I started this memories book many years ago for Larua and Brian Hecimovich who sent me a small book with all the questions in it.  I apologize to them for not finishing it until now and have no excuses. 

January 1 - What was your day and date of birth?

Bryant Wilson Walker was born on Saturday, August 29, 1942 in the wee hours of the morning

January 2 - Where were you born? Be Specific.

Ardoin 's Sanitarium, Ville Platte, Evangeline Parish, Louisiana - Nine miles south of Bayou Chicot, La. where my parents lived.  It was the nearest hospital and probably the only hospital in the area.  I guess mother did not want to have another one at home like my brother Gaylen.

January 3 - Do you know any other circumstances of your birth (who was present, who delivered, etc.)?

No.  I am sure my mother was there.  One item of note is that the nurse who filled out the birth certificate failed to put my middle name, Wilson, on the certificate.  Mother explained later that she had told them what to write, but the nurse muxt have not heard all of it or did not remember when making out the certificate.

January 4 - If you have a childhood picture for me, put it in this space.

More pictures can be found on my website.  This was at "Holly Beach", Louisiana.  Van Gaylen, Dianne and me.

January 5 - Name your brothers and sisters and their years of birth.

My older brother, Van Gaylen Walker, was born on Tuesday, October 22, 1940.  This was our parent’s anniversary date. He was born in our house in Bayou Chicot, Evangeline Parish, Louisiana .  My only sister, Ethel Dianne Walker, was born on Thursday, September 11, 1947.  She was born in Ardoin's Sanitarium in Ville Platte, LA.  My younger brother, Michael Roy Walker, was born on Tuesday, November 4, 1952.  We were living in Sulphur, LA and he was born in SW Louisiana Memoial Hospital.

January 6 - What was your mother’s full name?

Ethel Mae (Whatley) Walker

January 7 - What was your father’s full name?

Van Wilson Walker

January 8 - What was your mother’s date and place of birth?

She was born on April 4, 1920, in Bayou Chicot, Evangeline Parish, Louisiana.

January 9 - What was your father’s date and place of birth?

He was born on July 7, 1917, in Bayou Chicot, Evangeline Parish, Louisiana.

January 10 - Tell a family nickname that you had.

I didn’t have a nickname that I knew about.

January 11 - How did you get it?

January 12 - Tell of any other nicknames in your family.

My brother Gaylen was called Specs in Jr. High and High School because he had to wear glasses.  My father was called Doody all his life by his sisters, brother and close friends because he was called “A Little Dude” when he was younger.

January 13 - What did your father do for a living?

My father was a carpenter for many years before and after World War II.  He was a cook in the Army during the occupation of Japan.  He worked in the Oil Exploration industry on drilling rigs in the late 40’s and early 50’s along with many other relatives in Louisiana.  He quit the oil field work to work at Continental Carbon company as an operator until he retired in 1979.  Continental made carbon black powder.

January 14 - Name the towns you lived in before you were 20.

We lived in Bayou Chicot, LA when I was born.  We moved to St. Landry, LA, Eunice, LA., Dequincy, LA., St. Martinsville , LA., Sulphur, LA., Beaumont, TX., and Westlake, LA. before I reached 12.   Later, I have lived in San Diego, CA, Downey, CA, Bell, CA, Bellflower, CA, Spokane, WA, Milwaukee, WI, Brunswick, OH until I retired from PPG Industries, Inc. in Cleveland, OH.  Since then, I have lived in Omro, WI, Bonita Springs, FL, and Many, LA.

January 15 - Name the childhood address you remember.

Sulphur, La. and 2213 Pitre St. in Westlake, La.

January 16 - Tell a fond memory of your Grandpa.

I have many memories of my maternal grandfather, Pa Pa.  He always had time to teach all his grandchildren new things and he had infinite patience with our needs and questions.  I will never forget the time when I was walking beside his old mule while he was plowing a field.  The mule stopped and stepped on my foot.  Luckily, I was wearing leather boots and not barefooted.  I was about 10 and started to cry because the weight of the mule on my foot hurt.  Pa Pa tried to get the mule to move, but he would not move off my foot.  So Pa Pa found a limb or root and hit the mule between the eyes with it. The mule lifted his leg up without moving as if he knew what Pa Pa wanted him to do.  When I moved away, he set it down again where my foot had been.  My foot was bruised and not broken like I thought.

January 17 - Tell a fond memory of your Grandma.

My paternal grandmother died when I was too young to remember her.  My maternal grandmother, Ma Ma, outlived my mother, her daughter, by several years.  She was one of my favorite people and always had time for us.  I have nothing but fond memories of her.

January 18 - Tell about a favorite Aunt.

My favorite aunt was probably Aunt Lottie (Whatley) Johnson.  She was very close to my mother, her sister.  We were always visiting one another.  She was like a second mother to us and did not need permission to discipline us when needed, which was rare :-), but did occur.  She had three children and two were about the same age as me and my older brother.

January 19 - Tell about a favorite Uncle.

My favorite uncle was Billy Eugene Whatley.  He was my mother's brother.  He was probably my dad’s best friend.  He went hunting with us and was always around when we needed some help.  He was more like a brother than an uncle.  I always enjoyed his company.

January 20 - Did any relatives ever live with you?

My paternal grandfather Robert “Granddaddy” Ridley Walker lived with us for a short while before he went to live in a nursing home in Bunkie, Avoyelles Parish, La.

January 21 - Did you ever have an imaginary friend?

Not that I can remember.  I did some day dreaming as I was growing up, but never imagined a friend that I couldn't see.

January 22 - When you needed punishment as a child, which parent corrected you?

My mother corrected me in the early years.  As I grew older, my dad took care of the corrective action.

January 23 - What type of punishment was dealt you?

My mother always used a limber switch she kept handy for when it may be needed.  My dad used his belt which was usually wide enough that the strapping wasn’t so bad.

January 24 - Tell about the naughtiest thing you ever did.

When I was about 12 years old, several boys from Bayou Chicot, my brother Gaylen, my Uncle William Boyd Whatley and I were all gong on a camping and fishing trip to Tiger Lake in Chicot.  We always went camping without any meat to cook since we expected to catch or kill our food like pioneers.  After spending one day in the woods without any fish or game, we decided to “borrow” a rooster from Great Uncle Melvin Whittington.  Uncle Mel owned a grocery and hardware store and wouldn’t miss one old rooster.  It took five of us almost an hour to corner the old rooster and capture it.  We broiled it over a spit and it was very tough.

January 25 - If you got caught describe the consequences.

We didn’t get caught although we did tell him later that we had put the old rooster out of his misery.  He wasn’t mad at us.

January 26 - Relate an experience or memory of a cousin.

I had about 36 first cousins, but only about 15 of them near my age.  I had nearly 100 second cousins.  We only met at family functions and usually all played well together.  We never lived close enough to hang around one another very much to have specific memories.

January 27 - Did your mother work outside the home.

Not in my early years.  She was always home and had a full time job raising three boys and one girl.  She later became a substitute teacher at Westwood Elementary School, Westlake, LA.  She loved children.

January 28 - What did you and your brothers or sisters fight about the most?

I only fought with my older brother, Gaylen, because we were close to the same age.  We fought about everything.  Most of what we fought about was not important to anyone, expecially ourselves.  We would fight at the drop of a hat and begin playing together again soon after, forgetting why we were fighting.

January 29 - What was the dumbest stunt ever pulled by you and a brother or sister.

Gaylen and I were rather wild when we lived in Chicot on 32 acres.  We played and stayed in the woods on the property most of the time, playing frontiersmen or “cowboys & indians ”.  When we got our BB guns at christmas, we would take them into the woods and shoot at logs, trees and other things.  We were playing “cowboys & indians” one time and decided to hide and shoot at each other.  It was fun until I shot Gaylen in the leg.  He chased me home to mother for protection.

January 30 - Tell about the worst winter storm that you can remember as a child.

We didn’t have bad winters in Louisiana.  We did have what I thought at an early age was a heavy snow one winter in Bayou Chicot.  The depth was above my shoes.  I really thought that it was a deep snow at that time.

January 31 - What did you use to go sledding down a hill in the snow?

We didn’t have much snow and didn’t use sleds.  Whoever wrote these questions was not from Louisiana.  Gaylen and I used to take a piece of tin roofing and slide down hills after a rain and the red clay hills were pretty slick.

February 1 - What extras did you use for your snowman’s face, buttons, arms, hat, etc?

I don’t remember building a snowman.

February 2 - Tell of someone you envied, and why.

I envied my uncle William Boyd Whatley because he lived on a farm and could ride a horse or run through the woods any time that he wanted to.  I later envied my uncle Billy Whatley because he was such a good baseball player.

February 3 - Do you remember the first movie you ever saw and who starred in it?

I don’t remember the first movie that I saw.  I do remember when we lived in Sulphur, La., Gaylen and I (I was about 11 yrs. old) would walk about two miles on the RR tracks behind our house to the Strand Theater in downtown Sulphur.  It was one of two theaters.  We went to the Strand because it was only 9 cents to get in and the Fox was 10 cents.  The Strand also always had serials and western movies on Saturday.  We saw a lot of western movies.

February 4 - What was your favorite meal as a child?

It was seafood gumbo with rice, sweet potatoes, buiscuits and a pie.

February 5 - What were you doing to first smash a finger?

I was hammering nails into the front porch of our small house in Bayou Chicot.  Dad wasn't too pleased when he came home and had to pull all the nails out of the porch.

February 6 - Who was the most famous person you ever met as a child?

My brother Gaylen and I met Lash LaRue and Gabby Hayes in person at the Strand Theater in Sulphur, La.

February 7 - Tell about a big fib you told.

There was no fib about it, I lied about taking music lessons after moving to Westlake from Sulphur.  My parents had purchased an expensive coronet and I took lessons in the 6th grade in a Sulphur elementary school.  After moving to Westlake, I decided that I did not want to continue taking lessons.  I took the horn to school every day.  Dad and mother were not happy about the lie, but managed to sell the horn and recover sone of the cost.

February 8 - Did you ever hop a freight train?  Explain.

No.  Our property adjoined the rail line in Sulphur and we always watched the trains go by.  I thought about where they were going and wanted to go with them.

February 9 - Tell of a nickname given to you by friends or classmates.

I never had a nickname.

February 10 - How did you get the nickname?

February 11 - Who was your first girlfriend?

Earline Dautrail - She lived in Westlake when I lived in Sulphur.  She would visit her cousin in Sulphur and I would see her then.  I later moved to Westlake, but the romance was over by then.  After she married, she live next door to Grandma and Grandpa Walker in Westlake.

February 12 - Tell about the Valentine Day festivities at your school.

We always exchanged valentines at school until junior high school.  Valentine Day was a day that you could express some repressed admiration to a pretty girl you liked.  I did that at about 8 years old in Eunice, LA one time, including kissing her on the cheek, and the pretty young lady hit me with her purse.

February 13 - Tell about a special valentine you once gave.

I don’t remember any special valentine.

February 14 - Tell about a special valentine you once received.

I don’t remember any special valentine.

February 15 - Tell about your first date.

My first date was with a girl nicknamed “Bunny”.  She was cute.  I was only 15 or 16.  My mother took me to the girls house and we had a good time.  I had met her at Boy Scout Summer Camp when she was visiting her brother.  I was a counselor at the Boy Scout Camp in Dequincy, LA at the time.  On another date, I drove her father's car to run an errand for her mother.  I had just learned to drive and did not know anything about the car.  I drove to the store with Bunny and did not know the emergency brake had been set.  I know it ruined the brakes because after parking in their driveway (elevated driveway), we looked out the window later and the car had rolled into the street.  Needless to say, that was my last date with Bunny.

February 16 - Tell about your first kiss.

My first kiss was a disaster.  I kissed a girl on the cheek in the third grade and she hit me with her purse.  I guess she did not want to be kissed.

February 17 - Tell about your first favorite TV shows.

My favorite show was Ed. Sullivan.  It was a variety show.  I saw a lot of TV firsts for 50’s singers, including Elvis and Wayne Newton

February 18 - Tell about family reunions in your family.

Family renunions were always a lot of fun.  We would see all of our cousins.  My dad had six sisters and one brother.  His brother, Uncle Robert, had seven girls.  My mother had four sisters and three brothers.  In all, I had about 36 first cousins.

February 19 - What do you remember as your favorite subject in school?

My favorite subjects were math, geometry and gym.

February 20 - What do you remember as your least favorite school subject?

My least favorite subject was English grammer.  I liked English literature because I liked to read.

February 21 - What is the biggest problem you remember having in Grade School?

My biggest problem was what to do with the coronet that Dad and Mother bought me to attend band practice.  I played for a short time and later decided that it was not for me.  I finally told them when we moved from Sulphur to Westlake and I didn’t attend practice.

February 22 - What is the biggest problem you remember having in Jr. High school?

My biggest problem in Jr. High was when I collected peoples money to establish a Pen Pal club and didn’t get any names or addresses.  I didn’t tell them for a long time.  I finally gave them their money back.

February 23 - What is the biggest problem you remember having in Sr. High School?

It was when I was a Junior and invited two girls to the prom.  I had to tell one of them that I could not take her to the prom.  That was a real problem.  My older brother Gaylen was in the same grade and saved my butt by taking one of the girls to the prom.  We all had a good laugh after that.

February 24 - Describe a place you liked to go to be alone.

My favorite place to go was some wooded area where it was only me and the other animals.  It was always so quiet in the woods.  I would find a warm sunny spot and lay down, listening to the sounds of the wind and small animals.

February 25 - Tell of a place that you discovered or built as a “haven” for your gang.

Brother and I had a “camp” in the woods in Sulphur and Westlake to go to after school.  The one in Westlake was located where the present High School is now.  The only gang that I may have been involved in was a group of boys in Chicot that we would hang out with or go camping.

February 26 - Tell about a favorite “hang out” place for you and your friends in Jr. or Sr. High.

My friends and I would sneak away from High School (the old school in downtown Westlake) and go to the Calcasieu River for a swim.  We would meet under the Earl K. Long bridge where we kept some cut-off blue jeans stashed for swimming.  It wouldn’t have looked too good to skinny dip under Interstate 10 and in a major river traffic channel.

February 27 - Tell about the best pet you ever had.

I had several dogs over the years and always felt the each one was the best at the time.

February 28 - Tell about other pets you had.

Brother and I were good at catching flying squirrels and making pets of them.  We made our own traps.  We always had some woods to trap in and never had a problem catching the squirrels.

March 1 - Tell about being in a school play or program.

I don’t remember all of the programs that I was in.  I remember my High School plays.  I had the lead male role in the Junior/Senior play about a ghost who interrupts a family life.

March 2 - Tell about a school principal you remember.

I remember Mr. J. M. LeTard in High School.  He always liked Brother and tried to keep him out of trouble.

March 3 - Did you ever pretend to be sick as an excuse to stay home from school?

Only on opening day for duck hunting seasons.  I rarely pretended to be sick because I was rarely sick.  My teachers knew where we were so we didn't pretend to be sick.  My mother and dad never lied on an excuse when we returned to school.  The principle always approved the excuses because so many boys missed on that day.

March 4 - Do you have a good story about yourself cussing?

No.

March 5 - Tell about how you spent your Saturdays during the school years.

I was always involved in some sport or Boy Scouts.  I was always on the go and not at home much on Saturday.

March 6 - Tell about how you spent your Sundays.

Sunday was family day at home and church.  Mother always insisted that we attend church.

March 7 - What was the naughtiest or meanest thing you remember doing in school?

I always forget the bad things as soon as possible.

March 8 - What were the consequences?

March 9 - What was your favorite radio program?

I enjoyed listening to Amos & Andy, the Gildersleeves, the Shadow and the Grand Ole Oprey.

March 10 - What was your favorite movie as a youth?  Why?

I enjoyed High Noon.  I really liked westerns and Gary Cooper was my favorite actor.

March 11 - Did kids ever tease you?  About what?

Not more than once.

March 12 - Tell of a difficult school essay or term paper assignment.

I had to write a term paper on China.  I called it the Emerging Giant.  I spent a lot of time in the public library and got an “A” on the paper.

March 13 - Tell about your first smoke.

My first smoke was in PaPa’s corn field.  We had “borrowed” some roll-your-own papers and rolled some cigarettes with corn silk.  They were awful.  Some time later we tried grape (muskadine ) vines.  They weren’t much better than the corn silk.  Burned our lips.

March 14 - Do you remember your first pizza?

No.  I believe it was a Pizza Hut pizza.

March 15 - If you went to college, tell about which college you chose and why.

I selected McNeese State College in Lake Charles, La., because I could live at home and attend school.  It was an easy drive to school and was much cheaper than attending another college.

March 16 - Tell your major and how you chose it.

I started studying Architecture in my first year.  I wanted very much to be an architect and study the works of Frank Lloyd Wright.  I still like to see good architectural structures.  Unfortunately or fortunately, I only attended for one year before deciding to join the Marine Corps.  After many choices later, I finished College with a degree in Behavioral Science.

March 17 - Did people wear green on St. Patrick’s Day?

Everyone in the Walker family wore green.  My paternal grandmother was an Oliver and Irish.  Her father Papa Nealy (Conelius Oliver) was full blooded Irish.

March 18 - Do you have any other memories of St. Patrick’s Day as a youth?

No.

March 19 - If you ever hitch-hiked, explain.

I hitch-hiked to many places in Louisiana when I was in high school.  I went to Washington state in 1960 with a cousin and hitch-hiked back to Louisiana.  On the way home, I caught a bus in Wichita Falls, Texas.  Hurricane Carla was blowing through Houston at the time we were driving through.  The bus driver chose not to stop in Houston and turned onto I-10 toward Lake Charles, LA.  Lucky for me since I was headed to Lake Charles anyway.  I also hitch-hiked from California to Louisiana and back to California twice.  In my earlier years, hitch hiking was relatively safe and people were polite enough to give you a ride.  Not as many crazy people then as there are now.

March 20 - What do you remember as your favorite time of year?  Why?

Spring was probably my favorite time of the year.  I always enjoyed fishing and spring was the best time of the year for fishing.

March 21 - Describe some household chores you had as a child.

Brother and I were responsible for polishing the wax on the hardwood floors after mother applied it.  We used an old blanket and pulled each other around on the floors.

March 22 - Describe some outside chores.

I had other normal chores like cutting the grass, taking out garbage, etc.

March 23 - Which chore did you dislike the most?

I don’t remember.

March 24 - What bones have you broken and how?

I didn’t  break any  bones when I was a child.

March 25 - Did you ever need stitches?

I never needed stitches.

March 26 - Do you have any other good stories about being injured?

I did have a small knife stab me in the knee.  It happened when the knife bounced off a tree trunk after Brother tried to throw it and stick it in the tree.  I also cut my thumb when my first BB Gun closed on my thumb.  It was a spring loaded, breach opening, single shot BB Gun.  I rammed a two inch piece of wood into my foot once when I tried to kick a rock on a wooden bridge.  Uncle Sherwood Whatley came over to take it out of my foot.  Mother didn’t feel comfortable doing it.   Dad wasn’t home.

March 27 - Tell of a childhood illness.

I had normal childhood illnesses and don’t remember much about any of them.  I do remember staying at the hospital with Gaylen when he had his tonsils removed.  I wanted ice cream and he was promised some after the operation.

March 28 - Tell about an experience at the doctor’s.

We didn’t go to the doctor much in the early years.  No insurance or money.

March 29 - Name your best school chums.

My best friend through life has been my older brother, Van Gaylen Walker.  He and I did everything together until high school.

March 30 - What were some crazy names or nicknames in your school?

My brother, Gaylen was called Specs because of his glasses.  I never called him that because I knew that he didn't like it.  He became a good fighter because of the nickname.   He never lost a fight in high school.

March 31 - Tell about a practical joke or prank you played on a person.

We were camping along the West Fork River off the Calcasieu River with a number of new Boy Scouts.  Gary Vincent, Gary Moss, Gayle Creel and myself decided to tell the new boys about the indian ghosts in this area of the river.  I began to tell the tale of the indians that had settled this place and how they died violent deaths at the hands of white settlers.  I explained that occasionally, their ghosts can be seen floating down the river on a raft of logs.  At this point Gayle and Gary Vincent floated by in the river with two logs to hide them and began to make ghost sounds.  I jumped up and ran.  Gary Moss and two others jumped out of the dark at the new boys and we had to chase them to stop them from running home.

April 1 - Do you have a good April Fool’s Day story?

I don’t remember any.

April 2 - Tell about a practical joke or prank someone played on you?

I don’t remember at this time.

April 3 - What did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be an Architect.  I always admired Frank Lloyd Wright and buildings with character.

April 4 - Did you ever make a kite?  Tell how.

When we were young, we built our kites with paste, newspaper, thin sticks and rags.  We made some awesome kites that flew very high.  Occasionally we painted them, but most of them still had the newsprint on them.

April 5 - Tell your experiences with kite flying.

We made our own kites from thin sticks, newspaper, string and paste.  They flew very well.

April 6 - Have you ever hunted, or tried to capture a wild animal?

Gaylen and I were about 10-12 when Dad bought us each a single barrel 410 guage shotgun.  Prior to that we each had a Red Ryder BB gun that we used to shoot at trees and other inanimate objects.  As stated earlier, we made traps to capture and tame flying squirrels.  We also set snares in the woods to catch rabbits to eat.

Gaylen, Michael and I were taught to hunt by Dad and PaPa.  We hunted squirrels and ducks since we were 10-11 years old.  I loved to hunt by myself.  Hunting squirrels took a certain amount of stealth and I practiced “Indian” style when I went by myself.  Sometines I would just lay in the grass and let the sun shine on me for a little warmth and relaxation..  We never shot anything that we could not eat, except for crows.  We used crows for practice because they raided song bird nests for eggs and young.  Living in Louisiana, hunting was almost a prerequisite for growing up outside a major city (there weren’t too many major cities).  We hunted wood ducks along the rivers.  I learned to call wood ducks in to sit on a pond by whistling.  I loved to watch their flight.  It was not easy shooting the wood ducks because the ponds along the river were filled with small trees.

I remember hunting for wood ducks once when I was home for Christmas after Marine boot camp.  I took our old ’53 Chevy Bellaire to the river area where I hunted.  I had to leave it on a hill pointed down hill because it was hard to start sometime.  Then I walked into the woods until I reached my favorite pond.  I began to whistle for the wood ducks and had several drop into the pond.  It was twilight and I could not see all of them.  The legal limit was two and I only wanted two.  I had my favorite side by side double barrel 12 guage.  That gave me two shots.  I finally saw two ducks swimming in line and decided to shoot and save the other shell for later.  I shot the two ducks with one shot and started wading into the pond to get them and to go home.  It was getting dark fast and you were not supposed to shoot after sunset.  When I found the two ducks, I saw two other dead wood ducks a few feet away.  I had killed four wood ducks with one shot, breaking the law.  I was leaving the pond when I saw another wood duck that was not flying.  It was swimming away from me and I realized that it must have been crippled with my shot.  Since I was already an outlaw, I shot the fifth duck with the second shell in the gun.  It would have died without the ability to fly to a feeding area.  Now, I had five wood ducks and it was getting dark.  I was a little concerned about being caught with the five ducks I had stuffed in my waders.  As I was leaving the river area and getting near the car, I noticed a light where I had parked the car.  It looked like a tail light.  That got the adrenalin going and I turned around to look for a place to leave three of the ducks.  I found a large cypress tree that I recognized and unloaded three of the ducks near the tree, covering them with leaves and twigs.  I then went to the car and discovered that the break light switch had malfunctioned and the light would not shut off.  What a relief that was, but I now had to go find the cypress in the dark and recover the other three ducks.  But the story doesn't end here.  The car didn't start, especially with the brake light on while I was hunting.  I put the ducks and my gun in the car, put the car in neutral and turned the key on so that I could push it down the hill to start it.  When I had it going fast enough, I jumped in, pushed the clutch in and put it in gear.  Luckily it started when I let out on the clutch and I returned home with the five ducks.  We cleaned the ducks and Mother prepared them for Christmas dinner.  No one said anything about me breaking the law after I told them what happened and it was the best duck dinner that I ever ate.

Gaylen and I were wild children.  We spent many hours in the woods, even before we bagan hunting.  We learned many things on our own.  One was how a possum acts to fool you into thinking it is dead.  We had heard about “playing possum”, but did not really understand until we trapped one in one of our snares that we always had set for rabbits in the woods behind our house in Sulphur, La.  We were making the daily run to check each of the 6 snares that we had set when we found a possum hanging by his neck in one of the snares.  Neither one of us wanted to handle the possum, so we cut the string and dropped it to the ground.  It just lay there without moving.  Gaylen even nudged it with his tennis shoe.  The possum did not move and we figured it was dead.  We left it there as we checked the other snares.  On our return trip, rebaiting the snares, the possum was gone.  We have to assume that it either recovered and ran off or something dragged it off.  I believe it was not dead and it recovered enough to run off.

April 7 - Did you ever try to adopt a wild animal?

Gaylen and I began to trap flying squirrels when we first moved to Westlake.  We lived close to wooded areas that no longer exist and we spent some time exploring them.  Dad helped us build a flying squirrel trap that would capture and not kill the flying squirrel  We caught several and tamed at least one.  I made a string collar for it and tied the other end to my shirt button hole.  It would ride around in my shirt pocket and I would proudly show it off to anyone who wanted to see and sometimes to girls who didn’t want to see it.  I took it to school several times until I forgot it while talking to one of my teachers.  It climbed out of my pocket and took a jump toward the teacher.  She yelled and backed up and the squirrel missed and was hanging by the string until I put it back in my pocket.  Needless to say, my teacher was not amused and I got the rest of the day off from school.  After that, most of my teachers always checked to see if I had a string attached to my shirt before talking to me.

April 8 - Make up a lyric about yourself.

April 9 - Make up a lyric about me.

April 10 - Relate a favorite spring memory.

I don’t have a favorite spring memory, except for the flowers that bloom every spring.  I love to see the colorful display of fresh flowers .

April 11 - Did your Mom or Dad ever find something you had hidden?

Not that I am aware of .

April 12 - Share a memory of going to church as you were growing up.

Church was a requirement when I was growing up.  My parents were Southern Baptixts and my mother was very strict with church attendance.  We went to evey church function, services on Sunday morning and evening and services on Wednesday evening.

April 13 - Share a memory about a church social activity.

I enjoyed attending “Vacation Bible School” which was used as and educational activity for children and included a craft activity.  I went mostly for the craft work.

April 14 - Tell about an Easter Egg hunt.

The most memorable easter egg hunts were with a large family gathering.  Our family always held family gatherings on most holidays.  Our family, aunts and uncles and lots of cousins would get together at one of the homes and have a good time.

April 15 - If your family went to Easter Sunrise services, tell about it.

We attended all Easter sunrise services.

April 16 - Tell about any other Easter tradition.

April 17 - When you played make-believe, what did you pretend?

As a child, I always envied the Native American way of life.  This may have been because we lived in a very rural area of La.  My make-believe would be acting like a Native American.  I practiced what I knew about their way of life.

April 18 - If you could return to your childhood, what would you do differently?

I really don’t think I would change much from my experiences in childhood.  I was able to always enjoy myself while growing up.  My father provided very well for our family.  We weren’t wealthy by any means, but we never missed having a lot of material things.  They just did not exist for us.  I am sure that my father and mother knew that, given more money, they could have provided a different lifestyle.  But, they always made sure we had plenty to eat, clothes to wear and a house to live in.

April 19 - Is there anything you would do differently as a teenager?

I would probably change my poor habits for learning in school.  I did learn, but I believe I could have learned more if I had focused on the lessons more.  I rarely took any books home to study and relied on the lectures in class or what studying I did in class.  I would definitely change my study habits.  I did change later after returning to La. after my time in the Marines.  I had a family and recognized a need to improve myself and learn more to better provide for them.

April 20 - Did you ever write something that you were really proud of?

I wrote a poem once denouncing the pollution of one of my favorite fishing streams, Anacoco Bayou.  To have known what a beautiful stream it was and to see it after the paper mill dumped it’s “treated effluent” into it had a memorable impact on me.

April 21 - What is the best book you ever read as a child?

Mark Twain’s “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” and “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”.

April 22 - What is the biggest physical problem you had to deal with?

I really don’t understand what is meant by “physical problem”.

April 23 - Did you have any superstitions?

I don’t remember, but I am sure there were some when I was a child.  Living in south Louisiana would create contact with superstitions.  There were a number of home remedies that were probably superstitions.  One was using the eye of a fresh potato to remove a wart.  You would cut the eye off the potato and rub it on your wart, then bury the piece of potato in the yard and the wart was supposed to "go away" after a few days.  Never worked for me when the only wart that I ever had appeard on my left palm.  I tried the potato remedy without success and later just twisted the wart off my hand while in English class.  The teacher was upset when I showed her, but it got me the rest of the day off from school.  So, I went fishing instead.

April 24 - Where were your best hide-and-seek places?

April 25 - Tell about the first time you were ever behind the wheel of a car.

Gayen learned to drive before I did and he taught me how to drive.  We had plenty of country roads without traffic to practice.  My first time behind the wheel involved driving into a shallow ditch and weaving down the road until I got the hang of holding the wheel steady.  Gaylen never criticized my driving because he had done things similar when he started.  He was very patient.

April 26 - Did you ever take anything that wasn’t yours?

I took a “V Nickle ” once from a jar at my Aunt Lottie's house.

April 27 - What did you do with it?  Did you get caught?

I kept if for a long time and finally returned it with great embarrassment.  My aunt hugged me and then gave the nickel back to me.  I never took anything from anyone after that.

April 28 - Do you have a story about a big surprise?

  None that I remember.

April 29 - What childhood fear do you remember?

  The only fear that I remember was when we were renters in the "Old Hawkins House", a large mansion that had been built by a Dr. Hawkins in Bayou Chicot, Louisiana.  We had been told that the house was haunted and ghosts lived in the attic.  Brother and I stayed away from the attic, but explored all other places in the house and another building on the property that had been used by Dr. Hawkins as a hospital.  Brother and I were walking by the stairs that led to the attic one day and Joe Foreman, another renter and friend of Dad and Mother, rolled a round cushion down the stairs.  Brother and I ran away as fast as we could and told mother that the ghosts were coming down the stairs.  Well, mother was upset and gave Joe a piece of her mind.  He apologized and confirmed to us that it was him that had rolled the cushion down the stairs and not a ghost.  He tried to tell us that there were not ghosts in the house, but we didn't believe him and still never went into the attic.

April 30 - Tell about a May Day tradition.

  May Day was an old world holiday and we never celebrated it that I remember.

May 1 - What were May Baskets made of and what did they contain?

May 2 - How much do you remember paying for an ice cream cone?

5 cents.

May 3 - Did you have a treehouse?

We did not have a treehouse.  We built “cabins” in the woods with tree limbs, sticks, long grass and cardboard boxes when they were available.

May 4 - Were you ever bitten by a dog?

No. I like dogs and they seemed to like me.

May 5 - Did your mother ever make a special gift for you?

My mother made our shirts from flower sacks.  We thought they were very nice and never complained.  Brother and I looked like twins for years.

May 6 - Tell a favorite memory of your mother.

I have already related some.  I guess my favorite memory was her cooking.  She was the perfect cook.  She could take a small amount of food and make a banquet.  There were some things that I did not like, but the majority of her cooking was wonderful.

May 7 - Tell about some good advice you mother gave you.

My mother always instilled her morla values in all of her children.  We weren’t the best listeners, but the values stayed with us until this day.  We would do dumb things sometimes, but we always tried to make sure that we did not embarrass our mother.

May 8 - Relate your family Mother’s Day traditions.

We always payed homage to our mother.  We celebrated her day in the same manner as a national holiday.

May 9 - Do you remember any childhood songs or rhymes.

The childhood songs that I like most were old songs of the south.  Songs such as “O’Susanna ”, “Old Man River”, “When the Saints go Marching In”, “Swanee ”, “My Mammy”, etc.

May 10 - Name some popular hit songs from your youth.

Until high school, I liked country and western (Hank Williams, Sr. and Jim Reeves).

May 11 - What was your favorite singing group or band?

My favorite group in my teens was probably The Oakridge Boys.  I loved old Country (Hank Williams) and Folk music as well and was enamored by Classical music and the Blues.  I was not impressed with Rock & Roll music at first, but it grew on me.  I did like the 40's style of pop music and listened to the radio a lot.

May 12 - Tell a favorite singer and a song that he/she sang?

Hank Williams was my favorite.  I stayed with my maternal grandparents every summer for a number of years.  They did not have electricity, so every Saturday night PaPa Whatley would bring out the battery operated radio, string a wire for an antenna and we would listen to the Grand Ole Opry country music.  Hank Williams was a frequent visitor to the Opry.  After the Opry show ended, PaPa would roll up the antenna, take the battery out of the radio and put it all away.

May 13 - What kind of dances did you do as a youth?

I could only do a slow dance.  Self taught and not very good.  We were part of the Southern Baptist culture who did not believe in dancing because it was considered sexual behavior and not approved.  Mother and Dad were more lenient and did not say anything when Brother and I went to a dance.  Dancing wasn't really important to me then and had a low priority compared to sports and outdoor activities which consumed a lot of my time.

May 14 - Tell about the first dance you ever went to.

The first dance was probably at a party at a friend's house.  I remember going to a number of those in high school.

May 15 - Tell about your high school prom or formal dance.

My first prom in my Junior year was almost a disaster.  I had asked the girl that I wanted to take to the prom and she did not get back to me right away.  It was getting close to prom night when I decided that she did not want to go, so I asked another girl to go with me and she agreed right away.  Soon after that, the first girl stopped me one day and asked what time I would pick her up.  Needless to say, I had a problem.  I talked to my brother Gaylen and he asked who the girls were that I had asked.  I told him and he said that he would take the second girl to the prom.  I knew she was a friend of his and he liked her as a friend.  Brother wasn't much into proms, but he was always the good brother and bailed me out.  We went to the prom together and had a great time and the girls had a great laugh at my expense.

May 16 - Describe the military experience of someone in your family.

This could take up a lot of space, so I will be as brief as possible.  I'll start with my gggg-grandfather was a sergeant in the North Carolina Line during the Revolutionary War.  He was first in the Militia from his local area in North Carolina.  When his term was up in the Militia, he joined the regular army with the North Carolina Line (details are provided on my web site).  Next was my ggg-grandfather John Walker, born in North Carolina, who participated in the War of 1812.  Next were two gg-uncles, Thomas Jefferson Walker, abt. 18 yrs old, and John Walker, abt. 20 yrs. old, who enlisted in the Confederate States of America army and participated in the Civil War.  Both were killed in the war.  Next was my father, Van W. Walker, his brother Robert R. Walker and several other uncles, who participated in World War II.  Dad was in the Occupation of Japan and Uncle Robert fought with General Patton's army in Europe.  He won a bronze star for his actions (never would talk about why or how).  Next are my brothers, both veterans of the Vietnam War.  Van Gaylen Walker was a career navy man who retired as a Senior Chief after 23 years of service.  Michael Roy Walker was U. S. Marine during Vietnam and received an honarable discharge as a Sergeant after his service.  Roger Schiller (husband of daughter Bobbie Walker Schiller), served in the U. S. Marines and is a veteran of the Vietnam War.  I was in the U. S. Marines for 4 1/2 years and a veteran of the Vietnam War as well, with an honorable discharge as a Sergeant after my service.  Another daughter, Tamera Walker Davis, is married to Lance Davis who is a veteran of both Iraq Wars and is retired from the U. S. Air Force.  I have two nieces who are also veterans of the Iraq War, Dana Powers and Susanne Powers Donahue.  Both served honorably in the Navy.  I also have a son, Michael Van Walker, who was in the Navy and five grandsons who were or are still in service.  Sean Patrick Neilon served in the U. S. Marines and participated in the Iraq War.  Ryan Landers served in the U. S. Marines during the Iraq War.  Ryan reenlisted in the Army after the Marines (I forgave him for that.) and is still serving his country.  Brian Hecimovich served in the U. S. Army and participated in the Iraq War.  Peter LaGosh served in the U. S. Navy and is still participating in the Iraq War.  He is continuing to seve in the Navy.  And last but not least is my neice's son, Jake Gibby (son of Susanne Powers Donahue) who served in the U. S. Marines.  I am proud of all of my family who served or is serving in the military, demonstrating our pride in our country.

May 17 - Share a memory involving a war during your childhood or youth.

  I was born during World War II in 1942.  I can't actually remember much because I was only 3 when the war ended.  I do remember some discussed comments later that related to this time.  It was a tough time for everyone during the war.  Everything was rationed to insure that our troops received the things that they needed to continue their struggle against Germany and Japan.  Gasoline, food, clothing, home items, etc., were rationed and everyone was issued "Ration Stamps" in books periodically for these items.  The stamps were limited and when you ran out before receiving another book of stamps, you went without.  We lived near a store owned by a great Uncle, Samuel Whatley (brother of my grandfather Wallace Whatley) and they (Uncle Sam and Aunt Mamie) would give mother supplies, regardless of the stamp quantity, when they could.  Aunt Mamie would put extra sugar (rare item) in mother's bag and tell her it was for "some cookies for the boys".  Meat was also rationed and Uncle Sam always made sure mother received extra meat "for the boys health".  Brother and I were pretty skinny (slim) then, not from lack of food, but because we never sat still.  We were always outside playing (or fighting) and active all of the time.

May 18 - Share another memory involving a war during childhood or youth.

  I was out of the Marines for most of the Vietnam War, in Louisiana trying to make a living for my family.  I remember clearly the dishonorable and demeaning manner in which the "citizens" of this country treated returning veterans.  They treated them as if they had committed a great atrocity and would not welcome them as the heroes that they were.  They did not recognize that they were only doing a job as a U. S. Serviceman or Servicewoman and had little or no choice on where they were sent or what they had to do.  Not everyone believed that the Vietnam War was a righteous war, but they were in the military and went where they were told and did what they needed to do to stay alive.  Over 58,000 U. S. Military servicemembers were killed in this war and most did not get any honors from the general population until the Vietnam Wall was constructed with their names on it.

May 19 - If you have another photograph of your childhood to share, place it here.

May 20 - Tell about your graduation exercise or traditions.

My brother, Gaylen, and I graduated from high school together in Westlake, Louisiana in 1960.  The graduation ceremony was traditional with caps and gowns of black and orange school colors.  Our theme song was "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Rogers and Hammerstein's "Carousel".  One of my favorite songs to this day.  I was the one who suggested it and it was adopted by the class.  My favorite version (I still have the 33 1/3 album) was done by Roy Hamilton.

May 21 - What year did you graduate from high school?

I graduated from Westlake High School, Westlake, Louisiana in May,1960.

May 22 - How many students were in your graduating class?

  We had 52 in our graduating class.

May 23 - How many students attended your high school?

  There were about 430 in high school when I attended.

May 24 - Did you have homework?

I always had homework, but rarely took any books home.  I would do most of the homework in class or in a "Study Hall" class in the library.

May 25 - Describe a very proud moment in your childhood.

There were many proud moments from my childhood.  One that stands out was when my brother and I received a BB Gun for Christmas.  I was about 7 or 8 years old and the gift made me feel older.  My brother and I always played outside in the woods surrounding our house and would "cowboys and indians" in the woods.  I would always be the indian.  This lasted a long time until I shot Brother in the leg and the BB embedded in the skin.  Mother took our BB's away and would not let us have them again unless she or Daddy was supervising.  Go figure.  The current Christmas movie where the young boy is told more than once " You'll shoot your eye out!", brings back that memorie every time.

May 26 - Tell about Memorial Day traditions during your youth.

The greatest tradition on Memorial Day is the display of the American flag.  Daddy always displayed a flag on this day and we remembered all the warriors that fought in WWII and Korea on this day.

May 27 - Share a special memory of Memorial Day.

  I don't have any special memories of Memorial Day.  We did go to a parade in some of the years.

May 28 - Did you play a musical instrument?

  When I was in elementary school (Middle School today) in Sulphur, Louisiana, I thought I wanted to be in the band and play the trumpet.  Mother and Daddy didn't have a lot of money, but found $250 to buy a coronet for me.  I did play it for a couple of years in the band.  Our band leader was a Mr. Land who was 7' 2" tall and had to stoop to go through most doors. We moved to Westlake, Louisiana after that and I moved on to Junior High School.  I told Mother and Dad that I was doing well in band there when I actually did not join the band.  I later told them the truth and we sold the coronet to get some of the money back that they had paid for it.  They were not too upset, but scolded me for lying to them.

May 29 - Tell of the closest friend you had during your childhood.

  I guess my closest friend in childhood was actually my Uncle William Boyd Whatley.  He was a late member to my mother's siblings and was born between Brother and I.  So the three of us hung out together when we could and especially during the summers that Brother and I stayed with them.  We had some wild times and great adventures during those summers.

May 30 - Is there anything you have now that you have kept from your childhood?

  Not much is left from my childhood.  My brother Mike has some things and I have a few things related to my years in the Boy Scouts.  Merit badges, neckerchief slides, etc.  I also have a small carving of an acorn that has a removable top another carving of a monkey inside it.  The monkey was carved froma peach seed.  I had received the acorn from "Little" Henry Foreman, son of Henry Foreman and Irene (Walker) Foreman.  Aunt Irene was the sister of my grandfather Robert R. Walker.

May 31 - Do you have any good bathtime stories?

  What baths?  Just kidding, although as young country boys, we did not have to take a bath every day.  When we did take a bath, it was in a #10 wash tub and everyone used the same water.  I always volunteered to be first.  The water was not always hot.  It was too much trouble to heat the water and haul it to the tub.  Later, when we moved away from Bayou Chicot, we usually had a rental house with running water and a bathtub.

June 1 - Tell about a strange person that lived in your town.

  There was "Highpockets" who lived in Bayou Chicot.  He was a tall man and walked everywhere he went.  We would see him often and always remarked "there goes Highpockets".  The reason we called him "Highpockets" was that he used suspenders to hold his pants up and he always pulled them up above his stomach, exposing his whole sock above the shoe.  It was a strange sight. Also, he talked to himself as he walked down the road.  My mother would scold us for making fun of Highpockets. 

June 2 - What was the funniest name or nickname in your town?

When I stayed with my grandfather, Robert Walker, in Bayou Chicot, LA, there was a black man that walked the road every day, going to the local grocery store. My grandfather always said, "There goes HIgh Pockets", every time he saw him. I didn't understand, so my grandfather explained that he wore his trousers with suspenders and pulled the top of his trousers up high on his waist which made the bottoms ride high above his shoes. Everyone called him "High Pockets" because of his trousers and did not seemed to mind, according to different people.

June 3 - Did you ever sleep under the stars?

  Many times in my childhood.  We loved to be in the outdoors.  We went camping a lot and did not always have tents.  As young boys, we took every opportunity to head off into the woods and go "native" without any food and only took some cooking utensils and spices with us.  We would got our food by fishing or hunting.  Sometimes we came up empty and slept with growling stomachs.

June 4 - Tell about a hot dog or marshmallow roasting.

Not much to tell. Many times while camping, we roasted marshmallows over an open fire. Most of us tried to roast them a nice golden brown, but many times they were burned. We ate them anyway. Hot dogs were easier to cook and we enjoyed them when we were camping.

June 5 - Did you ever go on a camp out?  Tell about it.

I went on so many camping trips, I can't remember them all. We called them camping trips. Camp out is not a noun as is used in the question. You camp out on a camping trip is proper grammar. Camp out used as a noun also implies that there are a "camp ins", which I couldn't begin to define. Anyway, I started camping out on my own with my brother Gaylen and my uncle William Boyd, when I was about 10 years old. We would take some cook ware, spices and fishing gear (as we got older, we took our guns) and headed into the woods near my grandfather Wallace Whatley's place. We expected to eithe catch fish or kill something to eat while we were out. Most of the time we caught fish, but there were several times that we went hungry for at least a day.

On one occasion, we were so humgry, we attempted to kill a crane sitting in a tree (I didn't know until years later that it was a Great Blue Heron). My brother, Gaylen, threw a stick at it and broke it's neck. When we started cleaning it to eat, the stench was terrible and we almost didn't attempt to eat it. But hunger won out, so we roasted it over a fire and satisfied our hunger. It took years for me to lose that smell.

On two other occasions, uncle Sherwood Whatley, William Boyds brother, came to our rescue. He always seemed to know where we were camping and showed up one time with some goat meat after he had butchered a goat at my grandfather's place. We were starving and at the time for it was the second day out and all we had caught on our trot line was a water snake. We gave in to hunger and cleaned, dressed the snake and fried it. It turned out to be less meat than we thought, so we were still hungry when Sherwood showed up with the goat. We gorged ourselves on the goat meat. The second rescue was when Sherwood brought us a rooster that my grandmother did not want anymore for some reason. We were hungry again and really enjoyed the rooster.

I continued to go on various camping trips throughout my early years, starting when very young, then with my dad, Van Walker, progressing through Boy Scouts, Explorer Scouts and later when I was out on my own. I always enjoyed the outdoors and loved to be somewhere in the woods or camped along a river. I still do to this day.

June 6 - Did you ever go on a snipe hunt?

I did go on snipe hunts when I was in Junior High School. Some of my friends decided to test my skills at the snipe hunting ruse and I went along with them. They never asked if I knew what a snipe hunt was at the time. I knew this was a joke to them. It was at night and I took the grass sack and waited as they pretended to make noise to chase a snipe toward me so that I could catch it in the sack. When they quit making noise, I knew that they had left me "holding the bag", so I walked home (a long walk). They later drove back to the area, looking for me and spent some time combing the area where they had left me. I was home in bed. The next day at school, they were upset that they couldn't find me the previous night and they didn't get much sleep after looking for me. I explained that it served them right since I already knew what a snipe hunt was supposed to be with the bag holder left alone in the dark in an unknown location. We all had a good laugh and continued to pull the same stunt with other newbies in the future. Of course, we always asked the newbies if they knew what a snipe hunt was before we attempted to take them.

June 7 - What food did you learn to cook or prepare first as a youth?

I could clean and cook any wild game outdoors over an open fire or in cook ware from about 10 years old. I didn't learn to cook like my mother as did my two brothers and sister. All were/are good cooks. I don't know if I thought it was "woman's work" or I was just too busy with other things to learn to be a good cook. I found out later that I could cook, although I am still not very good.

June 8 - Share a horse-riding story.

It was a horse and a mule. The same mule noted above in another story. You have to understand that I and my brother Gaylen, lived with my maternal grandparents, Maw Maw and Paw Paw Whatley, every summer for five or six years since I wa 10. They lived in a very rural area of Bayou Chicot with the nearest neighbot about 2-3 miles away from them by road. Those are the most memorable times for me and where I learned to enjoy the outdoors so much.

Anyway, my brother and my uncle William Boyd, were always adventuring in the woods to develope our skills as outdoorsmen. We rode the horse and mule a mile or so to Douseman Lake to go duck hunting. We didn't kill anything that day, but as we were leaving, we discovered a duck blind on the lake that had a lot of decoys around the blind. Being poor folks, we decided to appropriate some of the decoys and use them later in another duck hunt. It was late and getting dark by the time we waded into the lake to gather the decoys. We managed to get about 10 decoys in a gunny sack (grass sack) and headed home on the horse and mule. William Boyd and I rode the horse and Gaylen rode the mule. As we were traveling along the trail to home, the mule rode under a pine limb that knocked Gaylen off the mule. He fell to the ground and broke the forearm off the single barrell shotgun that we had borrowed from daddy. Gaylen was not hurt, so we were crawling around the ground in the dark trying to find the forearm. Neither one of us wanted to take the broken gun home and tell daddy that we lost the forearm. While crawling on the ground, Gaylen got too close to the rear of the mule and he kicked him in the head. Luck prevented a serious injury because he was too far away from the mule to receive the full blow of the kick. The mule was never hostile, and we decide later that Gaylen had frightened it by moving on the ground in the mule's blind spot and the mule reacted in a protective manner by kicking at whatever was behind it. When Gaylen was kicked, he lost his glasses. He could not see very well without the glasses, so we couldn't leave them. Now we are looking for both the forearm and Gaylen's glasses. After tying the horse and mule some distance from the search area and searching for what seemed to be a long time, we finally found both the forearm and the glasses. By this time, we began to doubt our wisdom in stealing the decoys, so we all agreed to turn around and take them back to the duck blind. After we returned the decoys, we headed home again without incident. Maw Maw was upset that we were so late and was trying to talk Paw Paw to go look for us. We did put the gun back together.

June 9 - What was your first job?

My first real job was as a life guard at the Westlake swimming pool my freshman year in high school. I was an excellent swimmer by that time, having been swimming in the rivers and lakes in Louisiana since I was about 9 years old. A friend of mine was a junior in high school and worked there as the senior life guard. He needed help, so he talked me into taking the life guard course through the Red Cross in Lake Charles. I did and was hired to assist my friend as a life guard at the pool. I was a life guard at the Westlake pool and at the Chennault Air Force Base pool until I graduated from high school.

June 10 - How much did you get paid?

Very little. I don't remember because it was not a memorable amount.

June 11 - Tell about any other paying jobs you held as a youth.

Since most of my youthful summers were spent at my grandparent's place, I did not have time to get a job other than work for my grandfather. I did work for him each summer, helping with whatever he was doing to earn money. We picked cotton for 5-10 cents a pound in neighboring cotton fields. Hot and dirty work. I also helped with the crops when I was there. Life was hard for my grandparents. They farmed about 40 acres of an 80 acre farm. The crops varied according to what could pay the most for them at the time. One was a peanut crop. We had to dig the peanut plants out of the ground and drape them over a pole stuck in the ground with peanuts and roots to the outside for drying. Another crop was watermellons. We had to go through the fields and manually turn the watermellons so that the underside were facing the sun. We did not have to pick them because we had to return home for school before they were ripe. Another crop was cayenne peppers. As the peppers began to turn red, we picked them off the bushes by hand. This was delicate work in 95-100 degree temperatures where you would sweat and needed to wipe the sweat from your face. My grandmother cautioned us not to touch our face while picking the peppers. Well, guess what? I failed to remember the warning and wiped the sweat from my face one day that I will never forget. The burning sensation on my face was the worst pain that I had ever experienced. I later remarked that it was probably like having acid thrown on your face with the pain, but without the permanent damage. My grandmother took me into the house and covered my face with a paste made from baking soda. The pain finally went away after several hours. I was excused from picking peppers for a few days, but I never forgot the warning again. Other crops were peas and corn. Corn doesn't grow very well in sandy soil or hot south Louisiana.

June 12 - Were you ever chased by some animal?

I was chased by a wild boar once while hunting hogs with my grandfather. He and others in the area raised hogs by letting them run wild in the neighboring woods. They kept track of who owned which hogs by making notches in their ears when they could catch the young ones. They also harvested several hogs each winter for salting and storing the meat. They did not have freezers, so they would butcher the hog, salt the meat and store it in a barrel of salt for long term storage to keep it from spoiling.

As Paw Paw and I were tracking the hogs to kill, a big boar hog stepped out of the briar bushes to challenge us before we could get close to his family. He snorted and pawed the ground as if to charge us. Paw Paw told me to quickly climb a tree because the boar had some pretty long tusks that could cause a serious cut if it hit me. He stood there with his shotgun aimed at the hog. The boar did charge and Paw Paw shot it in the head. It dropped to its knees, but raised up again and charged Paw Paw. The tusks cut Paw Paw on his leg and before he could shoot again, the boar dropped dead. Wierdest thing I had ever seen from the tree that I had climbed of course.

June 13 - If you were ever in a parade, tell about it.

June 14 - Tell another memory about a parade.

June 15 - Share a childhood memory about a death that affected you.

The one I remember when I was 5 years old was my paternal grandmother, Ruby Viola Oliver Walker. I probably didn't understand death at that time. My only memory was seeing her laid out on her and Grandaddy's bed. I think that formed a future behavior where I avoided funerals as much as possible. Another death that affected me later when I was about 24 years old was the death of Pa Pa Whatley (my maternal grandfather).  His name was Wallace Whatley and I felt a sincere loss.  He was my favorite grandfather.  He always talked to me and taught me about things in the country and on a farm.  I loved to spend my earlier summers with him and Ma Ma.

June 16 - Relate your happiest memory as a youth.

I had a lot of happy memories when I was growing up, but the one that stands out seems to be when I received my Stevens model 410 gauge shot gun.  I was thrilled that I was considered big enough to have my own gun and to be able to go hunting with my brother Gaylen and my daddy.

June 17 - How did you learn to swim ?

I learned to swim along with my brother Gaylen in a small shallow creek near our house in Bayou Chicot, La.  We started "swimming" by doing a "mud crawl" and graduating to the dog paddle.  When I was about seven, I saved my two year old sister Dianne from drowning when she fell in the creek.

June 18 - Where did you go swimming ?

I started in the creek near our house and later went to Chicot bayou and Chicot lake.  I taught myself to swim with the overhand stroke.   We went swimming in many places after that.  There is a large amount of water in Louisiana.

June 19 - Tell a favorite memory of your father.

One of the most memorable times with my dad was when we were fishing on the Calcasieu River with our fly rods.  I was attempting to do a figure 8 cast under some cypress trees when I hooked him in the ear.  He just quietly looked at me as he removed the hook and said “Boy.  You need to throw the bait in the water if you are going to catch any fish."

June 20 - Tell about some good advice your father gave you.

My dad always told us not to show disrespect to others, especially adults.  He was very strict on this point and I learned to appreciate this advice.  I have always tried to be courteous to people older than me and to people that I have to work for.

June 21 - Did your father ever make a special gift for you?

He made me a shoe-shine box that had a board on top shaped like a shoe to put your foot on when shining your shoes.

June 22 - Did you have a special nature place where you went to explore?

My special place to explore was all of the woods and fields around Pa Pa Whatley's farm.  He and Ma Ma owned 80 acres, miles from their nearest neighbor.  My brother and I explored the miles of woods each summer for many years.

June 23 - Did you ever go skinny-dipping?

I went skinny-dipping many times in the West Fork (of the Calcasieu) River & the Calcasieu River around Westlake, La.

June 24 - Did you ever make mud pies?

I probably did, but I don't remember.  We used the clay from the stream near our house in Bayou Chicot to make toys.  We made cars, tanks, wagons, etc. and baked them hard in the sun.  This was more fun for boys.   Bayou Nezpique (pronounced "nee -PEE-kay ", translated to "tattooed nose bayou") started just north of our house in Bayou Chicot.  It ran south near the house and was the favorite playground for my Brother and I.  We were always swimming in it, especially in the summer.  We used the wet clay to make the toys and to fill “mud buckets” for racing.

June 25 - Did you go barefoot in the summer?

Every day of every summer until I started going to junior high school.  We had shoes, but it was comfortable to be barefoot and easier to climb trees and other things with bare feet.

June 26 - If so, relate an experience about stepping on something.

I stepped on a coral snake (poisonous) when we were running through the woods near Tiger Lake in Bayou Chicot.  I jumped over a log in our path instead of stepping on it as I jumped.  When my foot landed on the other side of the log, I felt something move under my foot.  Needless to say, I moved faster with an adrenalin rush and stopped short aabout 10 feet away from the snake.  Brother and William Boyd and I saw the coral snake slithering away toward the lake.  We lost it in the grasses before we could capture or kill it. Coral snakes have very small mouths and has difficulty biting a person except around the fingers and toes.  They do not have fangs as do cotton mouth moccasins or copperheads.  Their small teeth require them to chew and abraid the skin to introduce their poison.  Their poison affects the central nervous system.

I also stepped on a scorpion that stung me on the side of the foot.  William Boyd, Brother and I were playing around a saw dust pile when I stepped near a piece of wood in the saw dust.  The scorpion must have been under the wood and came out and stung the side of my foot.  Even though I was hurting, the three of us turned over several slabs until we found the scorpion and killed it.  I then ran to my grandparents house (about a mile) where my grandmother (Ma Ma)  soaked my foot in an Epson salt bath to draw the poison out.

June 27 - Tell about a bike you had.

My brother Gaylen received our first bicycle when we lived in Sulphur, La.  Our parents saved enough money to buy one bike, mainly for Gaylen to use on a paper route.  He would let me use it when he didn't need it.  I would get up with him and help him with the paper route by riding on back of the bike and throwing the papers.  We also used it for passing out advertisements for local businesses when the jobs were available.

June 28 - Tell about your first very own car.

Again, Gaylen and I shared our first car.  We couldn't afford a new one or two cars.  Our dad bought a used 1953 Chevrolet Bellaire, 4 door sedan.  The engine didn't work because it had thrown a rod through the engine block.  Probably bad maintenance habits of the previous owner.  We paid $200 for the car (lot of money then).  Then we had to search for a new engine block and to drie to DeRidder, LA, to get one from an auto junk yard.  Dad paid $50 for the block and we had to remove it from the wrecked auto.  We were learning a lot about autos at 15 and 17 years old.  After we got the engine block home, we had to remove the old block from our car.  It was easier because of our experience at the junk yard.  We then took both engines completely apart, including all the pistons, shafts, wiring and connections.  Gaylen and I spent many hours taking them apart and cleaning anything useful.  Dad only supervised when needed.  We put the parts back together and only had one problem when we attempted to put new rings on the pistons.  They were compression rings and had to be squeezed into their slots before the piston would slide into the opening on the block.  They had very sharp edges an we cut our hands and fingers several times with no luck in doing the job.  Dad called our Uncle Julius Johnson, who was a mechanic, and he came to the rescue with a "ring squeezer" and a lot of sage advise.  He helped and we soon had the car running again a couple of weeks later.  It didn't run very well, but good enought for us to drive it to Uncle Julius' shop and he tuned it for us.  We shared that car for several years.

June 29 - Did you ever have or make a swing.

We had several swings whn growing up.  Most were tied to a tree near a river so we could use it when swimming.  We did use an old tire once at home to make a swing.

June 30 - Tell about seeing something you thought was very beautiful.

I don't think I really appreciated the beauty of nature until I was much older, but when I was younger, we spent most of our days in the woods an used nature as a playground.  We did appreciate the opportunity it provided.

July 1 - Describe an outside game you made up.

I keep referring to my brother Gaylen in most of my memories because he and I were like twins joined at the hip until we got older.  We did everything together, even to the exclusion of neighboring kids, about 90% of the time.  The other 10% was learning how to protect ourselves against each other.  Anyway, we made up games because that's what you do in the country.  We used No. 10 food cans with removabe lids to make carts to pull behind us while running around.  We filled the cans with mud and gravel, ran a long wire through a hole in the lid and bottom of the can, and then tied the two ends together to make a loop.  You would hold the end of the loop and pull the weighted can around the yard.  The gravel created a noise for emphasis.

Another game we created was pole vaulting.  We would cut each of us a prickly ash tree (not really a tree) that was long and straight.  Then clean the thorns off the bark so we could hold it.  They were light because the tree had a hollow core and we would use them to jump over stumps, seeing who could jump over the highest stump.  I'm surprised I'm still alive to grow into an old man.

July 2 - Describe an inside game you made up.

We didn't do inside games because we were never inside long enough to play games.

July 3 - What kind of fireworks did people have when you were a youth?

We didn't have fire works until I was a little older.  We had fire crackers, sparklers and one that shot several colored balls out the end.

July 4 - Tell about Independence Day traditions of your childhood.

Most of the time, we would visit with other family members and eat a lot of food.

July 5 - Do you have a special July 4th that you remember most?

No special July 4th.  They were all about the same.

July 6 - Did you ever go to carnivals or amusement parks?  Where?

Our first visit to carnavals when we moved to Sulphur, LA.  There was a carnival in town once a year and Dad and Mother would take us to enjoy the games, take the rides and eat cotton candy.

July 7 - What kinds of rides and games were there?  How much did they cost?

There were the same games of chance then as there are now at carnivals.  Dad would let us try some of them, but we didn't do it too often.  They had bucket rides that turned around, electric bumper cars on an inside track, a merry-go-round with horses to ride and always a ferris wheel that we did ride.  Dad or mother would ride with Dianne.

July 8 - Tell about any State Fair or County Fair experiences.

We only visited the Parish Fair on some years.  They had most of same stuff as the carnival.

July 9 - Tell about going to a circus or chautaugua.

We did go to the Wringling Brothers Circus when they stopped in Sulphur.  It was exciting to see all of the different characters and animals.

July 10 - Tell any favorite summertime memory.

All of my summers were good memories.  Most of everything I've said so far are summer memories.

July 11 - Did you go fishing in your childhood?

Many times.  I believe I have already described some fishing events above.

July 12 - Tell about your biggest or best catch.

July 13 - Do you remember having a favorite candy How much did it cost?

There was a commercial peanut brittle candy stuffed with peanut butter that I really liked.  I don't remember the cost, but it couldn't have been more that 5 cents a bag or I could not have afforded much.

July 14 - Do you remember having a favorite snack that you made at home?

My favorite snack when growing up was plain bread and whole milk.  I would get home and head for the refrigerator for the milk and eat half a loaf of bread.  Mother rarely complained because she had to keep buying more bread and milk.  I still drink a lot of milk and eat bread less often.

July 15 - Share a memory about going on a picnic.

I've already shared earlier picnic stories with the family fishing trip gatherings that we had when I was younger.

July 16 - What kinds of party games or party activities were popular?

The only one I remember was "spin the bottle" with a mixed group of friends.  We sat in a circle, boy, girl, boy, girl circle and someone would spin the bottle.  The person would have to give the person the bottle pointed to a kiss if they were of the opposite sex.

July 17 - Share a memory about a heat wave or drought.

This is sort of a catch 22 question since I lived in south Louisiana during my youth.

July 18 - What did you do to stay cool?

We found a shady place to play and hoped for rain.  We did not have air conditioning when I was growing up.

July 19 - What was your favorite holiday of the year?

Probably Christmas.  We always had a family gathering before the holiday at our house or at one or more of our relative's houses.  I liked Christmas because we would get gifts.

July 20 - Share a birthday party memory.

We didn't have many birthday parties when I was growing up.  I do rememer having some cousins and/or neighbors at one or two birthdays.  Mother always tried to have some sort of dessert for our birthdays.

July 21 - Tell about the neatest shoes you ever owned as a youth.

My brother, Gaylen, and I grew up bare footed in south Louisiana which was not a problem. I vaguely remember that we had one pair of shoes that we shared for some time before our parents could afford a second pair.  We didn't wear them too often because Gaylen and I had different size feet.

July 22 - Share a memory about a power outage.

I south Louisiana, power outages were quite common because of rain storms.  The ones that I do remember happened when a hurricane would pass through and we would lose electricity.  Dad would always fill up the bathtub with water for these occasions since the water well pump wouldn't work.  Everyone in south Louisiana always kept plenty of candles and coal oil lamps on hand for these occasions.  We weren't allowed to open the refrigerator during a power outage unless absolutlely necessary for meals.  Everyone had gas appliances so meals could be prepared during power outages.

July 23 - Relate a memory about a flood or cloudburst.

The first serious flooding near our home occurred about 1957 when the Calcasieu River flooded areas up to several miles from the river.  The rains that caused the flooding occurred because of Hurricane Audrey.  The water did not get to our house, but flooded some streets and highways only a few blocks away.  My brother and I went to a flooded street near our house and helped people who were stranded on one side or another by taking them across the water in a boat.

July 24 - Share a memory of a tornado/hurricane or destructive wind.

We never experienced any tornados where I lived, but we did survive several hurricanes.  The worst hurricane that we experienced was Hurricane Audrey in 1957.  It tracked directly through Cameron, LA, where most of the people died and then directly through Lake Charles and Westlake where we lived.  When it reached our house, the winds were still over 100 mph and it sounded like several freight trains driving close to the house.  The winds uprooted a large oak tree in our back yard and luckily it fell away from the house.  The eye of the hurricane passed over us and everything was eerily quiet.  My brother and I went out of the house to experience the effects of the eye.  There was no wind and not much sound since all the birds had left or died in the high winds.  There was sunshine and clear skies.  It took almost an hour for the eye to pass us and the south wall of high winds to hit us.  The winds were still around 100 mph from the south wall.  We stayed in the house until it was over and dad said that he would never do that again, which we were thankful for at the time.  It was the most devastating hurricane along the coast since the 1900 hurricane that hit Galveston, TX and killed over 1,000 people.  Hurrican Audrey caused the death of over 500 people in south Louisiana.  Houses and boats from Cameron, LA were found in rice fields 25 miles north of Cameron, pushed there by the 20 foot high wave front from the hurricane.  You could still see them in the rice fields several years later.

July 25 - What memories do you have of lightening or thunder during your childhood?

Another question indicating that whoever wrote these questions never lived in the south.  We experienced thunder and lightening al year and every year in south Louisiana.

July 26 - Share a special memory about riding in a boat.

Living in Louisiana creates many memories about boats since almost everyone owned one or more boats.  My most memorable experience was a boat called a "sharps" boat, similar to a cajun "pirogue", that my dad built for our Uncle Sherwood Whatley to use in Chicot Lake.  It is a very narrow boat, not more than 2 feet wide.  You had to keep a low profile to get in and out of the boat or it would tip over.  My brother and our uncle William Whatley took quite a few dips in the water before we learned how to get in and out of the boat.  It would only accomodate two people which was our problem.  We needed to get all three of us in the boat to go create some mischief.  I only remember all three of us in the boat one time for a short ride before we tipped it over.  you couldn't lean to one side or the other for more than a few inches.  Another boat experience was with another boat that my dad built years later.  It was 4 feet wide and 12 feet long flat bottomed fishing boat.  I fished in it many times with my dad and when I got out of the Marines, he gave it to me so I would have a boat for fishing.  It was in rough shape, so I refinished it using nylon cloth and epoxy.  I failed to put the center guide strip back on the bottom of the boat which made a huge difference in turning curves in the river at a high speed.  The boat would start sliding across the river in the curve and would have hit the bank unless I decelerated while making the turn.  I had many fun fishing trips in that boat.

July 27 - Tell about a family vacation trip.

We didn't have vacation trips until we lived in Sulphur, LA and I was about 12 or 13 at the time.  Dad saved enough money to take us to Arkansas to the Ozark Mountains.  It was an exciting vacation since we had never been outside of Louisiana except for East Texas.  We had a wonderful time gauking at everything we saw and enjoyed a visit to the diamond minds in the Ozarks, but did not find any loose diamonds laying around on the ground.

July 28 - Share the best vacation experience you can recall.

Redundant question again.

July 29 - Share the most unpleasant vacation experience you can recall.

July 30 - Do you have any other memories about a river, lake or beach to share.

I have lots of memories of rivers and lakes in south Louisiana since I spent so many hours and so many days on the water in my youth.  We lived near the Calcasieu River and the West Fork River where Gaylen and I and many friends swam most of our youth.   Where we swam, we had rope swings tied to a tree on the bank and would swing out into the river and jump into the water performing crazy acrobatics.  It was a fun time and no one was ever hurt while playing.  From the nearest rope swing to our house, it was about a mile to Sam Houston State Park further up the West Fork River.  We often swam to the park, had some fun, and then returned to our rope tree.  In the Calcasieu River, we would swim across the river under the Huey P. Long bridge and go the beach on Lake Charles.  Then we would swim back to Westlake and go home.

July 31 - Tell a memory about riding on a ferry, bus, train or plane.

We rode on many ferries in south Louisiana because they handled traffic where there were no bridges over the many streams, bayous and rivers.  In our earlier years, there was no bridge across the West Fork River going north out of Westlake.  There was a "West Fork" ferry that took cars and people to the Moss Bluff side of the river.  There were two other ferries from Westlake and Moss Bluff that did the same for traffic into Lake Charles.  Most of them were replaced by bridges before I got into high school.  We also rode the Cameron ferry many time from the west side of the Calcasieu River into Cameron to go crabbing or fishing.  Another ferry that was still around for many years (and may still be operating) was the Galveston, TX ferry used to go west across the Galveston Bay south of Houston.  It was a short cut to Galveston and communities south of Houston to avoid driving through the traffic in the Houston area.  We used this ferry to visit mother's sisters who lived in Angleton, Freeport and Brozoria, TX.  The Galveston ferry was the largest ferry that I had ridden on before recent years when I take the "US Badger" across Lake Michigan.  The Badger is a large (and old) ship converted to a car ferry and takes 4 hours to cross Lake Michigan from Manitowoc, WI, to Ludington, MI.

August 1 - Share another memory about a ride.

August 2 - Describe your childhood home and neighborhood.

I lived in many places as described above, but the most memorable are the house that dad built in the 1940s in Bayou Chicot, LA.  He had purchased 32 acres in Chicot and built a small four room house on the edge of the headwates of Bayou Nespique.  It was a small stream where we lived.  Gaylen and I swam in it when there was enough rain to raise the water level.  The house consisted of two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room.  We didn't have a bathroom.  We had an outhouse in the back yard.  We did have electricity since CLECO Electric was just getting started in that area.  It probably didn't have more than 700-800 sq. ft. of living space.  We had a wood burning stove for heat in the winter and no air conditioning except for the wind through the windows and doors.  There was a front and back porch.  Mother would hang garlic cloves and peppers on the back porch for easy retrieval for cooking.  Daddy kept a finished cow horn on the back porch to blow and call Gaylen and I home for supper.  Gaylen and I spent our childhood running through the woods and making up games for entertainment.

My most memorable home was the house that Daddy built in the early 50s in Westlake, LA.  Prior to that house we had rented houses in many cities in LA and TX before settling in Sulphur, LA.  While we were living in Sulphur, dad purchased a lot in Westlake and started building a house when not at work.  He had many friends living in the area who donated their time and skills to help build the house.  I haven't seen that kind of friendship or respect for a neighbor since my youth. The house had three bedrooms, a living room, a family room, a kitchen and one bathroom.  We had an attached garage with a covered and screened "breezeway" between the garage and kitchen.  This is where I lived through high school until I left home for the Marine Corps.

August 3 - Do you have a good piece of advice for me.

Yes. Buy low and sell high.  Sorry.  I couldn't resist the urge to answer that question that way.  The most important piece of advice that I have was passed along to me from my dad and mother.  It is simply that family is family no matter what happens because you can't change it.  What he meant was that families must always stick together through thick and thin, good times and bad, and always support one another.  Another part of that advice concerned money.  If a family member needs money, you always give it to them without expecting it back.  If you expect it to be returned and it isn't, there will be hard feelings which goes against the first part of the advice.  If the family member recieiving the money has good values in their life, they will return the money when they can.  I have lived my life by that crede and have never failed to recognize the needs of others and respond with help when I could.  Another piece of advice handed down to me is to always be a good neighbor. Don't hold grudges or hate in your heart.  It will do you more harm than the person it is directed toward.  I also lived my live doing things for myself and my family.  I never relied on others for help, but when help was offered and I accepted it, I never forgot the help and always returned the favor in kind.

August 4 - Tell of an experience climbing a mountain or big hill.

There are no mountains in south Louisiana.

August 5 - Tell a memory about having company at your house or of a family party.

I have already described several of these above.

August 6 - Tell about board games you played as a child.

We didn't have board games when I was younger.  We did play Monopoly after we moved to Westlake.

August 7 - Tell about card games you played.

My maternal grandfather taught us how to play poker when we were about 8-10 years old.  We played with matches as the money.  I've always liked poker games since then.

August 8 - Did you ever have a weight problem as a youth..

No.  I didn't have a weight problem until I was about 40 years old.  I ran, swam and played sports all the years of my youth.  We didn't have television or indoor games to keep us in the house long enough to get fat.

August 9 - What was your best talent.

I was an expert swimmer by the time I was 12 or so.  I was probably the youngest lifeguard ever at age 15 when I worked at the Westlake Recreation swimming pool.  I was also very good at baseball and was playing in a semi-pro bush league when I was 16.  My uncle Billy Whatley, who was very good at baseball, formed a team and we played other teams in Louisiana and Texas.  I was also a very good archer and could hit the bulls eye at 50 yards four out of five shots when I was 13-14.

August 10 - Tell about a time when you got lost.

I never got lost in the woods.  I had an innate ability to know directions when playing in the woods and could alwaays find our way home.  My brother Gaylen got lost in the woods in Bayou Chicot one time and our Uncle Sherwood Whatley, who never got lost either, had to go find him and bring him home.

August 11 - Did you ever play in the sprinkler or hose?

Yes.

August 12 - Tell about being stung by a bee or wasp.

I was stung many times by wasps, but never had a reaction to the venom.  I did get stung by a scorpion one time that made my foot swell.  My grandmother soaked my foot in an epsom salt solution for several hours and all was well.

August 13 - Did you have any favorite family songs that you sang together?

No.

August 14 - Tell about your bedroom.

It had a bed in it and we used it for sleeping.

August 15 - Share a memory of staying overnight with a friend.

August 16 - If you ever ran away from home, tell about it.

I never ran away from home and don't remember ever thinking of doing so.

August 17 - Do you remember being really curious about something.

Everything.

August 18 - Share your childhood experiences with roller skates.

We had roller skates when I was in Junior High School, but I never cared much for the activity.

August 19 - Did you ever experience home sickness?

Not that I can remember except when I was in Boot Camp in the Marines. "I often thought that I may have made a mistake, but got over it.

August 20 - Can you tell about your first taste of pop or soda?

I don't remember my first soda.

August 21 - Share an early experience with shaving.

I never had to shave until I joined the Marines.  I didn't shave then until the Drill Instructer looked real close at my face and, yelling at the top of his lungs, ordered me to shave off the peach fuzz on my face.  I shaved every day after that.

August 22 - Tell about a favorite doll, teddy bear or other stuffed toy.

I didn't have any such things until my Uncle Robert Walker thought it would be cute to give my brother and I a doll when we were about 6-8 years old.  I still don't know why, but he never had any boys.  He was blessed or cursed with seven girls.  I don't remember my reaction to the gift, but I also don't remember ever playing with the doll.

August 23 - Tell about another favorite toy.

My Red Ryder BB gun was the first real toy that we ever received.  I have added several stories above about the BB gun.

August 24 - Did you have to abide by a curfew as a youth?

We rarely had a curfew when I was growing up.  Our parents trusted our judgement and only let us know what was happening at the house so we could respond on a timely basis.  Our stomachs usually told us when it was time to get home.

August 25 - Describe any “follow the leader” games you played.

August 26 - Describe how you used the phone to call a friend.

I dialed a number and voila, there was my friend.

August 27 - Did you ever have a fire in your home or accidentally catch something on fire?

No.

August 28 - Tell about going to box socials or pot lucks.

"Box Socials" were common at our church and we attended many of them.

August 29 - Tell about an incident when you were very angry with your mom or dad.

I don't remember being angry with my parents.  I do remember being disappointed on occasion, but I got over it.

August 30 - Tell about an incident when your mom or dad was very angry with you.

The only time I remember my parents being angry with me was after my brother and I would have a fight.

August 31 - Share a memory involving an outhuse.

You can't be serious.

September 1 - Do you remember any labor day traditions of your youth?

No.  Just another holiday in life.

September 2 - Do you have a memory involving V.J. Day?

I was too young then, but remember the family later expressing happiness that the war was over and everyone could get back to a normal life.

September 3 - Tell about your school year calendar.

September 4 - What do you remember about your first day of school?

I do remember that my mother took me to school on the first day.  We lived in the old Dr. Hawkins place in Bayou Chicot, LA, and walked to school which was less than a mile from the house.  I don't remember any more except my brother had been in school for two years and looked after me in my first year.  He walked with me each morning and waited for me to walk home.

September 5 - Tell about a school bully.

I never had any bullying problems because my brother took care of them.

September 6 - What do you remember doing at recess?

In the earlier grades that I can remember, we played dodge ball and other outdoor games in elementary schools.  In Junior High school, the boys played marbles or "mumblety peg".  There were different versions of both games.  The one that I was good at was mumblety peg.  One version was to place a stick (peg) in the ground and carve a circle in the dirt around the stick.  The object of the game was to throw your knife at the peg and have it stick point first in the ground.  Everyone in the game had one throw at the peg.  The one's who did not stick their knife in the circle or was farthest from the peg were out of the game.  The game continued until there were only two players and the one who stuck his knife closest to the peg won.  Another version was to throw the knife in a different way each time creating a challenge for subbsequent playes to throw their knife in a similar manner.  After each round of throws, the winner could choose a different way to throw the knife.  This was my favorite and I won most of the time with my elbow throw.  I would place the tip on my raised left elbow and using one finger on the end of the knife handle, flip the knife off my elbow and stick it in the ground.

I wasn't very good at marble games, so I did not play for "keeps" except with my brother Gaylen and he always gave my marbles back to me unless he needed them to play at school.  Gaylen was probably the best marble player at school and people quit playing with him because he won all of the marbles.

September 7 - Tell about the playground equipment at your grade school.

Most of the elementary schools I went to didn't have enough money to buy playground equipment.  Some did have a "merry-go-round" that was occupied most of the time by the girls.

September 8 - Did your parents ever make you wear something stupid to school?

Not that I can remember.  Sounds like sick parents to me.

September 9 - Tell about who you thought was the smartest kid in school and why.

September 10 - Tell about who you thought was the dumbest kid in school and why.

I have lived my whole life not considering other people to be dumb or dumber than me.  I also never considered myself as dumber or smarter than other people because I could always do some things better than other people and other people could always do some things better than me.  The moral of this is that you should never consider yourself superior to other people even if you can do things that they cannot do.  If you follow that person in life, you will always find that they can do things that you cannot do.

September 11 - Tell about the naughtiest kid in school.

September 12 - Tell about a teacher’s pet.

September 13 - Name the schools that you went to.

I went to Bayou Chicot, Eunice, Dequincy and Sulphur, LA elementary schools.  I also went to elementary school in Beaumont, TX.  I went to Junior and Senior High Schools in Westlake, LA.

September 14 - What was your most embarrasing school moment?

September 15 - Name the grade school teachers you remember.

September 16 - Name the Jr. High teachers you remember.

September 17 - Name the High School teachers you remember.

September 18 - Describe your typical school day outfit.

September 19 - If you were ever in a fight, tell about it.

I only remember one fight in school where my brother, Gaylen, didn't intervene.  I was coerced into fighting a friend by other friends for some stupid reason.  I didn't want to fight, but a crowd gathered in the high school gym and they began pushing me and the other person to get the fight started. The other person, my life long friend Gayle Creel, finally took a swing at me and I ducked aside.  I came up with a shot to his face and broke his nose.  That ended the fight and I helped him across the street to his house so his mother could take him to the doctor.  His mother and my mother were close friends and I had to explain to her what happened and why I broke Gayle's nose.  I also had to explain it to my mother after she had talked to his mother and she was not too happy.  Gayle and I became best friends after that, including enlisting in the Marines together.  We still keep in touch today and occasionally have a good laugh about the fight.

September 20 - Tell about your worst report card.

I never had a worst report card.  I had all "A" grades in elementary and Junior High School.  When I got to high school, I was involved in so many activities that I never took any books home to study.  My grades in high school ranged betweeb "C" and "A" for all courses except English Grammar.  I didn't like the subject and had some "D" grades.  When I was discharged from the Marines, I went back to college and maintained a 3.5-4.0 grade average.

September 21 - If you ever had a hero, tell who.

My hero's were my father and uncles who had participated in World War II.

September 22 - Tell why.

They were true patriots who put their lives in harms way to rescue other countries that were in need due to the exploits of dictators with warped minds who thought they should rule over all other people outside of their own countries.

September 23 - Who was the best teacher you ever had?

Mr Marion Benson who taught history in high school and was my home room teacher for several years.

September 24 - What made that teacher good?

Mr. Benson was thouroughly knowledgeable with the history of the United States.  He was also very good at presenting the material so that we enjoyed his lectures and comments.  He made the subject come alive when presenting it.

September 25 - What were your school colors?

Black and orange.

September 26 - What was your school mascot?

A ram.

September 27 - Tell any sports you played in Jr. High or High School.

I played basketball in Junior High school until the coach and I agreed that I should take up another sport.  I ran track and played football in High school.  I was a short distance runner and won a few medals.  In football, I played guard on offense and linebacker on defense even though I only weighed 159 lbs soaking wet at a height of 5' 9".

September 28 - What was your favorite sport to participate in or watch?

Baseball.  Our high school did not have a baseball team when I was there, but I played in some minor leagues in community recreation activities.  I also played on a semi-pro team with my uncle when I was in high school.

September 29 - Did you ever have a “good friend” who did something mean to you?

I have already related the story about the fight that Gayle Creel and I had in high schol.

September 30 - Do you remember a school custodian?

October 1 - What is the worst trick that you remember a student playing on a teacher?

October 2 - What is the worst thing a teacher did to a student?

October 3 - Tell about your school lunches.  Did you have a lunch box?  What did you eat?

In Louisiana when I was going to school, all lunches were free and we ate in a cafeteria.

October 4 - Did you ever have a crush on a teacher?

Probably.

October 5 - Do you have any special memories about raking and burning leaves or mowing the lawn?

No.  Those were normal chores when growing up whether you liked it or not.

October 6 - If you ever played in the leaves, tell about it.

October 7 - What allowance did you get?

My parents didn't have enough money to provide allowances, but when I was in Hich School, they always gave my brother and I some money when we went out in the evening.

October 8 - Did you have to earn it?

We didn't take it for granted and did all the chores required as well as helped our parents when they needed it.

October 9 - What teachers did you dislike the most?

October 10 - Why?

October 11 - Relate a story about a mouse in the house.

October 12 - Share a memory about a bat in the house.

October 13 - Did you ever have any other strange animal in the house?

I have related the occasions when we had flying squirrels as pets.  On one occasion, my squirrel drowned in the toilet while trying to get a drink while I was sleeping.  I did capture a large catepillar one time and placed it in a box in my dresser drawer.  I forgot it was in there until I heard a noise coming from the box much later.  When I opened the box, there was a large pretty "Luna Moth" inside, so I let it go in the back yard.

October 14 - How did you get to and from school?

We walked (and no the snow was not four feet deep) or rode our bicycles.

October 15 - Do you have a good school pants-wetting story?

October 16 - Tell about pulling or losing a baby tooth.

October 17 - Did you ever lose something really important to you?

October 18 - Did you ever lose or break something that belonged to someone else?

October 19 - Where did the clothes you wore come from?

Sears mostly, except for the shirts when we were younger.  My mother was an excellent seamstress and made all of our shirts until High School.  Gaylen and I always had the same shirt because she made two exact copies each time.  In High School, Gaylen complained and mother started buying our shirts with different designs.  She also made my sister's dresses for many years and Dianne never complained because of the quality and popular designs that mother made.  Michael Roy was fortunate enough to be 10 years younger than me and did not have to were hand-me-downs.

October 20 - Share a favorite fall memory.

We didn't much of a seasonal change in south Louisiana, but we did know when fall arrived because of the hunting seasons.

October 21 - Did you ever pick apples?

October 22 - What is the farthest you ever ran or walked?

Many miles.

October 23 - Did your High School have cheerleaders?  What did they wear?

Our cheerleaders wore orange and black outfits with really nice short skirts.

October 24 - Can you recite any of the school cheers?

October 25 - How did your school observe Homecoming?

Our school always had a parade in the small town of Westlake.  It was an important event and almost everyone participated.

October 26 - Do you have any special Homecoming experiences to relate?

October 27 - Tell about any other High School extra-carricular activities.

I participated in the Boy Scouts for years, achieving the Eagle Scout rating while in High School as well as membership in the "Order of the Arrow".

October 28> - Tell a story about a time when you dressed up in a costume.

The only time I dressed in costume was in our Senior Play.

October 29 - Share a memory about being very scared.

I've already related the ghost story in one of the above questions.

October 30 - What did people do at Halloween?

We did like everyone else and went from door to door looking for sweets.

October 31 - Do you have a special Halloween memory?

November 1 - Did you ever tell ghost stories?

November 2 - Do you have a good ghost or haunted house story to relate?

I have already related some ghost stories above.

November 3 - What is the strangest thing you ever saw in the sky?

November 4 - When you were a child, how did you keep your house warm?

We turned the heater on.

November 5 - Who was the president when you were born?

Franklin D. Roosevelt

November 6 - At what age did you first vote and for whom did you cast your first Presidential vote?

I didn't vote until after being discharged from the Marines at age 23.

November 7 - Did you ever see a President or a Vice-President in person?

No.

November 8 - Did you ever make a purchase that you later regretted?

No.

November 9 - When on car trips did you play “car games”?

November 10 - If you had a watch, tell about it.

My first watch was a gift on graduating from High School.  My brother and I graduated together and our parents gave us each a 17 jewel Bulova Accutron which was the first self winding watch made.  I still have mine, but Gaylen hocked his in the Navy and did not recover it.

November 11 - Do you have an Armistice Day memory?

November 12 -What was your most prized possession as a child?

My Red Ryder BB gun.

November 13 - Do you have a story about standing up against odds for something you really believed in?

November 14 - Did you ever feel a hatred for another person?  Explain.

I've already explained that I never hated anyone because the hatred emotion does more harm to you than it does to the person hated.

November 15 - Tell about the best birthday present you ever received.

My BB gun.

November 16 - Was an injustice ever done to you?

Not that I can remember.

November 17 - Share an experience about poison ivy or poison weed.

I was never allergic to poison ivy, oak or sumac.  I could pull the vines out with my bare hands and did so when I saw them because Gaylen was very allergic.  He couldn't get within several feet of poison plant without breaking out in a rash.

November 18 - Tell about a memorable birthday cake.

All of my birthday cakes were memorable.  My mother was an excellent cook and always made me a German chocolate cake for my birthday.

November 19 - Did you ever have a recurring dream as a child?

November 20 - Did you ever chew tobacco?

Only once.

November 21 - Tell about someone who had a big influence over your life.

Besides my parents and my brother, my uncle Billy Whatley probably influenced my life the most.

November 22 - What were you doing when John F. Kennedy was assassinated?

I was serving as a Marine aboard the Navy cruiser, U. S. S. Oklahoma City.  After his assasination, we loaded the nukes for our missiles on the ship and headed out of port to join the fleet.

November 23 - Share a memory about a weather-related school cancellation.

We never cancelled school for weather unless a hurricane was on its way.

November 24 - Tell about Thanksgiving traditions of your youth.

November 25 - What foods were on your Thanksgiving table?

November 26 - Share a favorite Thanksgiving memory.

November 27 - Do you have any ice skating memories to share?

We never had ice to skate on in south Louisiana.

November 28 - What hobbies or collections did you have as a youth?

I had a stamp collection in High School and continued it off and on over the years.  I created a very nice stamp collection which I gave to my son Michael who was the only one to show any interest in the subject.  He still has the collection.

November 29 - Did your Mom or Dad have a favorite remedy for what ailed you?

November 30 - Did anyone from your school or community grow up to be famous?

Not that I can remember.

December 1 - Did you ever have a bad experience with a haircut or a permanent?

We didn't get permanents back then because it wasn't manly.

December 2 - Who was your favorite movie star?

Gary Stewart and Rod Cameron.

December 3 - Why?

I liked them.

December 4 - Were you ever in a life-threatening situation?

December 5 - If you have another childhood picture for me put it here.

Me with my paternal grandfather (Granddaddy Robert Ridley Walker) about 1944-45.

December 6 - Do you have any knowledge of how your first name was chosen?

No. I think my mother liked the sound of it.

December 7 - Do you have a Pearl Harbor Day memory?

December8 - Tell about your favorite store to brouse in as a child.

December 9 - What did you like to look at there?

December 10 - Tell about something you built, designed, or made as a youth.

Two things I remember building in bible school were a cypress knee lamp and a tray made from plywood and rope and decorated with a woodburner.  My mother kept them in her house until she died.  I don't remember what happened to them.

December 11 - Were you ever in a church or school Christmas or Holliday pageant?

I participated in many church activities as a youth.  I sang bass in the qoir for years and participated in the Christmas pageant each year.

December 12 - When did you put up your Christmas tree?

After Thanksgiving.

December 13 - Where did you get your Christmas trees?

For years, we cut a young pine (long leaf) for our tree and later purchased a spruce or other Yankee tree.

December 14 - How did you decorate your trees?

Very carefully.

December 15 - Did you hang a Christmas stocking?

Yes.

December 16 - Did your Grandpa or Grandma ever make gifts for you?  What?

December 17 - Tell about the neatest present you remember giving to your Mom.

December 18 - Tell about the neatest present you remember giving to your Dad.

December 19 - Tell about the best Christmas present you ever received.

December 20 - Tell about the worst Christmas present you ever received.

December 21 - Tell about your expeeriences with Santa Claus.

December 22 - Did your family go to a special church service at Christmas?  Tell about it.

Yes. Every year.

December 23 - When did you open your presents?

We never opened out presents until Christmas morning.

December 24 - Tell about Holiday celebrations at a relatives house.

December 25 - Do you remember a “best” Christmas?

December 26 - Share any other Christmas memory.

December 27 - Do you remember celebrating any other special wedding anniversaries of your parents or grandparents?

December 28 - Do you have any knowledge of the origins of your family name?

Our family name is related to the Walkers from Ireland and Scotland.

December 29 - Is there anything else that you would like me to know about your childhood?

December 30 - Did you ever make New Year’s resolutions as a youth?

December 31 - What special memories do you have of New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day?