Profile
Photos
Comments
In the 50's and 60's, Â the Department of Agriculture set allotments on how many acres of wheat, cotton, peanuts, soy beans, etc., that farmers could plant. Â The ASCS office regulated that. Â Dad had huge aerial maps of all the farms that fell under the jurisdiction of our district ASCS office. .
He would go out to the farms to check to be sure they were in compliance with their various allotments. Â If they were not, they would be instructed either to pasture out the overage or to plow it under.
Then, Dad or someone else would go back later to be sure the farmers had complied.  The whole idea was to keep the market balanced, not over flooding it with too many goods, which would drive down the prices. Â
Can you just imagine what the tea party and the rest of the nut cases would have to say about that today?
At any rate, no one ever worked harder to see that we lived a good life..
Dad always found something to keep busy; yet, he still made time to pursue bettering himself educationally. Â He always regretted that he had no been able to go to high school because his father had died, and his mother needed his help.Â
So, during the cold winter months, he took correspondence courses in everything from advanced mathematics to geography to history to psychology. Â
He was so smart, truly self-educated and could converse equally well with a farmer, a banker, a lawyer or a business person on any topic that might arise.
Dad may have HAD a "red neck" from all the years outside, but he was NO "redneck." Â He was liberal in his political views and shrewd in his business ventures. Â Very few ever got the best of my dad in any conversation or business transaction.Â
His greatest wish was that all his children have a college education; he constantly stressed to us how important getting a good education was. It's because of my dad that I continue to study and learn even today. Â He taught me that education is a life long pursuit.
It would almost seem as though Dad were perfect, wouldn't it? Â Of course, he wasn't. Â He had his failings as we all do. For one thing, Dad never told us he loved us; he just showed us he did. Â He never hugged us ; he never kissed us , he never SAID he loved us. Â Neither did our mother.
Consequently, I fell into that same pattern with my children...SHOWING them how much I loved them rather than TELLING them. Â It was only after my children pointed that out to me that I began to work to change it. Â Having grandchildren has helped too. Â I now TELL and SHOW my family--both my children and grandchildren--how much I love them.
When Dad was in his early forties, he began to experience angina.  He went to the doctor who diagnosed his problem as "slow circulation." Today, doctors would immediately suspect blockage, but this was when open heart surgery was still hardly on the radar.
By the time I graduated from high school, the doctor told my dad that he could no longer work the long hours of farming because it was putting too much stress on his heart.
With no other options, my dad leased out his land, and we moved to Weatherford, where I was about to start college. Â Mother had recently finished cosmetology school, so she opened a beauty shop, Dad began working full time for the ASCS office and we began the second phase of our lives. Â That was in 1961.
During the next four years, that was the timbre of our lives. I went to college; Jim graduated from high school, joined the national guard, took his basic training, returned home, married, and enrolled in college;Â Larry was still in high school.
Then, the unthinkable happened. Dad was in a very serious car accident from which he never fully recovered.
(To Be Continued)
