The Start of My Time on My Own.

            I spent my high school years mostly on my own. My freshman year I stayed with my sister and her husband Joe. Daddy had got assigned to a church in Sun Bright and moved there with Mama, and my two younger brothers, Jerry, and Steve. I was fourteen years old, so it was decided that I would stay with Joann and Joe to take care of the farm animals. I was more than happy to stay and be away from Mama. Joann and I had always got along well, so I was excited about staying with her. She worked during the day, but was home at night. Joe worked away and was only home on the weekend. He was a person that you didn’t cross, so I was glad that he was away. Joann didn’t boss me. This arrangement gave me lot of freedom, and for the first time I could be like other kids at school and attend school events and hang out with friends.

            My life up until this time had been very restricted. My Dad pastured church, so our life was limited to home and church. We also had lot of chores, and enjoyed little free time of our own. If we had our work done, we would stay out of sight, because if Mama or Daddy saw us not busy, they would give us job to do. This is not to say that we didn’t have a good life, because in many ways we had a very good life. But at fourteen I was really enjoying my freedom.

            My year with Joann was a happy time in my life. I was enjoying my first year in High School and the added freedom that entails. We still had a couple of milk cows, pigs, chickens, and strawberry fields. I was the only one to do all the work, but I also made money from them. As children we never had any money of our own, so I felt that I had suddenly gained a better financial status. For the first time, I was able to go out with friends to the movies, Dairy Queen, and School Football games. I was too young to drive, so I hitched hiked wherever I wanted to go. Hitch hiking became my mode of transportation for the next three years.

            During this time of limited supervision, I would stay with my older brothers Billy or Jimmy. Joann lived in Daddy and Mama’s house in Campaign, while Billy lived in McMinnville, and Jimmy in Sparta. I attended High School in McMinnville, so I would stay with him on weekends. I didn’t like to be around Joe, as he was short tempered and would knock Joann around. Billy was making hand tooled leather belts and purses, so I would make money doing these with him. I enjoyed working with the leather. I often would hitch hike to Sparta and spend the weekend with Jimmy. He was always on the go, so we were likely to go to Nashville or the Carolinas for the day. This bouncing between my brothers and sister houses started a pattern that would become my life through my High School years. It also started a pattern of no one knowing where I was, even though I would tell Joann that I was going to either Billy or Jimmy’s, she never knew when I would reappear. I would return to Joann’s before Joe left for the week, so she didn’t have to stay along.

            I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was setting in motion a lot of events that would become my life for a long time. I was doing odd jobs, such as hauling hay, mowing lawns, pulling bushes, or anything else that I could do to earn money. One thing I had learned from Daddy was how to work and earn money. We had always earned our own money to buy our clothes, and lunch money. We didn’t have the option to ask him for lunch money. Often I didn’t eat lunch at school, because a lack of money. It was an embarrassment not to have the money for lunch, so I would leave school during lunch and just hang out in one of the many vacant houses in Campaign. So with my new found wealth, I became normal and was able to have lunch in the schools cafeteria. I realized that the other kids took this for granted, but not me. Also during this time, if I needed any money, Joann was good at giving me what I needed. She also was encouraging me to be involved and do things. She had grown up with the same restrictions. She wanted me to have more than what she had as a child. 

            During the school year we saw little of Daddy and Mama, but that was coming to an end with the arrival of the strawberry season. This was a busy time for all of us, and it was one of the major sources of income for Daddy. They were to come stay in Campaign during strawberry season, sell the cattle, and take me back with them afterwards. I loved strawberry season, but I didn’t want to go back with them to Sun Bright.