Trials of a Teenager
At about 14 years old I started delivering groceries for my dad’s grocery store and, as such, I was given a driver’s license. My Uncle Dudley taught me to drive – on a tractor in the middle of a field. I also worked in the store after school and on Saturdays. I made 25 cents an hour. I didn’t understand that something called Social Security took money out. I didn’t understand what Social Security was and I didn’t like it. The very idea of taking money away from me because I needed it.
A change in our household took place in 1945 when my brother Dick, who was 15 years older came back from WWII as a Lt. Commander (I was 13), I was mightily impressed – lots of stripes and, more important, a sword with a gold hilt. He lived in our home in Olustee, Oklahoma for several months before going to Southern Methodist University to study law.
He also brought me an illustrated copy of the Three Musketeers which I devoured, and it led to my reading many of Dumas’ other books which I found in the Olustee Library. (see also: http://batik31.wordpress.com>Libraries>Olustee,Oklahoma) Later, he wanted it back for his library. Strike against him!
My impression soon turned sour!
I was dating Joy Beth Power in the nearby town of Altus, Oklahoma which was 11 miles from Olustee. I had been using the family car until Dick wanted it was for his dating. Joy Beth and I had to use the family truck! Another strike against him!
Joy Beth was talented. She could play Malagueña on the piano and I couldn’t. Also, she could type 105 words per minute, and I could only type 95.
As we left for college, we swore eternal love. She went to Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee and I, to the University of Oklahoma (OU) in Norman.
Since I had never taken an aptitude test, at OU, I was required to do so, and I did quite well – 98 percentiles on both the English and Math. I was told that I should be an engineer. The test on math was mostly algebra based. I had loved algebra because, following the rules – upside, backwards, etc. – could always get the correct answer. There was no reason to understand why. Calculus “done me in” and I quickly changed my major to Music.
My brother, Bill, was 8 years older than I and went to the OU. He majored in architecture which was a five-year course; however, after 4 years he left for World War II. He came back from the war to finish his degree and graduated in June 1948. Also. At the same exact time, I began my studies in summer school. I inherited his desk, his typewriter, and his job at the University Book Store where I worked until my graduation in 1952.
In a few weeks, I had saved enough money to take the bus to Shawnee to see Joy Beth – about 40 miles away.
Upon my arrival, I was told that she had just left on a date. I didn’t wait for her return but left immediately. I learned that eternal didn’t really mean eternal to her.
I remembered the line “my head is bloody but unbowed” that my English teacher required us to memorize – 50 lines of poetry each semester.
| Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be For my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years Finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul. |
| Invictus
by William Ernest Henley |
I popped upright and soon found some else to date – her name was also Joy, whose last name I don’t remember.
On one date, we went to the Teepee Restaurant. It was a giant teepee close to the University. We were going to have beer – which I had never tasted. I found that I couldn’t have one since I was only 17; however, Joy, being 18, drank one and I was destined to have a “pop”. Another instance of being “knocked down” and having to get up and smile.
By-the-way, the rest rooms were outside in the back and were 2 small teepees with signs – Hepee and Shepee.
| Holmberg Hall |
That summer was new to me in several ways: I heard Frank Lloyd Wright, in the gothic building of Holmberg Hall, say, “this should never have happened.”; I heard a soprano sing an E flat above high C, and my organ teacher, Miss Andrews, saying “I would never make a great organist because your feet were too big” (13AAA). She soon found out there was another reason – minimal talent.
Then something happened which I didn’t understand, and I didn’t know how to handle.
I was standing in the back of the auditorium in Holmberg Hall listening to Bob Witley practice on the great organ. Later, Bob was a Fulbright Scholar and the first winner of the American Guild of Organists National Competition. Standing there was also another male. Not saying a word, he grabbed my hand and placed it on his private parts. Shocked, I didn’t know what to do so I ran to my dormitory which was about a block away. I was scared.
Later, that same man came up to me in the cafeteria and asked if he could sit with me. I said “no”. After eating my macaroni and cheese (the one thing that I could afford and I loved), I went next door to the University of Oklahoma Book Store where I worked. In shock, I told Helen Skinner, my supervisor, my problem. She said “Joe, he is a homosexual”. What? I had never heard that word. The dictionary wasn’t very helpful.
That same day at closing time, he was waiting outside the bookstore. Helen helped me by opening the loading dock door and letting me out. Whew! I was never bothered by him again.
Meanwhile, my father had sold the grocery store and bought a farm. He loved farming. He farmed his farm, his stepmother’s farm, and my brother Dick’s farm. My father was a good man and one summer I decided that I would go home to help. Big mistake!!
| Image of a Ford tracker |
The first day he put me on the Ford tractor. I would plow one way and, turning around, would meet the dirt that I had stirred up. At the end of that row, when I turned around, I would again meet the dirt that I had stirred up. For 10 hours!
Later, on my brother Dick’s farm – it was the one with the rattlesnake den – we built a fence to keep the cattle in. As we finished, the cattle stampeded and tore down part of the beautiful new fence. If those cows had been mine, I would have been tempted to kill everyone.
Another day we came across a rattlesnake which I pinned down and my father killed. After that, I ate my lunch on the tractor.
I bathed twice every evening! I remember that the water was so “hard” that we couldn’t use bar soap. Instead, we “made do” with the granular Doz that was used for dish washing.
That summer at OU was an awakening in many ways. I matured faster that 3 months than at any other time in my life,
