Play in the Desert
Weekdays were usually spent at the golf course. Wednesday night, Sunday morning and Sunday evening I would go to the West Side Baptist Church. I even sang in the choir for awhile. Now the Baptists there and I did not see eye to eye too well. Like so many people, they don’t want to “think” about their faith and they certainly don’t want it challenged. I loved to read, and still do. About every 10 years I read the Bible from cover to cover. What I have figured out for me is that the Bible is worth reading, but you must think about the words. Too many Christians are very un-Christlike. The fundamental tenet of the New Testament is mercy and forgiveness. Too many Christians are incredibly judgmental of everyone but themselves. Me too often, but I try not to be. I like the Unitarian points of view often but they have no real substance. I like Pentecostal hymns and service but not their rigid attitude. (I will follow this thread more later…assuming I actually finish this.) One book I recommend to people is Asimov’s Guide to the Bible. It is not about religion or faith but about the words of the bible. While I am not religious but I am quite spiritual…..again more later.
Often I would go to the Cook’s for dinner and to play cards. We would play Hearts for hours and talk and eat and have fun. Winston was 23 Phyllis was 15, way too young to be a mother. She did look and act older. They had a son, I can’t remember the name. Often Phyllis would nurse her son. Then in the south that was a more common thing to without being covered up. It was a major distraction to me. Winston and Phyllis were my best friends. I would talk to both of them about life, marriage and with Winston, women.
It was about this time I became engaged to my girlfriend, Carolyn Lee Winner. She preferred to be called Carol though. I had purchased an engagement ring and wedding ring via the BX (base exchange). It was not a large ring and I mailed to her in Michigan. She found the box hanging from her door knob. Not very romantic but she was delighted.
After I got a car, I would frequently go to Midland, Texas to go roller skating. Midland was about 40 miles from Big Spring and much larger. An oil town and quite dirty in my opinion. Anyway we would make the trip in under 30 minutes. My 51 Ford would go 104 miles an hour. One time hitchhiking with Winston we were picked up by two farmers who were cruising down a two lane road at 120 miles an hour. Now the back roads in Texas then had no lights or stop signs at intersections, so they just kept a look out for possible collisions. So, being on a divided highway pushing my POS car at its max seemed like a good idea. One night as we were returning about midnight, I was approaching a Cadillac who was doing about 90 mph suddenly flashing lights of a police car came on behind me. The cop passed me and pulled over the Caddy. Perhaps being a Baptist did have some pull in Heaven.
Growing up poor I did not have much sense about money. I had had a few odd jobs as a boy. I was a pin setter in a semiautomatic bowling alley, had two different paper routes, sold papers on a corner, did yard work, and was a porter at a bowling alley. Now I truly had everything that I needed growing up, especially love and encouragement. My parents encouraged me to read and by age seven I was devouring all the magazines my parents had. Life magazine and Colliers are all that I remember now. Clawson did have a small library that I came to love and I read a fair number of their collection.
Now that I was in the Air Force, there was more food than I could eat. I had a good place to sleep. I had a mostly fun job, and they paid me more money than I had ever had before $78 a month. $18 of this went for a savings bond (I wish I had kept on saving 20 plus percent of my gross pay).
I spent some little bit on keeping my uniforms clean an pressed and probably spent money on junk food—but I don’t remember. I did go into Big Springs often and frequently would visit Zales Jewelers. This was a national chain but I didn’t know it. They had many neat things beside jewelry. I did look at engagement rings and wedding rings for Carol but Base Exchange had better rings. Zale’s did have a tape recorder that I wanted. It was $208. They agreed to sell it to me for $10 a month. I think it was for two years. Anyway this was state of the art stuff then. A reel to reel recorder. Typically it could record 30 minutes of high quality sound. My friends and I enjoyed playing with it. We would improvise stories, gags, various comedy routines and more. Others would borrow it to record music. It was probably not worth $208 but I had no way of knowing that then. I know I did not like having monthly payments—still don’t. What I know is that they made credit too easy to too many GIs. Today the same thing occurs with credit card companies and banks.
Now the savings bonds I was buying every month were sent to Carol for safe keeping. I had named her beneficiary. Her mother, Arlene, was quite worried at seeing her daughter’s name on them. I am sure Carol’s parents were quite happy when I went into the Air Force. They hoped they had seen the last of me. 1961 was Carol’s senior year at Clawson High. Her parents had moved from Clawson to Pearl Beach, Michigan. Pearl Beach was a tiny town near Lake St. Claire. Carol stayed in Clawson renting a room from my first through third grade teacher, Vera Clack. I was home in Michigan for a short while in February. I would park in front of Carol’s apartment for quite awhile necking and petting. Sometimes Ms. Clack would come out and make Carol come inside. Ms. Clack obviously knew what was on my 18 year old mind.