SnoopSue's News & Views: MY BROTHER BILL

My brother Bill is the closest one of my brothers in age to me. There are only a couple years difference in our age with him being the younger. When we were kids we did a lot of playing in the woods, creeks, fields and barns. Picked a lot of blackberries walked to school, walked to church and to Cole's and Lamar's stores. Played with the Humpherys, Carrs, Reesers and eventually the Lawsons. There was no television, cell phones, i pads, play stations, x box, Nintendo's, digital games or anything else so we had to entertain ourselves. The first ones on our road that got a TV that I remember were the Reesers. We would go to their house and watch The Little Rascals. I don't recall a lot of the things Bill did when he was younger but I am sure my brother Ron could give you an ear full. I always thought Bill got more 'whippings' than the rest of us. I remember when we would go to school my dad would let him out of the car and he would be back home before dad could get to work. I remember when we went to North Acres church him and the Mellon boys would 'rock' poor ole Clarence Elmore in the outside toilet and not let him come out. Clarence was a little preacher man that had a speech impediment and would stutter a lot but when he preached he didn't stutter at all. He loved my dad and we always said if Dad jumped off the Gay Street Bridge Clarence would be right behind him. It was a real game to throw rocks at the outside toilet when someone was in it so they couldn't come out. I have asked the family for stories about Bill and here are a few of them. My brother Ron has lots of memories about our brother Bill. He said he could start with the time he was a child and brother Bill invented child abuse. But he said he dare not go there but wanted to dwell on his brother Bill as the compassionate man that he has become. Although Bill was always the first one to go "whope" anyone who picked on his little brother Ron they would soon realize the wrath of a big brother was like a momma hen protecting her chicks. He said when he went to college Bill would always give him a little extra money if he needed it. Ron, along with the rest of us, remember Bill's act of self sacrifice in volunteering for the extra tour in Vietnam so our brother Jim wouldn't have to go.

That gives us all a sense of pride. Bill has provided for his family very well and his three children have turned out to be wonderful individuals and citizens. My sister Mary said she remembers hiding behind the door when Bill would get a whipping. I told you I remember him getting more than the others. I remember one time my dad was going around and around in the kitchen giving Bill a whipping and my mom made him stop so Bill must of really been in trouble that time. Mary said one time Bill gave her a Baby Ruth package and tried to get her to eat it when he had filled it with rabbit balls. And he had her touch a radio in the basement so it would give her an electric shock. She also remembers him not wanting to go to school as I mentioned above and would go out the back door of the school after Daddy would drop him off at the front door. She was with him when he was driving and he ran into the back of a car and knocked her over in the front seat. As with me he always scared her when she rode in the car with him because he drove too fast. She remembers also when he joined the Army and went to Germany and went to Vietnam. He came home unexpectedly from Vietnam and was there when mother got sick and they thought she was going to die. I think that was when she almost hemorrhaged to death following a diverticulitis rupture. My sister June remembers the tender, compassionate side of Bill. The tears that flowed when our mom died, the arm of love wrapped around her at the deaths of her husband and daughter. Bill is always the first to buy groceries and honey baked ham and turkey when we have a death. June has been like a second mama to Bill and it is her house that the first stop is made when he is visiting. Of course he likes to smoke and drink coffee with her. We also remember the day they were working on the septic tank and Bill fell in. My great nephew Andy was telling about one time when Bill was telling all of the little kids a ghost story. He was sitting under the big tree that was in the middle of the field between us and the Hairs before any houses were built in the field. They were all sitting under that tree (I think it might of been a hickory nut tree) and Bill was telling the ghost story. It got scarier and scarier and then all at once a ghost (someone covered with a white sheet) came walking down the hill and all of the kids were scared to death and went running down the house toward mama's house. I am sure Bill had planned this ahead and had the ghost come just at the right time. Bill came to my house one night when we lived in the little block house closer to the road and he brought a girl with him. He came in sat down on the couch never introduced her, sat there and talked to us for a while and then said, "come on stupid lets go". To this day I never knew her name or anything about her. Bill was a fast driver and I remember one Wednesday night he came to get me and Pam to take us to church and we were going down Washington Pike on that stretch close to Stoffel's dairy and I looked over and he was going over 100 miles and hour. I said if I ever got out of that car I would never ride with him again. But I did. One time Bill gave me a pig. He had raised it and then his kids wouldn't eat it because apparently they had made a pet out of it so when he had it killed I got the meat. Bill would get packs of brand new $1.00 bills at Christmas and give to my kids. They would be brand new and sometimes they would stick together and the kids would get more than they thought they had. Bill has a heart as big as a wash tub. He was always doing something for me and my family. When I had to go to Nashville to take my exams for my LPN License I did not have a car that was dependable to drive and he let me take his new car to Nashville. When our dad was sick and dying with Lymphoma Bill stayed night after night with him at Baptist Hospital. Bill volunteered for a second tour of duty in Vietnam just so our brother Jim wouldn't have to serve there while they were at war. Bill was one of James's groomsmen in our wedding.

Bill, Marvin, James, Chester

As we got older Bill married and we were both raising our families and we didn't get to see each other as much. He went to work for Southern Railroad and after a few years him and his family moved to Michigan where they stayed for several years and then he went to work for the Federal Railroad and moved to Texas where he lives today. So now it is longer and longer between visits. Bill has three children and one son lives in Michigan and is married and has 3 children, one son that works for John Deere and traveled to Brazil for work and met his wife there and they are now expecting their first baby. His daughter lives in Texas close to Bill and she has 2 children so soon Bill will have 6 grandchildren. Bill loves his coffee, cigarettes and dogs. He has finally retired and is one of those Hardee's guys that eat breakfast out. Bill also does some cooking and a lot of our phone calls are to get a recipe. He calls me when he has a cooking question. He likes to make homemade ice cream. I forgot to put my ice cream recipe and my banana pudding recipe in my cook book and he calls me for them. Sometimes its questions about Thanksgiving Dinner when he is cooking. Bill and his wife also collect a lot of antiques. They go to a lot of estate sales and have several cabinets full of things they have bought and collected over the years. It is always a happy feeling when we know Bill and his family are coming home for a visit. If we know in time either June or I try to make some chicken and dumplings for him and a pound cake or sour cream coconut cake. We all love our brother Bill and he is one in a million.