmas in the early 1950s, I recall wishing that my main present would be my first set of wheels. A new shiny bicycle was my dream. Anticipation mounted, but on Christmas morning, no wheels!
It had been a bad winter and many layoffs occurred at the local aluminum plants, which also meant layoffs for the B&N Railroad where my dad worked. I had to wait, and my brothers’ old bike would just have to do for the time being.
As I approached legal driving age, my older brother left with the U.S. Air Force for a two-year stay in Alaska. He left his ‘52 Chevy fastback parked in the front yard, gave me the keys and asked me to start the car occasionally to keep it in shape until his return. I was thrilled and every chance I had I would start that car, pull it forward about ten feet, then back it up to its usual spot. That is how I learned to drive a stick shift and had this art mastered before my brother came home. I had a smooth take off after two years of practice.
Also, back in my early teenage years, there were lots of young boys who overcame the restrictions of not having the luxury of a vehicle. “Hitchhiking” was a popular way to get from Bauxite to Benton on a Saturday night.
This is an art that has gone by the wayside since the “set of wheels” took over, and also because of the turn of events and mind set that now exist in the world around us. It is just not safe to be accepting rides from strangers any longer.
I have told this story many times and because I always admired this young lady, I am telling it again. Carol Dean Harrell was a popular high school student, cheerleader, homecoming queen and was also an adventurous soul.
Carol Dean told that when she was only sixteen, she hitchhiked from Bauxite to Benton. She said most of her male friends hitchhiked when they wanted to go to town (Benton). Carol decided one day that she too wanted to go to Benton, and so she hitchhiked. When asked why, Carol replied, “Just to say that I could and did do it.”
Not long after Carol Dean hitchhiked to Benton, she accomplished another feat that the big boys did at Clear Lake, the local swimming hole. As most of the locals know, Clear Lake was the place to be during the summer time in Bauxite.
It was a show of strength for the boys to swim across Clear Lake to a small dock quite a distance from the beach area. When Carol Dean decided she could swim that distance, I was watching, awe struck, at her boldness.
Once a swimmer reached the other side of the lake, they were expected to dive to the bottom of the lake and bring up a fist full of lakebottom dirt. Carol Dean also did that. When asked why, she simply stated, “To prove that I could.”
Attitude, self-confidence and determination helps us achieve great things. I miss Carol Dean.
These are Miner Memories and some of them are not so minor.