LIFE CYCLE
PART TWO!
This segment of events in my life will be to record memories of my life from high school until my divorce in 1959. To add to my reasons to capture factual things is to try to explain “FACTS” to my three children from my first marriage to Elizabeth, Betty, Lake and my next four from my marriage to Norma Dean Maxey. Some of my older grandchildren have prevented me from talking to seven of my great grandchildren. I have never even seen five of the seven. I do thank Abby and Ben Albright for sharing their lives and Ben for his wife Michelle, who shares their travels with their three children, Caden, Camille and Carter . I have not communicated with my daughter, Brenda Gail, in 25 years and I have not seen her in nearly 50 years. Her son, Rob, and wife, , whom I see on my visits to Arlington and Ft. Worth. In fact, I spent about three hours visiting my first wife, Elizabeth Peterson, last October, in Ft. Worth. Ben and family took me, Rob and wife took me back to Leah’s house.
A big surprise for me was a Facebook interchange with my great granddaughter, Emma Hutcheson, who shared some pictures of her boyfriend and dog. She ask if she could come by here on her way to see her sister, Hannah, who is a freshman at Tulane in New Orleans. After I responded I never heard another word. I suspect the interchange upset her parents? Another disappointment for me as I had seen anyone in that family for about twelve years.
Onward with my life. Our move to Grand Prairie was scary for I had completed my first six weeks of my Junior year in Corsicana. Adjusting was not to difficult as I only rode the train for a visit one time. I never crossed paths with any of my Corsicana friends the rest of my life.
After I had surgery before we left Corsicana I was prevented from any contact sport. Any contact with my right temple area could be fatal. During my last two years in Grand Prairie I grew nearly nine inches to five foot nine. I did play baseball and it helped me when I graduated at sixteen in 1947.
Girls entered my life in Grand Prairie and finding a job was difficult. With the younger men dying in WW11 there was still a lack of jobe for any 16 year old. I found a summer job at Temco Aircraft to play baseball. Later I found a job with Lone Star Gas, painting silver gas meters. After a week I was coughing up silver paint and they refused to provide a mask.
I left undecided and my parents could not afford to pay for any college. After a short time my parents agreed to approve my joining the Navy Reserve. I requested active duty but before it was approved I broke my left thumb bowling. If you wonder how, ask me. I was in a cast for 16 weeks and when it was removed I passed my physical and I was sworn in on St. Patrick’s day. After Boot Camp I was assigned to Ordinance at the Dallas Naval Air Station.
My first day I was told to take some aircraft tow targets and load them in a PBY seaplane. When I finished I was told to stay on the aircraft and I got my first ride on an airplane. Due to winds it took about 4 hours to land at Whiting Field north of Pensacola Florida. We unloaded the targets and immediately we took off to return to Dallas Naval Air Station, my home base.
Shortly after I married Elizabeth/Betty Lake and we started Chapter three of our lives and the rest of my three and a half years of my active duty in the US Navy.
Clyde W. Brewer
A Conservative View 