Oh well, what is another career change?

KIrksville was a great place to study and prepare for the ministry and I  finally got a promotion, we were happy as could be.  Kirksville also is home of a Teacher’s college as well as the School of Osteopathy. I was put in charge of all the AF guys who were going to college.  Working out their working schedules around their college classes was sort of a pain, but still a good job as well as still being a repairman myself.

It wasn’t long until I was winding down my time in the USAF when out of the Blue, Russia decides to send missiles to Cuba. President Kennedy’s Orders came down ‘no one to be discharged from the military until after the crisis is over’.  Does 90 days sound familiar Jack?  Yes the same USMC. lol  but this time I was with my wife and two sons, so it wasn’t bad.

Carolyn (?) Chamberlain, Glenda, Lil and Mary Conrad.

The boys were growing and they were good kids. They got along well.  So when I finally came down to my release date I was sent to Kansas City to process out. Sherry was in Kirksville and Glenda Conrad was staying with her for company, but Sherry got sick and the 12 year old Glenda shouldered the work and manned the guns while I was gone. Sherry never fails to brag on Glenda and her taking charge at 12.

I remember the song that was popular, Ray Stevens and Ahab the Arab. Sherry, Glenda and I would sing that on the road.

In KC I got to meet one of President Truman’s Ex-Secret Service men, he was then a guard at the Truman Library. He had nothing but praise for Mr. Truman. We talked for an hour of so. A rare privilege to me because of my respect for President Truman.

For the families information, President Truman was the only thing that my dad and I disagreed on. He disliked Truman because he liked MacArthur and felt Truman had done Mac wrong. I felt that Truman had no choice from a military standpoint. MacArthur should have known better, a general cannot tell the president what to do.

Glenda then and now, From Missouri she now lives in Okeechobee.

Anyway I was discharged so back to Kirksville. We took Glenda home and thanking her for all her work. She was, and still is, a doll (and a close friend).

Wow did we ever appreciate the last promotion, because of it, the USAF would move our trailer home. So we readied it for the trip, took our clothes, loaded the car and headed for North Carolina, civilians again….

On the long trip we talked a lot about my new chase, to become a minister. Studies to make, tests to take. Summer school would start soon. My wife as always supportive no matter how wild or long the shot may be.

Last night I was thinking of my dad’s life, so I am not too far from the tree. He was a farmer, dynamite man, migrant worker, logger, saw miller, well digger, cotton mill worker, loom fixer and finally a preacher, like my Sherry, mama stuck with Frank, her husband who was named after Frank James the outlaw.

Thanks for your patience in reading the log and our lives. This is to be converted to a book for our little family.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

This mole hill is becoming a mountain I did not expect.  If you look at your life you will remember details hidden far back in you memories.

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This is a beautiful  mid 50’s  Mercury.