Tuesday, July 28, 2020
My brother Dick! Richard, "Dick" to me, started out life as the son of a farmer in Winterset, IA, (birth place of John Wayne, "The Duke"). From there, Dad and Mom moved to Scribner, NE to continue farming and that lasted about 12-13 years all total and the family moved to Fremont, NE, where I come into the picture at age 4, as I can remember. Dick was always a big brother to me, played baseball with me, pushed me in my wagon, during the winter months took me swimming at the YMCA where we all swam butt naked because hardly anyone's parents couldn't or didn't want to pay for swimming suits for their kids! Dick built me a race car and we would race around the Boulevards in town, he pushing and me driving, that was a real kick to me!! Dick's interest in trucking came in the summer months when our Dad drove a "low-boy" loaded with cement irrigation pipes to deliver all over Nebraska, Kansas and South Dakota. He thought riding with Dad was neat and fun, while, when it was my time to ride with Dad, I would be bored stiff! So, at an early age, we are brothers but with distinct differing interest in life. Then we moved to Colorado in 1954/55 and Dad started Cornell Trucking hauling gravel and asphalt. Dick and I were both "obligated" to help Dad with his business by assisting him in repairing the truck/s and hauling gravel to top off driveways. Our Dad was a hard working determined man who didn't know when to quit, guess that's where Dick and I got our work ethic from! If Dad's truck broke down, he and Dick would do whatever it took to get the truck back on the road as soon as possible. When Dick was in high school, unfortunately, this meant not being in class! Our Dad took a job building a highway near Cortez, CO when I was thirteen and Mom with went him, that left Dick, Joyce and I to basically to take care of ourselves. Dick now was not only a brother but acted as my father during this time and that lasted well over a year! Joyce had just graduated from Wasson and found a job as a Nanny and that left Dick and I on our own, thanks a lot Joyce! Mom would buy some canned goods, cereal and stuff; Dick purchased a lot of the other groceries and we survived. However, there are two funny stories that came out of that situation! We both came down with bad colds and back then, you didn't go to a doctor unless you were dying, so Dick took our health-care into his own hands. Dick bought some decongestants; we found Dad's bottle of bourbon and miraculously we were cured overnight. We had a hellva of a headache, but our cold symptoms were gone and went to school and Dick to work! Mom would buy unmarked cans of veggies, she printed a P on them which meant peas, B for beans and so on. One morning Dick and were fixing breakfast and we found an unmarked can of food, opened it and it was corned beef hash. So, we fried up some eggs, hash browns and along with the corned beef hash, we had a breakfast fit for kings! Until later, in talking with Mom, we found out it wasn't hash but Friskies Dog Food! That's maybe why we like dogs so much!! The last story I'm going to tell happened at Jefferson Country Stadium in Lakewood, CO. I was playing football at the time for Wasson and Jeanne, my parents, Dick and Nancy always came to my games, I really appreciated their support! After the game, the team showered, ate dinner and took our usual bus ride drove home. I was in bed and Jeanne came into my bedroom. Being 17, I thought I had died and went to Heaven, my girlfriend in my bedroom. What else could a teenage boy want!! Well, it wasn't happening and Jeanne told me that when the game was over, they went to Dick's car, it wouldn't start because someone had stolen the battery. It took over two hours just for the police to find a shop open to buy a new one and that's why they were so late! I could go on, but I'm not a historian or novelist. The last time I saw Dick, he tried to say "Are we having fun yet", another favorite of his, especially while at the cabin when we would be together on the deck having a shot and a Bud Lite, he'd say "It doesn't get any better than this", I say, no it doesn't, these, I'll always remember! Later Dick, Ron
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