"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed."
Booker T. Washington

My Dad did accomplish a lot, but I believe he
overcame even more than he accomplished.

He was the oldest boy in a family of eight children.
See a list of his brothers and sisters.
His own father was left fatherless at a very young age,
so my grandfather was a "self-made" man.
This meant that he had to work hard to help his mother
make a living. When he had a family of his own,
he taught all of his children to work hard.
They each had their own jobs. Even as a very young boy
my Daddy had to help with the crops, therefore
school was not a priority for him, and he soon dropped out.

They raised corn, cotton, and sugar cane as well
as a large vegetable garden. He helped with the "jobs"
on the side, too. His father made whiskey.
This was during the prohibition years and they sold it.
My father would have to go during the night to the
woods where it was hidden to supply the customers.
They managed to make a "good" living doing this.
My grandfather also ran a gambling house, and
my Dad learned to play the games well by watching.
Daddy was very skilled playing dominoes
and later taught his own children to play the game.

Even with very little schooling, my Daddy became a
very good mathematician. He could add numbers
in his head faster than others could with their
paper and pencil.

He not only had the handicap of little formal education,
but he had the handicap of having only one eye,
due to an accident when he was very young. As far as
anyone could tell, though, the one eye never hindered him
in any important way. He could fish with 2 poles and watch
both corks better than others could watch their one.
Daddy never acted as though he were handicapped
in any way and never expected any consideration
because of it.

Growing up as he did, he acquired many bad habits.
Drinking was probably the worst one and led
to another accident that injured his hand and he lost
half of four fingers on one hand.

The drinking almost made him lose his wife,
too, because it was almost more than she could bear.
She had four children, needing their Daddy's support.
Her own family was overloaded so there was no help
from them. All she could do was pray that he
would quit. She asked me to help her pray that Daddy
would quit drinking and we did. She told me in
later years that she made a point to pray at night
with Daddy listening beside her in bed. She
also said that I told Daddy that we were
praying that he would quit drinking.

About this same time we had a preacher,
Mr. David Boozer, who visited the families.
Mr. Boozer liked Daddy and he liked to visit us.
I don't know if he ever talked to Daddy
about his drinking, but Daddy liked him and
it was during this time that he decided to quit drinking.
He said he had finally realized he could
not take the first drink and quit.
He left 2/3 bottle of whiskey on a shelf in
the top of a closet all the while I was growing up.
He never touched it and never drank at all after that.
That was June, 1945.

Our lives then began to improve considerably.
He trusted Mama to give him advice, although he often
protested mightily. Townspeople who knew
that he had quit drinking began to help by
giving him a loan to buy a pickup truck
and another helped by recommending him for a
foreman's job with the Louisiana State Highway Dept.
He proved to be a good employee and retired from there
after many years of service. He was never afraid of work.
He had learned at an early age how
to work and he worked hard.

He also became a deacon in the church, serving faithfully
until his death. Even after he was suffering from
the coronary artery disease that claimed his life,
he worked to repair a plumbing problem at the church.

Daddy was a skilled hunter and trapper, providing food for
his family, but fishing was the love of his life and he knew
how to catch them. There were many enjoyable meals of
fried, white perch at our house, and it continues to be
a favorite food for all his children. Neighbors
often reaped the rewards of his fishing trips, also.

After retirement, he was on a lake somewhere almost
as much as he was home. Toledo Bend Reservoir
had just been built and even though it took
almost 3 hours to get there from our house,
he made many trips there to fish. My mother went
sometimes, but there was little enjoyment for her
on these trips. She just went to appease him.

My Daddy was a good man and I loved him.