“Growing up in Clinton and Oakton.” More random thoughts.

    We kids used to hang out by the big pot belly stove at Bill Berry Store and play checkers on a wooden checkerboard that one of the customers provided.  Now checkers is a serious game and the opponents keep a close eye on one another for any cheating.  The board was well worn from use.  When the adults started showing up we had to give up the board to them.  Believe me, they took it a lot more serious than we did.  There was always a new challenger to the winner of the current game.

   In Clinton we did not play checkers but pitching washers, pennies and nickels were popular.  We could not afford to pitch dimes.  We also pitched horse shoes provided by Mr. Ned Benedict. 

   Clamp on roller skates were a staple and if we lost or ruined a skate the other one was used to make a homemade scooter.  We would separate them at the sizing bolt and nail them to a board and make a handle to hold on to.  Funny how creative kids can be when they do not have money to buy toys but even when we did have the toys we were creative.  Kind of like the little child at Christmas.  Opens the package and lays the toy aside and plays with the box and wrapping all day.

    We skated anywhere we found concrete but the town wide favorite was John B. Evans store front.  It was long and wide.  The store had several really big windows but luckily no one ever went through one of them.  The best part was the roof to protect us from rain.  We did not skate there when the store was open but kept it busy when he was closed.

   I used to love to hang out at Mr. Earl Bradberry’s shop.  I think he may have spelled his name Irl.  I loved watching him using a magnifying loupe to replace or repair the works in a tiny watch.  He had such a steady delicate touch.  Not many knew that his wife, Mary, was also a licensed watchmaker and helped him at times.

   He had a big old coal stove in the shop and the coal was in the rear.  In the room behind the shop he had a bin for coal.  He had fabricated an auger with electric motor to auger coal into the stove.  The motor was hooked to a timer set to come on periodically at night and deliver just enough coal to keep the fire alive and the shop warm.  That way he did not have to wait for it to heat up before he could do delicate work.  I believe that this was way before anyone had evenheard of a furnace auger.

   The story goes that one day he and Mr. King Davis, attorney, one time mayor and ham radio operator from Hickman built a big spark gap ham transmitter.  King, call sign W4GZ was another of my mentors.  The story continues that they strung an antenna wire from the fixit shop to the cupola atop the court house. I don’t remember how they generated the monster spark but supposedly it could be seen running up and down the wire.  It was said that all the pigeons roosting around the court house flew in a panic.

   Mr. Bradberry was always doing welding or other repairs for my friends and me.  The fee for us was about a nickel or about a dime.  If he did a similar repair for an adult it was about a dollar or about five dollars.

  We had a safe that came from the old Oakton Bank in my dad’s office and one day it would not open.  Ashland sent two safe experts from Indiana to open it.  When they saw it they said that they doubted they could open it.  He asked them about cutting it and they said it would just burn the torch tips.  They tried and tried but could not get it open.  The next day Mr. Bradberry came by and asked if he might help.  Dad explained our predicament to him.  He took out a stethoscope and listened.  “Got a big sledge hammer” he said.   I got it for him and he hauled off and slammed the front as hard as he could three times.  He then took out his stethoscope and listened to it.  Pete he said, when that last clock runs down it will open.  It had a combination and three clocks and one clock had stopped.  To open you had to enter the combination after ALL three clocks run down.

   We had a Burrows adding machine at the station where Dr. Canty`s office is now and it quit working.  The Burrows repair service could not fix it and once again he heard of our predicament and came by and got it.  Next day it was back and working fine.  He told my dad he had to make a cog to replace one that was worn out.  “I had to use a softer metal so I will have to redo it when it wears.” He said.   That part never did wear out.  I am convinced that if it could not be fixed he could fix it.

   He stopped me one day and told me a story about something that happened that he thought I should hear.  It seems that my brother Tommie and Pat Green were selling raffle tickets or something and went into his shop to sell him a chance.  He was not there and they left just as he came out of a business up the street.  When he got to the shop some watches he had been working on were gone.  Having seen the two boys leave he called Judge Eli Padgett.  Back then there was county and city court held.  He told the judge what had happened, telling him that he saw the Templeton boy and another leave just before he returned.  He said that Judge Padgett, not knowing that I had a brother, told him,  “I can tell you right now Robert Templeton did not take your watches.”  I don`t remember ever receiving a higher compliment.  Later in the week the police picked up a drunk who still had the watches on him.  After questioning he admitted to taking them.

   One friend who influenced me growing up was Jack Creason.  He was a close friend of my family and I thought he and John Wayne had the most perfect posture.  I admired both and they both stood straight, chin up, chest out and proud.  I was a slouch and tried to mimic both. I did improve my posture a lot.  I found out years later that both had bad backs and had no choice but to stand that way.  That was why Wayne was turned down by the military when world war two broke out.  He made up for it with patriotic movies though.