Joy,

    Here we go attach as plain text.

Bobby




					My Early Years, Part II

	It was during this period that I experienced my first real emotional traumas. The first was the result of my close emotional ties to my mother. Up to this time, she had been a stay at home mom. We needed more money and mom went to work as a cashier. I remember crying hysterically when she would go off to work. Closely connected to this was my starting to go to public school. There were no special education classes for this was around 1944-45. I would walk with Dan to school and would be ok until I would see this tall janitor at school. For some reason, he scared the hell out of me. Psychoanalysts would probably say that I displaced my separation anxiety on to the fellow, I really donÕt know. Counter to this was my first grade teacher, Mr.s Burke. She would grab me up and hug me every day I came to school. All the anxiety would melt away. I really regret that we now live in a society where school teachers can no longer afford to hug children. I spent the major portion of my life as a teacher and I canÕt help but credit some of it to Mrs. BurkeÕs hugs, because she made school a warm, safe place when I really needed to feel safe. My brother, Dan, was in the fourth grade and his teacher and my mom did not get along at all. This would later become a big ÒthingÓ in my life. But Mrs. Burke did other things which made me feel adequate. I remember once where she taught us to draw a cat using circles. I tried real hard and drew a Òfine catÓ which she put up on the bulletin board for everybody to see. I was as proud at the cat at that moment as I was with many other achievements in life. Come to think of it, Mrs. Burke could teach other teachers alot about making children feel good about themselves. She taught me to read. My first words were, ÒRun, Spot run.ÓLater in a higher grade, Mrs. Clark, was a ÒbearÓ on being able to read. The first day in her class, she had everyone read aloud. When some unfortunate kid would stumble over words she really came down on them. I was so petrified at the thought of having that olÕ biddy on my case, I remained in class during recess and protracted about where we would be in the reading when it came my turn and proceeded to memorize the passages. It worked and she immediately recommended me for advance classes. I guess this was the first time I learned to con and manipulate to get the heat off. ItÕs funny, I can remember most of my grammar schools teacherÕs names.

	After I finally got over the separation anxiety of being away from my mother, I liked messing around after school. It was a six block walk to school and the main attraction along the way was crossing the Southern Pacific railroad tracks. We were only a couple of block from the San Antonio depot (train station) which was glorious Spanish architecture. My last trip to a professional meeting last spring was to San Antonio and I stayed at the Marriott River walk which over looked the depot which is still there and remodeled. During my early school years, most railroad engines were still coal driven steam engines. Starting out from the depot, these engines would put out plenty of smoke. There were still lots of troop trains coming and going to San Antonio at this time. Pat Rutledge had an older brother, Richard. I recall Richard and me going to the SP depot and laying around on the old baggage carts. I thought at the time laying around and being a bum would be the most fun a person could have. I guess thatÕs when the idea of being a college professor first hit me. ItÕs funny how writing this now makes me recall the things along the route to school. I particularly recall a business which made or repaired furniture. The smells coming from that place fascinated me. 

	We lived in Victoria Courts until I was in the 3rd grade, then we purchase Mom and DadÕs first house and moved to another part of San Antonio near  two large Air Force Bases, Kelly and Lackland. I went to a new school and Mrs. Matthews taught me in 4th grade. Her son, Gary, was a Òblue babyÓ. He was born with a defect in his heart and this was before open heart surgery. Because hi father was a colonel in the Air Force, Gary was one of the first children to have open heart surgery later when we were both in Òspecial educationÓ. Because he was already in junior high and was playing football, Dan continued going to the same school. Changing schools can be traumatic and I was not as accepted by the kids at this school as I was at my first. Mrs. Matthews and Mrs. Carrico, my 5th grade teacher were both nice. I remember Mrs. Carrico was a real Texas buff. We would study Texas geography and the Texas Revolution. I hated geography because Mrs. Carrico would write all over every blackboard in the room and we were to copy it down. My CP affected my handwriting most of all (it still does) and I was always way behind in copying stuff from the board down. I came to hate terms like the Edwards Plateau, the Coastal Plains, etc. We also did a play about Texas geography and it won some kind of award. My role in the play was as a Black cotton picker, in full vaudeville-type black face. We would sing, ÒJump down, turn around and pick a bale of cotton.Ó No one thought anything about this at the time. We did the play for the school, for groups of teachers and anyone else who wanted to see it.

	It was shortly before we moved to our new home that we bought a Collie dog and named her, Lady. Mom and Dad bought her for Dan, but she was really the whole familyÕs dog. I remember coming home from school and lady was staked outside as a pup and she would lick me in the face as I got home. This was probably the smartest and most loyal dog I have ever known. Once we moved, Lady had the run of the neighborhood. She became very protective and once sniffed at a cat that was in our yard. She had a long nose as CollieÕs do and the cat reached and scratched LadyÕs nose. It made two scars on the dogÕs nose and from that day forward, Lady hated cats. As Dan became more involved in high school, Lady became Òmy dogÓ. She would follow me around, even when I rode my bicycle. When TV first came to San Antonio, our neighbors down the street were the first family with a TV, and I would ride my bike over to their house and Lady would follow me. One night, Lady was off chasing something when I left, but I thought little of it because she did this often and would always come home. On my way home, this very mean dog was loose and began chasing me and I was so petrified, I quit pedaling and watched him getting closer and closer to my ankle. Suddenly this fast flying brown streak hit this dog and made it roll over and over. When this dog came to a stop, Lady was over him with its throat in her mouth shaking it like a rag doll. I was never so relieved. Speaking of my bike, that is a story in itself, considering my problems with balance.


	Learning to ride a bike was a long process for me. The family did not have that much money and so we got an Army surplus bicycle cheap(I have no idea how much it cost, but probably $5 to 10 at most). It was a heavy and sturdy bike used by the Army. I could not ride it with two wheels, so my dad took it to his work and had one of the welders to fasten a third wheel on it. They did not manufacture three wheel bikes back then. I learned to ride this three wheeled contraption and was satisfied for a while. The third wheel  tire never seemed to stay inflated, so after a while, I just rode it flat. Then I became tired of looking like a freak with this three wheel monstrosity, so I began leaning to the left ass I rode to bring the third wheel up and I learned to ride on two wheels. This all took about 3 months. Finally, one day I got up the courage to ask Dad to cut off the third wheel. He hesitated because (1) he wasnÕt sure I could ride on a two wheel bike, and (2) he had gone to some trouble to get the welders to put the third wheel on in the first place. He finally relented and I began to ride wobbly down our street on two wheels. My problem was turning in gravel and our streets had lots of gravel. For some reason I can not explain, when I turned the front wheel would slide out from under me and I would be pitched onto the gravel and pavement. I always seemed to hit my elbow in the fall and it was always skinned up. Finally, the elbow became infected and I was forbidden to ride for a week. I still rode when no one was watching and the ÒslidesÓ became less frequent. My later, a family friend bought me a new bicycle with a battery driven head light. The first day I got that bike I rode well past dark and Mom and some neighbors found me unconscious in the street. I had become so tired, I guess, I fell off my bike and was knocked out. That was some bicycle.

	I loved to explore things around my neighborhood and Mom and Dad both worked during my after schools and Dan had football practice or whatever big brothers do. I had a single shot Daisy BB gun and would take it and Lady and stay out until supper time. I became a good shot and killed some birds. There were lots of places to explore near our neighborhood. There was an old gravel pit used for a dump and a large wooded area near the AFB. Lady and I had lots of fun here. Later, my folks got me a Red Rider lever action BB gun. Dan and I had had real .22Õs, but I could only shoot them when Dad and Dan and I went well out of town. We were taught never to mess with the .22 and I remeber the ammunition boxes had in bold letters ÒGood Up to a Range of One MileÓ . We took this to heart.  Shortly after WW II, a contractor offered  my dad a job. By this time, Dad had been working for a Caterpillar dealership as a diesel mechanic. The contract had a job on a very large ranch outside Laredo, Texas.
The US Government had leased this land during the war to be used for aerial gunnery practice. All the ponds on the ranch had deteriorated, since no human was allowed on this land for the previous 7 years. The contractor wanted my dad to stay full time on the ranch so if a tractor became disabled, they woild not have to haul it in to San Anonio for repairs. So Dad took Dan with him. They were there one entire summer. The abundance of wild life was increditable and they would bring back sets of rattlesnake rattlers with 10 to 15 rattlers. Dan became a real class marksman on thyis trip.