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It seems like where ever I go, like a store, ballgame, or out to dinner, someone will come up and introduce themselves and then tell me that they read my column and I bring memories back to them about how it was in our time and those before them. It is refreshing to me to hear this and to be able to make others happy by reading my words each week. To be able to sort of bring back the thoughts of others by giving mine is precious. What a wonderful thing to happen to me as it brings me up to a level of happiness that helps me regroup myself after all the medical problems I have had. To me, that is medicine for the heart and soul of my being. To be down, yet risen up,  just by someone telling me they like going back to the old days through my columns

The other night at a ballgame a very nice young gentleman named Mark came up to me and we started talking and when we were though, I was feeling a lot better than I was earlier. Yes, my stories of my family in the days of old are very true ones and the things that made me a writer are stories of how it was according to me and from the stories told to me by Mom and Dad and my elders. The experiences that this young fellow received through a loving family headed by two wonderful people known to me and the family as Mom and Dad helped get me through from then to now as the things I learned gave me courage and desire to kick away the illnesses that try to take over my body and getting well is the goal of this old man so that come spring, garden work will be tops on my list to do. Oh, I know that getting well takes a while and getting back to where I was, will take some time, but it will be done.

The other day, a person I knew from a few years back said that time catches up with us but we don’t have to let it go by. All we have to do is to stay up with it. Life is what you make of it. If you go along feeling bad all the time, life will seem to be long and hard. If you look at just about everything in a positive way, life will seem to go by fast and you will enjoy it. That is my view of my life here on this earth. I am here for a while and then I won’t be, but I will not let myself dwell on it in a way that it will take me down. I have known many good people who received their call home at a very early age and I also have know many who are still here in their eighties and nineties and they look at life as a gift which it really is, and thus life is enjoyable to have. So my thought is that while I am here, I will enjoy the ride and if I fall off, then I will just get back up and continue to ride.

There are ways to enjoy life and they are free to use. Get enough rest and sleep. Eat healthy food. Don’t use street drugs and don’t drink yourself under the table. Everybody is different, yet they are also the same in ways of thought and actions. It takes you to do the choosing, not the man on the street, nor the man behind the bar. You do what you want, and take the action that comes because of it. I am not perfect as there have been things that I did that I am sorry for doing them. But life for me has changed since 1998 and the path I walk is one that will help me and not hinder me. There are times when you have a temptation but knowing  how to block it out is something I can do just by habit forming another pure thought. Life goes on.
 

Ray “Uncle Ray” Day

# 727

March 16, 2013

"In my  memories."

Another trip back to those times when we were young and full of vinegar with Mom and Dad in charge of family operations. Mom was the chief cook and bottle washer and Dad was the one who tried to earn enough money to take care of all our needs with a warm house to live and sleep in. I remember Mom when she toiled at the cook stove trying to keep up with the brothers and sisters as to what they wanted and what they got. Mom could make anything taste good because she put her heart into it. There were times when she would make snacks of bread with salad dressing on it and a little love as one of the engrediants. She sometimes made icing and spread it on graham crackers and sprinkle some love buds on them. A tall glass of lemonade or Kool-Aid with a chunk of ice on a hot summer day sure hit the spot and sometimes she would pop a lage dishpan of popcorn with melted butter on it and with the drinks, she sure took care of us with love that she never seemed to run out of.  Mom taught just about all of us how to wash clothes, iron them after they dried and hang them up in a way that they did not wrinkle. When we washed the dishes, she stood off to the side to do her inspections and after a few times of that. you knew better than to do dishes and leave food on the plates. She always made sure that the pots and pans were shiny clean and dry to the bone. Mom tried to never waste anything as sometimes leftovers on the next day had a great taste to them and we were always ready to try any of Mom’s recipes, because they were so good, I know  the one goody that she made was a peach cobbler that had lots od crust in the corners and ends and loaded down with peaches from the fruit trees out in the yard with cinamon and sugar inside and out. I must say that here was a food that usually ended up with a cleaning of the pan by  we kids scraping all the pieces of crust and eating them before the pan hit the wash water. Yes, Mom was a Angel in Mother clothing and everything she did was for her kids and her man.

As to Dad, there were many times when we did not see him because of the hours he worked. When he worked the midnight turn we already left for school before he made it home and many times he would be resting before leaving to go to work at eleven oclock. When he worked the day turn, he was already gone before we woke up but we did get to spend time with him in the evenings after we got our chores done. When he worked the afternoon turn, he was gone before we got home and didn’t get home until we had gone to bed. But there were times when he had time to play some games with us and even though we did not realize it at the time, he was a father who cared enough to devote just about all his time to make sure that his kids and his beloved wife were taken care of even though he did without many things himself. When he had time he would make scooters for us out of two boards and a pair of roller skates. And when it came to shoe repair he knew what he was doing as he could put new soles and heels on our old shoes and they would look good as new. When there were times when he just was too busy, we would take cardboard and trim it and put inside our shoes until he did have time to repair them. Right here I will say that the times were rough for most people but those who had great parents made it through because of the love of father and mother for their youngster. I consider myself very fortunate to have been part of their family.

Ray "Uncle Ray" Day

#728
March 23, 2013

Responsibility?

A friend asked me if I had ever taken a good look at the responsibility that one has to another, friend or foe. So I thought I would dwell upon that target in this week’s column. First off, let me tell you that there have been times when I shirked my responsibility, and paid for it with not only pain but also with losing a friend and that is not good. We all have some sort of responsibility to another such as family, friends, and to even those we have never met. It would not do any justice to open those doors as once open. the pain will swell to a size that could not come out of those doors. yet sit there and swell more and more until that time when all swelling causes a big blowup and that is not good. As children, we learn responsibility from our elders and we use it to embark onto a life of doing what is right and not that which is wrong. Our parents are and were the bearers of responsibility to the children they brought into the world. Our teachers are next in line to be responsible to those children who are starting to show what they have learned.

Our higher learning takes us to a level of being responsible to a business or firm where everyone has to pull their own weight. You can’t just sit back with your feet on the desk and expect to get the job done. In our cities, there are many who are responsible to the ones who elected them to office, and it seems like they have already set in with feet on the desk and a paycheck on it’s way to their pockets. In the states we have Governors who line up their buddies and put them in positions of responsibility with no training, except as friends.

In the Federal government there are levels of responsibility with incompetent leaders sitting back and getting a paycheck for doing nothing. I am not talking about any certain holders of those areas of responsibility, as most of us know without asking who is doing the job and those who are jobbing us. So when we talk about people being responsible,we have to take a good look both close up and far away and tell ourselves that we are being responsible for electing those who are not acting responsible, nor willing to do anything for the betterment of our beloved USA. Maybe we need to hold up on their checks each pay period and even tell them to go home and stay there with no money coming in like many thousands of people who have no jobs and so have to resort to kissing someone’s feet or the other place on the bodies of men and women who we thought were responsible to us as a country and as single Americans .

Who is responsible for all those who sneak across our borders and take our jobs. Now ,don’t get me wrong my friends as I do have a lot of friends who came over and got their citizenship papers and took their vows as Americans who will go by the Constitution of the USA and live free with rights set down by that constitution. But we have good old Americans sitting in our chairs of government who really ought to be replaced or have their pay adjusted for what they get done for us. Doing that to them would put them down to the pay that our middle class tries to live on. I am an old man who believes that if you were elected to do a job, it should be done as best as possible. That is the responsibility that they owe us. We have sat on the pot long enough and we have to flush the john to get the lines clear for all. Enough of that because it won’t happen. So we go on with being responsible for the things we do yet not for the results which is  a shame. So let’s just say that we reap what we sow. Responsibility is a practice of action.

Ray "Uncle Ray" Day

In all my writings, I have found with pride many readers who enjoy going back with me to the old days if only in memory. I found out that I am not the only old man who enjoys the memories of a life that was tough but pure in the knowing that families were much closer then as to now and I ask myself how can that be. Families are the backbone of God’s Creation and though them God makes it known that those who can, do enjoy the closeness of family members both then and now. One of several differences between then and now is that then the mothers were in charge of the household and that was a full time job with little pay for them if at all. Today, most mothers have jobs outside the home and very little time to do the housework. So , someone is brought in to clean house and be there when the kids get home. There are many times when parents leave their children alone while they go out on the town. The main difference in that is that back in the days of old, mothers would not think about leaving the kids all alone. There would be either the oldest one at least the age of 15 there to govern the brothers and sisters until the heads of the household get back home. Or there would be a neighbor there to watch over the family until that time when Mom and Dad got back home.

One thing is for certain in my thoughts is that youngsters need to be trusted with some responsibility but not too much at any one time. You select through age the ones that were felt to be trustworthy enough to handle such an assignment, and you left information as to where you are when needed . In today’s time, the kids are out on the streets doing things not thought of in the old days. Gangs bring in the youth because they are so easily impressed with power from others their same age. Now there were some gangs in the old days but not like today. Back then we called them gangsters and they stayed within their own family and neighborhood. Today, gangs are everywhere and growing each day. Young kids look up to someone who has power enough to take someone out and they like what drugs do for them. Life in the days of old was tough but you could be sure that Dad and Mom were close by to protect their young whenever needed, and so gang members stayed on the other side of the tracks.

All the conveniences of today come with a price but not by the young. The older generation is there to make it easier for those who come next. We hope to make our children’s lives so much easier because we had it so tough. Or did we? Really we appreciated all the things that Mom and Dad did for us because it was all we knew of the outside world until we left the nest and found out for ourselves. Once we got off on our own, we found out that things were not given to us on a silver platter, and we had to work to get those things we wanted, and sometimes we did without because we had no way of getting them. That is until Mom and Dad steps in and help out.

Mom and Dad will not always be there to lean on and we have to learn to be able to do for ourselves. We need to reach down deep within our own pockets and see if there is enough to buy certain things, and if not, we do without until we do have that resource. If there is anything that was and still is a factor in our years here on earth, it is that we utilize the things we are taught and we make that attempt to follow through with the teaching of our mothers and fathers. We are taught that one day, the hand will not be there and we need to extend that hand to our children and those further in life.

Ray "Uncle Ray" Day

#730
April 6, 2013

Education Family Way

When asked by one of my readers about how I feel about the bringing in of children without the benefit of marriage, I decided to enlighten you about those thoughts. First off, I am a person who believes in the union of one man and one woman via the marriage rule. Now, you guys out there who are going to jump back at me when I say one man and one woman, don’t waste my and your time disagreeing with me. I am solid in my beliefs and so don’t try to get mad at me. as to those children in a family that has been having babies without the benefit of marriage and by several men or boys, who want to do the job and then go off to do another. Yes, the female is at fault also, as she should know better. Was she brought up wrong or in a family caused by the same type of doing the job and walking off? Or did she just didn’t care about having babies with no chance of growing up in a family that has the chance to move on up in the world?

The system is filling up with having to force others to pay for expenses involved to raising these children until they get old enough to stick out their own hand for help. What we have here in America is a failing act of educating our young and those who came before them thar the bills have to be paid and that means higher taxes so that we can raise someone else’s children. The money has to come from somewhere and that means that the middle class will be hit the harder so that we can pay for the mistakes of our youngsters and many older men and women who just don’t care that we pay the bills just as long as the money keeps coming. I know I am not alone in that thought. Our families come first in my thoughts.

We do the same over in many areas overseas where pregnacy is always getting done. They know that the Americans will bail them out and for me, I feel that it is time to tell them that the pockets are empty and no more will be done for those who just don’t care as long as it keeps coming. I have to declare to all that here in America we have many needs that are put off to the side because the money is not there to use . But we keep giving out to the countries who don’t give a darn about you and me. Really we are feeding our future enemies as they get stronger and we get weaker. Food stamps are not going to there for all of us unless we stop the misuse of them now. Think about those before us. Would they hold up the food from their children just because someone in another country has their hands out for it. We feed our own first and then give the leftover to others. Babies are wonderful to have but marriage between one man and one woman must prevail. Don’t have babies if you don’t habve the means to take care of them. As to those countries who are always having their hands out for help, take a look at the Capital of those countries and you will find those in power doing the horse laugh at us and reaping the profits. As I grew up, I saw a ststem that worked. I saw that as I got older I got more responsible, and I saw that to make it in this country, you had to have a reason for wanting to do the very best you can and you move up the ladder of success by taking the first step on the ladder and as you go up you watch for that spot in life where you want to be and you stop there but always ready to move on up if you can. So to you young children, remember that you need to use your head to think success no matter how high or low

.Ray "Uncle Ray" Day

It seems to me that whatever is good for the nation overall, we find our elected officials listening to those who don’t care one bit about the middle class and thus we suffer for it. We pay large salaries to the people in the House and Senate and we get nothing for it.  They have better health insurance that we don’t have. They do not have to worry about high medical bills because the insurance they have is the very best there is. Add to that, our President and his Cabinet are paid a lot more money than we ever will and it is time to tell all of them that we are sick and tired of worrying whether our medical bills are paid or we have to reach down into our empty pockets, to find out that there isn’t anything there to work with

.
Why is this happening in the greatest country in the world? Why are we allowing it to happen? Why don’t we as those who put them in office start pulling them out? Why should we have to worry about the ones we trusted on election day who really are not giving us our money’s worth? What can we do to change the system back to what it was twenty years ago? Has the door been closed so that we the people can not enter? And will our children live with hands out because we can’t pay our bills and buy food for them. A cold house with no heat should  not be our legacy to them. So what do we do? Well, first off we need to start cleaning up what is wrong in Washington D.C and let those lazy bums know  that their jobs depend on them working to solve our problems. That means that the President and his Cabinet must make every attempt to work with the House and then the Senate. It means that some of the things he wants for all of us might have to be put aside until we are back on our feet. You can’t spend money without having it first. Then we need to move out the Speaker of the House and put someone in that position who will at least make an attempt to work with everybody. Then we need to go to the Senate and tell the old men that their days are about over and if they want to continue serving us, they are going to have to clean the table first. What is so hard to see that we have people who are not serving us in a way that improvement is seen on the horizon. I, like you, have sat back too long and watched our country go downhill. Yes, the greatest country in the world is on it’s way to a lower spot due to those who do not serve the American people in the proper way.
 

Now let me get this clear to you. What I have stated here is of my own opinion and I don’t talk revolting. What I believe is that through peaceful means we can get our country back on it’s feet just by checking the arteries and the blood supply it has to work with. Like the heart in our bodies we have to have a checkup at times when stress has been holding it down. Like the mind in our bodies, we need to start using the things that we believe in and like the arms and legs of our bodies, we need to exercise our right to having people serving us in a way that benefits all of us. It really is very simple because we know that the body that we have there in our government needs a tune up and we need to do it now and not when it has an attack. So here is my message to those servers. Get off the pot or we might have to flush the john before it fills up. Being an American sometimes is taken for granted, Acting like an American sometimes means that we exercise our options before there are none. God, Please Bless the USA

Ray “Uncle Ray” Day

#732
April 20 2013

"Patty's Story"

A reader asked me about our daughter Patricia who passed away in 1994 of ovarion cancer.She said that she read Patty’s story on the web and she wondered how it affected us to lose someone that close. Well, I have to tell you that it hurts every day but you learn in time to cope with it by accepting it. There were many mornings when I would wait up and tell myself that it was a bad dream. But it wasn’t a dream at all. I  just have to go on with life with the memories of that young lady who was our daughter and if it comes to having to cry at times, go ahead because that shows I cared.

The story which is on my webpage now at one time had  over 370,000 hits but I lost the page and had to start another one. I remember the morning when I received a phone call from Ramona that the doctor came in and told her that Patty had cancer and I, right away, left the store and drove out to the hospital with tears in my eyes and pain in my heart. Here was a 34 year old young lady, who like her sister, meant the world to me and their mother and there was a chance that we were going to lose her.

As I started into her room, I stopped long enough to wipe my eyes and get my grip and walked in to see our little girl. I leaned over and gave her a big hug and she then said, “Daddy I have cancer”. I told her that we will fight together to beat this thing and that was enough for her. She knew that Dad would be there at all times possible and she did not have to go through this alone. She also had her mother and sister Deborah to help her fight and together with her friends, all of our families, and God to get her through.

The next five months were hard on all of us but that little lady was one strong girl, and I don’t know if I could be that strong. At no time during that 5 month span did the doctors and nurses give up on Patricia and she did not give up on them. When there is a terrible illness such as cancer, you will see people working together in order to fight for a patient and we saw a lot of that in the hospital.

I remember one day when I was about to enter her room and I saw she was crying. So I stepped back into the hallway and said a loud hello to the nurses at their station. Then when I went in the room Patty was smiling while hiding the tears she did not want me to see.

In her 4th month, I was staying there at nights and we would talk together and maybe get a little shuteye and one day, I told her that I was going to open the curtains and move her bed so that she could look outdoors. We did this each night for 4 days and we watched how night turns into day and one night I asked her if she knew what I was trying to show her. She said “yes, daddy, i understand that the dark will always turn to light and the days we have left in our lifetime will do the same. All the bueatiful colors appear as night turns into day and we cherish each one of those days because God will one day make his call and we will enter into eternal life.

If you ask me if I miss her, I would say that I do every minute of my life and I will walk that narrow path so that I can see her again. Patty’s body is buried in Kokomo Memorial Park Cemetery and we have a memorial at the gates telling all of you to “help keep Patricia’s fight against cancer alive”.

Cancer one day will be defeated but today we need to fight with all our might to take it to it’s knees.

Ray "Uncle Ray" Day   {Patty's father}
 
 

One of my young readers e-mailed me and said that he enjoyed reading my articles, about the past, and how the hardships turn into happier times, in the next generation. He asked me why I don't mention anything about the wars that happened during that time. He said that his folks will not discuss that subject with him because of losing members of their family in wars.Well, the main reason is, that wars have been fought since the beginning of time as we know it, and to reflect upon it would bring a lot of heartache to those ,who lost a family member to the conflict we call war. But in a sense, I guess that I have avoided that part of my life, because it really hurts to remember that people have to take sides and kill others, in order for one man to become the master of others. I have always tried to be a peacemaker, when it comes to keeping one person from hurting another. I have always believed that we all need to work together to reach a common goal, without losing what we believe in.

Being an American is something I am proud of. I don’t like wars but sometimes we have to stand up and be counted and protect what is ours. In order to be free, you have to be ready to fight for it. If you asked me what I think about one killing another in the wars, I would say that life is so important and the freedom to live that right of life as you want it, is so important, sometimes the killings in wars are part of that freedom. Wars have been with us since time began and we probaly will continue to see it until that time when it is said to be enough and we all get that judgement that we know will come.

I read about WW1 and lived during WW2, The Korean war, and Viet Nam and there has been some good out of them but we still lost many good men and women while those wars went on. North Korea right now is flexing their nuclear power and needs to be stopped. As to those places we have been in the last ten years, my thought is that we have not accomplished much except losing good soldiers who's families will never see again. It is my opinion that we should pull out all our remining troops and bring them home. Let our babies grow up with their fathers and mothers at home to hold and love . We, here in the United States, have been very fortunate to have had our brothers and sisters ,willing to lay down their lives, so that the rest of us can be free. I have respect for all those soldiers , sailors, and marines, that went out to protect us and our rights.
 

So if you ask if I think that wars are important, I would say that the ones that we had before my time ,were important because without them, I wouldn't be able to write down the words of this article. I would not be able to speak ,without the fear of being taken down and beaten. I wouldn't be able to go ,where I wanted to and do what I wanted to. No, I don't like wars, but sometimes we have to do what we don't like. To those who gave up their lives so that we would be free, and to those who are there to fight for our freedom now and in the future, I say "THANKS and GOD BLESS" all of you.

To those who sit back and enjoy life as it is now, better be prepared for that time when we will maybe have to go back to defending ourselves from the hell of warfare. Life without a defense makes us a country without hope. Being prepared to fight has to be on the horizen of life. being ready to accept others who hold the hammer over us cannot be our answer. Wars will be fought and won or lost but really everyone loses. We stand united in brotherhood and love of the USA.

Ray "Uncle Ray" Day

I have been told that I spend too much time in the past and not looking forward into the future for my thoughts. Yes, I do think about the past a lot because I can’t change it and so it is the one solid happening that won’t leave me until that day when God calls me Home. The present, up to today, is the past and from that point forward it is part of the future.

While I go back in time I have precious memories that I never want to go away. Remembering Mom and Dad and all my aunts and uncles who have left this earth for a higher place, my memory is the only constant I have. I try to live day by day trying to better myself as to how I feel and how I live. I don’t get out that much as I am a homebody and I try to do the same routine each day unless something special is on the horizen. I don’t dress fancy as that is not my style. I eat foods that are good for me but once in a while I will cross the line and eat foods that I shouldn’t have. I love my wife and daughter who are still with me and the daughter we lost to cancer in 1994 just before Christmas.

 Looks like I might go that way too but I won’t dwell on that because I believe that God will call me Home when He thinks it is time to do so.

Life is a gift that many of us take for granted and thus we fool around with it like we will be here forever. I have many friends who are in their nineties and they are living examples of God’s Grace hear on earth. Knowing them is a plus on my life because they have traveled the paths that I have and they know what it takes to live in tough times and good times.

So if you ask me if my life has been a great one, I would say that it was and still is. Life can only be as good as you make it. Living poor does not mean that you will be that way the rest of your life. Being rich can have a door that opens and those riches fall out. Does that make you poor? I don’t think so because as long as you are here on God’s good earth, you have His blessings and that is good. When He calls us Home, we will have eternal life still under His Grace and the pains of an old body turns to no pain and no worries.

Here on earth we experience many great things and many terrible things and  we use that experience to go on until that time when the wings of an Angel will swoop down and give you the ride of your life to Heaven.

Now folks, don’t get the thought that writing this column might be the last one for me because I plan to write until that day when it is time to go Home. Then there will be the last one that bids you all my farewells and hope that someone takes up the pen and starts telling the world about the days of old. There is a lot to write about and up to today, my life has been great and I have been under the knife several times without much chance to live through it, but no one told God that and so I am still here writing about my thoughts of life before, the present and the future as I would like to see.

The ride so far has given me lots of good friends and good happenings, and really I would not change a thing. To be able to tell you about my life and that of my family is a precious gift to me and that is good. So to you out there who are enjoying a cup of coffee or tea while reading my thoughts, I bid you a nice weekend and will see you next week.

Most of us have times when we want to vent our anger about things that happen for no good reason whatsoever,and there are some who just don’t give a darn about what changes we have each day. Take me for example. There are things going on every year in sports where we are the ones who buy the tickets yet have no say about it. The Pacers for years were a great team and the state of Indiana was proud of them. But then we got some hot heads on the team who just don’t know how to be good and loyal to the city and state. Then,as the team started going sour, we get the retiring of one of the best players we ever had in Reggie Miller and since then it has been sour as vinegar tart and attendance went down fast. I really don’t care to pay the money to watch them. I don’t turn my television to watch them either.

Then, look at the Colts. I am and always will be a Colt’s fan as long as they are in Indiana. But how can anyone with any sense at all ,get rid of Peyton Manning? Here is one of the smartest football minds of all time and he knows how to motivate the others around him. He is well liked and widely respected throughout the football world and we don’t have enough sense to keep hiim and let the new guy learn a little more about how the game should be played. If it wasn’t for the good things that the owner does in regard to Indy, I probaly would stop watching them too. But once a Colts fan, always a Colts fan.

And what about the Chicago Cubs? I have been a fan for most of my life as my father was a Cubs rooter regardless if they won or not.  Wait until next year he would declare and when the new season started there was Dad sitting there watching the team he never gave up on. So you can say the the Cubs are part of our family even when they don’t win.
Now we come to the worst thing that ever happened to the state of Indiana.Going to class sports took Indiana sports down to it’s knees. We devided into classes according to the size of the school and ever since then  attendance has gone down. When you can go into a gym and sit anywhere you want,that shows that the athletic programs throughout the state have been hurt in the pocketbook. The players are led to believe that you can’t defeat the big schools and that is wrong because anyone can beat anyone at any time on the right nights. Will we ever go back to the old way of doing the old state tourney or will we continue to depleat the source of revenue to take care of our programs. Now I know that there are schools who are really proud to say that they are the best in their class,and rightfully so,as that gives the players and the schools a chance to develop more good players, but only in your class. Think of it as sort of a segragation of schools going all the way for a championship. Indiana is and always was the hotbed for basketball and a lot of great players came up through the ranks to become known as Indiana players who excelled in their sports. So this writer counts the ways that a small group can ruin a program like IHSAA had for years where one team could go all the way and win that cherished title of State Champs.

Then as a final comment. The jumping from college to pro basketball by Zeller and Oladipo really made me sad as I was hoping to see them bring Indiana the Championship next year.Oh well, the heart will heal and I still hope for the best for both of them. And there are those waiting to take their place as Hoosiers wanting to make good. That is my thoughts on sports.

Ray "Uncle Ray" Day

As I grow older , I wonder if I am getting wiser or am I stuck in the stop gap of life. As a child I went to a neighborhood school which was Wiliard school on Monroe and Purdom Streets. It was for the !st through the 6th grade and a Principal by the name of Lee Walters. He was a great man who believed in getting the most out of every student and not just a favorable few. We had some great teachers who knew how to do the same and they are remembered by this old man as those who started me on an educational ride before passing me on to Central Junior High which was where a school parking lot is now on Union and Superior Streets. As with we had at Williard, the same was there at Central and the second phase of my educational life was in the process. Then after Junior High, came Kokomo High School where the pride of the Red and Blue runs supreme. Kokomo High also had teachers who worked hard to bring out the best in this youngster and hopefully they got the deed done. After two years at Kokomo High, we moved out to the Western School district and I attended Western School in Russiaville, and there I met a great group of youngsters my age that will always be in my bank of memories because of the way they accepted me into their arms and even today those memories are supreme in my thoughts about friends that we have in our younger day. Friends also blend deep in the learning process of getting an education good enough to allow us to go after any job or position that is there for those who want to take that step in life. What this old man is trying to get across to you is that our education process is sufficient to move all of us to that level in life that we want to have for ourselves and the families we bring forth in our lives.

But in today’s world at least here in Indiana, we are being told that all we got through the education paths, is not enough to do the best for us and we are now getting all the action of processing good hard earned tax money to give to certain families so that they can enter their children into private schools. What will result  from this is that our public schools will suffer from the lost tax money they would of received to bring about better things for the students and the families of those who attend the public schools. It is of my opinion, and I address this with a lot of emotion, that the vouchers that will go to families of students is a bad move and the concept of a good education will refer to the thought that private is better and public is second place in acquiring that education needed to take that big step that will give us the leaders and educators that are so much a part of our lives before us.

Again , it is of my opinion that public schools should be first in line to get the tax money that you and I are taxed for. We need to let it be known that those leaders before us and those that stand before us now were all educated in the public schools and I would say that we got our money’s worth. It seems to me that our upstarts that we are putting in as our representatives seem to have their own agenda and they have closed the doors that we had opened so many years now. Don’t get me wrong folks, because I do believe in every student getting the best education possible but we don’t need to take the money and throw it away on private schools. If you out there want to enroll your child in a private school, do it, but do it at your own expense. I am happy with the schooling I received from good teachers and good public schools. Think about that and ask why is this happening? I can’t accept it and neither should you.

Ray "Uncle Ray" Day

 
It has been said that we will one day be subject to watching our televisions and listening to our radios and hear the constant barrage of dirty words, much more than what we hear already. The FCC is said to about to authorize all the media that they can use whatever language they want on the shows, movies, news shows and even the children shows that even today are bad for our youngsters to hear. Where is the thought in this authorization and really who is behind it. Today we will be watching some television and even though it might be a great movie, it is laced with profanity even though there is no reason for it. It is of my own opinion that even though we have freedom of speech here in America, there has to be a limit to what can be transmitted over our air lines to homes where good mannered people live and try to live as proper humans instead of the dirty talking lamebrains we have who by their own signature gives them the right to stain our lives with profanity.
Our cable stations are not worth the outrageous costs that are charged to the customers giving us the chance to see up to 500 plus channels whenever we want. Recently two new stations were added and they are Cozi, channel 433 and INSP,channel 298.  Hallmark has some good clean shows on their channels but recently we were sitting there and a few dirty words were blasted into our ears. What has happened to our society where we can not watch a show without fear of having to turn it off due to dirty words in the presentation. Now as you read this, you are probably asking why not just change the channel or turn off the television. Well as time flies by, this writer has seen that my life does not need to hear bad language to get a point across. I don’t need to see nudity on the screen either. Yes, in my younger days, I did cuss some and I did look at things I would not  look at today. Oh yes, I am the same person but with a different mission in life. Our airways need to be cleaned up and our movies need to be put on a shelf until they can be done away with.

How long has it been since you have seen a good movie without having to block out what is said and showed on the screen. Really I am about ready to put up an antenna and just watch the local stations. Look at channel 4 and you will see shows that just are not good for our youngsters to see. Back in my day, Channel 4 was a great station to watch sports and good educational shows. And while I am at it, I want to say that watching some of the ads on TV, the people running the adds must think we are idiots. They tell about a medicine and get you about ready to check into it and then as they close, they tell you that it might make you sicker than you are and could result with death. My goodness, let the doctors and the people at the drug stores tell you what you need. Yes, I know that advertising helps pay the bills but there are some things like medicine and lawsuits, that are seen every day that need to be taken off and good ads put on.

Personally, the only ads I pay attention to are the ones in our newspapers and magazines where you have the opportunity to read the fine print. Have you ever noticed how small and how short a time the fine print is on? Well, I thought I would just get it off my chest and as one of my readers says,”tell it like it is”. Again we have no need to listen to more vulgarity than we have already. By the way, I recorded a section of a show just so I could read the fine print and you should try that before making up your minds about the medicines. Sort of saves the kicking later on

Ray "Uncle Ray" Day
 

As I go from today back to yesterday and then jump up into the future , I see in my mind how things that happen in the past, have a great impact on the future. In the days of old, everything that you had was because of the effort you put forth, and you put a great value on your home, your family and the elements of the weather that sort of dictated how hard you had to work. In today’s time, we still have a value put to just about everything we do and we reap. The value of family is not even close to how it was before. The value of life for some is less than before and we find that many of those who just cannot make it in today’s world decide to do the dirty deed of suicide and that truly is a waste of what God gave all of us. Even punishment for doing wrong has changed drasticly . In the days of old, doing wrong got you a strong whipping and some were hanged and many lived a long time in prison camps until they found out that right is good and wrong is bad. Today, we slap the hands of our youngsters and hope they see the error of their ways but that does not come true for most of them. We have courts that will put down a decision and then be turned down by the higher courts of the land. We say that all are innocent until proven guilty, but you know that is not the real deal as those who can, will get a lawyer who is always there to set his man free regardless of what they did as a crime.

Now here is where I make this claim. I believe in the judicial system, as it is one of the main three segments of our constitution and it does a good job more times than bad. Our part in government where our senators and representatives in the house and senate are more like two boxers in the ring. Get in the first punch and follow through with the rest of the party, and take it 15 rounds or until one of the fighters says “no more”. In most administrations in the last fifty years, it has been the rule to follow your party lead and hang on for dear life. The president usually makes up his mind that there are things that need to be done for the sake of the people but is also wise enough to know that he is in the fight for the whole term and really does not get too much done because he and congress cannot get along. What happened to the governments like we had during the two world wars and the Korean conflicts? Did our values of being free to live, to speak, to write, and to assemble go downhill and off into the ocean. Can we fish long enough to bring back those values or is it destined for us to travel the road of lost values and just get down on our knees and pray to God to bring back to us the sanity of life as it should be?

Ok, I have been on the soapbox long enough and as I weigh what we had with what we have and put that forth to what it might be, I am confused and I am sad to know that we as Americans, stretch out our hands to grant people from other countries who are known to hate the American people, the right to live better than us who were born here and who pay the taxes. Do we do too much for those who sneak across and not so much for our own. Sure we do and eyes need to be open to see that we the people in not really we but they. So looking into the future and weighing the three segments of life as we know it, this writer wants to shake my head and say enough is enough. Lets put forth the “WE” in we, the people, and take care of our own before we do others.

Ray "Uncle Ray" Day
 
 

I was asked what was remembered by me other than my writing about the old days and I have to say that an article printed by The Tribune several years ago remains in my memory as one that sort of gives us a different outlook on life as we have it. The story was about David, “The Bubble Boy”, in about 1983 who was 12 years old. He lived in a large plastic bubble that protected him from lethal germs. He lacked 2 types of white blood cells and B-cells that warded off infections and produced antibodies against germs. Everything he touched had to be sterilized with oxide gas. His bubble had 4 compartments and the bubble took up most of the living and dining room. He played electronic games and even had a small piano in there too.  So, except for filtering out the air in the bubble, he was confined to a life inside that confined area.. He was taught at home by a tutor for 2 hours each day and also had a telephone hookup with his six grade class. He did get to travel on trips with his parents in a portable isolator that fitted inside their van  At the age of 12, no bone marrow donor had  been found. David had support from grants from the health institutes which helped pay for the special care.

David was thought first to receive bone marrow from his sister, as that was the only way to get the kind that would match but that in the long run did not work. They later decided to try a transplant that would enable the use of a non_ matching bone marrow. The bone marrow was from his sister but treated with antibodies and a chemical substance that would kill the cells that would attack his body, which once matched up with David’s cells, would produced disease fighting cells that could produce immunity. If everything worked and David had a near normal level of immunity, David might be able to leave his bubble. But 15 days after leaving his sterile invironment, David passed away from heart failure. I remember this story just because it showed that under any and all situations, there is someone out there who is fighting the battle of his life and the things that you and I are going through is nowhere close to what others might have to do. When David left this world after only having a short time to feel what it was liked outside his bubble and being able to hug and kiss his mom and finally knowing a human touch, and meeting everyone who was involved with his life from day one. The nurses, and doctors as well as the classmates he never knew, felt a loss that they would never again know. David himself wanted to someday be able to walk barefoot in the grass outside and thus he was involved with just about everything that was needed to be done by transplanting the bone marrow and although only 12 years old, he wanted that one chance in a lifetime. He had a high IQ and got high grades and all his teats showed him to be brighter than average. David’s family lived in Texas but they did not want to have their privacy violated. David had the love and respect from everyone in the town and even the police officers cried when he passed away.

So I wanted everyone to know that even though we have problems, we come nowhere close to what this family had and what David went through. Many times we sit back and complain about the smallest of ailments and we seek the power of stimilants and pain killers to help us but let’s just put ourselves in that situation that David had and see how much we complain about it. Life is always giving us new pains, and new illnesses and we think we have to get something done about it or get some relief from it, but really we are getting older and we will hurt more today than we did yesterday, but that is life. We accept what we are given by God and we go on.
 

Ray “Uncle Ray” Day

#740
June 15, 2013

Another look at my family.

As I go on with my life as it is, I also go back in time to those days when our parents and grandparents and all the uncles and aunts as well as all the cousins were at some time around me, and that is one of the good things of living back in the days of old. Remembering how we visited one another and joy was abundant as cousins got together and had fun telling what they did in the last week. Those little secrets we told each other and the games we played were a joy to behold. Quietly listening to the grownups talk about things that were part of the family mold of togetherness and once in a while one of the uncles or aunts would get with us kids and play softball or just talk about how it was when they were young. I had some great cousins and it was a treat to be able to see them whenever we could. But the visits among us were sort of divided because of the situation of work and many times someone would be working and so miss all that fun of togetherness. In the days of old, there was a greater sense of togetherness among families and neighbors close by. We sort of looked out for each other and when one child did wrong, the ones who witnessed the doing, made sure that the parents knew before it was spread out to other neighborhoods. And when one family had a party or maybe a ice cream happening for their family, other neighbors were asked if they would like to be part of it.

 I can picture in my mind how my mother would let the neighborhood kids sit with us on the side porch while she told about how it was and maybe how it would be for us in the future. Mom liked to play a few songs on her piano and we would just sit there and wonder how this pretty lady we knew as our mother could remember which keys to push to get that pretty sound out to our ears. And many times when we would go to the park to have a picnic, she would always tell us to stay close to each other so that we would not get lost. And the food she made for the picnics was all in our bellies as we got ready to go home. Mom had just about all of her time used up when dark came about but she always had time to give us a big hug and kiss before going to bed.

And when the daylight started showing up through the windows we knew that she had breakfast fit for her family being cooked on the stove. It was a daily chore for us older kids to get up early enough to go downstairs and get the cook stove going with coal and wood and as soon as that was done, we had to stoke the fire and add coal in the heating stove so that it was warm enough for the rest of the family. We did not mind doing this because we got the first chance of maybe tasting what she was cooking. Mom could make the best fried mush, and she made great gravy too as did our Dad when he wasn’t at work. The biscuits were mouth-watery and when you spreaded some of her canned jelly she had stocked up on those biscuits, there would be a sense of satisfaction that only the love of a mother could give her children. Mom was a lady in all sense of the word. She was a pretty woman who stood out in our thoughts as God’s gift to us. Dad was a good looker in his own way but sometimes he would not shave for several days and the whiskers sort of scratched our faces as he hugged us. And of course you could smell the chewing tobacco that he had in his mouth and the aroma of his cigars that he smoked. But I never at any time ever saw hin with a cigarette in his mouth. Good old Dad.

Ray “Uncle Ray” Day"

Life as we knew it.

It is sometime hard to write about someone or something without maybe repeating things. As I go back in time, my thoughts always go towards my mother and father who brought me into this world. In my time you were delivered by a doctor who made house calls or by a midwife who knows what she is doing because she had done so many of them. The father usually would be out working or maybe in the next room waiting to hear the cries of that new born child who will be loved by all and who has given the mother nine months seniority because she carried him or her all those months while still doing just about all those things she did any other time. It is the mother who worked right up to birthing time to keep her family fed and together. As one of the members of my family, I saw my mother doing as much as she could to keep the home the same for all of us. Of course she laid down the law that each of us older children had to do our part plus a little more in case she got tired enough to stop for a while. Mother had a house full of children and she did the best she could to insure each and every one of us that she was “johnny on the spot” when we got hurt, when we got sick, and when we just wanted to sit around and listen to her tell some good old stories of life as she had it in her younger years. Mom had it pretty rough in her young years and Grandmother Sapp was a person of discipline. And her Great-Grandmother Leeds was strict too. There was only one way to do things and that was their way as law of the elders.

When Mom met our father, she fell in love right away and she was loyal to the end with him. Dad had a good woman that he could count on to be there for him and all the family. And Dad worked as much extra time that he could just to make sure that all of us were kept fed and warm. There were days when we did not see him for a week because of working the overtime and not getting home until we had already gone to bed. Mom always said that you honor your elders and the parents came first in that honor. You were taught that each of your brothers and sisters were entitled to be honored as family members and love for each other was essential to make that happen. I would say that I was one of the richest people around having been born to our parents. Each of us had our own way of doing things but the result would be the same.

As I get older and wait for that day when I will meet up with them again, I will sit sometimes for a hour going back in time in my mind. It just seems to me that there are so many things that leave pictures in my mind of how it was in my days of old. The brothers and sisters are leaving this earth and going Home so soon, there are only four of us left. The same goes for the cousins we have. Time has given them many memories of love of family and of the old ways of doing things. In today’s time, we look backward and the picture is getting dimmer, but the way forward is getting brighter. We walk the paths that have been laid down for us and as we go further, we think about the ways that God gave us to enjoy all the wonderful things that we cherish each day. The air we breathe, the sounds we hear, the things we see, and the ways we use them to make our short stay here a good one. The beauty of life as we see it is a blessing only given by our Father, and many times we just don’t honor that blessing enough. We reap what we sow and we look only ahead toward the light.

Ray “Uncle Ray” Day

#742
June 29, 2013

"Sharing my thoughts"

Just the other day, I was asked why do I take the time to write such nonsense for the newspaper. And I wonder why if he reads my column each week and does not like what I have to say, then why read it. So I did a little investigating of my own. I asked people as I saw them in the stores or in the neighborhood what they thought pertaining to what I write about. With joy I can state right here that I received many accolades telling about what my life was like in the old days and most of the people I talked to, told me they always look forward each week to read about what I have to say. I did have one gentleman who said that the things I write brings back some good thoughts and bad thoughts. I asked him what were the bad thoughts and he told me that during the time of the stock market crash, his family and many others had lost their savings and went from riches to rags. He said that the wars we had to fight in killed off some of his family and many good friends. He said that the things about how it was in the days of old were written about thoughts of how families stayed together and how a man’s word was as good as gold . So I told this nice old man that he and others like him, help me to tell the story of how it was and the difference that yesterday was, compared to what it is today.

Two of my readers who are both in their nineties live in Sharpsville and he is alway telling me that I hit the nail right on the head, about how what I write, sounds so familiar to him and his Waneta. He is one nice person who always lets me know that he likes what I write. Also one of my readers, Thelma, who had read all of my writings since 2003 and who passed on to her rewards at the age of 99 in December of last year, always took time to write me each week and called me several times, letting me know that she agreed with my thoughts. I get email’s each week telling me how they agreed or disagreed with my columns. Just the other day, one of my readers came to the house and prayed for me. Never saw him before but I knew his father. Hey people, this makes me feel real good when I know that I write a good clean column. And just knowing that I can write what I want as long as it is not tearing anyone down while giving my thoughts of what each of them is doing gives me cheer. The one thing that you will find is that I write from the heart and because of how I was raised, I use common sense doing it. No one needs to fear what I might say about a particular person. If I can’t say anything nice, I won’t write anything.

That is what I am about. I have freedom of speech, I use it. I do not have the right to take anyone down with my words. We have people on the airways who really violate good taste when they talk on the microphone, but I won’t listen to them. I don’t need to dirty my mind with their thoughts of saying cruel things about others just because of their affiliation party-wise or how they live in our community. I thank all of you for the happy thoughts you give me each week. I am just a common man who is trying to walk that narrow path that my Lord has laid down for me. I don’t envy anyone because of their wealth or stature in the city. I tell it like it was and what it is today and what the future might have in store for me. I thank each of you for allowing me that little bit of time each Saturday morning over a cup of coffee and this column. My memories are precious to me.
 

Ray “Uncle Ray” Day

My memories take me back to that time when most things were good.and we went to the movie houses to see our cowboy hero’s like Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, and their horses Trigger and Champion.with their sidekicks, Andy Devine, Gabby Hayes, and Pat Butram. And seeing great singers like The Sons Of The Pioneers and Dale Evans, You did not see much if any kissing going on and the shows were great to enjoy with your friends. Boy, those horses got a lot of hugs and taking care of. The movie houses back then were the Fox, Wood, Sipe, Indiana, Isis, and The Colonial. A lot can be brought back in memory by my old friend Tom Hamilton who can tell you all.

A young fellow and his friends could go downtown, and before going to one of the movie shows, be able to buy a large bag of popcorn at McClellands or popcorn and peanuts at the wagon just north of the Indiana movie house, and then go to Hills Snappy Service to get the best fries and hamburgers and even top it off with a frosted malt only found at Hills. They just are no more except in our memory banks and hopefully we will remember it all till that time when God calls us home. One place that is still downtown is The Kokomo Tribune where this column is printed and in the same spot and still going strong. The stores that were downtown have either gone out of business or out to the malls to get every customer they can. One of the best places for me to spend time in was The Walt Moss Barber Shop. Walt was about as nice a guy there ever was, and he cut my hair until that time when the forehead started meeting the back of my neck. John Palumbo at Engles was another person who everyone liked and where you could get about a good a deal on that special gift for the pretty lady on your arm. And I can’t forget Charles Sullivan at Victory Bike Shop, who was the man to see anytime you had a problem with that bike. Just knowing him was a blessing because he was and is a person who will treat you with respect.

The stores that made the move to the Malls were Sears, Penneys, and Wards, now Wards is gone altogether. Great stores like Kresges, McClellands, K&S Department Store, are gone and how can we forget the Restaurant in Kresges, where many workers downtown stopped in to get their lunches made by the nicest ladies around, like Mary Lou Budd. who served you with a smile.  We just don’t have people like that anymore who treated you with great service. At night time, after the stores were closed,you could just walk along the store fronts looking at the things you wished you had.

Those, who had cars, would drive around the square showing off that new used car so precious to the driver and the passengers who were lucky to have a friend that owned one. And today, I wonder where did it all go? I guess that my memories of a time long gone probaly is not that interesting to those who only live in the present, but to me, those memories are so precious, because that time that is no more, was a large part of my life in Kokomo, Indiana, where inventions galore were made by people who are in the history books. It was a time when you and your loved one could walk downtown or in the parks without fear of someone trying to hurt us.My memories will stay with me as long as I exercise my brain to relive those days when the parents were there to govern and train their youngsters to be better citizens, so that they can train their own when that times comes to be. We can be only as good as we want to be even though we had great role models to follow. We can only tell it like it was and hope that a little bit of it gets through to our children

Ray "Uncle Ray" Day

One of my readers asked me why don’t I write about the in-laws I have and I will tell you that I have written about them but not too many times since they came on the scene in my adult life after I met my wife Ramona. So let’s journey back in time to those days when this fellow met one of the most dazzling young ladies, of all time. When I first saw her, she was a blue eyed beauty with short hair and wearing a full skirt and sweater with that little scarf around her neck. She was tall and did not have any blemishes to speak of and this fellow decided right then that I would like to meet her. So one of my good friends introduced me to her and then I did not see her for two weeks. Then one day while in town, I thought I would call her up and see if she would like to go on a date. Little did I know that that question would lead to a future with Ramona for the rest of my life.

So that Saturday evening, I drove up to her home in my “46“ Dodge , went to the door and the first person I saw was a pretty lady named “Mom Sarah” and she invited me in and then told Ramona that her new friend was here. Then I met her sister Mary Kay, her two brothers, Fred and Steve, and then I thought to myself, where is her Dad. I was told that he was off working in his heating & plumbing business and probaly would be late getting home, so I could meet him later. Then I saw pictures of her brother Tim, who signed up for the Navy and probaly would not meet him for several months if I was around that long.

 And then in the next week, I met Pop McKee .  Here was a tall thin man who was strong as an ox and he had a beer in one hand and the other one stretched out to greet me. Nice guy, I thought at this first meeting. He showed me  his collection of guns and he said that he used each of them for different purposes. Now, here is where I am thinking that maybe I should back up a little so I would have the room to turn around and run out the door. But then he asked me if I drank beer and I said no. He asked me what education I had and I told him that I was maybe going to be a lawyer if I got enough good grades and the money to get it done. Well, it looked like I might of escaped the first meeting unharmed but this little visit was the start of a good family friendship that eventually turned out to be my second family.

After that week, I called Ramona and asked if I could see her again and she said yes and that was the beginning of a life together full of good happenings like the births of Deborah and Patricia. There were good times mostly but every once in a while we had sickness to both of us and that meant that we honor our vows and take care and love one another through sickness or health, riches or poor, till death do us part. Through the years I met the families of both Mom Sarah and Pop Mckee. Mom, coming from the Budd family where I was accepted by all and always treated like family by Tom, Don, Mary Lou, Wanita and grandmother Budd.  Pop came from the McKee and Good families, and they all also took me right in to their family. Through the years, I remained a family member of those two family groups and I was truly blessed with knowing that I had a second family all because a friend introduced me to that tall thin blue-eyed girl named Ramona. To this day, it hasn’t been easy but wonderful and I am happy about it. Families are important, and just belonging as part of that family gives me grace. I miss them very much.
 

There are times when I look back to those days as a salesperson, at Sears where I went after the mill went down and spent 17 plus years selling tractors, tools, and bench tools. I got to be a tool professional doing that, and with the help of some real good associates who knew what they were doing, I started on my way to being a person who served the people who needed help in deciding what to buy. Now I was one of those people who decided that I wasn’t going to sell something that a buyer did not need and thus a good relationship between the seller and the buyer was what I wanted in my new position. Fellow employees like Rosie, Dwaine, Paul, Wick, and Ned were there to answer the questions if I did not know the answer. We were on commission but when you sell something that you don’t know much about, you can bet that a mad customer was going to bring it back and there went the commission. Oh yes folks, our checks took a dip whenever we get something back.
Well, anyway, I was working with Rosie Solomon one day and a man came in the door and started looking around. I just stood there waiting for the customer to make the first move, and Rosie came up to me and motion me to come over to him. He asked if I saw the old man come in and I said yes and he said that I should go right up to him and ask if he needed any help. Well, seeing that the old man was pretty dirty and had old clothes on, I thought to myself that I would be wasting my time because he probaly would not buy anything, and I could be working with a customer that will be buying something. Rosie took me aside and said that you don’t decide the worth of a customer by the way he looks and how he is dressed. Turns out the old man bought a new tractor and boy, did I learn from that. Any time someone walks into the store, he or she is a potential customer. You let him or her know that you are there to serve them and by doing that, you gain the confidence from them that they know who to look up when they want to buy something or to just look around. Those customers are the most important aspect of you client list for the rest of your tenure at the store.

 I remember one day when Ned came in and I was working with a customer and Ned said he would take over and I wondered why. It seems that the customer had forgotten to say that he was there to buy from Ned and so after moving aside and listening to Ned and his sales pitch, I found out the importance of the customer was to the store and to those of us who worked there. I learned a lot just listening to Ned and there was no hard feelings between him and me. Turns out about a week later Ned took care of one of my customers and rang it up in my number thus giving me a nice start to my day.

That is what it is about. The working together of the sales people to make sure that the customer was taken care of. So if you one day get a chance at working in a store and taking care of the customer, remember to acknowledge when he or she comes into the door and allow them to see what is available and before he or she leaves, let them know that you want them to come back. Good service is taking care of the customer. Don’t go off in a corner and wait for them to make the first move, because they might not come back without knowing they are welcome in your store. Let everyone know that they are the reason you have a job. Treat all including fellow employees with grace and knowledge because that is what they want. Greet them coming in and leaving too.
 

Do I ever get Upset?

One reader asked me if I ever get mad enough to blow up and I have to say that I do but I try to block out those things that get me riled up. But there are some things that really need to be addressed and so maybe a few of them will get the attention of those who could do something about it. When I drive on the bypass and drive the speed limit, and a truck comes buzzing by at a rate of speed faster than they should be, I get mad. If the passing of a truck or car causes you to feel the force of it, they are moving too fast. I can’t wait until those trucks start driving the new bypass because moving them out will help the ones who drive safely. And for years we have been called “Stoplight City” due to all the lights, and maybe we can do something about that too. And those “no turn on red” at points like Morgan Street and the bypass is just downright silly and should be changed. The time spent at the intersection just waiting for the light could be used for other means. There are several more on that bypass that do the same thing. I sometimes wonder about how much of our valuable time is wasted just waiting for them to change.

 Another thing that really gets in my craw is the type of programs on TV that are just too filthy to watch. Why can’t a program be watched without having those bad words in them. With the high cost of our viewing by the cable companies, you would think that they would try to put better family programs on for all to watch. Oh, I know that I can change the channel, but why should I have to do that when we have these large cable companies charging all of us high prices and also reaping in the profits from all the ads they have on. Have you ever just counted the ads that are keeping you from watching more of the actual show? I have and many times there will be at least 8 ads shown before going back to watch the actual show. Why should we pay such high monthly charges just to wait for going back to the shows when the cable companies are getting double? Enough of a subject that gets me so disgusted.

 Now we go to the telephones and what we have to put up with each day. Charge companies constantly calling trying to get our attention. The receiver goes back on the hook in my house and if I want charge card service, I will be the one to ask for it. Delete our name from your list. The time I have left in this world is mine and I don’t need to have to get mad over what can be avoided.

Now about one that will probaly get me in a jam with the city officials, I have to ask, who's lamebrain idea was it to put deviders in the middle of some of our streets? That is one silly thing to do . It also creates a safety hazard for all who are not familiar with it being done. Also the lighting in those places is much to be desired. I don’t think it does any good and should not be done on any of our streets unless a vote is taken from the residents of our great city to do so. If I remember, one of our police officers drove up on one because he did not see it. It sure won’t help if an ambulance needs to get through. Well, from that last item that gets in my craw, I think I better stop before someone comes and tells me that I don’t know what I am talking about. We all have things that gets us mad and this writer is one of them. But then all of us have some thing to holler about. The thing is that we just don’t let us get too mad about them. Life is too short to get too upset.
 

As the memories of my childhood come bouncing back to me, I think about the time when I was 12 and in the 6th grade and passing this Tribune to my many good customers in my own neighborhood, There were some very cold days and this young man tried to go as fast as possible to deliver the news to the customer and sometimes the hands were so cold, it took a long time to get warm afterword. We lived in an area on North Lafountain Street neat the Globe Corporation, and the Pennsvania Railroad which also ran alongside the Train Depot here in Kokomo. The people in our area were all good people who not only were our neighbors but also our good friends. We went to Williard School over on Purdom and Monroe and I was a member of the Patrol who helped the kids to get to school safely,  My spot was at Monroe and Kennedy Street. On the way to school each day those in our neighborhood who went to Williard could stop at a little grocery store run by Sam Martin and he was a cherry old soul who waved at us as we went by. Down the street from there on Kennedy Street,was Dulin’s Gas Station and the people there helped watch us as we went by. Way north of there about 3 blocks away there was Winburn’s Grocery run by Merl Winburn and after school let out, the kids in the neighborhood help him sort the grocery items for the shelves. Going north up to Broadway Street, was another grocery store run by Witacres, and later in years by Bill French. Reece Sulivan had a gas station about a block away and he also sold candy and chips. Boy, that neighborhood was full of good people who not only ran their business but also helped the families keep watch on the kids there in our neighborhood. Boy, if those people were still living, our world would be a lot better off.

That was what we kids had in our younger years that taught us not only the value of life but also how much fun it was to be there. Neighbors who watched out for not only their own children but also the ones who lived nearby. And finally, someone came up with enough money and the Hockersmith family bought a television and being good neighbors they invited all the young kids to come watch television with them. So in the evening hours after supper and the chores were done, we all got the chance to watch some great programs. The only requirement was that it had to be ok with the parents and the chores were done. Many an evening was spent out there on the front lawn and front porch enjoying the great shows of the fifties. I would say that not only the watchful eyes of the parents of each child , but also the eyes of the neighborhood, were responsible for the way we were brought up. Many a kid from that neighborhood made their mark here in Kokomo and it was a time of problems in the South but togetherness in the North. I still see some of those old friends but many have been called Home, some at a very early age. There are some that I don’t know about as they moved to other cities in their quest to do the things needed to to raise their families. If any of you who lived there in that neighborhood are still around, let me know something about how you are doing. If there are friends out there who I haven’t seen for many years, I sure would like to renew old friendships. We lived in a time that was almost like a fairy tale. Great people in a time almost lost in many memories. The first fifteen years of my life is a memory most cherish. The new friends I picked up since then are precious too. Life without memories would be a very dull life. Do you go back once in a while and relive yours? It might make your day that much better. Try it today.

I like to go back in time and remember those shows on the radio and later on television, and so let’s do that now. Today we watch movies, listen to our favorite music and read about things that have happened during our lifetime. And we have many ways to bring back in our minds how we lived through a time known as the great forties, fifties, and sixties, according to our ages.

Going back to the days of old when the entertainment was what you see is what you get. Ed Sullivan was one of those early shows , which was made up of Ed introducing the talent to those out there who had the luxury of having a television. Ed was the first to bring the Beatles to the American public. And Elvis got a big push through that show. The Garry Moore Show was a big part of a lot of stars beginning their paths into the American public. Before Garry had his own show, he was pushed by Jimmy Durante who could sing some beautiful songs. Jimmy was known to many as the “Snozze” because of that wonderful honker he had. Jimmy said that he was blessed by the greatest of them all, and you take what is given to you. Jimmy would open his radio or tv show with“Hello Mrs Callabash, where ever you are” ,and close that show with “Goodnight Mrs Callabash, wherever you are“. Jimmy was a born comedian and he put on a show to please his fans. And Garry was always seen wearing his bow tie and his crew haircut. Garry started out being a comedian using his real name which was Thomas Garrison Morfit, but because his last name was hard to pronounce, he started later being known as Garry Moore. Remember Durwood Kirby who was Garry’s right hand man? The regulars and guests were Denise Lor, Ken Carson, Don Adams, George Gobel, Carol Burnett, Don Knotts, and Jonathon Winters. All of these names went on to star in their own shows. Marion Lorne and Dorothy Loudon were also regulars on Garry’s show. Also that is where Alan Funt started with his “Candid Camera Show”.

Do you remember the old redhead, Arthur Godfrey? Now there was a man who loved what he did and he showed it every time he was on radio or television. Man, the stars that great man brought forward to the American public, made a great impression on all of us. Tony Marvin was the announcer on that show, and the regulars were Pat Boone, The Mc Quire Sisters, Marion Marlowe, Janette Davis, Julius Larosa, LuAnn Sims, Frank Parker, Haleloke, Carmel Quinn, and the orchestra was led by Archie Bleyer. Many others were part of the old redhead’s show. Arthur always tried to bring on new talent to the American public. Arthur Godfrey and His Friends and Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts were two great shows.

There were a lot of good stars who entertained us during the old days. How many remember The Real McCoys with Walter Brennan. That was one great show. Remember Ted Lewis and his band? He used to start out with his catch phrase, “Is everybody happy?” Wagon Train had Ward Bond and Clint Eastwood in it. I think the best show on Wagon Train was when Lou Costello played a serious part, as a dying man. Ken Curtis was on the show sometimes and he later went to play Festus on Gunsmoke, as did Dennis Weaver, and Bert Reynolds. James Arness was the good Marshall. How about Bonanza with Lorne Greene, Little Joe, and Hoss.Parnell Roberts . Lorne Greene was Ben, Michael Landon played Little Joe, and Dan Blocker played Hoss. That show also had a cook called Hop Sing. The one thing that was prevalent in those shows was that you didn’t hear bad words watching those shows. You didn’t see the sex suggested like you see now. The shows gave all of us a lot of good memories, and you didn’t need a rating on them. You set down with the family and you enjoyed good wholesome entertainment. No quick turning of channels because something bad was displayed..

 
Several times in recent months, this writer was asked if I had any thought about the things that are going on in our education process and I have stated my opposition to the way that the former head of instruction and his political allies were trying to bring a different approach to how our students are taught. First off I have to tell everyone that I came through the public school system as did all the members of our family. Both of my daughters were honor students and they were taught the subjects that would help them through the growing process as well as being able to understand the ways of the land. Now that is where I get upset these days when I hear that we will have a computer for each student to use at school and take home to do their homework. Folks, the public school system where you learn all the basics so that you can understand life and be able to proceed with further education is the primary way to learn so that you can understand how computers work. You need instructional help from those teachers from the first grade on up through high school. Now I know that many parents have decided on home schooling and that is OK with me as long as they have the education to lead a student through all the things needed to one day graduate from high school and go to college.Using a computer to learn the basics is the wrong road to travel. You need to start at the very start which is the first grade and proceed through the next twelve years of learning not only the ABC’s but the Math and English, along with the Literature of famous writers of old who went trough the same procedure in their day. Using the computer is great once you learn how to master it but remember not all things you look up on that computer is solid true facts.

You only learn those things from good teachers who have gone through the preparations of life to get to where they are now. Now another thing that you have to realize is this. Computers can be munipualated to come up with an answer that will benefit whoever is on the other end. As to charter schools, if a parent wants to send their child to a charter school they should have to pay their own way. That bill should not be put on the taxpayers shoulders. If a parent wants to educate their child at home, then they should be versed in all the things needed for a proper learning. I see nothing wrong with in home schooling but it like charter schools should have to bear the cost of such education. So in short I would have to say that the road we have been taking this past 2 years has a political background and so it has no chance of giving our children the proper education they so dearly need.

Put educators back in the schools and make it worth their time but don’t go overboard with salaries that are so offending to the taxpayers.. What we as parents need to do is to monitor the actions of our heads of education and question any sudden change in that body’s actions that not only effect the children but also the taxpayers who are footing the bills. Remember this at all times. When someone desires to take us over, they start with our youngsters and feed the thoughts to them as well as those people who represent us. For a long time, our public schools have done the job of educating our youngsters and done it well. If anyone desires to not use that system, they are free to home school their children or to go to charter schools but it should be at their expense and not ours. Another thing to remember is that we learn through the teachings of trained people who need to know that the work they do is a benefit to all of us. You don’t rely on computers when you have the schools and teachers there ready to serve us.

As I go back in time, I have certain memories that mean so much to me. The young years when Mom and Dad were the ones who had control of just about every thing done in our lives. It was a time of love of the children by two loving parents who took on the task of bringing up their children in the right way. Parents back then wanted more for their children but many times it was just wishful thinking because money was hard to come by. But the love that a mother has for her children goes far in the way that they are taught so that when they grow up, they will be able to make their mark in life to the effect that it would be an easier road to travel. The fathers in the family many times are so busy trying to make enough money to support his family, there would be several days before they had time to show their love for the children. But that love was there and as I grew older, I got wiser and I witnessed with my own eyes what my father had to do to fulfill his obligation to his family. I remember many things about my mother and father which will forever be in my memories of a life with good parents and lots of family companionship.

One day when dad was in the hospital, he found out that he needed surgery and that sort of scared him as he had never been known to ever be sick enough to need surgery. I was in the room the day before his surgery and as Mom was over by the window, Dad motioned me to lean down and he gave me a slip of paper. I put it in my pocket and was going to look at it when we left the room. But Mom saw him pass that note and as we left, she wanted to know what it said. So I opened it up and looked at it and then gave it to Mom. She read it and then passed it back. I read the note and it said this; “Ray, they are going to cut me open tomorrow but you don’t have to be here”. Mom looked at me and asked; “You know what he is saying, don’t you? I said yes and that he wanted me here and I will be here. I have never forgot that memory. Several years later,when Dad was on his death bed, I went in to talk with him, father to son, and we had a good talk. He said he was ready and he wasn’t scared as he had had a good life with a wonderful wife and family. He passed away two days later.

Mom was alone a lot after that not wanting to leave her home but she took sick one day and was put in the hospital. She went into a coma for several weeks and one night as I was sitting there with her, I was telling her what had been going on and how much I loved her and while I had her hand in mine, I felt her grip my hand, just like she heard everything I said. She did come out of that coma one day and asked me if she could come home with Ramona and me and live with us. I said yes and then let the family know I would need help taking care of her. Ramona did all she could just like she would of done if it was her mother there. My brothers and sisters did their part in visiting and doing things for Mom that she needed. One day I went into her room and told her that she needed to go back into the hospital and she said OK. She passed away about a week after that. I truly believe that Mom and Dad did all they could to train and love all of us kids and that they both reside with Our Lord now. The path I walk now is a straight one without too many blockages on it. I will see those two wonderful people again.