My Aunt's husband
Going way back to 1957 when my brother and I stayed with my aunt Francis and her husband Jimmy in Wilson North Carolina while my mother was hospitalized. I guess I was 7 at the time and my brother 12. From what I was told, Jimmy had worked for DC transit in the early 40's, similar to my father, but abruptly left that job to move from DC to Northa Carolina before my brother was born in 1945. Hanky-Panky - my father thought so -- as told to me.
Now, Jimmy had 2 acres of land along a highway that was carved out of a much larger family farm, so he had a miniature farm with chickens, a hog and a garage where he worked freelance on cars. I vividly recall the garage side yard chock-full of old spark plugs. We had no idea what work aunt Francis was involved in, but she had 2 kids of her own. The daughter (Judy) was in a school for the deaf in NC and Wayne was in some type of military academy, so neither were home except for Christmas.
There were some good memories and some odd memories during this stay. The hog was eventually slaughtered, and man were the spareribs out-of-this world, but next came the boiled chitterlings with my brother and I hugging the toilet. Man were those chitterlings nasty. Strangely, one night our aunt came into the room with a small chocolate treat - only the next day, without warning, we both had the runs and getting a whopping for messing our drawers. Moreover, when Wayne came home for Christmas, we went out shooting birds - that ended up on the differ table. The dichotomy was stunning even for a 7-year-old: Wild birds for dinner while the aunt is driving a 1956 Thunderbird convertible.
I never saw Wayne or Judy again after that Christmas in 1957. I understand Wayne passed away a few months before Jimmy (1999) and Judy passed away a few years ago. I did run into Jimmy once again at a family gather in the mid-90s and the last I saw Aunt Francis was when she, and her mother, picked me up at National Airport for the funeral of my mother October 11, 1971. Strange how some things are like yesterday.
Now, Jimmy had 2 acres of land along a highway that was carved out of a much larger family farm, so he had a miniature farm with chickens, a hog and a garage where he worked freelance on cars. I vividly recall the garage side yard chock-full of old spark plugs. We had no idea what work aunt Francis was involved in, but she had 2 kids of her own. The daughter (Judy) was in a school for the deaf in NC and Wayne was in some type of military academy, so neither were home except for Christmas.
There were some good memories and some odd memories during this stay. The hog was eventually slaughtered, and man were the spareribs out-of-this world, but next came the boiled chitterlings with my brother and I hugging the toilet. Man were those chitterlings nasty. Strangely, one night our aunt came into the room with a small chocolate treat - only the next day, without warning, we both had the runs and getting a whopping for messing our drawers. Moreover, when Wayne came home for Christmas, we went out shooting birds - that ended up on the differ table. The dichotomy was stunning even for a 7-year-old: Wild birds for dinner while the aunt is driving a 1956 Thunderbird convertible.
I never saw Wayne or Judy again after that Christmas in 1957. I understand Wayne passed away a few months before Jimmy (1999) and Judy passed away a few years ago. I did run into Jimmy once again at a family gather in the mid-90s and the last I saw Aunt Francis was when she, and her mother, picked me up at National Airport for the funeral of my mother October 11, 1971. Strange how some things are like yesterday.
