Kansas City, Here We Come

My family with the Young's, somewhere along the 
the Alcan Highway.  Look how dirty our vehicles are. 

We left Alaska in 1973 and headed for Missouri. We were driving the same car down the highway that we had driven up four years earlier. However, this time it was summer. No snow, just a whole lot of gravel and dirt. Traveling with us were our friends the Young’s. Their son Chris was my age and he had two younger sisters. Just the opposite of our family of two boys and a girl. Some of the Young’s now live in Illinois, at least Chris and his family do, and his parents are in California. We all still keep in touch on Facebook. The trip down the AlCan would end up taking almost two weeks.

This was an exciting trip because we were going through Canada in the summer and the flowers there were so beautiful.  I remember thinking how clean it was.  There seemed to be no litter, anywhere. We had a brief stop in Calgary to visit with a "Hatch" family, that we knew from our congregational church in Anchorage. 

One of the most exciting things about the trip was the opportunity to go through Rapid City, South Dakota, where I was born.  I had not been there since I was a baby so it was fun to see the town of my birth as a teenager.

Google Earth photo of the corner I stood on when
I was 16, when it was the hospital where I was born. 
See previous blog for that pic.

We visited the hospital where I was born sixteen years before.  I wrote a little bit about this and had a picture in an earlier blog Honeymoon High Jinks.  As I mentioned there, it is no longer a hospital but is now an apartment complex.  

When you think of Rapid City, you think of Mount Rushmore and of course, we took time to go and see it for ourselves. Until you actually see it in person, you can't believe the enormity.  How did they do it? It almost seems to be an impossible endeavor but there it was, and it was magnificent! Below is a picture of us standing in front of the Presidents.  My brother Kevin looked so cool in his shades. It was a beautiful day to visit and one I won’t forget.   We also visited Yellowstone during this trip and saw Old Faithful. 

We had been in Alaska for four and a half years, so this was a hard move to make. We had lots of friends, some who we would never see again. We were going to a new place, where I would start high school, and we would not know a soul. Unlike schools on military bases, we would now be in a public school, where most of the kids grew up together. We would be deemed outsiders. But one thing you learn, as a Military Brat, is how to go up and introduce yourself to new people.  That was so important, when moving from place to place.  The kids at my school were very welcoming.  But it was still a scary time.

Today's Terri's Tidbit:  I discovered a really cool website that is great for genealogy but also has so many other possible uses.  It is the Digital Public Library of America (DPLA).   DPLA is a platform or a hub for many different resources bringing them altogether for easy access.  I have already found many references to things I have talked about in other blogs.  One was the Wilson County Tobacco Festival in the previous blog, Southern Pines Teen Shot in Hunting Mishap. The DPLA website has a bunch of pictures from that event, dating back to the 1940's.  It was fun seeing that Festival captured in time through those photos.  Some other things I found were old postcards of different towns that I have referred to. I found an old card with the Southern Pines train depot here, and this is what it looked like several years ago. (Please pardon the car mirror!)

There is a tab on the DPLA Homepage that says "Map" and if you go to the state you want, it will bring up all the info they have on their platform for that particular area.  This site has some terrific info but beware, it can be addictive!  

Honeymoon High Jinks

Clara Jean Garrison became Mrs. James V. Hatch on September 14, 1956, in the Minister’s Parsonage of Culdee Presbyterian Church. She wore a beautiful dress, hat and white gloves and Dad was decked out in a very sharp looking suit. Both sets of parents were in attendance along with numerous other family members. After the wedding, they set out for their honeymoon to the mountains in western North Carolina, ready to start their life together.

Wedding Day, September 1956 

After they had left, Clara Jean’s brother Fred realized he had their luggage in his car. He realized it too late, however, to catch the happy couple, as they were already way down the road. He was in a state of panic that the newlyweds would not have the stuff they needed for their trip. He tried everything to get the bags to my parents, even contacting the local law enforcement, but to no avail. No worries though. Dad said it was not a problem because they had all they really needed for their honeymoon.

They toured the mountains, a Cherokee Indian Reservation and went to visit one of Clara Jean’s sisters, during their time away. Knowing that dad would have to leave when they got home, probably made the trip seem shorter than ever.

Several days into the honeymoon they were driving along and there was this horrible odor emanating throughout the car. They had noticed it a little along the way but now it had gotten much more pungent. Dad is looking at mom and mom is looking at dad, wondering what or who was making the smell. Awkward! They finally figured it out that it wasn’t either of them, so they pulled off the road and went through the car and discovered an open can of sardines under the rug, beneath one of the seats. One of their relatives or friends had placed it there as a joke. It took a while to get the odor out but the thought of it made them laugh whenever it came up, even years later.

After they returned home, dad headed to South Dakota and mom stayed in North Carolina to finish school. At Christmas of that year, she headed up to join him in the frigid Rapid City weather. They began their life together a long way from North Carolina, a long way from home, a long way from family. 

A little over a year later, the first of their three children arrived in this world. Me! My mom had a very hard pregnancy. She was sick for many months and lost a lot of weight, which she couldn't afford to lose. I was born on January 6, 1958 at St. John’s Hospital, there in Rapid City. Years later, the hospital was converted into apartments. Our family went through Rapid City when I was 16 to see the town, Mount Rushmore and the hospital I was born in.

I asked my dad about the day I was born and he said, “We did not live far from the hospital. We had made several dry runs to time it, see how long it took, etc. The night your mom's water broke, we got up, got dressed, got her bag, got in the car and drove right past the hospital…we laughed about that for years. In those days you could not go in the room for delivery… I got word of your birth then took off to see you.”

Me standing in front of the hospital I was born in.

Our little family lived in an apartment, which used to be part of a local motel. It sat on the outskirts of town, on the road to the airport. It is still there today. I have pictures from back then with my mom and I, and outside of the change in color, it looks very much the same.

I don’t remember anything about our stay in South Dakota because I was still very little and we weren’t there long after I was born. As was typical of Air Force families at that time, we were off to a new base long before we had the chance to put down too many roots. However, I do know that while there, Rev. Rew Walz baptized me at First Presbyterian Church. Right after I was born he typed me a note and placed it inside a tiny white bible that he gave me. I still have both to this day.

It wasn’t long and we moved to Goldsboro, North Carolina. My dad was transferred to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base and on April 15, 1959, my brother Kevin came into this world. We are 15 months apart in age. He was my best friend and what one didn’t think of, the other did. We had many exciting adventures as kids, much to my parent’s chagrin. I’ll share more on our escapades later. 

This was a great place to go after being all the way out in South Dakota. Mom and dad were close to home again. Our house was on Luftberry Drive and when I went looking for that address on Google Earth, it looks like the houses of that time have been torn down and new ones constructed. The house was a Capehart home, which was typical military housing on several of the bases we lived on. If any of them are still standing, they are very old.

Kevin, too, knew little of his birthplace, as we were off to Elmendorf AFB, Anchorage, Alaska, long before he was able to remember Goldsboro. Moving to Alaska would once again take us a long way from Pinehurst/Southern Pines, North Carolina and to another very cold climate! Would we like it?

Terri's Tidbit for Today:  I really like my Amazon Prime!  With the Prime membership, you can get free two day shipping (I used an option where you could take a longer delivery time, still free, and got a $1.00 credit towards a book), you get great music you can listen to, you can watch lots of instant videos and I learned today that if you buy something from Amazon and they drop the price within a week, you can contact them and depending on what you bought, they may credit you the difference.  Because I have family all over the US, I really benefit from the free shipping but I love all the other features too.  

There's Something About a Man in Uniform

The Hatch family has been a military family for many generations. Over the years, we had heard some talk of having ancestors who had fought both in the American Revolution and the Civil War. I decided to start looking for the allusive family member who was the American Revolutionist. After much genealogical research, I discovered that my fourth great grandfather, Alexander Hatch, had served in that war and through him, I was eligible to be a Daughter of the American Revolution (DAR). 

I applied last fall, was accepted and was inducted into the George W. Kendall Chapter in Boerne, in February. Now I will have to begin my search for the ancestor who fought in the Civil War.

My dad’s uncles served in World War II and his Uncle Lawton was a Prisoner of War in Stalag 9B in Bad Orb, Germany, about 30 miles from Frankfurt. After he was captured, he and the rest of his group were forced to march for two days, moving towards their place of imprisonment. During that time, they were only given a little piece of hardtack to eat. They ate snow to stay hydrated. 

They continued to the next point, where they were put in a boxcar for a four-day ride. Sixty men were crammed into the car, which comfortably fit only 25. At one point they were in the rail yards and the RAF came over and bombed the area. They were locked into the car and basically, left to die.

He ended up at Stalag 9B. This particular camp was known as one of the worst Prisoner of War Camps that held American POW’s. It also held Italians, French, Serbians and Russians. Uncle Lawton said the conditions were horrible. There were windows but many of them did not have glass, and there was no heat. The food was the worst and he lost 30 pounds while in confinement.

During this time, he and the others heard very little about what was going on with the war. But eventually, some British soldiers came to the camp. They had some way of finding out information, so they kept the troops up to date on what was happening. They were eventually liberated, but Uncle Lawton wasn’t clear on the details of how all that happened. He came home, spent a few days processing out and then was allowed to go home to his family. An experience he would never forget.

My Grandpa Hatch wanted to serve in the military, but for health reasons he was not able to. So he did the next best thing. He became a Civil Service Fireman at Pope Field, which made him feel he was part of something important. He was also a volunteer fireman, for years, in Southern Pines, North Carolina.

My dad, James Vernon Hatch, was career Air Force but if he had not been pressured by a buddy, I wonder if he would have joined at all. In another one of those “things I never knew” scenarios, I asked my father why he decided to go into the Air Force. He said his buddy Harold, now deceased, kept bugging him to go join and he kept telling him no. At the time he said he was happy working at the local Modern Market, living at home, and dating, but his friend kept insisting. So in order to appease him, he went with him to the Post Office, met with the recruiter, and took the entrance exam. They were told they had made perfect scores. (Dad said “Yeah, right!”)

Anyway, the recruiter said there was a waiting list to get in, so he told the boys to go on about their lives and he would call when it was time to go to Raleigh for the physical and induction. Dad said he was still not going but Harold kept prodding. They got the call several weeks later, got on the train and went to Raleigh. Dad said they took the “ridiculous” short physical (Can you hear me? Yes?…Good, you’re alive. Welcome!). They ended up in a room with a bunch of other folks and he held his ground that he was still not going, when in comes an officer. “Please raise your right hand and repeat after me…etc. etc. ….so help me God. Congratulations, please go through that door and a bus will take you to the airport for Texas.” Hey, wait a minute! Texas? Dad said he didn’t have any clothes except what he had on, hardly any money and kept asking Harold, “What have you gotten us into?” 

Dad, early Air Force picture 

At this point, he had to call his mother and tell her what had just happened because she had no idea that he was joining the Air Force. By the looks of things, I don’t think dad had any idea either. But off they go to do their basic training in San Antonio and 21.5 years later he retired, having had a great military career. He was in communications, which took him all over the world. He received numerous awards, including: First Sergeant of the 2008th Communications Squadron and Airman of the Month for both the 740th AC&W Squadron and the 26th Air Division.

He retired a Senior Master Sergeant but I am certain he would have gone on to be a Chief had his daughter not made his life miserable around the spring of 1975. You see, the Air Force had decided to close the base where dad was stationed, and move everyone to Scott AFB in Illinois, right as I was to start my senior year in high school. So I threw a bloody fit. Dad had already served the amount of time required to retire, so he put in his papers to do just that, before the move to Illinois had to be made. As it turned out, the Air Force decided to wait another year before closing the base and told dad he could stay in for that time and then he would have to retire. So in 1976, he officially retired, out of Richards Gebaur AFB, in Kansas City, Missouri.

The things you do for your children! I know I have not said it enough...thank you dad! Not only for your service to our country but for being my dad! You are my hero, in oh so many ways!

Today's Terri's Tidbit: There is an app you can download that can help you raise funds for your favorite school. It is called Shoparoo. You simply download it, choose your school, take a picture of your receipts from a grocery retailer and points will be given that will earn them money. Receipts from stores other than a grocery retailer are entered into a monthly drawing for $1,000 that goes to a randomly selected, registered school. Lots of parents, grandparents and friends are taking advantage of this easy way to raise funds. Check it out here and start helping your favorite school now!

Southern Pines Teen Shot in Hunting Mishap

Jimmy Hatch was the class clown.  For anyone that has known my dad over the years, I suspect that doesn’t come as a surprise. He has always had a great sense of humor and has never known a stranger. He had lots of great friends growing up.  Even after all these years, he still tries to keep in touch with several of the really close ones. 

James Vernon Hatch

One of his friends from school, went on to be the North Carolina Boy’s Champion Tennis player, in spite of some injuries he suffered in an auto accident. Another friend opened a coffee shop in Washington DC.  It was one of the early beatnik hangouts that became famous.   He knew Penny Fuller, although she was younger, who went on to become an actress and another classmate became a famous artist.  His graduating class had 33 people. Sadly, only a small portion of them are still here today.

When my dad was a kid he hung out with his cousin David Johnson. They would get together and act out some of the old Western movies, where the Cowboys and Indians would fight each other. One of them would be up in a tree and the other would pretend to shoot him and he would fall out of it, just like the actors did. I always thought that they were lucky to not have killed themselves from the fall.

Dad played JV football until the day he got shot in the leg. What?? No Cowboys and Indians here. He was out at a farm, hunting with a friend, when they got separated. His friend saw some movement through the trees and thought it was a squirrel and fired a shot…right into my dad’s leg. That friend has since passed away but there were never any hard feelings between the two, and their friendship endured to the end.  Dad still has a big ole scar but it has never seemed to bother his gait.
 
Jimmy took all the required courses in school but his favorites were band and drama. He emceed the Junior/Senior proms, had the lead in the class play, played in the band at school, sang in a trio, and had a little band of his own with friends, called the Downbeats. He loved all these fun things and although he hated to study, he did graduate in 1954. 

Jimmy Hatch is on the second row, second from the left.  

His favorite teacher was Billy Williams, who he had for homeroom, chemistry, and biology.  She was also in charge of the proms. He said she was a great teacher, pushed him along, encouraged him to study (which was not something he wanted to do) but she would also let him get away with murder. He said they used to call her “Bat Cave”, (not to her face however), because she was from Bat Cave, North Carolina. Funny how certain teachers make a long term impact on your life. I have a few of those myself!

One of dad’s favorite memories is of Christmas. His mother would go all out. There would be lots of decorations, carols on the radio, and a bunch of presents. He said that being an only child, they spoiled him rotten. His mom always made fruitcakes during the holidays, too, just like my mom’s mother.

During the war years his mother’s job at the telephone company was considered essential to the war effort. She had to work many nights and weekends, so her time at home was precious. Dad's Grandma Hatch took care of him a lot during those times and he was crazy about her. Even though she would have to get a switch to him once in awhile, he still thought she was a wonderful lady. 

He remembers a time when they lived in Wilson, North Carolina, that they went to the Annual Tobacco Festival. There was a parade during these festivals. This particular year, Ava Gardner and Mickey Rooney were in that parade. Ava was from a town nearby and at the time, her and Mickey were dating. Dad said that his mom, Ola Mae, was beside herself because she was getting to see them. A wonderful memory for both her and my dad. 

Dad’s first job was at the Modern Market, working for Walter Emmett Blue, better known as W.E. He stocked shelves, took out groceries, swept floors, etc. He also worked as an apprentice electrician, at a radio station as a sports announcer, and for the water department cleaning and repairing water meters. He said his favorite job was the radio announcer because “you were somebody". He got a lot of attention from that job. He also wrote the football coverage for the local paper and that got him a lot of added kudos.  He loved his job at the Modern Market, too, and they promised him a raise to $100 a week if he would not go into the Air Force. I don’t think he ever got that raise…

Today's Terri's Tidbit:  Do you use Ebates?  If you order anything online, go to the Ebates site and order through them and a lot of stores will give you a percentage of your total back.  See their website here.  If you have a Tidbit that you think is worthy of sharing, just leave me a comment and I will try to work it into a future blog.  

Clara Jean's Box of Special Treasures

Being an Air Force wife is not an easy job. You pick up your family and everything in your home and move it, lots! From the time my mom married my dad on September 14, 1956, until she passed away, she moved at least twelve times. Some of those moves may have been in the same town where we moved from an apartment to a house. Her final move was to San Antonio in 1981. Considering that some people never leave their original homes, twelve times in 25 years is a lot of moves. Clara Jean Garrison Hatch knew how to pack. She had the moves down to a fine science. Since we were limited on weight by the movers, it was also a time to purge unwanted/unneeded items.

The first move in my mom’s life was from the hospital in Pinehurst, North Carolina to her parent’s home in West End, just a few miles down the road. Mom was born on February 10, 1939. She was one of the first of her family to be born in a hospital. Very early in her life, she was nicknamed “Tukie” and was referred to that even later in life. When she would return home, her family called her Clara Jean or Tukie but the military friends she made with each move, always called her Jean. I wish I had thought to ask why she dropped the Clara.

Being the youngest of 12 and only one of four girls, I suspect her older brothers watched her over, carefully. Many of them were quite a bit older. The first born, Ira Paul, was 25 years older. That is a whole generation difference in age. The next oldest brother, Albert Hamilton Jr., 22 years older, was married and already had a son, Charles, who was born two years before mom. A niece and nephew were actually in the same grade with her, for all their years of school. That would be odd to be in elementary school and have someone call you Aunt Clara Jean. 

Mom's Baby Doll 

Unfortunately, I don’t know a lot about mom’s early years, except what I can glean from a box of her “special treasures” that she left behind. Buried inside were so many surprises; many fun things I had never seen before. One was this little doll. She is very old and I have no idea what the story is behind her but she was important enough for mom to keep her for her entire life. I think her little bonnet is original but the dress is handmade. It was probably not the one she had on when mom got her. 

I found a certificate from grade school that declared her as the “School Champion Speller”. She was the winner of the spelling competition in 1951. Also, I know from a picture I found, that as a child she was in a play. I wish I knew what the play was and who else is in this picture with her. I think her niece Arlene is second from the left.

My mom, Clara Jean Garrison, is sixth from the left.

The box also had lots of memorabilia from high school and her early years of marriage. She had numerous newspaper clippings of her friends, classmates, sports events and boyfriends. Mom was very active in high school. She belonged to the Future Homemakers and Beta Clubs. She attended many of the school's athletic events.  I found one of her punch cards for the home football games in 1955.  All the games were punched.

  

She was on the Pinehurst High School basketball team and from what everyone says, she was a very good player. She loved the sport.  In fact, she received her letter for playing on the team.  (see picture below)  She was always an athlete. Later in life she tried her hand at golf and was hooked right away.  

One of mom’s boyfriends in high school was James A. Barber, Jr. who went to the rival high school in Southern Pines. Jimmy was a very talented athlete, playing both baseball and basketball. After graduating from high school, he went on to State College in Raleigh. On my mom’s sixteenth birthday, Jimmy had just finished one of his sport's practices, fell while taking a shower and was found by classmates a few minutes later. They called for the doctor but he did not survive. As a child, he had a heart condition. That had to be an awful time for his loved ones and friends. Mom rarely talked about this event but she kept many of the obituaries from his death in her treasure box. 

Thank goodness he had a best friend by the name of James “Jimmy” Hatch.

Today's Terri's Tidbit:  Some time ago I discovered the website www.retailmenot.com  In fact, I think my brother Kevin told me about it.  Any time I am going to a store or ordering something online, I go to this site to see if they have any coupons or coupon codes I can use.  Many stores are now using retailmenot.com to list their current specials.  I was at the local shopping center the other day and they had banners all around reminding you to check them out before you bought anything in a store.  You can get some great savings.  Click here to see their website.