Being retired from the insurance business, I have had many occasions to share life stories with my customers. Listening to their stories, such as where they grew up, went to college, how they ended up in the career they are in, etc., etc.
Sometimes I get asked about MY younger years, so the shy guy that I am (ah-hum), I embark upon a short but colorful dissertation of growing up in Pampa!
Most of them have never heard of Pampa, the Panhandle, what the Caprock is, or a “Blue Norther”! This brings me to the reason for this paragraph in my epistle to all Pampians… anyone south of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area is not as friendly as us Panhandle folks. There is just something special about people who grew up in our little area of the world!
Another weird thing is that these implanted people from the North don’t usually keep up with their friends from their adolescent days. I ask them, “Don’t you have that one or perhaps two friends from your hometown that you stay in touch with?” The majority say no…how sad…
Wellsir, that just “goes to show you” that we have something special from growing up in Pampa, Texas. It’s the people that make the difference! It certainly wasn’t the weather…not the wind…not the dust storms…not the many things we had for entertainment…it was the people (young and old). When you think back on it, we were so fortunate to be in that period of time and in that special place when we were teens! I think you will agree. You classmates in Pampa need to tell those “old-timers” still around and alive today that we truly thank them for the mentors they were.
Lou Holtz, former well-known college coach and then sports commentator for ESPN, and now retired, is my hero! Boy, does he have a way with words…a real motivator. I was watching the Orange Bowl a while back, and Lou was working on the halftime show. They were talking about how you had to have enthusiasm to be a winner. Lou ended the conversation with, “If you don’t have enthusiasm in your life, then you don’t have much of a life!” I said (watching from my comfortable leather chair), “How true…that’s so right!” Here’s another quote I love, “No one has ever drowned in a sweat!” Lou’s short version of being a successful coach is, “Coaching is nothing more than eliminating mistakes before you get fired!” Lou’s book, titled Wins, Losses, and Lessons, is good reading.
Remember our school days at PHS in the 50s? Mrs. Lamb, biology, walks down the halls with her heels clicking on the floor…Mr. Cameron Marsh is “twitching his neck” from PTSD from WW2. We had to be in our homerooms first thing in the morning at 8:30. First, they took the roll, and then you listened to the announcements over the PA system in every classroom…Mrs. Kilgore, in charge of the cafeteria (she ran a tight ship, too); Mr. Mitchell…head of all maintenance crews.
Ms. Elizabeth Hurley was the publication editor (in Little Harvester). Do you remember that she was a war correspondent during WW2 and was boarding a plane and ran into the propeller? She had the scars to prove it. She was able to survive and lived to touch our lives. Do you remember Mr. Little, the guy who was the typing teacher (1955) and stood at the door to his room yo-yo-ing before class started each morning? Then there was the English teacher, Don Swadley, who sat cross-legged on top of his desk while he taught Chaucer.
You are all familiar with the suction tubes the drive-in banks used for deposits…Who can tell me the name of the downtown stores that used the suction tubes to transfer money back and forth when we were growing up in Pampa?
“The Voice of the Harvesters”: Well, I lost a great friend and mentor on February 19, 2012. Mr. Warren Hasse passed away. Over the years, we became close friends. He loved living in Pampa, and he loved the people of Pampa, and he loved sports and all of us kids that participated. He told me, in one of our conversations, that sports teach a young person how always to strive to be a winner, a person that gives his all, yet a gentleman or young lady dedicated to sportsmanship and fair play in all his/her endeavors throughout life. All of us who knew “Hasse” truly miss him.
I’ve got to tell you about Vadogs.com. Don Fuller, a 1955 PHS grad, joined the Elks Lodge in Kerrville, Texas, and before long, became heavily involved in their Wounded Warriors program. Their goal is to help those veterans returning home that have PTSD or post-traumatic shock disorder. This is what we called “shell shock” in WW2. A person who suffers from this has his/her brain creating a flashback to something while in combat. They say that 22 Vets are committing suicide each day in America. What they’ve discovered is a dog sense when this is about to happen to a person suffering from PTSD, and the dog is trained to prevent this.
Everyone, give at least one person a hug today. Stay healthy and out of trouble!
Ahhhh…These are some of my days of remembrance.
