Grandpa Black was an colorful, eccentric character, and also quite creative. To say he was "different", was a mild statement. He was involved in many projects, and would try anything that fancied him at the moment.

At the state fair in IL one year, he took a prize for his oil painting. (one of many he created in his lifetime) One man had a religious vision" of a sort, and developed a chart to display it. Grandpa was asked to illustrate it for him, which he did. They drove to Washington DC, in the 30's to have it patented. (Uncle Jim was quite young and went with them. He has written his own story of this trip) This of course, was very exhilarating to Grandpa, to be recognized for his accomplishments.

Grandpa made his own false teeth after he saw a magazine article that advertised the do-it-yourself project. He even used them! As he was balding, he tried every home remedy he'd ever heard of from everyone he encountered... and that was a lot! One such treatment was walnut hull stains. I can imagine the stares and comments of the day, a sight to behold I'm sure.

Actually, he was quite good at each attempted project. It never occurred to him that he couldn't do anything that he undertook to do.

One such "project" was to make his own license plates!

This endeavor took place in the 1930's in Southern IL. In those days, the licence plates were of a good heavy metal, not the thin ones of today. Each new year he would take off his old plate, place it on a wooden block, and with a gentle tapping, he patiently smoothed out the old year. This accomplished, he would then proceed to very carefully and tediously, form the new numeral of the current year, with the same gently tapping.

When this was done to his satisfaction, he would then paint the plates in the appropriate color for that year and he was in business again!

It was during this time that he was engaged in yet another project. He built his own motor home to travel around in. (everyone said that it was a very good, professional job) One of the very few vehicles of it's kind in that part of the country at that time. He was quite often ahead of his time is some of his projects.

As he was a Chiropractor, and traveled around in Gallatin and Hardin Counties to "doctor", he needed a portable office to treat people... hence the motor home.

One day, he parked his motor home behind a police car, who happened to notice that the police car

and Grandpa's had the "exact" number on their licence plates! (oops, he hadn't thought of having the same number of another vehicle) Of course, this sparked an investigation. The end result was that Grandpa was hauled into court where the judge said, "Well, you thought you were pretty smart

didn't you? But, you didn't get away with it very long, you got caught!" Where upon Grandpa said, " I was smarter than you think, I have been doing it for 5 years and this is the first time you caught me!"

Grandpa paid his fine, and smugly went about declaring how he still got the best of the law. Of course, he didn't do that, or anything relating to that, again. His disdain for the law stemmed from the fact that they were constantly badgering him about his Chiropractic licence. His license was not recognized in Illinois at that time and the other physicians in the area fought him very hard about it. In later years, he was quite honored and respected as a pioneer in that field in Southern Illinois.

Grandpa was truly a multi-talented man.