My Life and Other Stories: A Story About a Man from Oklahoma

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Brief History Of A Family

The Beginning And The Era

The Migration West

Era Knowledge Of A Typical Family

The Dukes

The Tacketts

The Elles’

The Culp’s

Families Coming Together

My Early Life

My Father And The Stairs

Christmas

Baseball And Life

The Hatchet

Military Life

The Chief

Children Of War

Vietnam

Vietnam Was My War

Germany And Brussels Belgium

The Trip (Bob And Mac’s Great Adventure)

Drones And Their History

Real World Snapshot Of Confusion And Involvement

Boats, The Sea, And A Land Lubber From Oklahoma

The Marvelous Adventure Of Capturing A U.S. Navy Subic Bay Lifeboat

My Civilian Career Based On Brash And Fallacious Bravado

How A Man With An Economics Graduate Degree Became An Engineer

Life And Other General Matters

Co Incidents In Life

Cars And Life

Friends Of My Past

Life’s Most Embarrassing Moments

A Body Of Lies

Arrogance And Power - How To Deal With It

Racism

The Old Man

Success And Our Struggles To Achieve It

Burned Biscuits

Theodore Roosevelt

Chaos Theory And Life

Mrs. Kravitz

The Vision – October 2002

About The Author

Epilogue

INTRODUCTION

INTELLIGENCE COMES FROM ignorance as wisdom comes from naiveté and there is nothing like gathering both from people who represent a diverse swath of nations throughout the world. As cultures require contact with each other in order to grow and remain viable, and not succumb to atrophy, man too requires contact with men of different beliefs and practices. No one nation or culture, or religion, has a hold on logic or is immune to extremism. I feel blessed that I’ve had the opportunity to absorb and learn about aspects of life that I’m sure I wouldn’t have learned otherwise. In fact, my whole belief system was changed over the past forty-five years through this contact. I began to do some research on my family and what I learned, coupled with what I had experienced in my life, literally brought me to tears in gratitude and admiration, and hopefully in wisdom.

If you like to sit down and listen to stories told by, say, an old friend, an uncle, or a person with wrinkles on his face, grey in his hair, and a sparkle of wisdom in his eyes, coupled with a smile on his face, then you should so bother. If you don’t, then stop right here and go pick up and read a book on vampires or love’s lost or whatever turns your fancy. My life has been tragic and wondrous and I have what I call life lessons that I believe you will find helpful in your life. I’ll even go so far as to say that, given even a fraction of introspection in you, your life will be significantly altered after you’ve read this book. I know that doesn’t sound humble but I also know this to be true.

I have learned, forgot, and made up many a good story. Keep this in mind when you read these chapters (stories) compiled within this book. Are they all true? Mostly, with only the most embarrassing events removed. An old retired Air Force fighter pilot once told me I have secrets only God and I know – and that’s the way it will remain.

Brief History of a Family

THE INTENT OF this series of stories is to introduce a family that emerged from the devastated south of the American civil war and, although not unlike any other family that migrated from one region to another under austere circumstances, matured into men and women of substance and integrity, as well as individuals who are the backbone of our nation. The reason I outline this genealogy is to introduce the reader to the ‘stock’ of men and women with whom I was born.

The Beginning and the Era

THE TIME IS IN THE mid to late nineteenth century and the place is the American south. The civil war had just ended and the northern national hero and beloved President Abraham Lincoln has been assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Washington D.C. based actor who had typical, but in his case, fanatical southern sympathies for the defeated and devastated south. The entire country was in debt and geared for war production, leaving transformation to civilian industry difficult under any circumstances, north or south. Lands of the old confederacy were laid waste and occupied by northern troops, accompanied by a hoard of business people and politicians who took advantage of the newly united union’s predisposition for vengeance. Taxes were raised even though it was known the people could not take the region from devastation to production without time and compassionate assistance from the victor; thus, southern people’s lands were lost, businesses went bankrupt, and cities and farms experienced wide spread hunger and homelessness. In those days, there were very little social services offered, usually by churches when they did exist, and families had no one to depend upon except themselves. In today’s modern world, it is hard to grasp the conditions under which these people had to live while attempting to better themselves and their families. One historical truth emanating from this devastation and isolation was the emergence of the American trait of Individualism, a quality that would shape the nation.

Survival was their first priority; therefore food, shelter and medicine were their initial concern. Being mostly farmers, they could eat off the land and build temporary shelters but medical care was elusive. It prompted what is common in all countries where devastation occurs and is the source for what is traditionally known as ‘country medicine’ or ‘barefoot medicine.’ These ‘doctors’ did their best using traditional folk medicine to prevent, heal and give birth to the new pilgrims, and a grubby lot they were.

In fact, foreign travelers in the 1800s were shocked at the appearance of the ‘pale and deathly looking people’ of the American west with their bluish-white complexions. Worms, insects, and parasites of every description wiggled, dug, or burrowed their way into pioneer skin, infecting it with the seven-year itch, a generic term covering scabies and crabs as well as body lice, which almost everyone suffered. Worse, hookworm, tapeworm, and other creatures fed off the flesh, intestines, and blood of frontier Americans.¹ Losing children and the elderly was common and expected with very little medical assistance available, or if available, very ineffective in preventing these maladies.

Under these conditions then, four families; the Duke’s, the Tackett’s, the Elles’ and the Culp’s moved their traditional homes in Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, Illinois, and Tennessee to the new lands of the west. They packed up what belongings they had in wagons, took all within the family willing to go, and moved west, by south west. It is a story of the typical American family of this era, which can be told for all families who made the ultimate decision to undergo hardship and make their lives once again livable, even though the risks were great and the odds were against them. These families only represent what other families, under these conditions, had to endure, and their lineage and their appearances within the pictures provided should be seen as typical.

The Migration West

THE FAMILIES MOVED WEST FROM Kentucky or Virginia through Tennessee and Arkansas to the Indian Territory down to Texas. Those from Georgia moved through Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana to Texas, usually settling in North Texas Denton, Cook or Grayson counties, sparsely populated before the war due to harsh conditions and dangerous Indian raids from the Indian Territory directly to the north. Consequently the area experienced massive population increases with former southerners now wanting land and equipment to farm. Cities such as Denton, Sherman, Whitesboro, Gainesville, and all the lands in between were inundated with new faces, new hopes and new dreams. The time period is from the end of the civil war, 1865 to around 1885, a period of twenty years.

Era Knowledge of a Typical Family

FORMAL EDUCATION WAS NOT AS available in the nineteenth century as it is now but, now as then, liberal knowledge in philosophy, sociology, history and the classics made your life easier. As well, business, economics, and management were required skills for the nineteenth century business man, large and small. Finally, the sciences were tantamount to the progressive era of the industrial revolution.

For the typical farmer and rancher informal ‘hands-on’ knowledge in a variety of environmental based fields was essential. The people moving to the south west were required to know mechanics, basic physics for terrain management, and hunting skills; in fact, the ability to shoot straight and be capable of gun repair, bullet making and animal preparation were essential for survival. As well, survival was indistinguishable from the knowledge of seedbed preparation, sowing methods, fertilizer application, pod broadcasting and counts, daily programs for sheep and cattle care, hay production, herbicide application, seed and food storage, tree and weed control, land tilling, nutrition for animals as well as the family, irrigation and water bed control, carpentry and basic metallurgy for the repair and development of housing, farm structures, horse shoes, equipment repair and household stoves. Over all of this was the necessary knowledge of basic medicine and health preventative measures and of course, especially for the women, the ability to use animal skins and plants to produce clothing. This list could go on and on but the idea is set, you could not be ignorant of these basic skills and expect success.

I now describe the brief lineage and images on the four families and, even though they are my own, please understand they can be used by you to understand your own family, especially if they were also affected by the civil war and had to move to escape its horrible outcomes. Pay special attention to their faces and see the struggles burned in their eyes.

The Dukes

THE DUKES WERE FROM GEORGIA and once settled in Denton County, James Harrison and his brother Moses Judson were born. The years were 1866 and 1869 respectively. In 1880 they moved to Grayson County near present day Whitesboro. James met a lady named Mary Jane and was married in 1885 and Moses also met a girl, Lillie Dale Brown and they too were married in 1896. Shortly thereafter, the famous Oklahoma ‘Boomer Sooner’ Land Run on April 2, 1889 was held and Captain W. L. Couch and his Boomers, some 14,000 in total, were among them. Those who ‘snuck in’ before this date were named Sooners and were greatly despised by all of the total 50,000 people who came to Oklahoma and were part of this land run. Sometime after this date and before May 2, 1890, when the Indian Territory was organized as an incorporated territory of the United States, James Harrison moved his family to Marshall County, Oklahoma, near present day Madill, and into the former Chickasaw Indian Nation. Shortly after, James and Mary had a baby girl, born in 1890 and named Jossie E. Duke. James and Mary and Jossie are pictured below.

In ten years, James and Mary had eight children, two boys; Edward J. (born in 1893) and William G. (born in 1895), and six daughters; Jossie E, (1890), Minnie A. (1897), Emma Nora (1904), twins Ella and Stella (1907) and Mary E (1909). In 1910, daughter Jossie had married a fellow named Bill Thomason and had a baby of her own, a boy named Author (born Nov 12, 1910). Now, the Thomason family were living with James making them a total family of twelve. One year later, another son, George W, was born to James and Mary on March 20, 1911. Poor old James and his son-in-law Bill had thirteen people to house and feed.

Here is a picture of James about this time when he and Bill Thomason were living near Madill and taking care of thirteen people on their small farm.

In 1920, the Thomason’s and daughter Minnie had left the home and two years later Emma Nora married one Carl Dean Tackett, on April 8, 1922, and by 1930, only twin sister Stella and George W. remained in the home. But the pressure of farming and working to support such a large group made James hard and he was soon known for his unwillingness to engage in foolishness. When Carl Dean came to his house in 1922 to ask for Emma Nora’s hand, he is reported to have left Carl on the porch while he called his daughter to see what her opinion of old Carl was. When he found she was indeed quite fond of Carl, he told her to go pack a bag and leave with him that very night. James was not a man to play the fool.

A very young Emma Nora Duke

A very young and responsible Carl Dean Tackett

James Harrison and Mary Jane Duke (first two), James (in the next three), and then James (right) and his younger brother Moses.

James Duke was an excellent farmer/rancher and during the depression, in the 1930’s, when James was in his sixties, he used his land to produce and support his wife, Stella and George, his two remaining children who still lived with him. He didn’t take to people well but was fond of Carl and Emma Nora’s son Doyle Tackett and allowed young Doyle to accompany him throughout his daily chores around the farm. Doyle is now known as a remarkable self-made engineer, who can make anything out of anything, (a talent he learned from James and his father Carl) which has allowed him to be independent his entire life. The Dukes were a vital part of Doyle’s life and his mothers, her being a woman who directed her family in the proper manner to live and work and think.

Emma Nora, third born of six daughters, was one who gave love through her demand that you act properly, not through her taciturn ways of giving no hugs and few sweet words. She worked her father’s farm and after marriage, Carl’s small farm, outside of Ardmore near the present day Hardy Murphy Coliseum. Murphy was a good friend to the most famous Oklahoman of all, Will Rogers. Emma kept her home warm and busy, ensuring all within had the opportunity to learn and grow. One of Doyle’s stories about his mother was when she was picking berries in her garden and had a very young Doyle take a stick and go ahead of her and beat the bushes to scare away snakes. She kept chickens on her property and when it was time for Sunday supper, she would go out to the pen, grab one or two chickens, depending upon the Sunday, and summarily ring their necks, one in each hand. Then she would put them in an old wash tub full of hot water and pluck and gut them, saving the internal organs for cooking. Everything at the table was made from scratch and she rarely sat down at the table with you since she was serving and cooking and cleaning while you ate. Nothing was thrown away if it could be used for something else. She single-handedly farmed the land, took care of the animals, collected the eggs, minded the clothes, collected the pecans from her trees, and demanded devotion and ethical behavior by everyone.

If you were not up to this, you were not part of her circle or family. If you were fortunate enough to be in this woman’s family you learned to be responsible, hard-working, knowledgeable in a wide variety of practical tasks, God fearing and, further, if you were a man, you were expected to be quiet, a man of few words. Not untypical of her times, she was still a special woman, primarily due to her strength and tenacity. She had cancer during her 60’s and got through it without complaint or derision. Her love came in the form of expectations that didn’t need words but only actions. She expected you to have loyalty, integrity and willingly accept the responsibilities of an adult. There were no excuses in her mind for failure. Failure was not an option. If you stumbled you got up and continued on or tried another way but you never gave up. A woman ran the house in her world and a man was respectful inside or outside the home.

The Tacketts

CHARLES TACKETT WAS NOT OF the south, being from Illinois, and was born there in 1877 when James Harrison Duke was already 11 years old. He was however from South Fork Illinois and his father was James Tackett, born in 1842 in Virginia, so he was a post civil war transplanted southerner moving out of Virginia for the same reason as the Dukes. Charles’ mother was Vernetta Self who was born in 1844 and was also from Illinois. As a matter of fact, Charles was the only one of James’ children known to have migrated south (from Illinois) during the waning days of the nineteenth century, leaving his six family members in Illinois. James and Vernetta died there; James in 1929 at age 87 and Vernetta in 1911 at age 67.

Charles was the youngest of four brothers and one sister (Joshwa, 1864; William J, 1867; John P, 1870; George, 1874; and Mary, 1871). Charles’ paternal grandparents were William Jamison Tackett, 1811-1885, and Isabelle Donaldson, 1815 – 1885. William had four sisters and two brothers (Elizabeth, 1836; Marion, 1846; Miranda, 1847 – 1897; Isabella, 1849; Walker, 1840 – 1892; and Felix, 1845 – 1923).

Charles’ great grandparents and James’s grandparents and William’s parents were Bayliss Tackett, 1784 – 1870 and Susan Jamison, born in 1784, death unknown.

Charles’ great, great grandparents and his father James’ great grandparents and his father Williams’ grandparents and his father Bayliss Tackett’s parents were William Tackett, 1751 – 1830 and Francis ‘Fanny’ Reno, 1743 – 1799. Bayliss had three sisters (Mildred, 1806; Tellitha, 1822; and Maranda, 1828). William Tackett liked older women, in this case eight years older.

Charles Tackett, remember him, after arriving in Oklahoma married Martha E. Smith and moved to Texico, Curry County, New Mexico where he owned a cobbler shop and had six children (Carl Dean, 1900; Ethel (and twin Stella), 1902; Gladys, 1907; Luther, 1909, and Fred, 1911. Sometime between 1910 and 1920, they had moved back to Oklahoma and Charles died, leaving Martha and Carl to take care of eighteen year old Ethel, thirteen year old Gladys, eleven year old Luther, and nine year old Fred.

Let’s discuss Carl for he is one of the most extraordinary men I have ever known, and I’ve known a few. Carl was the oldest of six children and was living in a small town right after the turn of the last century. His father had recently died and there was little food, little money, and very little space for this seven member family. They were so poor the local authorities were alarmed at their condition and came and retrieved all five of his brothers and sisters and took them away – a long way away – to another state and placed them in an orphanage, leaving Carl with his mother as he was the oldest and already working in the oil fields to support the family. This of course devastated Carl’s mother and she quickly became ill from regret. Carl decided he would do something about this, so at the age of thirteen, with little money and little idea of what he was doing, hitched-hiked across two states and came upon this orphanage in the middle of the night. He broke in, found his brothers and sisters, and escaped with them out the windows. Gathered together and all afraid, taking care of each other, they hit the road and walked/hitch-hiked back home. When the authorities found out they quickly sent the five children back to the same orphanage. Undaunted, this man got back on the road, went back across two states and to the orphanage, and once again gathered up his siblings in the middle of the night, taking them now to his uncle’s place, one of Charles’ brothers who finally did join him from Illinois. This time it worked, and the children lived with their uncle until things cooled off.