Grace and John Hale lived about two miles from us on Route H. They were good neighbors to mom and daddy. Mother made wonderful angel food cakes. She needed cream of tarter to make these. One time she had me walk to Grace’s to borrow a teaspoon of cream of tarter. Grace and John were the first in the neighborhood to own a television. They invited us to watch. The evening we watched, there was a monster show on and Jimmy Durante singing “Inka Dinka Do.” Good memories!
There were some sad memories also. We had another neighbor named was Harry Smith. He had a wife who we never got to see. She suffered from some type of depression because she drowned herself in their farm pond about two years after they lived there. We went to their house to Christmas Carol and although they were home, they never came to the door to acknowledge us as other neighbors did. We were young and very shocked at the suicide. That was the first we ever heard of such a thing and so close to us!!
Two men were hunting on our farm (I was about 7). One man came running up the south hill, shouting for help that he had shot a man. Daddy and Mahlon took the car down as far as they could go and they carried him to the car, then they hauled him up to Brazito. Mother called ahead and asked Mr. Norfleet to take him to the hospital because they thought our car couldn’t go fast enough. The man did live and we were very relieved.
Every few years controlled burning is done to get rid of noxious weeds, etc. on farms. Sometime a fire would get out of hand and the entire neighborhood would rush to the scene and help put out the fire. Once a fire got away from our neighbor in the woods behind the brooder house.