A Sunday Afternoon Ride ( About 1930)
A Sunday Afternoon Ride ( About 1930)The Shackelford family would go to Sunday School and Church and then to Mrs. Seay"s Boarding House for family style Sunday dinner. Mr. Sevy was an inventor. He was always ready to take us to the shop behind the house. I was fascinated with an apple peeler and corer. He carved me a little basked from a peach seed. I wore it on a ribbon around my neck.
Usually the family would go home and change clothes, wait for Daddy to read the paper and then go for a ride. We started out State Road 200, past the airport. There were a lot of people there, taking rides on the 2-seater planes for a penny a pound. We were on the way to Inverness but the road was under water and we came back to Ocala. We saw a bill board advertising Chevrolet cars so we three kids stood in front of it and Mom took our picture.
When we got back to the airport, to our delight, Daddy stopped. No one was interested in going up in the plane except Mom. They weighed her in at 99 pounds, so she saw Ocala from the air for 99 cents.
When
we first moved to Ocala, Mom was still crippled with her stiff knee. One afternoon
she had finished cooking dinner and was resting in bed. A traveling photographer
came down Adams Street asking at each house to take family pictures. We ran
in the house all excited, but Mom said she was too tired to wash us and dress
us for a picture. We assured her we could get ourselves ready. The picture was
good, but the minute Mom saw it, she was very unhappy because I had not put
on a slip!
Therapy for a Stiff Knee
Before we left Wauchula, Mom had her cast removed and was walking with crutches. We were staying at Aunt Lola's house. The doctor came by just as Aunt Lola, Mom, Rufus and I were coming out of the house to go to his office. He told her she needed to walk if she was to get back the use of her knee. He took her crutches, threw them in his car, got in and drove away. Mom was leaning on Aunt Lola on one side and Rufus and I on the other. With Mom crying, we made our way to the porch steps. Mom sat down and pulled up the steps on one leg.
She
finally decided she would have to walk. When we got to Ocala, she made a plan
to do a long walk each day. She would cook our dinner, put it on the warm stove,
then she and I would walk to Tuscawilla Park. It was about five blocks from
our house. She would sit on a bench and I would play on the swings and slides.
When the 6 o'clock whistle sounded at the Taylor mill, we would walk to the
other side of the park, and then to Turnipseed Motor Co. where Daddy was shop
foreman. By the time we would get there, most of the repaired cars would be
picked up and then Daddy would close the shop and we would ride home in our
car. One day, Daddy's crew had worked on the Chief of Police Lyles Motorcycle.
He let me sit on it and someone snapped a picture.
My
Playmate Bill
When we first got to Ocala, I missed having Rufus and Delores to play with. The boys had each other, and also they had met neighbor boys at school. I played with my dolls on the screened back porch and I also loved to color. Tenderhearted Bill would occasionally come home and play dolls with me. He is pictured here with two of my dolls. (The cigarette in his mouth is a candy one.)
Daddy
had taken a job in Ocala while Mom was still in the hospital. When she got out
we were still all staying at Aunt Lola's, waiting for Daddy to find a place
to live. He had a hard time-- he needed a house or apartment downstairs because
of Mom's leg. The only one he could find was an apartment in the private home
of Paul and Maude Durand. They did not want to rent to a family with children.
We were all ready to come, and Daddy was ready for us to be with him. He finally
talked the Durands into letting us come until we could find another place. Daddy
drove down to Wauchula early one Saturday morning. We loaded our car, and arrived
in Ocala after dark. Mr. Durand told Mom to find us some Sunday School clothes
and he would take us to Sunday School while Daddy helped Mom get settled. He
put us in our right departments and met us for church. We stayed at the Durand
apartment for seven ears and they cried when we moved. When I moved back to
Ocala to teach, Mr. Durand came down to the front of the church and stood with
me when I moved my membership from First Baptist, Tallahasses. He said I was
his little girl. Nine years later I married his great-nephew, who I did not
know then. The picture shows us dressed for church.
Going to Silver Springs
All the boys in the neighborhood could hitch-hike to Silver Springs. The girls thought this was unfair, but usually a kind mother, or older sister, would drive us out and another one would pick us up. Everybody took lunch and a dime for a cold drink and someone took a deck of cards. This was to play a game in the locker room if it rained. All the business men in Ocala received yearly passes to Silver Springs from the owners. Daddy kept his on file, so we three kids just had to give our name and the swimming facilities were free for us. Mom was reluctant to let me go because I couldn't swim. Bill assured her that he would teach me. He called me out on the diving board to show me something and pushed me in and said, "Swim." And I did.
Bill
and his Bicycle
Bill begged and begged for a bike, but he just didn't get one. One day he told Daddy a boy in his class lived in the country and he didn'd have a Daddy, but he had a bike. The next day Daddy brought home two bikes and Lex didn't even want one!
Going to Daytona Beach
One Sunday, Daddy decided we would drive to Daytona Beach. Bill asked for his friend George Wenzel to go along and his mother decided to go too. Mom sat in front between Mrs. Wenzel and Daddy. We four kids were in the back seat. We crosseda toll bridge and we kids hid Lex under towels, jackets, etc. The toll taker counted 4 kids and 2 adults. We laughed and laughed-- not becuase of the hidden Lex, but that he counted our mother as a child.
My First Boyfriend
When I was in the 7th grade I met my first boyfriend. He was an 8th grader. We both parked our bikes a block from school in Mrs. Caldwell's fenced in yard. Sometimes the janitor's son would borrow his bike to go on an errand for his dad. Claude went to get his bike to go home for lunch and it wasn't there. He came to my class (I was in Mrs. Barge's room) to see if I knew where it was. Mrs. Barge accused him of coming there just to see me. I was very embarrassed.
Train
Trip to Florida
When Lex and Bill were about 1 & 3, Nannie brought them to Wauchula, Florida to visit their Shackelford relations. They went on the train. Lex was impressed by the vendor selling coffee and sandwiches. He carried a pot of coffee and you furnished your own cup, and he poured it into the cup. When they got home, Lex had a toy coffee pot, and he tee-teed into it and played the vendor, calling out "hot coffee". ou guessed it! right into Bill's crib.
Little
Sister
When Margaret was born, she was dressed in the boys hand me downs. Times were hard and it wasn't practical to buy new clothes just because the child was a different sex. Also hand-me-down tows were practical. Not that I remember it, but the picture shows a used tricycle. One toy I do remember was a goat and goat cart that Lex and I received on our 4th and 8th joint birthday. There was only room for two so we would ride down the road leaving Bill crying. After this we moved to Florida and I guess the goat and cart were sold.
When
I was starting Junior High my mother and Dad bought a house. After living in
the crowded apartment, I at last would have my own room. The house only had
two bedrooms and a sleeping porch (not very practical in cold weather.) Dad
bought a small one-room cabin from the canal authority and had it moved to our
back yard for a bedroom for Lex and Bill. Lex put a buzzer in it with a switch
on the back porch. Mom would push the button to call them in the morning and
for meals. The yard was in bad shape, but Mom soon had it looking beautiful.
She won the best petunias award every year that they lived there. Since we were
further 
away
from school, Dad bought a bicycle from one of the canal employees that was leaving.
I rode my bike to school until ninth grade and this wasn't done when you got
to high school. So I learned to drive the car at 14 and went to the police station
and told them I could drive and they gave me a liscense. No test at all!
We
were all surprised when Bill joined the Air Force because he had always been
afraid of heights. Lex and I would climb trees and taunt him until he followed
us. Then we came down and ran away while he sat there crying for Mom. The Air
Force stationed him in Cairo most of the war. I was in college at the time he
was in the hospital there and he couldn't get me a birthday card. So he wrote
this poem and later sent me a Parker pen and $50.
March 4
March 4, one day I don't adore,
because then was born a little bore.
But this is only half my trouble
March 4, hit me double!
That day in 1920 was bad enough but '24 was terrible... no stuff!
Not a line above, let your heart disturb
Because of it, I mean not one word.
To you I send a little kiss
And say "Happy Birthday" Sis.
Bill
to the Air ForceWe all were surprised the Bill wanted to join the Air Force after 1 year at University of Florida. He was 17, and Mom and Dad had to sign for him. This was the Bill that would never climb a tree or go up on a roof with Lex and I because of the height. But he did good-- became a sargent and was a navigator. Pictured at Fraternity House of UF.
Daddy was commander of the Post #27 American Legion in Ocala for several years. When I was in Jr. High, the post organized a Junior American Legion Mrs. Caroline Martin-- one of Ocala's elite-- volunteered to be the leader. Mother made caps and capes for the members and we met on Saturday mornings twice a month. We met at Mrs. Martin's home-- it was big and impressed us kids. We were taught Americanism and she served great refreshments.
When Daddy was in the army he had the mumps. He sent this picture home. When lex and Bill were in the first and second grades they brought home the mumps to me and then Mom got them. She said I looked bad with my little face all swollen, but just laughed and played like nothing was wrong. The boys were mildy sick but not too bad. She said she was the sickest she had ever been, so Daddy had to take off from work and stay home with us. Mom said just give me a coloring book and crayons and I was happy for hours.
I was a baby when we lived in the house next to the Stoney Creek Garage. Uncle Will, Daddy and a hired mechanic named "Shine" ran the garage and store. Of course, I don't remember this but was told the story many times. (The boys are in sailor suits in front of the house with garage in background.) Uncle Will and Sine went bull frog gigging one night. Mom and Daddy and I were asleep in the room nearest the garage. Uncle Will and Aunt Ebbie's room was across the hall. The boys in the next and Shine in the back of the house. Daddy woke us up and heard the cash register bell ring in the store. He got up, found out Uncle Will and Sine were back form gigging and all three ran to the store. What they found were bullfrogs hopping all over the store and one had hopped on the cash register keys and rang the bell and opened the drawer. Uncle Will said they were so tired, they just left the sack with the frogs in it, but the string came loose and the frogs scattered. Aunt Ebbie cooked frog legs for breakfast. Of course, I don't remember this occasion, but I did eat frog legs that Aunt Ebbie cooked in later years.
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