jeaniesmith10 @ gmail . com

By Jeanie ( Hurley ) Smith

Daddy ' s Baby Boy

My Daddy always said I was a mistake from the beginning . In the first place , he said , he and Mother hadn ' t planned to have another baby since my sister , Doris , was already going on nine years old . Besides , if they were going to have another baby , he wanted a boy more than anything .

But , guess what ! They got me instead . Then , he said , the doctor made a mistake and vaccinated me with a phonograph needle and that I never ran down or quit talking from then on . What a revolting development that was !

I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Daddy loved me with all his heart , in spite of what he said . He rocked me every night until I was so big my feet dragged the floor . But his lullaby was " Bye 0 Baby Bye 0 -Bye 0 Baby Bye - You ' re your Daddy ' s Baby Boy - Bye 0 Baby Bye 0 Bye ". He may have called me his baby boy but I was definitely " Daddy ' s Girl "! And I sure made his life more interesting !!

Daddy never did spank me - not that I didn ' t need it . But he only threatened . He said if ever he did , he would use his razor strap . Just the threat was enough to keep me on the straight and narrow . For those of you who have never heard of a razor strap , it was made of leather and was used to sharpen his long straight razor which he shaved with . I knew that it would sure take care

of the " seat of my problems ". Mother , however , made up for what Daddy didn ' t do . She didn ' t believe in " sparing the rod and spoiling the child ". She used an old wire fly swatter . And then , if she happened to make a scratch , I got turpentine applied to my wounds . Where was the Child Protection Agency when I needed them .

When I asked Daddy if 1 could do something and he said no , he meant no . But I knew if Mother said no , which she always did , if I just argued long enough or begged hard enough , she would finally give in and say yes .

Most of Daddy ' s life , he was a farmer . He also did some painting . He could paint all day and never get a drop on him . He was so neat . Back in the early days of Bright , he drove a horse-drawn huckster wagon but , in my opinion , his most prestigious job was janitor of Bright School . The school was small back then . From the first grade to the twelfth , there were probably way less than 200 children . He also drove a school bus .

Every morning Daddy stood at the top of the stairs and greeted each child by name . He not only knew them , he probably knew their family also . Can you believe Bright was ever that small ??!! What a difference it is now when there are more children in kindergarten than there was in our whole school .

Daddy loved being involved in community affairs . He was active in P . T . A . He belonged to Modern Woodmen . I don ' t know what they did but I think it was some kind of a lodge . He evidently was secretary / treasurer because I still have books where he kept records .

During the war - World War II -when the young men of our community were drafted or enlisted to go to one of the U . S . Services , they all came to get Daddy to sign some sort of papers for them .

He had a title and even got a plaque signed by President Roosevelt . I have racked my brain trying to think what his title was and what kind of papers he signed but I just can ' t remember .

I do remember , though , that I loved all those handsome young men coming to the house !! Phyllis Bentle swears I flirted with her husband , Willis , when he came but surely I wouldn ' t have done a thing like that -would I ???!!! She said I hid behind a tree and when he got out of the car , I strutted out and said , " Hiii , Baby Doll ". That was his nickname and it has stayed with him yet today and , I must say , it does fit him .

Daddy was usually pretty serious and prim and proper but he also had a humorous side . Whenever the occasion arose , such as a P . T . A . program or the 4th of July , Daddy would perform . He had skits he put on - a oneman comedy skit !! He would remove his false teeth ( which I could never believe my Daddy would do , being the kind of person he was ), put on a dice-boxed hat , pull it way down so his ears stuck straight out , paint on a black mustache , and wear old raggedy clothes with the pants legs rolled up . Oh , what a sight he was . One skit I remember was called " I ' m a Nut - Yes , Sir - I ' m a Nut !" Well , he sure played that part to the hilt .

Gib Smith was sitting by my Mother at one of his performances and he said , " Bess , who in the world is that crazy man ?" He actually didn ' t know . My Mother promptly replied , " I have no idea !" As crazy as Mother was all the time , she was really embarrassed over Daddy ' s shenanigans !!

Well , Daddy never did get his baby boy but he did give a home to any young man who needed a job and a place to live . The first one I remember was only about fifteen years

Guy Hurley is shown outside his house on Jackson Ridge reading his Bible in this photograph which was taken around 1947 .

old . Keith Hart ( Kay Ballart ' s dad ) had gone down in the hills of Kentucky to get a truck load of something and he picked him up walking along the road . He told Keith that he was looking for a job . So Keith brought him to my Daddy who promptly took him in . His name was Sherwood Merrill . He had never been to school and could neither read nor write . He was a good worker but Daddy promptly nicknamed him Shirkey . Mother tried to get him to go to school but he said he was too far behind and would be embarrassed . I took great joy in reading to him , especially the funny sheets ( comic strips , they are called today ). I don ' t know if anyone in his family ever looked for him or not but if they did , we didn ' t know it . Mother said she would write his family and tell them where he was but he didn ' t know his address .

But , can you imagine taking someone like that into your home today ? You might wake up dead !! He was very polite , never gave us any cause for worry , stayed two years and then thanked us and said he guessed he would be on his way . We never saw or heard from him again .

The next boy came to us from the 3 C ' s Camp ( Civilian Conservation Corps ). His name was Arthur Washnock .

He , too , stayed a couple of years . But while he was still here , Phil Reese , ( Rick Reese and Toni Cleary ' s dad ), came to live with us . I guess Wash thought we didn ' t need two boys . We never heard from Wash again either . I would love to know where he went .

They were all good kids and Mother and Daddy treated them like family . But I guess I was older when Phil came because he was the closest I ever came to really having a big brother . Matter of fact , he married Jesse ' s sister , Lois , which made him officially my brother-in-law . We loved him dearly . I guess you would say he was our favorite .

I ' m writing this about my Daddy because I thought he was one of the sweetest men I ever knew and , fittingly enough , he died in his sleep early in the morning on Valentine ' s Day , 1967 . I miss him . I miss his gentleness , his genuineness , his guidance , his love for the Lord . He was a devoted Christian man . This is the poem I read at Daddy ' s funeral :

That ' s My Father The world is full of people , And of friends I know and greet In quietness or bustle , At home or on the street . But one stands out among them Like an Amen on a prayer ; And I ’ m proud to tell the people , That ' s my father standing there ! His mind is clean , His voice is strong , And too big a man is he To compromise with wrong . He ' s earned his neighbors ' high regard For judgments true and fair , So I love to tell the people . That ' s my father standing there ! The best of friends , my father . And the best of dads to me , An example for my living And all that I should be . The best of dads a-living And of dads beyond compare So I ' m glad to tell the people-- That ' s my father standing there !

If you still have your dad , tell him he ' s special . You ' ll never be sorry .