Growing Up in Little Egypt: The Rest of the Story

by Linda Lee Ream

Overview

Before Eldon Lee died at the age of ninety-six, he told his daughter about his life’s many adventures. These adventures begin in Little Egypt, deep in southern Illinois. His stories blend family history with tales of farming, school, hometown life, courtship, and entrepreneurial endeavors. He also recalls the 1918 Influenza Pandemic, the 1925 Tristate Tornado, working at the 1933–34 Century of Progress Exposition, dancing in Windy City ballrooms, becoming a family man, and serving in World War II.

Eldon’s daughter, Linda Lee Ream, continues the memoir, drawing upon her vivid memories of her father returning from the war and trying to find a job. He gets his first big break in 1949 when he becomes the manager of a lumberyard, and he works steadfastly to support his family through the golden era of the fifties and beyond.

Growing Up in Little Egypt extends beyond family and local history interest to provide a century-wide example of an American life well-lived and thoroughly enjoyed by a special man.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781475901740
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/19/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	4 MB

Read an Excerpt

GROWING UP IN Little Egypt

THE REST OF THE STORY

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By LINDA LEE REAM

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Linda Lee Ream
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-0173-3

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Chapter One

PART 1

My Family

My father's parents were Rev. Robert William Lee, a Baptist minister, and Josephine Phillips Lee. They had nine children: Marion (my father), John, Norman, Bird, Effie Lee Perry, Elsie Lee Smith, Inman (also a well-known Baptist minister), Mallie, and Cordah Lee Phillips. Several of these uncles and aunts lived on farms near where I was born and lived my first six years. For the most part, this was the side of the family that set a good example for me in my youth.

The parents of my mother, Cora Minton Lee, were Ella Jones Minton and Henry Minton. Their children were Cora, Guy, Ray, Carrie, Roy, Carroll, Omar, and Ita Minton Newman. Grandpa Henry Minton was someone I never wanted to copy. He would leave his wife and children and take off for days in his horse and buggy. He told us that he wanted to find a rich woman with a farm. In his later years, after his wife had died, he accomplished this goal.

My mother's brothers had two things in common. First, they owned small businesses: two owned restaurants, two had butcher shops, another ran a grocery store, and one operated an appliance store. Unfortunately, most of them also shared a severe drinking problem. I believe both of these factors influenced my adult life in positive ways. I followed their drive to be self-employed and ended up owning my own lumberyard. On the other hand, because their excessive drunkenness was a negative influence in my young life, I have always been careful about my intake of alcohol.

The Beginning of My Journey

(1913-27)

I was born September 27, 1913, the last of nine children. As was common in those days, three of my siblings—Chalon, Emerson, and Hallie—had died in infancy. The other children born before me were Minnie (1897), Rosa (1901), Elvah (1903), Paul (1908), and Lura (1910). Elvah passed away in 1921 from pneumonia when she was eighteen. At that time, she and Rosa were living and working at a mental institution upstate in Kankakee.

I was given the unusual name of Eldon because when my mother was pregnant with me, she met a man by that name. As the family story goes, he was helping build a bridge over Reed Ford Creek, which was near the house where I was born. I have no idea where my middle name, Maurice (they pronounced it Morris), came from. I seriously doubt that they knew it was a French name. I always wished I had a simple name, such as Bob, Bill, or Jim. In my business life, many people just called me Lee.

EARLIEST MEMORIES

(1916-19)

I was born on a small farm about a mile and a half from Akin, Illinois. Akin is a very tiny town of approximately 150 souls in southern Illinois. I lived there until I was six or seven. We grew corn, wheat, oats, and something called stock peas, which we fed to the cattle. We also had a vegetable garden. After our family ate the produce, pigs, and cattle, we had a very minimal amount left to sell. I do remember taking eggs and cream and selling them at the store. The farm families helped each other with baling hay, threshing wheat, and raising barns. Hog-killing day was a big day for me and all the other little kids. My favorite part was when the men put a knife in the pig and the blood spurted out all over the place. Also, the fresh sausage and liver were delicious treats I looked forward to eating soon after the hog was killed and dressed. Everything on our farm was done without any type of help from machinery. As a little kid, I had fun following my dad to the barn to help him feed the horses, cows, and chickens. When we had big snowstorms, I had to step into my dad's footprints to make it to the barn.

On our farm, we had a large mutt named Jack. Jack loved to go rabbit hunting. When he would bring home a prized rabbit, my mother would cook it and serve it with biscuits and gravy. Nothing has ever tasted better than those rabbits that Jack caught!

There was a small Baptist church very close to our house. I liked to go there on Sundays to see the many horses and buggies parked around the church. Although my Grandpa Lee was getting old, he still preached there occasionally in exchange for a ham or any money that they might collect.

I remember when I was three or four, I ran barefoot through white ashes that were still hot from an outdoor fire. We usually only wore our shoes on Sunday or when there was snow on the ground, so I ran around with bare feet most of the time. When I unknowingly walked through the ashes, my feet were severely burned and hurt so much that I can still remember the pain over ninety years later. The only treatment was for me was to stay off them until they healed. This seemed like a very long time to a young boy.

At about four, I went on a hike in the woods with four or five boys, including my big brother, Paul, who was about nine at the time. One of the older boys killed a rabbit with a shotgun. We built a fire and roasted and ate the rabbit. I still recall how great that food tasted!

At the tender age of three and four, I was free to roam from farm to farm. I liked to visit my Grandpa and Grandma Lee, who lived on a farm about one-half mile from my house. I also loved to walk the one-half mile in the other direction to visit Uncle John's farm and play with my thirteen cousins of all ages. Uncle John's wife, Aunt Vinnie, made good "hard bread" that all of the children loved to eat. My sister, Lura, and I visited the Akin area in 2007 and found Uncle John's house still standing. Aunt Elsie, Uncle Jesse, and Uncle Doug Phillips also had farms nearby.

I also remember receiving an orange or banana for a Christmas present. What a rare treat that was! Mostly, Christmas was a time when we went to church more often. I can't recall ever having a birthday party or getting any presents for that occasion.

When I was about four, I went skinny dipping with other boys from the neighborhood. Our favorite place was nearby Reed Ford Creek, which had a small sandy beach. I particularly remember the time a boy who had been circumcised was visiting the area. We all laughed and kidded him because we thought his penis had been cut off.

I still recall a time when my dad was going to town and he told me I couldn't go. I hid on a board, called the coupling, in the back of his wagon. Dad stopped to talk to a neighbor, who saw my feet and said, "Marion, whose feet are those sticking out of your wagon?" Instead of being punished, I got to sit up on the seat next to my dad. When we got to the store, I saw, for the first time in my life, a boy with an ice cream cone. I really wanted one, so my dad gave me a nickel. When I went into the store by myself, I was too shy to say anything to the clerk. A kind customer asked me if I wanted an ice cream cone and bought one for me.

My first educational experience was at Fizzle Ridge, a one-room school near my house. There were children up to eighth grade attending this school, but I only went there for one year. My main memory is of having an urgent need to go to the outhouse but being too shy to ask permission of the teacher. When I finally got up enough nerve to ask, I ran as fast as I could because I thought all of the kids in the school were watching me as I hurried to make it in time.

In 1918, everyone in our household, except me, caught the dangerous Spanish flu that was sweeping the world. Since everyone was too sick to do any work and I was too young, my family had a man come in to help us. He brought some whiskey, which was supposed to cure the flu. I remember trying a little drink and finding it far too bitter. I didn't like it at all! We even had a doctor come to see the patients. I spent most of my time hanging out in the yard and watching anyone who came by. Fortunately, the family all recovered.

In 1919, we had a complete crop failure because there was no rain and bugs ate the crops. My parents made the decision to sell the farm and move to town, where my dad was able to get a job at a coal mine. We moved all of our household goods by horse and wagon about twenty miles from Akin, to the much larger town of West Frankfort.

Growing Up in West Frankfort

(1920-27)

This was a tough move for me. I went from a one-room school to Logan School, which was in a great big three-story building. Evidently, they didn't think very much of my year at Fizzle Ridge since they put me in first grade again. The kids at my new school made fun of me because I came from a farm. When these bullies chased me home, my mother said, "Eldon just go back outside and fight them." I didn't fight at that time, but I later made friends who helped me with the bullies. A boy who lived down the street soon became my best friend. His name was Randolph "Randy" Peak, and we were good buddies for a long time. When Randy and I were about thirty, we were drafted to serve in World War II. Unfortunately for Randy, we took different paths in the navy. After boot camp at Great Lakes, I went to Oklahoma for further training, and Randy was assigned to a destroyer in the Pacific. He lost his life in the Battle of the Philippines in 1944.

At that time, West Frankfort was a town of about eighteen thousand people. We moved to the hilly section called Frankfort Heights. This part of town had its own small business district that was about a block and a half long.

There was a barber shop, movie theater, car repair garage, grocery store, confectionery, feed store, doughnut factory, and hardware store. The main downtown later developed on the flat part of town when the railroad ran through there. We bought a house at 1703 East Poplar Street. This house seemed large to me at the time. It had five rooms, including a large living room, dining room, and kitchen. There was a large bedroom where my parents slept, and a small one for Paul, Lura, and me. As I recall, we were the only three children left at home then. I vividly remember when Grandpa Minton came to our house. He always slept with me and yelled and complained about the way I moved around all night. I dreaded his visits. This house had big porches on the front and the back. My workshop area was under the back porch. This was where I put together my little wagons and cars.

In the back of this house there was a large garden (about seventy-five yards long and forty-five feet wide) where we grew vegetables, such as lettuce, onions, potatoes, sweet corn, and tomatoes. Dad hired someone with a team of horses to plow the ground before he did the planting. I helped Dad with the hoeing, although I didn't like to do it. There was also a small barn and an outhouse in back of our house. Our 1919 Model T Ford was parked in a little lean-to that was built on the barn.

The outdoor toilet played a greater role in my youth than I would have preferred. When I was naughty, my folks would threaten to lock me in the outhouse at night. They told me a story about an old lady called Black Annie who went around the neighborhood at night beating up on people and robbing them. I don't remember ever being locked up, but the threats did scare me. At that time, I had seen only one person with black skin, a peddler who came into town during the day to sell his corn. All the kids followed him around because he looked different. The story goes that black people were told that they must be out of town at sunset. I never heard how the alleged rule was enforced, but there were no blacks living in West Frankfort. At that time, I didn't ask questions about it. I definitely didn't want to run into Black Annie when she was wandering around at night.

During that period, I heard a radio for the first time. It was small and looked like a cigar box. Some people even made their own radios by buying the crystals and putting them in cigar boxes. Majestic and Philco were the main manufacturers of the first radios. One of our neighbors bought one, and we were all happy when they invited us over to listen. We didn't have a local station so we tried faraway stations. We got the best reception from KDKA in Pittsburgh, which was three states away. We also sometimes received WLW in Cincinnati, KSD in St. Louis, and WLS in Chicago. Some of my favorite shows were The Grand Ole Opry, Fibber McGee and Molly, and Lum and Abner. The reception was usually spotty from all the stations, and when it stormed, all we could hear was static. After a while, a Philco that sat on the table and had a rounded top began to get better reception.

At our house, we had an Edison wind-up phonograph machine that played flat disc 78 rpm records.

Having a Good time

I found many ways to have fun after we moved to West Frankfort. For example, I loved to play baseball with the neighborhood boys in a nearby field. Another fun activity was building little wagons in my workshop under the porch. I would try to find four wheels, lumber, and an old buggy wheel in some scrap pile. I begged my mother for nickels so I could buy nails at the hardware store. After I put these little vehicles together, I would ride them down the hill near our house. What fun!

I enjoyed being a Boy Scout at Logan School. I recall the troop building a fire and cooking baked potatoes. We covered them with mud and threw them in the fire. When they were done, we removed the mud and had a real treat. I also tried to get merit badges by doing good deeds, such as helping an old lady across the street. I still remember the Boy Scout motto: "Do a good deed daily and always be prepared."

Our house was about a block from a doughnut factory on Main Street. They made delicious glazed doughnuts, which sold for a nickel apiece. Sometimes I'd buy one with the money I was supposed to be taking for the collection at Sunday school. This was a risk because my dad was my Sunday school teacher. To this day, I don't know if he realized that I didn't drop anything into the collection plate when it was passed. If he noticed, he didn't say anything to me.

I started having an interest in girls at an early age. When I was about seven or eight, I had my first sweetheart, Thelma Lawrence. She lived about three or four blocks from me. In those days, we just "claimed" sweethearts. I liked her, but didn't know how she felt about me. I also played with Claude Hayes and his sister. Their family had a small barn and we would get up in the loft and try to do naughty things. Today our activities would probably seem acceptable because we didn't remove any clothing. My girlfriend in the third or fourth grade was Edith Baer. Forty years later, I ran into her at a party at a friend's house in Springfield. I was interested in a girl named Ruby in about fourth or fifth grade. I was a little unruly while I was courting her in the classroom, and my teacher took me outside and said, "You think you can get away with everything because your dad is on the school board." This was a surprise to me since no one had told me that Dad was on the board.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from GROWING UP IN Little Egypt by LINDA LEE REAM Copyright © 2012 by Linda Lee Ream. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Contents

Introduction: By Linda Lee Ream....................xi
My Family....................3
The Beginning of My Journey: (1913-27)....................8
Growing Up in West Frankfort: (1920-27)....................14
Having a Good Time....................18
The Tristate Tornado....................22
Early Car Experiences....................23
First Moneymaking Jobs....................25
Family Life and Influences....................28
My Brother....................33
Living in a Chicken House....................39
Work, Work, Work on the Farm....................41
Eighth-Grade School Experiences....................43
High School Years....................45
Dancing to the Big Bands....................47
Staying at Uncle Omar's House....................49
Windy City Adventures....................55
Work and Fun at the 1933-34 World's Fair....................57
Sights at the Century of Progress Exposition....................59
Living in Chicago....................61
Getting Married at Age Twenty....................63
Getting Established....................73
Becoming Parents....................76
The Beginning of World War II....................82
Induction and Basic Training....................89
Advanced Training in Norman, Oklahoma....................94
Serving at Jacksonville Naval Air Station....................96
Isabel and Linda Join Me....................98
Going Home....................100
Work: A Satisfying Career....................104
Love....................107
Isabel....................107
My Life with Daddy....................110
The Family Grows....................114
Fun and Joy....................119
Finding Joy in the Small Things....................119
The Last Chapter....................122
Four More Good Years....................122
More New Beginnings....................122
Honors and Leadership....................123
Busy, Busy, Busy....................127
Dying with Dignity....................132
Celebration of a Life Well-Lived....................133
Todd's Notes for his Eulogy at His Grandpa's Celebration of Life Service....................135
Loyalty....................136
Making Friends....................137
Always Optimistic....................138
Great Sense of Humor....................140
More Memories of a Good Man....................141
Memories of Eldon Lee by His Great-Grandson....................142
The Circle of Life....................144
His Last Visit to Little Egypt....................144