I went to see my parents for the Father's Day week end. Went to church with them and out to Rosa's for lunch. Oh my goodness! I stretched that meal into three, it was so much food. The eatery brought out slices of chocolate cake for all the dads. It's so nice to see someone go the extra mile.Daddy was born in the Depression Era. He was one of eleven children born to Gid and Ola Crutchfield. He's also a twin and for many years the brothers lived just down the road from eachother. Lester and Vester once ran over a flock of guinnies just to see if they could be run over. The saying was that they were too fast for a car...well, these weren't of the "swift " breed and evidently the Crutchfield boys were faster in the Model-T. Vicie Lee ran out to see what the commotion was and found those two dead birds that belonged to Mr. Cutler down the road from their farm. She dressed them quick as she could and made Guinnie stew.
The family also used to pick blackberries and sell them to the colored folk in a neighboring community. If they got 25 cents a gallon, they were doing good. Daddy can't remember very well but I wonder if it was less, 'cause 25 cents was hard to come by.
Last year I took Daddy to the doctor and as we rouned the corner at 1510 he burst out with a story. Randomly he said, " That's the old Smiley place. One time Snowbie Jo called me and said, Lester, go to the house and look behind the door and find my shoes. He went and sure enough, they were right where she said." She was in town, he was in the country. He delivered those shoes. I pictured some little old lady dressed the way my Granny used to dress in her polka dot dress. No, this lady wasn't old...maybe she was his age. I'll never know. The story came and was gone just as quickly. I fell in love with her name though. What a great story.
Dad also once took a bus cross country with his future sister-in-law so she wouldn't travel by herself to see her fiance'. He served his country in the Merchant Marines and U.S. Army. He knew to keep neccessaties with him when he was abroad, like his coat. He kept the issued cigarettes (which he never smoked) and sold them to men who wanted them to make a little money. He sent most all of his money back home to his parents to support them and he lived off what the U.S. gave him. Onboard ship he loaned his coat to other sailors who hadn't the forthought to bring one. Everyone on watch would take turns in the night wearing Dad's coat. He was once on a ship that was one of near a hundred out in the ocean and all the ones around him were torpedoed. His was safe. He's had a life of many stories.
He laso served as County Judge my first 16 years. He went from a country boy who educated himself to the Judge. To my knowledge he's the only one who did that. The others were lawyers first. Quite a man to live up to. Happy Birthday PePaw!!!
