When our #2 son started to school, my wife said that she either wanted to go back to work as a Home Economics teacher, or have another baby. One of her little nephews stayed with us while his little brother was being born. We enjoyed him so much that we decided on having another baby.
Again, our goal was to have a child born around the middle of March. No. 3 wasn't quite ready by then, so he showed up on Easter Sunday morning, April 9,1950. I don't think he has had another Easter birthday, but is supposed to have one this century. He will miss it by one day this year. We named him after a maternal uncle and grandfather--Robert Harvey. We called him Bob.
Bob was a pleasant little fellow from the beginning! He loved his big brothers! After they went away to college, If one was coming to town, he would tell his friends that he would be busy visiting with them until they left. He liked to climb up in a big tree in the front yard and holler "SHOT" at kids passing by. That was a derogatory remark, and they would look around but couldn't see him in the tree.
Bob loved school and did well! He was popular with the teachers and the girls. He decided to go to New Mexico State University and study electrical engineering. He participated in a satellite tracking program in program in Alaska, Thailand,and Cyprus, being gone up to six months at a time. This paid his way through college.
In between trips he became engaged to a neat young lady, Gayle. Their wedding was scheduled right after the Thailand trip. I met him at the airport in El Paso, and he was sick with mono. I kidded him and said that I would hate to face my fiance and tell her that I had mono (the kissing disease as it was called). At the wedding she was sick, too, and we nearly had to hold them up for the ceremony.
They recovered, Bob graduated, and has had a wonderful career in the electronics field, ending up with a very responsible management position with Scientific Atlanta.
He felt the Lord calling him to ministry, and now he is working for a large church in Atlanta as their financial operations officer.
He is the father of two married daughters and one married son, and now has his first grandson, Parker.
Bob accepted Christ as his saviour as a boy, and has been active in his church ever since!
Thursday, March 29, 2007
Friday, March 9, 2007
Stress/Fear/Bonding
George delivered the Roswell daily paper during high school. One of his pet peeves was to go to a home to collect for the next month's papers, only to get an excuse--come back later.
The first of the month was stressful for him. This particular month, his mother had suggested that he not spend so much time with his girlfriend, Mary. To deal with the double stress, he decided to run away from home.
He drove the car he shared with his mother to a church fellowship. He didn't come home afterwards. Telephone calls to his friends produced no answers. Finally, I called the police and was told that they could do nothing unless I gave them permission to arrest him. I agreed.
Around 11:00 p.m. I finally received a call from a friend, who told me that George had gone to Ruidoso to spend the night with a former Sunday school teacher, whom I knew. A call to Ruidoso located him. I took the bus to Ruidoso, spent the night in the friend's motel, and drove home the next day with George. The bonding that took place was heart-warming. I gave no lectures or threatened punishment--I just listened and let him know that I loved him. He never ran away again .
The first of the month was stressful for him. This particular month, his mother had suggested that he not spend so much time with his girlfriend, Mary. To deal with the double stress, he decided to run away from home.
He drove the car he shared with his mother to a church fellowship. He didn't come home afterwards. Telephone calls to his friends produced no answers. Finally, I called the police and was told that they could do nothing unless I gave them permission to arrest him. I agreed.
Around 11:00 p.m. I finally received a call from a friend, who told me that George had gone to Ruidoso to spend the night with a former Sunday school teacher, whom I knew. A call to Ruidoso located him. I took the bus to Ruidoso, spent the night in the friend's motel, and drove home the next day with George. The bonding that took place was heart-warming. I gave no lectures or threatened punishment--I just listened and let him know that I loved him. He never ran away again .
Monday, March 5, 2007
Our Second Son
Our first child was born in March, and my wife liked that time of year for childbirth. However, George had other ideas. We welcomed him into the world on May 4 in San Antonio, the Alamo city! He was a happy little guy, and responded well to our moves to Big Spring, Boston, Allred, and to Santa Fe. There he began to limp. On taking him to the doctor, we found that he had a hip ailment they called Perthy's disease. The top of the femur had become porous and was flat on top. The only known cure was to keep him healthy and keep his weight off that leg. A brace was ordered. He walked around on that brace, and was the envy of his friends, who had no brace!
After a move to Roswell, NM, his doctor ordered him to stay in bed. We built a platform on his wagon, and his big brother pulled him around, up and down a ramp at the steps, and he kept a smile on his face all the time he was awake.
He progressed to crutches. These became his "machine guns" as he played war. Finally, just before he entered the first grade, the crutches were abandoned.
He liked school, but one day decided to "play hooky"--skip school. He spent a miserable afternoon trying to hide near some neighbors house until school was out. The neighbor notified his mother as to George's antics, so she wasn't worried. Finally, he saw that school was out so he went home. His miserable afternoon caused him to never skip school again!
His doctor told us that he could now have a bicycle. I brought one home while he was at school, and put it in his room. After school was out that afternoon, I followed him into his room. When he saw the bicycle he ran toward me, jumped up, grabbed me around the neck, and locked his legs around my waist! He was one happy little boy!
His next crisis involved his riding on a motor scooter and running into the side of a moving automobile. He was in a cast for quite awhile. He had just met a new girlfriend when the accident happened. She showed her loyalty, by staying by his side in the hospital and showing her friendship afterwards. When they were 19 they married.
He was drafted into the army during the Vietnam war, was injured during training, and received a medical discharge.
He attended college at Texas Tech and graduated from the University of Houston. He then graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and became a minister in southern Illinois. While working full time he was able to earn a PH.D. degree from Southern Illinois University.
He now ministers to students as a tenured associate professor of health education at Lamar University, Beaumont, TX. One day, while walking to class, his legs shut down on him. Following surgery, he became a paraplegic. He is wheelchair-bound, but drives himself to work and teaches his classes at the University.
Throughout his life he has refused to give in to adversity. He keeps a smile on his face, and is dearly loved by his family, students, and all who know him! He and his wife have one married son who is a psychiatrist in Oklahoma.
In addition to the role that George's wife, Mary, plays in his life, another precious lady, Marva, a home health care lady, appears at his home five or more mornings per week, to get him ready for his day's activities.
After a move to Roswell, NM, his doctor ordered him to stay in bed. We built a platform on his wagon, and his big brother pulled him around, up and down a ramp at the steps, and he kept a smile on his face all the time he was awake.
He progressed to crutches. These became his "machine guns" as he played war. Finally, just before he entered the first grade, the crutches were abandoned.
He liked school, but one day decided to "play hooky"--skip school. He spent a miserable afternoon trying to hide near some neighbors house until school was out. The neighbor notified his mother as to George's antics, so she wasn't worried. Finally, he saw that school was out so he went home. His miserable afternoon caused him to never skip school again!
His doctor told us that he could now have a bicycle. I brought one home while he was at school, and put it in his room. After school was out that afternoon, I followed him into his room. When he saw the bicycle he ran toward me, jumped up, grabbed me around the neck, and locked his legs around my waist! He was one happy little boy!
His next crisis involved his riding on a motor scooter and running into the side of a moving automobile. He was in a cast for quite awhile. He had just met a new girlfriend when the accident happened. She showed her loyalty, by staying by his side in the hospital and showing her friendship afterwards. When they were 19 they married.
He was drafted into the army during the Vietnam war, was injured during training, and received a medical discharge.
He attended college at Texas Tech and graduated from the University of Houston. He then graduated from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and became a minister in southern Illinois. While working full time he was able to earn a PH.D. degree from Southern Illinois University.
He now ministers to students as a tenured associate professor of health education at Lamar University, Beaumont, TX. One day, while walking to class, his legs shut down on him. Following surgery, he became a paraplegic. He is wheelchair-bound, but drives himself to work and teaches his classes at the University.
Throughout his life he has refused to give in to adversity. He keeps a smile on his face, and is dearly loved by his family, students, and all who know him! He and his wife have one married son who is a psychiatrist in Oklahoma.
In addition to the role that George's wife, Mary, plays in his life, another precious lady, Marva, a home health care lady, appears at his home five or more mornings per week, to get him ready for his day's activities.
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Our First Son...Jim
The year was 2020 (fake date...real son). We were expecting our first child. There was no way to determine the sex of the child, but the doctor thought it might be a boy. We wanted to name our first son after me with a Jr. added. Since I went by my middle name, we would call him the nickname, Jimmy. He was due on March 14.
I was working at the Social Security Board office in Amarillo. I had told the account number clerk to pick out a good number for Jimmy. She came to me March 13, told me about a number ending in 2020, but it had to be issued that day. I told her to go ahead.
Labor started during the night, we went to the hospital, and were told the baby would be born around 10:00 a.m. They gave her something and she went to sleep. She awoke around 9:30 and was dreading the delivery ordeal, but I told her she didn't have anything to worry about, he was born about 7:30 while she was still asleep.
I was in the room when he was born, but they told me to stand out of the way, so if I fainted I wouldn't cause a problem. In a few minutes I heard "It's a boy!"
We loved that little guy! It was so much fun to come home from work and get to play with him!We lived in a tiny apartment, and Jimmy's room was a closet. We took him everywhere we went--to the movies, to the grocery store, etc.
During his early years we lived in Amarillo, Sweetwater, San Angelo, Lufkin, Houston, San Antonio, Big Spring, Boston, and he had his fourth birthday in San Francisco.
These were WWII years. I was away from him in Hawaii for a year, and I remember what a thrill it was to see him when I flew in to Big Spring after I was discharged. His mother had dressed him and his little brother in little U. S. Navy uniforms.
Jimmy asked me one day, "Daddy, why to you smile every time you look at us?" It was obvious, I loved my sons.
We moved to Santa Fe for two years, and then he grew up in Roswell, NM, where he attended school from 2nd grade through high school.
We took him to church regularly, and one Sunday morning he went forward at invitation time and accepted Christ as his Saviour. The night he was baptized I stayed at home with his little brother, and my wife took him. When they returned home, I found out that both of them had been baptized!
We purchased our second home in l956 very close to Roswell High School, where he graduated.
He didn't show much interest in the girls at our church. He said they were all "hawk noses".
He had a job most of high school, and was a hard worker. He bought his first car, and I remember going to the bank with him to get it financed.
He graduated from high school, spent six months in the army reserve, went to Texas Tech for one semester, and he started dating Marlene. She sang in our church choir and sat right in front of me. She was definitely NOT a hawk nose!
Marlene's family moved to California, and Jimmy transferred to a junior college near where she lived. We went to the wedding in California. They were both 19!
He returned to Texas Tech, was recalled to the army, returned to Tech and graduated there with a mechanical engineering degree.
Jim (we dropped calling him Jimmy) has had a wonderful career. He worked for Boeing Aircraft his first year out of college, living in Seattle. He transferred to General Electric in Boston, and then to Texas Instruments in Dallas.
While in Dallas he started to graduate school at Southern Methodist, University, earning masters and doctors degrees in engineering in mechanical engineering .
Texas Tech hired him as an Assistant Professor of mechanical engineering. He later became a full professor and associate dean of the college of engineering.
He had always loved research. (As a teenager he had built a "still" to make alcohol under the house, and later set his room on fire with some experiment he was doing.)
He transferred from Tech to a government research laboratory, where he still works.
As with most fathers and sons, we had a few battles during the teen years. One day many years ago, I made a deal with him. I said "If you will forgive me for being a lousy dad at times, I will forgive you for whatever it was that you did." We shook hands on the deal. He has been a wonderful son, and I am very proud of him!
Jim and his wife, Marlene, have had a wonderful marriage, and are the parents of two sons, a chemical engineer and an architect. They have seven wonderful grandchildren.
I was working at the Social Security Board office in Amarillo. I had told the account number clerk to pick out a good number for Jimmy. She came to me March 13, told me about a number ending in 2020, but it had to be issued that day. I told her to go ahead.
Labor started during the night, we went to the hospital, and were told the baby would be born around 10:00 a.m. They gave her something and she went to sleep. She awoke around 9:30 and was dreading the delivery ordeal, but I told her she didn't have anything to worry about, he was born about 7:30 while she was still asleep.
I was in the room when he was born, but they told me to stand out of the way, so if I fainted I wouldn't cause a problem. In a few minutes I heard "It's a boy!"
We loved that little guy! It was so much fun to come home from work and get to play with him!We lived in a tiny apartment, and Jimmy's room was a closet. We took him everywhere we went--to the movies, to the grocery store, etc.
During his early years we lived in Amarillo, Sweetwater, San Angelo, Lufkin, Houston, San Antonio, Big Spring, Boston, and he had his fourth birthday in San Francisco.
These were WWII years. I was away from him in Hawaii for a year, and I remember what a thrill it was to see him when I flew in to Big Spring after I was discharged. His mother had dressed him and his little brother in little U. S. Navy uniforms.
Jimmy asked me one day, "Daddy, why to you smile every time you look at us?" It was obvious, I loved my sons.
We moved to Santa Fe for two years, and then he grew up in Roswell, NM, where he attended school from 2nd grade through high school.
We took him to church regularly, and one Sunday morning he went forward at invitation time and accepted Christ as his Saviour. The night he was baptized I stayed at home with his little brother, and my wife took him. When they returned home, I found out that both of them had been baptized!
We purchased our second home in l956 very close to Roswell High School, where he graduated.
He didn't show much interest in the girls at our church. He said they were all "hawk noses".
He had a job most of high school, and was a hard worker. He bought his first car, and I remember going to the bank with him to get it financed.
He graduated from high school, spent six months in the army reserve, went to Texas Tech for one semester, and he started dating Marlene. She sang in our church choir and sat right in front of me. She was definitely NOT a hawk nose!
Marlene's family moved to California, and Jimmy transferred to a junior college near where she lived. We went to the wedding in California. They were both 19!
He returned to Texas Tech, was recalled to the army, returned to Tech and graduated there with a mechanical engineering degree.
Jim (we dropped calling him Jimmy) has had a wonderful career. He worked for Boeing Aircraft his first year out of college, living in Seattle. He transferred to General Electric in Boston, and then to Texas Instruments in Dallas.
While in Dallas he started to graduate school at Southern Methodist, University, earning masters and doctors degrees in engineering in mechanical engineering .
Texas Tech hired him as an Assistant Professor of mechanical engineering. He later became a full professor and associate dean of the college of engineering.
He had always loved research. (As a teenager he had built a "still" to make alcohol under the house, and later set his room on fire with some experiment he was doing.)
He transferred from Tech to a government research laboratory, where he still works.
As with most fathers and sons, we had a few battles during the teen years. One day many years ago, I made a deal with him. I said "If you will forgive me for being a lousy dad at times, I will forgive you for whatever it was that you did." We shook hands on the deal. He has been a wonderful son, and I am very proud of him!
Jim and his wife, Marlene, have had a wonderful marriage, and are the parents of two sons, a chemical engineer and an architect. They have seven wonderful grandchildren.
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