Buckshots

         I will always be able to remember December 14, 1957, was on a Saturday.   This was the date of my 7th birthday and I was free for the day from my second grade class at Jefferson Elementary.   My parents invited around six of my friends over, including George Head and the youngest of our fellow, 808 N. Willow, duplex-neighbor-dwelling Aleman family, David Aleman.   A birthday party was thrown for me, complete with chocolate cake and presents.          My folks gave me a pair of white, high top roller- skate shoes.  Once I got them on, I immediately fell and it took all my friends to keep me balanced and on my feet.  They then guided me down the sidewalk, yet I continued to fall every few yards.  This was going to take a while to master.      After cake and presents, my mother announced we were to be dropped off at the Texas Theater in downtown Sherman.  As part of a f...

      Part of the landscape of Sherman, Texas, in the 50’s and 60’s was the Mom and Pop grocery stores scattered throughout the older neighborhoods.   These were located every couple of blocks and were an extension of everyone’s home kitchen.          If you needed a loaf of bread, a quart of milk  or some other staple, one could walk to the corner store at the last minute and made the purchase.  These local grocers often made wonderful barbecue, tamales, chili or hamburgers.           When we lived at 808 N. Willow Street, in half of a duplex shared with the 7 member Aleman family, we had a grocer across the street and another around the corner, arrived by way of our alley.  In my younger days, I would walk across the street to the store with dad and younger brother Bob, often scoring bubble gum at 3 pieces for a penny.      As I was older, mother sent me across the st...

      I am blessed with many outstanding feminine friends from my youth.  Some wonderful personalities, demonstrated strengths, and attitudes that stayed with them and served to make for great spouses, parents and citizens.          A friend to this day, is my buddy Kay Kimbrough McKinney.  Kay and I dated a bit during high school and I enjoy her dry wit and original sense of humor.    She would always express what was on her mind and I never had to wonder what she was thinking.  I was her date to a dance and donned a pair of new red, spangly, corduroy trousers.  My father remarked I looked like a cross between Santa and Tinker Bell.    I ignored him, drove to Kay’s home and could hear her voice inside, before she opened the front door.    “OH, NO…NO, NO, NO…she stepped outside, suggested we get in my car and return to my house.  She walked with me up the steps to our home and w...

         Beginning around 1960, I became aware of the propaganda being pushed onto elementary school children regarding the communist threat.   Every shop, church, funeral parlor and school in Sherman, Texas, had brochures detailing the treacherous methods communists utilized to undercut our American lives.      These pamphlets often used “comic book-like” stories to make the point, “communists were everywhere!”  They worked their way into our society, they could be your next door neighbor, teachers or in our government.  People you do not suspect…friends, your other-wise funny uncle…Perhaps, YOUR OWN PARENTS could potentially be under the spell of these Atheist, Communist villains from Russia or China.  How did it happen?…we do not know, but be vigilant.  IT IS ALL UP TO YOU to keep communism out of Sherman.      This all scared me to death…supplemented with TV shows and monologues from our e...

      Every year since forever, the International Council of Shopping Centers holds a May convention in Las Vegas.   This event hosts 35-40,000 participants and now fills up the convention center with massive booths, displaying new and existing shopping center projects.        In the late 70’s, the developer’s booths were in the hotel suites along the Las Vegas strip.  Back to back, rapid fire meetings were held for retailers looking for shop space, landlords looking to lease space and vendors selling their wares.  I was working for developer, Melvin Simon and Associates, and for a couple of years was responsible for our leasing suite at the original MGM Hotel.         I scheduled the food, drink, rooms and everything associated with almost 3 days of deal making, involving over a thousand people in our suite alone.   We also had Ed McMahon present for several hours a day, serving as our corporate sp...

      In 1973, Melvin Simon and Associates transferred me from a small mall in Indiana to Irving Mall in Irving, Texas.   Though no longer an entry level role, it still paid “slave wages.”   In order to buy food, I needed to find something in radio or TV on the weekends.   I was hired for Saturday and Sunday evenings at WRR-AM, 1310 on the dial.   This was a grand old radio station with a long colorful history, located in Fair Park on the site of the Texas State Fair.       I talked and played music from 6 PM until midnight on Saturday.   On Sunday, Brad Sham (early in his career and destined to become the broadcasting “Voice of the Cowboys”) had a talk show with sport celebrities at 8 PM.   I handled the callers, played the commercials and interacted with Brad, when he wanted to banter.   It was easy and fun…Brad was a nice guy and I met some interesting people.        A couple of tim...

      My 50th high school reunion is coming up in October in Sherman, Texas and I (as always) have mixed emotions.   It is nice to see old friends, but bushels of them have died or fallen off the face of the earth and disappeared.   This causes me to pause over the enormity of life’s relationships, eternity and what we can actually accomplish in our allotted time here on earth.   One minute you are a pre-teen knuckle-head kid in elementary school, attempting to figure out life, making friends and establishing relationships.   The next moment, you are an almost 70-year-old knucklehead grandparent, your friends seem to be vanishing and you are still hoping to figure out life.   What is going on?   It is all too fast!   I want to nurture the good memories to savor as I age and to lessen the impact of those unpleasant events still lodged in my psyche.      Scheduled events for the weekend include tours of our old hi...