The Early Years
I was born at 5:30 a.m. on May 12th, 1938, at Sacred Heart Hospital in Eugene, Oregon.
I lived in Eugene until I was 16 years old. My father and mother divorced when I was five years old. I didn’t see my mother again for 11 years. My father bullied and threatened to use his position as a deputy sheriff to keep my mother from staying in touch with my sister and me.
My sister, Nondys, was actually my caretaker when I was five, even though we always had a housekeeper. One memory of her that stands out was when I accidently threw a “decoder ring” (I’d gotten by sending in cereal box tops) into a deep puddle — Nondys gave me hers. Nondys, was killed by a car on the way home from school by an elderly man who was blind in one eye when I was nine years old and in the fourth grade.
My first three and my fifth and sixth school years were at Whiteaker elementary. My fourth year was at Lincoln elementary because of overcrowding at Whiteaker. I deeply resented having to leave my friends and go to Lincoln and rebelled in class whenever possible. When directed to answer questions in our workbooks, I simply wrote “no.” I was passed conditionally but had no problem after going back to Whiteaker.
To see captions, hover mouse pointer over pictures.
Third Grade at Whiteaker elementary school in Eugene, Oregon. I'm on far left of 2nd row.
Sixth Grade at Whiteaker elementary school in Eugene, Oregon. I'm in front row with dark shirt.
1950 Age 12
1951 - Age 13
1953 - Age 15
1954 - Age 16
My father remarried to our housekeeper, Loree Ridgeway in 1945 when I was 7 years old. Loree had been taking care of us for more than a year before the marriage. Loree became a real Mom to Nondys and me.
A standout memory occurred when she was kneeling in front of me while tying my show when I said, “my servant.” She stopped immediately — not surprisingly, I had to tie my own shoes from then on.
My folks farmed me out to a cattle ranch in Eastern Oregon during my 9th summer and my sister was sent to Niles, California so they could enjoy a few weeks without kids. This was just fine with me because, at that time, I wanted to be a cowboy when I grew up. Once there, I set about learning the necessary skills, such as riding a horse, roping, etc. One fateful afternoon I was riding around looking for things to lasso. (I’d been practicing lassoing the center post in the corral) when I decided to rope the wringer handle of the washing machine on the porch. I got it, but the loop was hanging too loosely so I put the rope coil on the saddle horn and turned the horse around. All of a sudden, something spooked the horse, and it took off up a hill. As it did, the coil around the saddle horn tightened up resulting in puling the washing machine through the wall and dragging it along behind us. We reached a fence, and the horse turned around heading back toward the ranch house, causing the rope to knock me off. My first thought was “Wow, that didn’t hurt at all — just like in the movies.” The woman of the house came running up to me to see if I was okay and then she screamed. She had spotted my little finger on my left hand badly mangled. I had to endure a sixty-mile drive to Bend holding my hand on a hanky where it was amputated.
My sister, Nondys, was actually my caretaker when I was five, even though we had a housekeeper. One memory of her was when I accidently threw a “decoder ring” I’d gotten by sending in cereal box tops, Nondys gave me hers.
Nondys was killed on the way home from school when I was nine years old, by a car driven by an elderly man who was blind in one eye.
Other than the above significant events, my life was typical for a youngster in Eugene until I was 16. Tension between my father and I grew increasingly worse, perhaps because we were so much alike. The straw that broke the camel’s back came when he forbade me to use the family phone. Everybody knows a teenager can’t get by without a phone.
In January 1955, I hadn’t had contact with my mother since I was five years old, but I knew a couple on my paper route who had been good friends with her, so I decided to ask them if they knew how to contact her as I wanted to go live with her. They did and telephoned her on the spot. My mother, stepfather and half-sister, Kathleen, drove up that evening. I returned to Coos Bay with them that night. I later learned that my dad, having legal custody of me, had to agree with the move which, he did.
My new home in Eastside, Oregon (adjacent to Coos Bay) was still being built by my stepfather and uncle but was not yet finished; the indoor bathroom wasn’t ready yet, so I had to get used to an outhouse just outside the door.
My new school was Marshfield High School. A few days after I began classes, the basketball team from Eugene High School came to play a game. I knew most the cheerleaders and players from Eugene, so I sat on their side. Most were surprised to find out I’d moved. My math teacher chided me about sitting on the Eugene side the following Monday.
I was in the school band. We travelled to Eugene for a music festival. After a parade in a school bus because of the rain, we had free time before a massed band concert later in the afternoon. I got together with a couple of my drummer friends from the Eugene band. We conspired to play cadence during The Stars and Stripes Forever rather than the music as written. During the concert, the poor leader was trying to figure out where the cadence was coming from, but he couldn’t pin it down because the Marshfield and Eugene bands were on opposite sides of the auditorium.
I got along fine with my mother and stepfather and, even my 6-year-old half-sister, Kathy. My stepfather, Francis let me use his car whenever he didn’t need it. I took my girlfriend to a movie. After dropping her off at her home, I headed back home. About halfway, one of the front tires went flat. Even though I’d never changed a tire, I had no trouble getting it changed. The problem was I had no idea how to lower the jack. Finally, I just backed off, which worked, except the upper part of the jack went into the grille making huge dent. My stepdad took it quite well and then bought me a 1941 Chevrolet.
I joined the Army July 25th