The Kids on Stark Street Part 2
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You know, It’s funny how I can remember the names of the kids that lived on my street in the 1950s and I can’t even remember where I went to eat out last week.
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The Kids on Stark Street Part 2
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The first house on the east side of the street belonged to the Jordans. They had a son named Gary. He was a duflous looking kid that always seemed to be in a daze. I ran into him later in life and he looked a lot like a young George Clooney. He had one of the best looking ladies I had ever seen hanging on his arm. You just never know how they will turn out.
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Never judge a young man without giving him a chance to mature.
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The next home belonged to the Webbs. They had three boys named Robert, Eddie Joe, and Melvin. Robert was my age and was kind of a bully, so I tried to steer clear of him. Eddie Joe was studying to be an ordained minister. Melvin was in a band called the Five Bops that cut a record on a national label called “Jitterbuggin’ “. They also played at many local dances and were later dubbed a Doo-Wop band. I often watched them practice. In high school, I remember seeing Robert get into a fist fight with one of the football coaches in school. He held his own pretty good, but the coach finally won. He was expelled for a while after that. He was also killed in a car crash at a very young age. I got a job at Philtex Plant one summer and ran into Eddie Joe. He was the leader of a strong Union at the Plant. I don’t think he ever became a minister.
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The next house was the Hildebrands. They had torn down the old Phillips House there and built a new brick house right there on Stark Street. Their house really looked out of place there. They had one son named Everett. Everett was one of the kids that slept out with me and made the night rounds to the watermelon patch. One time he reached down and picked something off the ground and it turned out to be a dog turd. From that day on, he was known as “Stinky Hand Hildebrand.” Everett got a degree in Pharmacy and was working in a Pharmacy in Weatherford, Oklahoma the last I heard.
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The next house on the east side was the Ritchie’s. The woman of the house weighed about 450 pounds. One thing I remember about her was that she went to the doctor with a stomach ache and came home with a baby. She was pregnant for nine months and didn’t even know it. The house they lived in was a one bedroom home. There were four kids which were Genie, Patsy, Vanita, and H. F. All but Patsy were a little on the heavy side. I always wondered where they all slept in that one bedroom house. H. F. was in the “Five Bops” band with Melvin Webb. The family kind of kept to themselves so we didn’t know them too good. My Dad ran into H. F. on a trip to Big Springs, Texas. H. F. was the mayor of that fine city. From musician to mayor was quite a transition. My Dad later bought their one bedroom house for my Grandmother Auroa Bell to live in. And later my brother Craig lived there for a while. This house was moved to Fritch together with my Dads house and converted to a brick home when all the residents of Phillips were required to move out.
The Five Bops including Melvin Webb on the left, H. F. Ritchie with the guitar, and Bill Dees lead singer.
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The next house was what I called the transient house. No one ever lived there long enough for us to get acquainted with.
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The Dunklins lived in the next house. Their children had already left home and were married. Jim and Lois became good friends with my parents and traveled and fished with them in later life.
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The next house was the Rays. Chuck Ray was the superintendent of the Philtex Plant. Their son Charley was one of my buddies. He was another of the guys that slept out in the back yard with us when we hit the watermelon patch. I remember once Charley was standing on top of a hill and he picked up a ten pound red clay rock and threw it at me. The rock hit me in the head and knocked me cold. I woke up dazed and bleeding and defriended him for a while. Another time we got caught inside the Philtex Plant fence looking for scrap copper. They hauled us to the front gate, but since his Dad was superintendent, we didn’t get in much trouble. The Rays both died of Leukemia within 3 months of each other. Charley went to school and became a dentist. I heard he was getting rich with a thriving practice. My sister JerrylDine and her family bought the Ray house and moved in on Stark Street.
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The last house on the east side belonged to a Lady we called The Nut Cracker, but I’ve already told that story. (See earlier Blog) Later another family bought that house and they had a kid we called “Egg Head” because his head was almost a perfect egg shape. He was a bit strange, so we never got acquainted with him.
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Why did you think I was strange Hawg Jaw?
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Thanks for reading The Kids on Stark Street Part 2,
Bill