Jack Remembers -- Anyone Else Remember?

I have received several responses on past articles.  My friend Weldon Woodward from Levasy said my column on the ex-Mayor who drove from Oak Grove to Grain Valley going the wrong way on I-70 reminded him of a story about the woman who called her husband and said “Honey, be careful. It just came on the news some lunatic is driving the wrong way down the freeway.”  The husband replied, “It’s worse than that.  There are hundreds of them!” 

     Joan Bailey, a member of my church, said ironically a week before my article on gun control one of their friends said he thought the reason he was so attracted and enthused about firing the fully automatic AR-15 was he never served in the Army.  Her husband Roger was in the Army four years and has never had the desire to own or fire a weapon since. 

     Many of the responses were about my daughter-in-law buying a new Subaru.   Most of them were similar to the foreign car dealer who didn’t say where he was from but reads my column in the Moberly Monitor-Index.  He informed me the automobile market was world-wide and most foreign cars have factories in the U.S., just as the American automobile companies have factories in both Europe and Asia.  When I told him the Japanese were responsible for over a hundred thousand United States casualties in World Ward II, he replied, “In the business world, the Second World War is ancient history, with few Japanese or U.S. military personnel who participated alive today.”   He went on to say he was not a Subaru dealer, but with Missouri winters, my daughter-in-law had made a good choice with the all wheel drive Subaru and its excellent resale value.  He also corrected my article by telling me the Subaru she bought was not manufactured in Japan, but was built in Lafayette, Indiana by American workers.

     Am I the only one left who remembers Pearl Harbor, the Bataan Death March, and would never buy a Japanese car?

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075, or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com.

Jack Remembers -- Beer Can Conservation

     Someone ran into my daughter-in-law who lives in Columbia.  The insurance company totaled the car so she had to buy a new car.  Since they have another car, I suggested they buy a Ford F-150 pickup truck made right here in Kansas City and told her two close friends of mine work there.  When she said they had decided to buy another car and were looking at a Subaru, I then suggested a Buick LaCrosse or a Chevrolet Malibu made in Kansas City, Kansas.  Both cars have won all kinds of awards and are two of the best cars made in America.  We also have several people from Oak Grove who work at the General Motors Fairfax plant. 

     When I was growing up, anything with “Made in Japan” on it meant it was cheap, inexpensive, and poor quality.  When I was in the Army, a good friend of the family learned I was in Japan, and sent me twenty dollars to buy a pair of binoculars.  I was putting them in a box to send to him when they fell out and hit the floor.  One of the big glass lenses fell off and the black sleeve it was attached to sprang open.  On the inside it said, “Schlitz Beer”. 

     I found out one thing, you cannot insult an owner of a foreign car.  My wife Laura bought a Smart car, made somewhere in Europe by Mercedes Benz.  She is always wanting me to drive her to the doctor in the Smart car because she can’t get in my four wheel drive F-150 very easily.  I tell her I hate to be seen driving anything but American made vehicles.  She then asks me how many miles to the gallon I get with my Ford pickup.  “I get over 40”, she says.

     My daughter in law bought a Subaru manufactured in Japan.  When I told her it was made out of old beer cans, she replied, “I like companies who practice conservation, particularly those that recycle cans.”

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075 or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Sensible Gun Ownership

Every time I turn on the news I hear “gun control”. I decided to check my guns and asked my wife Laura what happened to my Bolt action .22 I bought when I was eleven years old for $12.00. She answered, “Your son John came and got it years ago to add to his gun collection.” I asked if my mom’s old single shot 410 shotgun with no shells was the only gun we owned, and she said, “Yes, and that’s the way I like it”.
When I went through advanced infantry training, we were required to shoot and be proficient with every light weapon the Army had, including mortars, carbines, anti-tank bazookas, pistols, and .30 and .60 caliber machine guns. One of my favorites was the not-so-accurate grease gun that could shoot 500 .45 caliber bullets a minute. After basic training we were then issued a .30 caliber M-1rifle we carried everywhere we went for the rest of our time in the service.
I suddenly realized I may not have shot a gun since I got out of the service 60 years ago. I decided to take a poll of my Army buddies to see if they owned guns. I called Bob Lundy in Burden, Kansas, who was our .60 caliber mortar man. He said he has never owned a gun since he got out of the Army. I called Dick Stephenson who used to run a tire shop and filling station in Albany, MO and reads my article in the Sheridan News. He said he did not own a gun now, but owned guns when he used to go duck hunting. He retired, had a sale, and sold them. My best friend Gary Reagin from Oak Grove who wound up in Houston, Texas, told me years ago he had never owned a gun. Ralph Chrisler, Gorham, Kansas, said he owned a single shot .22 rifle, a single shot .12 gauge shot gun, and when he was younger liked to squirrel hunt. He most recently bought and registered a .22 pistol for target shooting.
If President Obama wants sensible gun ownership, my suggestion is he should draft everyone when they turn 18 into the Infantry and make them carry a gun for two years.
Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075 or jackremembers@aol.com. Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Lesson in Fraternization

Some time ago, I wrote a column of how the Army was like a Caste System and I initially did not get any response from the article. I since have received several including the following from Don Wilson, Hartville, MO.

Mr. Hackley, It’s easy for me to understand why you failed to get any response from military people because career military people probably don’t spend their lives resenting the authority of others. However, it seems this country is beginning to be controlled by people who spend too much time envying and resenting the success of others. I spent 3 years in the army from 1962-1965 in Korea and had no difficulty understanding why the military operates like it does. I understood then and I still do. Perhaps you don’t realize that while the officers limit their associations with enlisted men they also limit their association with officers that are junior to them. In a nutshell, when the military is functioning in a war-time situation each person in authority has the responsibility to direct his junior officers, NCO ’s and enlisted men into the face of death. For this reason he can’t allow himself to be influenced by friendship. Failure to do his job could cause the death or injury of numerous people totally unrelated to the “ friendship”. 

Of course, Mr. Wilson is correct. However, to be drafted into the Infantry during the Korean era, we thought, gave us the right to complain, and complain we did. One time we were on maneuvers on a mountain range in northern Hokkaido near Siberia. It was frigid cold with snow on the ground. Our Company went into reserve and the First Sergeant ordered two of us to pitch a tent for the Officers. It was dark, but the supply truck that had thrown off our sleeping bags with no tents also had cots and blankets for the Officers, along with a Yukon stove. It operated from a gas can with a hose dropping gas in to a small metal stove. When we got through, the officers ordered me to have the Mess Sergeant fix them a hot meal. He had not had time to set up a Mess Tent in this base camp and had passed out cans of cold sea rations to the troops. Someone asked how could you respect these officers. It was easy, to not respect them would cost six months in a stockade and 2/3rd of my $30 a month salary.

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075.

Jack Remembers -- Governor Hearnes' Inauguration

Governor Warren Hearnes’ Inauguration in 1965 mirrored a national Presidential Inauguration. It was the most elaborate and colorful the state had ever seen or would see in the future.




Hearnes had challenged the establishment who had controlled the Governor’s office for years and when he won the election, suddenly the outsiders in state government were the insiders and we wanted everyone to know it. Hearnes appointed at least two Honorary Colonels from every county. We were fitted and paid $180.00, which was a lot of money back then, for our uniform. It was quite an honor. (To see mine, log on to the Bio section of www.jackremembers.com)



I was able to hobnob with other Colonels including Pat Jones, owner of an insurance company who confided in me he was worried about what his son was going to do when he graduated from college that spring. His son, Jerry, now owns the Dallas Cowboys. Honorary Colonel Bill McCaskill, who would be the new Insurance Commissioner, had an eleven year old daughter that is now a U.S. Senator.



The Colonels led the parade through Jefferson City, the Governor was sworn in at high noon, then there were three Inaugural Balls that night. The one in the Rotunda of the Capitol was where the Colonels with their ladies promenaded down the spiral staircase in front of the state officials who besides Warren and Betty included Tom Eagleton, Lt. Governor, Jim Kirkpatrick, Secretary of State, Haskel Holman, State Auditor, Mount Etna Morris, State Treasurer, and Norman Anderson, Attorney General.



The Colonels’ job was to participate in events during the Governor’s term in office. One day I received a letter wanting money for my share of the official painted portrait of the First Lady that would hang in the mansion. Woah! How much of this honor of being an Honorary Colonel can I afford?



Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075, or jackremembers@aol.com. Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Frank, Harry, and Les

     Forty years ago this last December 26^th, President Harry S. Truman died.  He was 88 years old.  When I was a boy growing up in Oak Grove, everyone claimed to know Harry Truman.  He had been our Eastern Judge (now called Commissioner) and did have several friends in Oak Grove.  Two of his closest friends were Frank Robinson and Les George.  They all three were members of Pendergast’s Democratic Club at 1908 Main Street in Kansas City. 

     Frank first met Harry before either one of them was involved in politics when he bought a load of cattle from Harry’s father at their Grandview farm in the early 1920’s.  Later when Harry was a County Judge, he gave Frank one of the best patronage jobs the County had.  Frank continued to work for the county 45 years until he retired.  His daughter, Marguarite Miller, now 93, said that her father told her when Harry would visit he would put her on his lap.  Frank always said Harry Truman was the best friend he ever had.

     Les George was Mayor of Oak Grove seven terms and like Harry, served one term as Eastern Judge.  Les’s stepmother was Harry’s first cousin.  And probably before going to Washington as our Senator, Harry would say Les George was his best friend.  Harry, Bess, and Margaret, visited Les and his wife Mae in Oak Grove many, many times.  They would sometimes bring Harry’s sister Mary Jane and his mother Martha.  I read an interview of Les where he said he would visit Harry in Washington a couple times a year and have lunch in the Senate dining room.  Here I thought I was the only one from Oak Grove to have lunch in the Senate dining room. 

    I always loved Harry’s quotes.  When asked how he felt when told President Roosevelt had died, he replied “Have you ever had a load of hay fall on you?”  The next time he was asked the same question he said, “It felt like the stars, the moon, and the planets had fallen on me.”  I liked the first explanation better.  Later in his Presidency, Harry’s popularity plummeted.  When it hit 32% approval, Senator Fulbright from Arkansas asked him to resign.  When told what Fulbright said, Harry replied, “I never pay any attention to what Senator Halfbright says.”

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075, or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Responses to Army Caste System

I wrote an article about my thoughts pertaining to the military. How the Army is like a caste system with three classes, the lowest one the E.M.’s (Private, PFC, and Corporal). Another class being the Sergeants (NCO’s) and the privileged or ruling class, the officers. I guess readers thought it would be unpatriotic to comment about the military in this manner because I did not get any response as I thought I would from retired officers. However, I finally got an e-mail from Darlene (Kidd) Schumacher, Alma, MO. Her response backs up exactly the point I was trying to make.

I enjoy your column very much and can relate to a lot of the events you talk about. Since you didn’t get feed-back about the caste system-social snobbery in the service I have to tell of my experience.
When my late husband came home from Korea in 1952 (He was the boyfriend then), he had six more months to serve-we got married and went to Fort Lewis for a couple of weeks and then to Fort Worden which was at Port Townsend, Washington. I worked in the Post Engineer’s office. There was another young wife working there-we were friendly and compatible. I suggested we get together as couples, she made it clear this isn’t done. Her husband was a Sergeant, mine was a Corporal. We’re not talking Generals.
That base has been closed for a long time, I think it is a park now. It was the location for the movie “Officer and a Gentleman”.

She finished her letter by saying “Another thing: When I was a child-probably in the 40’s-my Grandparents lived in Higginsville, they had a “roomer” named Hackley. There used to be Hackleys at Waverly.
Please don’t use this for a column, I have wanted many times to respond to your articles, I really enjoy them. Darlene (Kidd) Schumacher Alma, MO

I get a lot of letters and would never violate a request not to print a letter. However, I called Darlene up and explained to her this was a good story and everyone would enjoy reading it. She finally consented and gave me permission to use the letter and her name.

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075, or jackremembers@aol.com. Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Poster Boys

Every once in a while I drive on I-70 100 miles from Columbia to Oak Grove and back. There are two lanes of solid traffic on both the east and westbound lanes no matter what time of day or night. It frightens me to think of all these cars going down the road 80 mph that one of them might be drunk. That driver should loose his license forever.

Sixty years ago it was a different story. After midnight, there wouldn’t be more than one car per hour going down 40 Hiway, which was replaced by I-70. We had no speed limit, and there was no law against driving and drinking. However, if you got stopped for abusing either of these, the patrol could give you a ticket for careless and imprudent driving.

In 1950 when I was a senior, on Christmas Eve and New Years, almost our whole class gathered at the Ranchhouse, a roadhouse saloon located between Grain Valley and Blue Springs on 40 Hiway. The Korean War was on. All our classmates who had quit school to join the service or had gotten drafted and were home for Christmas knew to meet at the Ranchhouse. That Christmas Eve, my closest friend Daren Davis and I left at 1:30 a.m. and went out to the car to go home. It seemed like we had been driving quite a while when I asked Davis if he could see where we were going. I couldn’t see a thing. We stopped the car and got out. It became obvious that while we were in the saloon an ice storm had hit and there was about a half an inch of ice on the windshield. We could see the lights of the Ranchhouse, but we weren’t on 40 Hiway. We had headed southeast and were stuck out in a field.

The wind was blowing and it was bitter cold. We called good old Roy Warren, who ran a wrecker service in Bates City, to come pull us out. His cable wasn’t long enough to reach us. He had to take another cable and tie on to it to finally get us out. We asked him how much we owed him. He said we didn’t have enough money to pay him for getting out of a warm bed at 2 a.m. Christmas morning, if he hadn’t known our folks so well he wouldn’t have come at all, and please never call him again.

Back then there was no such organization as Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. If there had been, Davis and I could have been their poster boys.

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075 or jackremembers@aol.com., www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Army Caste

     I have to laugh when the Washington high society do-gooders realize their hero General was having an affair at taxpayer expense in Afghanistan with some woman who was suppose to be writing a book.  Someone should write a book on how the Army really works.  It is the perfect enforced caste system comprised of three groups or classes, the lowest being the enlisted men (EM) Private and Corporals, the middle class being the Sergeants or Non-Commissioned Officers (NCO), and the privileged or ruling class, the Officers. 

     A Corporal can tell a Private what to do.  The Sergeants can tell the Corporals and Privates what to do.  But both the EM and NCO’s have to salute the lowly Second Lieutenant who can tell them all what to do.  The system is enforced by Company punishment and court marshals.  As an example, if an EM was a few minutes late getting back to camp on a pass, it was Company punishment which was a four hour march up a nearby mountain in the middle of the night, administered by a Sergeant.  If he was hours late, it was a court marshal by an Officer, which resulted in “6 and 2/3rds”, six months in the stockade and 2/3rds of his salary. 

     Washington’s favorite General while on active duty and before he was Director of the CIA was paid $18,000 per month and had hundreds of thousands of Army troops and personnel under him who all had to salute him.  His only boss was the President. He obviously thought he was above the law.  

     One of my jobs as a Jeep driver was to haul the prisoners to the stockade to serve their “six and 2/3rds” punishment.  I hauled dozens, but only one Staff Sergeant, and no Officers. 

      Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075, or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Just Send a Check

When I was a kid growing up in Eastern Jackson County, two factions fought over control of Jackson County and all the patronage jobs, plus other benefits. They were the Tom Pendergast’s faction , called the Goats, and Joe Shannon’s faction, known as the Rabbits.  Pendergast owned a concrete company and got the City of Kansas City to pay him to pave Brush Creek, a creek running through Kansas City, and the only creek in the nation that was paved.   

    There were hardly any Republicans in Jackson County, and the Democratic voters were known as either Rabbits or Goats.  Pendergast would buy the loafers vote with a half pint of whiskey, and then buy the poor peoples’ vote with some food and by having county workers drive around with truckloads of coal to shovel in their coal bin.  Since Harry Truman was Eastern Judge of Jackson County, and a Goat, my dad almost always voted with the Pendergast faction.  Our Democratic Committeeman, who was also the road overseer would come by before every election and hand my dad a sample ballot and tell him “This is how we are voting this election” and then he would say, “Looks like you could use some gravel”. The next day county trucks would be spreading gravel on our driveway. 

    They do it differently now, but they still buy our votes.  Obama spent almost $20 on every vote he received.  Claire spent about $12, Nixon spent $6, and even our State Representative candidate in Lafayette County who lost spent $10 for every vote he received.  I figure all the Democratic candidates spent about $60 for my vote.  The next election, I’m going to write a letter to the State and National Democratic Committees and tell them since I always vote Democrat to spend a little less on their television advertising and just send me a check.

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075, or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Speed Test Minus

I get letters from all over the United States, and also e-mails such as this one from Roger Fray

Mr. Hackley,

     I live in Iowa now, but I grew up in Monroe City and attended Indian Creek School (when there was one).  I also lived in Richmond for 11 years and was very involved in the community when there.  I spent a lot of summers working on my grandparents farm near Smithton, and my brother is a Vet in Boonville.

     I still subscribe to the Richmond paper and always enjoy your articles.  So many of them remind me of similar stories growing up in rural Missouri!

     Take care, and I wish you much good health.  Roger Fray

     I have been criticized for not answering my e-mails.  My excuse is I’m actually computer illiterate.  When I was in high school, they had about twenty manual Underwood typewriters.  I took the typing class and at the end, the teacher gave a speed test.  She called me in and allowed as how I was the first student in the history of an Oak Grove typing class to get a “minus” on the speed test.  I made more mistakes than words typed.  The following e-mail may motivate me into learning how to type.

     My name is Lynn Huffman.  I am the daughter of Gorty Aslin, 87 years old, an avid reader of your articles in the Dexter Daily Statesman.  He asked me to e-mail you to let you know he also attended a one room school house for the first 8 years of his schooling with the same teacher.  The building still stands in the country.  It was called Liberty school.  He actually spent more than 8 years because he slipped away when he was 5 years old to go to school.  He would very much like to talk to you about his experiences growing up during that era if you would be interested. Thank you for your time.  Lynn Huffman

    In case I don’t get better with a computer, always include your telephone number and mailing address.

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075 or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- To the Victor

The elections are over, but as I write this, I have no idea how they came out.  All I know is I don’t like how campaigns are run.  Where I grew up in Eastern Jackson County, politics was part of our life.  All the county jobs were patronage.  Actually, that’s how our Democracy was built.  President Andrew Jackson said “To the victor belongs the spoils.” 

     In Jackson County, the spoils were the patronage jobs.  It didn’t cost anything to run for office, because if the elected official had twenty employees, those twenty employees not only gave him part of their paycheck to cover election expense, but also went out election day which was a holiday for the county employees, and brought in the votes for their boss, the elected official.  These elected officials ran the county so efficiently, they never raised taxes and they never issued bonds, except to build roads.  Jackson County’s tax levy was 77 cents per hundred valuation, the lowest in the nation for a Class A County.  It was debt-free, and had a AAA credit rating. 

     Then two things happened.  The do-gooders and the powers to be (money people) decided workers shouldn’t be laid off when their elected official was defeated and new workers hired.  In the Federal government, they call it civil service and in the county they call it the merit system whereby it is almost impossible to fire a government employee.

     I ran for committeeman and also formed a political club called the Sni Valley Democratic Club.  Even then in the early 1960’s, the county and state officials would come to us and offer to pay for our printing and sample ballot if we would put their name on it.  Today, when an elected official comes by or contacts you, all they want is money for their television ads.  So now you have to be rich to run for any office, or take money from the lobbyists and the wealthy who also demand control of the elected officials vote when they need it. 

     I liked it better before the do-gooders and rich took over the election process.

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075, or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Sis Todd

I recently wrote an article about Mae Cline who was a country school teacher.  In that column asked for anyone who had taught at a one room school to contact me.  I was talking to my sister, Anna Blackman, the other day who retired from Raytown school district several years ago and told her I had only received one letter in reference to that request.  She said “Well I taught at a country school and then was substitute teacher for five years at all the schools in Oak Grove area, and only had one year of college.”

      The letter I got was from Edith Talley from Paris, who I knew when we owned Lake Village in Paris.  She writes in part: 

Dear Jack, I read your column in the Moberly Monitor Index, and enjoy it.  It brings back memories and also of the time you were in Paris.

     I especially related to the article on country schools.  I attended two my first eight years, and then taught in two for 2 ½ years.  I did not have my degree so I qualified by taking teachers exams.  The first was half the year at Fuller in Monroe County, because the teacher left for a city job.  I stayed on another year, then Gatewood in Audrain County was in an annexation dispute with Centralia and their operating funds were frozen.  So, I taught that year with no pay.  I finally received it in full in mid-summer. 

Sincerely, Edith Talley

     My sister and I both attended one of the schools where she later taught.  The teacher was my own cousin, who was staying at our old farmhouse.  She made me stay in at recess.  I was mad and eating an orange with a lot of seeds.  She bent over her desk.  I let her have it with one of the seeds squeezed through my fingers, which resulted in the first whipping I ever got at school.  However, we had a rule at our house, if you got a whipping at school, you would get another one at home.  When we got home, I didn’t tell my mother and my cousin didn’t tell her.  I thought to myself, “I’m home free!”  Then suddenly my sister walked through the door and said, “Jack got a whipping at school today.”

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075, or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Wave of Turkeys

When World War II ended, everyone thought when the thousands of pilots came home, they would want to continue flying.  There must have been over a dozen manufacturers of single engine light planes, and they were building planes as fast as they could, including Piper Cubs, Cessnas, Aeronicas, and faster single engines such as Beachcraft Bonanzas and Navion.  Small towns all over the country got government grants to build airports and landing strips. 

    When the fighter, bomber, and transport pilots came home, they had no interest in flying a single engine light aircraft.  Consequently, there were a surplus of these light aircraft.  Ten guys in my hometown, including me, put in $100 a piece and bought a nearly new Aeronica Champion for $600.00.  Today, that same plane would bring over $30,000.  We later added a Cessna 120 for $1,200.00, and a surplus Primary Trainer PT-26 for virtually nothing.  We had a 30 ft. wide landing strip in a field that my dad farmed next to 40 Hiway, close to where Wal-mart is now.  Our flying club eventually had over 30 members, an office, and gas pumps. 

     On weekends, guys would fly in from all over to shoot the breeze.  One was a turkey farmer from south of Higginsville, who flew a 4 place Stinson, the Cadillac of small planes.  He had a beautiful daughter who always came with him and since I wanted to impress her and get to know her better, I decided one day to buzz their farm house.  I could see their landing strip and the Stinson sitting behind a row of hedge trees next to the house.  I was pretty low going toward the house and in front of me I saw what looked like an ocean wave.  But instead of water, it was turkeys.  That’s why he landed behind the hedge trees.  I did a 180 and headed back to Oak Grove.  I never knew how many turkeys I might have killed when they panicked, because every time after that when he flew in to Oak Grove, I would disappear. 

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075, or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Satisfying Job

      I’ve had a lot of jobs in my lifetime, but the most satisfying was being an ironworker on construction.  To take a pile of steel beams and columns lying on the ground and make it in to the skeleton of a commercial building is definitely more satisfying than selling a piece of real estate or any other job I’ve had.  I started out as an ironworker and wound up a steel erection sub-contractor.

     The number one job on any commercial building is the Superintendent.  He is the highest paid and he coordinates the subcontractors and his own men.  Superintendents normally are given a bonus if the job comes in under bid price and that’s the reason for shoddy construction by a handful of superintendents I have known. 

     One of the costliest mistakes I’ve ever seen a superintendent make for trying to save a few dollars was on the Missouri Bar Association Building in Jefferson City.  The superintendent ordered concrete with a couple of sacks of cement per yard less than the specifications called for.  Each time concrete is poured, a tube-full is sent in to be tested.  When it didn’t test out, the contractor was told to tear out a whole floor of freshly poured concrete.

     The contractor had us build an Esther Williams swimming pool on top of the slab after a testing company installed gauges on steel posts placed under the slab to see if the concrete would withstand pounds per square inch called for.  The contractor was trying to convince the lawyers if it would hold up the weight of the water in the swimming pool, it should be safe.  The Bar Association made him go ahead and tear out the floor, costing well over $100,000 back then.  The superintendent not only didn’t get a bonus, last I heard, he was still hunting another job.

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075 or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- No Steering Wheel

When I was in grade school, the teacher gave us an assignment for the next day to tell the class where your family came from, what nationality, etc.
I asked my parents and neither one of them knew.  My mother said she couldn’t trace her family back further than Kentucky.  My grandparents were tenant farmers without an education, who obviously were not told by their parents, if it was known, where they came from.  Luckily, I’ve had some cousins interested in genealogy who told me the Hackley’s came from the Isle of Wight off the coast of England.
A few years ago, Laura and I flew to London, took a train south, then got on a ferry to the Isle of Wight.  We got a motel, rented a car, and circled the island.  We stopped at churches and cemeteries.  Some of the churches were over a thousand years old, all had cemeteries and lists of who was buried there, but no Hackley’s.  There weren’t even any in the phone book.
We were getting ready to leave the motel early one morning to catch the boat back to England.  I absentmindedly opened up the door on the left side like I would have at home, and no steering wheel. The English drive on the left side of the road and all the controls in the rental car were on the right side.  This reminded me of one of my favorite stories I like to tell about the drunk who called the police and said someone had stolen the steering wheel out of his car, along with the brake pedal and even the dash.  In a little while, he called the police back and told them to ignore that last call, he had gotten in the back seat by mistake.
Trying to be funny I went back in to the lobby of the motel to tell Laura, who was talking to the owners, that someone had stolen the steering wheel out of the car.  The owner, without hesitation immediately called the police and that’s when I first realized the English do not have a sense of humor.
Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075, or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Herschel & Mae

     Mae Cline recently celebrated her 100^th birthday at a local church.  In a scrapbook was a “Jack Remembers” column that I had written on her 90^th birthday.  The article told about the one room country schools where Mae had taught in her career.  The church on that Saturday afternoon was packed.  Many of the people present were Mae’s former students who were not too young themselves.  If you were a one room country school teacher, or know someone who was, let me know.

     Mae’s husband Herschel was superintendent of Oak Grove schools in 1947 when I was a freshman.  Including Herschel, there were a total of four full time teachers and a part time music teacher in the high school. 

      

One day Herschel gathered all the high school boys in to one room and had a football in his hand.  He explained to us it was called a “pigskin” and we were going to have a football team.  It is hard to believe today, but lot of the boys in that room had never seen a football.  The school had not had a football team since before World War II.  Herschel, who also taught science, agriculture, and other classes, was the football coach and our first game was against Henrietta.  Although we would play eleven man football before the year was out, this was a six-man team.  I was dressed out but definitely not going to play.  There was a time-out, and Herschel said, “Hackley, take the water jug out to the team.”  When I did, the referee hollered, “Too many men on the field, ten yard penalty.”

      Herschel and Mae, with little remuneration, devoted their lives to teaching common sense classes, but it paid off.  I overheard one woman at Mae’s birthday event say Mae was the best teacher she ever had.  And I can say Herschel was the best teacher I ever had, even if we both were responsible for the first football penalty in Oak Grove’s now 65 year history of continuous Panther football.

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075, or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Showed You Yesterday

Back when I was growing up and in school, I never knew any twins.  There weren’t any in our school.  Today I see a set of twins almost every time I go to Wal-Mart or school function.  I contacted the Superintendent’s office in Oak Grove and asked how many sets of twins there were and was told they did not keep a record.  However, one teacher told me there were three sets of twins in one class that he knew of.  This could be because of fertility drugs or just the fact the population has increased so much.

     When I got drafted in the Army, identical twins, Ken and Keith Matchell, from Grandview were drafted the same day.  They were handsome with dark hair and no one could tell them apart.  They would sit around in the barracks and tell us stories about how they would double-date a couple of girls, go into the restroom at a filling station, come out and switch girls without the girls knowing it. 

     When we headed overseas, our Company was comprised of four-man buddy teams who were not to be separated.  The Army hoped this would increase the morale of the troops.  The Matchell twins, myself, and a guy from my home town, Gary Reagin, were a four-man team.  However, when we were assigned to an Infantry Company, the Battalion Commander spotted the Matchells and wanted them in his Headquarters Company.  We saw each other frequently and after being discharged remained lifelong friends.

     When we were coming back home on a troop ship, Keith got K.P. for three days.  The second day, Keith begged Ken to substitute for him since the smell of food made him more seasick.  When Ken went in the kitchen, the guy in charge told him to make coffee.  When Ken asked him how to do it, the cook replied, “The same way I showed you yesterday, dummy.”

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075 or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Electricity

Bill Carter from Norborne who reads my column in the Richmond Daily News, says “I can remember in 1939 my first year in school about electricity.  I could not figure out how they dug the hole for poles with this long handled shovel and spoon.” He went on to say that if you didn’t use REA people, your house had to be inspected before they would hook you on. Their REA was out of Chillicothe. 

      Another letter I received was from Alta Waddell.  

Dear Mr. Hackley

I enjoy your column in the Mansfield Mirror.  You wondered about who wired the houses when electricity became available.  Anyone who knew how to do it wired their own, and helped the neighbors do theirs.  In the late forties and early fifties, I helped my father, Clarence Collison, wire several homes in our neighborhood on Pea Ridge Road- where Pea Ridge School was located.  (The schoolhouse is now a home).  He also wired New Hope Baptist Church, across the road a little east of the school.  Some of the original wiring at the church was still intact the last time I was there in 2008.

Sincerely, Alta Waddell, Wickenburg, AZ

 

    Mo Pub electric company furnished electricity to most towns in our area.  They had an employee in each town who was called the “local maintenance man”.  In Oak Grove, it was William McCoy.  He liked to tell about the early days when people didn’t understand electricity.  One woman called him, wanted her meter checked because she was using too much electricity, then called him back and said, never mind, she had found the problem.  There was a plug-in that didn’t have anything plugged in to it, and it was leaking.

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075, or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com

Jack Remembers -- Wired

President Franklin Roosevelt had Congress form the Rural Electric Association (REA) in 1935 in order for the farmers to have electricity.  The for-profit electric companies fought Roosevelt and said they would supply electricity to the farms as soon as it became economically feasible.  We got electricity in 1941, and fifty years later my mother said if we had waited on the power companies, we wouldn’t have electricity yet. 

     I asked in another column who wired the farm houses when REA came through.  Larry Pittsenbarger grew up north of Maysville in Dekalb County.  They didn’t get electricity until after World War II.  Larry said an electrician followed REA and wired all the houses.  He said it was a two day job to wire their house, and they had to feed the electrician who also stayed overnight with them.  Larry said a lot of the farmers were so tight fisted they didn’t hook up after REA came through.  They didn’t need lights since they had coal oil lamps, and after all, they went to bed when it got dark.

     Kathleen Tierney and Madeline Woodward, 94 and 90 years old respectively, grew up and lived in Knox County near Edina, and said Knox County did not get electricity until 1957.  Madeline said her husband, Weldon, wired the house with an instruction booklet supplied by REA.  Like most of the people who responded, her first appliance was a refrigerator and a toaster. 

     My mother wanted a refrigerator immediately, but because we didn’t have the money, my dad traded the appliance dealer a Holstein heifer for the Frigidaire refrigerator.  Shortly thereafter, lightening struck a tree next to our house.  The lightening ran in on the electric line and burned up the refrigerator motor.  We had it repaired and if appliances today lasted as long as that Frigidaire, all the appliance companies would go broke.

Jack can be reached at PO Box 40, Oak Grove, MO 64075 or jackremembers@aol.com.  Visit www.jackremembers.com