He attended Beaumont School before the move and then Ritta Elementary. After finishing Elementary School he attended and graduated from Central High School. Of course me being the first child born after the move to the country I do not remember John's younger days. Sister June would be the one to remember most about those days as she is two years younger than John. She said she remembered one time when he swapped his fire engine to the Wagoner boys for some of their marbles. John always was a wheeler/dealer not always getting the best end of the deal. June also went to Central when John was there.
By the time I remember my brother John he was probably in his late teens. I remember one day he was going to walk to the end of the road and catch the bus and I had 'taken' his bus money. He came out of his bedroom ranting and raving about someone stealing his bus money. No one admitted anything. Another thing that was so funny was John loved tomato and mayonnaise sandwiches. He was fixing him one and my brother Ron and niece Judy who were probably about 3 years old grabbed his tomato and ran outside with it and was running around the house with John right after them when Judy took the tomato and put it down inside her panties. I don't remember if he ate it after that or not.
John liked to lay in his room and listen to classical and opera music on his radio. I don't remember him working much until after he went to the Army. After he left home we would go for long periods of time not hearing from him. I remember one night I was laying in bed and I could hear mom and dad talking about not hearing from John in a long time and worrying if he was ok or not. I begin to pray in my child like way and asked God to let John call so mom and dad would not worry about him and just as I finished praying the phone rang and it was him. That was the first time I ever thought that one of my prayers had been answered.
I asked my brothers and sisters for some memories about John. June said that one time something was wrong with the pump to the well and they weren't suppose to turn it on. Mom and dad went to church somewhere and while they were gone John turned on the pump and blew the well up.
Phyllis said she remembers him running off one of June's boy friends because he honked his horn for her to come out and John took the ball bat and ran him off. She thinks it was Onloe and if so he came back.
Mary says she just remembers that he rarely came home to see mom and dad.
Ron was 20 years younger than John and remembers him as the "most intelligent sibling that I had but seemed to always have struggles when it came to using his intelligence for good. The successes and failures that he had seemed to be a pattern. He would leave home, driving a beat up Volkswagen and come back home driving a new Cadillac. But we both would put others needs above our own. John would give you the shirt off of his back but if you had two shirts, he might take one of them. John was always proud of me and his praise meant a lot to me. I will always miss and love my big brother."
After graduating from Central where he played football John went into the Army and was a veteran of the Korean War. He attended the University of Tennessee from 1952-1956 where he majored in psychology. When he attended the university he was an active member of the student government and other student activities. He also took advanced courses in political science.
I am not sure what all John did while he was in the Army but I know he worked on radios etc. He was also an announcer for the Army Football Team. After coming out of the Army John went to work at the Radio Corporation of America where he was employed as a supervisor. He was sent by them to White Sands Missile Range in Lincoln County, New Mexico. This is where he met his first wife Maxine and where their daughter Suzette was born. John worked for RCA in New Mexico for several years. In 1960 our family, Mom, Dad, me, Bill, Mary and Ron, went for a visit. It took us several days to get there. We had stuff packed on top of the car and anywhere else we could put it. I was fixing to start my last year of high school. When we were going down through Georgia one of our 'stand out' slips blew off the top of the car down into a field. I said it was Mary's and she said it was mine. Any way hope some little girl in Georgia got some use out of it. Another thing that happened in Georgia was we stopped to go to the bathroom at a filling station and me and Mary went in and Mary locked the door and we couldn't get it open. She was always locking the door when we went in anywhere. So dad had to get the guy that owned the place to come and get the door open. He would say "now stand back in there little sugars" when he was trying to get the door open. Later we referred to this incident as "two little sugars in the ____ house". But back to our trip to John's house. When we got to the town they lived in we stopped at a grocery store in town to either buy something or get directions and there was this lady that was buying groceries and she had the biggest pile of groceries we had ever seen. Come to find out this was Maxine, John's wife, buying groceries for our visit. We all loved Maxine and also her mother Oma Nellie. Maxine had four other children by a previous marriage, Sandy, Debbie, Billy and Patty. We had such a good time on this visit. Suzette was just a few months old. John and Maxine had a red corvette convertible and we rode in it just over the border to Mexico to the bull fight and to eat and I got so sunburned that when I returned home and had my senior picture taken I had big blistered areas on my shoulders that were peeling and you can see them in my official senior draped picture. Also while we were there they taught my mom to make sopaipillas a delicious Mexican dessert.
While living in Lincoln County, New Mexico John ran for State Senator on the Democratic ticket. He lost by only a few votes. I am not sure how long John and his family lived in New Mexico but they eventually moved back to Tennessee. They lived in Knoxville for awhile and had two other kids John Alvino and James David. They were living here when I got married and Maxine bought me a hope chest and lots of sheets and towels to put in it. She also helped serve in my wedding and her two daughters Patty and Suzette were flower girls in my wedding.
Eventually John and his family moved to Manchester, Tennessee. They owned a restaurant at one time and also a bowling ally. I don't know much about their life for the next few years but John and Maxine divorced and the girls went with Maxine back to New Mexico and the boys stayed with John. I do not know any of the details of their divorce and John never told us what happened. We all loved Maxine and was very sad this happened and we stayed friends with her until she passed away. Her last visit with us was in the summer of 1992 before my mom died in December.
John lived in North Carolina for awhile and married his second wife Elva. She had two boys and he had the two boys. The marriage didn't last long and again they were divorced. Several years passed and again we had very little contact with John or his family. I am not sure of the year but eventually John came back home to live with mom. He had hit rock bottom and told us that Thanksgiving of that year he shared a can of dog food with his dog and decided to come back home to Tennessee. Reminds me of the Prodigal son. John had enjoyed so many good things in life so many riches and family but seemed to lose those things that were most precious. John lived with mom for a few years and graduated from Tusachum College in May of 1986. He married again to a lady named Norel who was originally from Ontario (I think this is right). They lived with mom for a while but moved to Dunedin, Florida where John lived until he died in 2002. Norel still lives in Dunedin. Norel is a writer and an artist. She wrote books about Little Echo and not only is she an artist herself but teaches art to other students.
John was home in January of 1992 when mom was diagnosed with cancer. In March we took a lot of family pictures. That summer John had open heart surgery and wasn't able to come back home for moms funeral in December of 1992. His last visit home was the summer of 1994. John had a lot of health problems during the last few years of his life including bladder cancer. He was also a diabetic. The last time I got to visit with my brother John was two weeks before his death. James took June and I to Florida to visit with him on August 6th of 2002 and he passed away on August 15th. John was cremated and it wasn't until November of the next year that his sons were able to bring his ashes back to Tennessee to be buried at Greenwood Cemetery along side of our mom and dad. I will say again you may not agree with the things I have said or may not see them the same way but this is my memories and my blog: Sues News and Views. A few pictures over the years
No comments:
Post a Comment