Coming Home Part I

Well Lucy, it is 4:30 am. I just thought you should know that. Why are we up? This is the time of day my alarm would go off to deliver the Daily OK when I was just a tyke here in Seminole America. I also had an afternoon route which was the Seminole Producer. Usually I would see the stack of newspapers drop out front by about 2:30 pm, that is unless it was baseball season and then I would bike my way to the Producer, fold my papers, deliver them and then bike to summer league baseball practice. Since dad was coach, I would toss the bicycle in his pickup and we would go to supper. Dinner btw was what we now call lunch. Back then, Milt Phillips was head of the Producer. They lived one block north and half a block west. Joe Mills, Marsha's dad, was a few doors east of Milt. That was when Milt Phillips Avenue was 1st Street. Those were heady times in Seminole. Growing up here was not hard to do. I had a schedule even then as I do now. It seems that I have always had a schedule. Thus, I had a reason to be up at 4:30 am. I do not now. Why then am I up now. I guess I will go get the paper and see what's what in Seminole America.

My paper routes were south of Strothers, from Lincoln on the West to Highland on the east, to Broadway on the south. I knew every house by the name of its occupants. Since I was raised at the First Baptist Church, by a Deacon, I was in church when the doors were open. So, with school, summer baseball, paper routes, church, etc. I knew most everyone and they knew me, for good or for bad. If I acted out, mom would know within seconds, simply by dialing 291. I still remember 3-digit phone numbers to this day. Later, it was 2911 and finally, EVergreen 2-2911. Back then, a sign on the corner of Strothers and 1st street read Seminole Population 13,000. Like a lot of things now, that is no longer. There was never a time when I considered anything but returning here to retire. Like a lot of things, I have come full circle; back where my grandfather came 113 years ago, when this was Tidmore, Indian Territory [IT].

This is the runup to my book to be published later. Coming Home for me came in segments. I will present two more following this one and later, another part or two will follow.

More to come...