I was born to Denny Joel Hay and Wanda Imogene Holsinger in April 1953. Guess that would make me a baby-boomer. They say the "baby boom" came about as a result of the ending of the war. My father never fought in the war, not by choice. He was born in September 1929 with Severe Hemophilia. He died in September 1960. Such a short life for such a great man. I remember so many things about him, yet I don't remember enough. I was only 7 years old when he died. My father was a very firm discipliner. I remember that my mom worked at a restaurant named Days. She would bring a candy bar home for me and my sisters Janice and Julie. One night I didn't wait for mom to give me the candy bar, I went into her purse and got it. I had to have known it was a bad thing to do, because I remember sitting on the floor behind the livingroom chair with a blanket covering me so I could eat it. All of a sudden, A belt lashed out and scared me to death. Needless to say I didn't get into moms purse again, at least not until years later, which I will tell you about later. I can remember many times that we would be in the back yard playing, maybe cooking out, and daddy would have a bleed in his knee or hip joint and would be walking on crutches at that time. I can remember him scooting across the chairs that we had lined up to sit on. Guess he was getting where he wanted to go without having to walk on those crutches.
We had a great life there, many memories. Like one time, my grandma Holsinger was having watermelon on a day we were to visit. We went there and visited a lot while daddy was at work. He would drop us off. Janice and I got up extra early that morning and in the dark got dressed to "walk" to grandma's house. It was a minimum of six miles away. We took off walking there because we were afraid there would be no watermelon left when we got there because grandma was kidding us saying there would be none left if we didn't hurry there. How did we, as kids, know she was only kidding. Well, we made it to the cemetary about a mile away from home and got tired. We layed in a ditch and slept a bit, got up and continued our journey. We got a little ways up the road and daddy pulled up, told us to get in the car. He never spoke to us all the way home, we knew we were in trouble. You know though, I don't remember getting a spanking, but I am sure we must have. My father certainly didn't spare the rod. But I do remember a long talk. Another time while we were visiting grandma Holsinger, my cousin Keith and I took $5 out of my mothers purse and walked to the bottom of Sand Hill to a little ma and pa store. We spent every dime of that money. Candy was a penny a piece back then, so imagine the bag we took home to share with everyone. And we were generous too, we shared with all the kids there, and there were a lot. Mom caught us and we were punished. Our punishment was having to sit and watch all the other kids eat the candy, we never got any of it. Imagine the horrible punishment that would have been. Especially when having candy was rare for us back then. Another memory was daddy trying to get up Sand Hill in the bad snow to drop us off for a visit. There was a road that went up the hill one way, and down the other side. He couldn't get up the first hill, so went to the second one. I was so scared. He was sliding all over the place. There were big drop offs and I was afraid of going over. He made it though. I would love to talk so much more about him, but I must move on,
or this story of my life will go on too long.
I remember too well the day my father died. Mom had taken us shopping for school clothes, because school was to start in a few days. We came home and rushed in to tell daddy about the new stuff we got. He was kneeling on the floor by the sofa, praying, and didn't hear us when we called his name. Mom came in and told us to run to mamaw's house and have her to call the ambulance. We didn't have a phone, and my grandparents lived only two doors down. My aunt lived in the house in between. Well, they took daddy to the hospital, and that was the last time we ever saw him alive. At that time there was Julie, Me, Janice, and 18 month old Tammy. The next time we saw him, he was in a casket at mamaw and papaw's house. That is how they had funerals back then. Most of the people did anyway.
We didn't stay in the house by my father's parents long after that. Mom, Julie, Me, Janice, and Tammy then lived with our mother's parents. Grandma and Grandpa Holsinger. They were great people, as were my grandparents on my father's side. They were two totally different families though. We experienced both kinds of life available back then. Most kids don't get that. My Papaw Hay was a steel worker, Grandpa Holsinger was a farmer. Not a big time farmer, just a farmer that kept his family fed. We had so much fun on the farm, small as it was. They had chickens and pigs. We were sent sometimes to gather eggs. We hated that job because the hens would peck us to pieces. Grandma Holsinger had a pet chicken. She would put down a piece of paper and tell the chicken to dance. It would honestly get on that paper and begin a little maneuver with it's feet. I guess you would call it "Chicken Scratch". One time my mother was sitting at a dresser with a mirror and my grandpa and a friend of the family, Alfred Keeney, stuck a bloody pig head up to the window which was behind mom. She saw that pig head in the mirror and freaked out. We thought it was pretty funny, she didn't though. We were always playing tricks on each other, and mostly on our cousins that lived on the property in another little house grandpa Holsinger owned. Our cousins that lived there were Donna, Kathy, Keith, Diane, and Beverly. One night my sister Julie and I stuck a chicken foot that grandpa had cut off of a chicken that he plucked for dinner, down under the covers of Kathy's bed. When she got in bed that night, and her legs touched it, she jumped up screaming. My aunt Violet came over to grandpas house and told mom about it and she was really angry. My aunt was angry, I don't think mom really cared. I am telling you this stuff, so you can get an insight into the life I led as a child growing up. I had a full life, one that many kids don't get to enjoy. However, I also had a very sad life at points, one that I hope many kids don't have to experience. That will come later. |
