Growing up in a small town of 1500 people in the 1940s was interesting. At least what I can remember of it. It was a coal mining town for a while until the mine gave out. Their web site is pretty good (www.royaltonillinois.com). One interesting picture to me is from 1926 of the cast of “A Womanless Wedding”. An all male cast that surprised me when I saw it. My grandfather, Jim Hicks, is the bride!! Talk about getting in touch with your feminine side! It’s sad that one of the pictures you have of a grandfather and he’s wearing a dress (a wedding gown at that).
I remember – getting up one morning in the winter. It had snowed and when I looked outside there was a large, white Snowy Owl sitting on a fence post across the street. I don’t remember anything else about that day except the image of that owl.
I remember – my father taking me fishing one night with a friend of his. There was a small lake near where we lived and they had trot lines that they checked. I still remember the smell of carbide lanterns. We were sitting around a small fire when we heard an owl hooting. It sounded to me like it was saying whoooo. My father told me it was asking my name so I shouted out “Jim Hicks”. It hooted again and my father told me to shout louder. I don’t know how many times I yelled “JIM HICKS” as loud as I could. I guess they got tired of their little game after a while.
I remember – running and playing all over the place with friends. One time I took a fall in a corn field that had just corn stalk stubs left in the ground. I ripped a gash in my knee about two inches long that bled something fierce. I can still see the yellow fat showing in the wound. I limped home crying and tried to get past my mother. She made me show it to her and immediately rushed me to a doctor. They put eight or ten stitches in it and it made a nice big scar. The doctor told me that I was lucky that it wasn’t a little lower or I would have lost my kneecap. Sometimes I wonder how I survived my childhood.
I remember – my grandfathers funeral, at least part of it. They had his casket in our house which, I’m told, was a common thing to do then. One of my aunts made a scene by wailing and throwing herself on the casket. She was wearing a mink (or faux fur) coat.
I remember – going over to a friends house to watch television. It was one of the few in town. I can’t recall which programs but do remember being fascinated by the new gadget.
I remember – playing tricks on people at halloween. The old dog poop in a paper sack, sitting it on fire on somebodies porch, and laughing while they stomped it out. We would also take shelled corn and throw them at houses. Once we threw some at the Goat Man’s porch (don’t remember why he was called that). We didn’t know he was sitting in the shadows at the time. He chased us down the street screaming “God damn sunabitchees”. It’s hard to replicate his accent in print.
I remember – my teacher from first grade. I don’t remember her name but I do remember a valuable lesson she taught me. I was cutting up in class one day. She called me up in front of the class and told me to hold out my hand. Then she whacked me across the knuckles with a ruler. Hurt like hell! Taught me to not screw around in class anymore.
(To Be Continued)
Jim's Memory Walk 