A trip down memory lane

For the past month or so an old friend of mine, Dallas Kinder, has been on my mind. It's seemed like every day I'd bump into another memory about Dallas.

It's been probably 15 years since Dallas passed away, but it seems like just yesterday. I've been thinking back on the times we sat and visited under his oak tree out where he lived, or we would sit and have a cup of coffee.

Other times, we'd go fishing, using our fly poles.

Dallas had his faults just like all of us, but he was as good a friend as I have ever had. I miss the old bird.

But when my memory wanders down memory lane, it kind of meanders all over. I thought about Willie Amos as well.

Willie was a little old man who lived over by Burger King. Willie loved to garden. He lived next door to Hoppie and right beside Mr. Heiser, an old gentleman who always was driving his tractor. The three of them would see who got the first tomato or the first cucumber. It was fun watching them compete. Willie and I'd sit in the shade and visit. Willie liked to just head out and walk. For an old man, he was one tough old bird. Willie's main vice was his chewing tobacco. I didn't mind. I miss Willie.

Then there was Listle and Bill Slinkard. Bill was a big old boy and Listle was short and round. Bill's voice seemed like it came from down south somewhere, it was so low.

Bill showed me how to cure hams. I'd go visit with Bill, and we'd talk trains or laying brick or gardening. Listle liked to cook and I liked to eat, so it worked out perfectly. Listle made the best turtle cake I have ever eaten, bar none. Awesome. Both of them have been gone a bunch of years.

Then someone posted a picture the other evening of a little church back in Arthur, Nebraska. I'd been going down memory lane anyway, and that picture just fueled the fire. This was the very church I'd visited and attended back when I was a child. So as different ones commented on Facebook, I began to reminisce about spending time in church there. What is interesting is that the church was constructed of baled straw. They took hand-wired, I would assume, straw bales from out where Jim Nielson lived and built about a 30x80-foot church. The church faced north-south and the sanctuary was on the south end. On the north end was where the pastor and their family lived. The living quarters was two stories.

Rev. Verneda Brown was the pastor at the time. There were a few lady pastors back then, but not many. We called her Grandma Brown, so her hubby was naturally Grandpa Brown. She was tall and skinny and he was short and round. Quite a pair. They had a daughter named Dorothy who could make that old organ just get up and talk. She would play songs for us children and we would march around the church or do stuff to the music. We loved it. I'd like to sit down with them for one more visit.

Then there was Old Joe Porter, Lester and Lela Summers, Cassie and George Porter and the list goes on.

They were good people, the salt of the earth. Not a single one of them had any money to speak of. They had enough to get by, but all of them had learned to live on close to nothing where they had all came through the Great Depression. They were proud people who might take a handout if they were starving, but they might not even then.

On Tuesday, Missourians went and voted for the candidate of their choice to determine who will run for the office of president. All the candidates have talked about what needs done in regards to immigration or taxes or illegals and on and on. Each has their own spin on how to right the wrongs and do some good. Most of the talk is about spending money to make things better.

To coin a phrase that Trump uses, what will "make America great again" is not the spending or new laws or such -- it's the people.

It's those who fought in World War I or World War II or Korea or Vietnam. It's the farmers and ranchers who have fed America. It's the parents who raised their children to respect the law and to abide by it. It's the students who finished high school and then went on to college and paid their college loans.

It's the miners who kept America warm or the oil rig workers. It's the politicians who really cared and put America first and their own riches second. It's those who worked for a living and didn't expect others to support them. What also will make America great again are those who will honor and respect the elderly.

There is a new generation out there that I'm proud of. They know how to work, how to give honor and respect and how to live honest and respectable lives. But there seems to be some who are just wanting to be "kept" and don't ever intend to work.

If I wore a cowboy hat like I used to, I'd tip it to the former bunch, those who are doing it right. But I'd turn my back on the latter who just want to sponge off the good folks.

Just my two cents' worth.

Until next time.