Introduced to the Bible

Although only in the third grade at Lyman School, I was a good reader.  I had missed a year of school when I was in the tuberculosis hospital.  When I lived with my Dennis grandparents I often was given books to read.  Of course, there were words I never knew how to pronounce, but the stories still kept my interest.  Mostly western stories.

Now that I lived with my McMurphy grandparents, the most read literature was related to biblical studies, and the King James Holy Bible.

Grandpa Archibald Earl McMurphy was a scholar of the bible, and a particularly capable teacher of the Old Testament prophesies.  The announcement of the coming Savior was his way of introducing his students to the "wonder of the Jesus project" (my words).

He would often have me sit by his recliner chair where he was studying for an upcoming lesson, and encourage me to read his reference passages.  He already knew them, I finally discovered, but it was refreshing to him to have me read, and instructional to me.  And he knew how to pronounce the words and could correct this deficiency in my reading.  Figures like Habakkuk, Nebuchadnezzar, and Zephaniah were particularly difficult to pronounce.  And finally, from my western books, I found out what that popular card game was called.  Who knew that "peanuckle" would be spelled like it is?

It turned out that my reading and math skills became evident during the first semester of school that I was moved up to the fourth grade!  And my teacher was the same one I had at the one-room Decker school in the county.  She was glad to have me again.  She had married a man that was drafted into the army, and was glad she had a job to keep her busy until he would be discharged.  (I have no idea how her life worked out, but I did like her.)

Grandpa Mc was an accountant with the ATSF ("Santa Fe") railroad.  He had been a Brakeman, and somehow was moved to the Main Office in the ticketing/ accounting Department.  Topeka was the headquarters for the Santa Fe, and also the sight of the major repair shops for their railroad equipment.  An aside:  Uncle Elmer Crooks was a boilermaker in those shops, and a very special man in my life - to be covered at a later time.

Those two railroad workers were also exempt from military service because of the essential industry their jobs represented.  They were the two men that I remember most from this period in my life.

Most of Grandpa's friends called him "Archie".  It turns out that Archibald was a very common name in the McMurphy/ Murphy surname in Scotland/Ireland.  McMurphy's migrated to Ireland in the 1700's and dropped the Mc prefix to more easily integrate into their new culture.

And it should be mentioned here, that Grandma McMurphy was Burris Tinker before her marriage to Archibald.  Of course, that is where my first name came from.  And subsequently, grandson Jordan Burris Korth, father of my great-grandson, Burris Korth. 

For my grandmother, it provided some teasing by her family and friends,calling her Burri-sTinker!  And Burris has not been an easy name to live with, which I avoided for most of my early life. More on that later.

Many significant and life changing stories will be forthcoming.  These will be specific stories that I recall from the years sister Mary Kathleen and I experienced as "children" of our McMurphy grandparents. 

A NEW HOME: McMURPHY's

Just before school began in the Fall of 1942, I was moved from the farmstead occupied by my Grandpa and Grandma Dennis to the North Topeka home of my Grandpa and Grandma McMurphy.  This house was built from plans drawn by Grandpa, Archibald Earl McMurphy.  I have those plans and will be sending them to the current occupant of that house sometime soon.

This house was built in the mid 1930's.  My dad had plowed out the basement with a  team of horses, and my parents lived in a "Garlo" on the back of the property.  I don't know what my dad had for work, besides farming, before my birth.

This house was at 2100 N. Kansas Avenue, Topeka, Kansas.  Now renumbered as 2000 N. Kansas Avenue. 

My sister, Mary Kathleen, already lived with these Grandparents.  And Grandpa McMurphy's mother also lived with them.  We called her "Grandma Dear", and she did have serious dementia. 

This was in the early years of WWII, mostly, old men and disabled men were in the general community, and women were now working jobs in all parts of the city!  Farmers and essential industry employees were also exempt from military service.  So, at this time, the McMurphy's were hosting an elderly woman, two grandchildren - one boy (me) and one girl (my sister)- and Grandpa had a full time job with the Santa Fe Railroad.

Mary K. and I attended Lyman Elementary School.  This was the school my mother attended when she was in elementary school!  It was about two blocks north from our house.  Half way to school was a one-pump gasoline station and mini-grocery owned by the Shields family.  It was a great place to get a penny candy on my way to and from school.  However, getting pennies was another matter!

The house was heated with a coal fired furnace.  It was my job to carry out the cinders from the furnace every day.  (Coal does not get consumed entirely by burning, and the cinders left should not be left in the firebox, because it would impede the flow of fresh air needed to sustain the burning.)

If I did this regularly, I could receive the gift of a penny, now and then.

One of the families that lived nearby was named "Brothertons".  They had a girl in my class whose name was Charlene.  {In 1954-55 I was stationed in Bad Kreuznach, Germany and another Topeka boy was in my unit.  He returned to Topeka after our service time, and became a lawyer.  I kept track of him, and on a visit to Topeka in the 1990's, I visited with him.  He had married Charlene!}

Our food consisted of chicken and rabbit for regular meat, and lots of bread and potatoes.  Most pork and beef was reserved for the military, and each family got "meat tokens" for the "rationed" beef and pork that was available to the general public.  I don't know the limits of the rationing, but it was just a few pounds per month for each family. 

Crossing The Desert

Probably August, 1942 - Dad and I and whatever we had in the Allied Van Lines trailer, started our trip back to Kansas.  We were leaving the Los Angeles area, going East on US 66.

Highway 66 went from Santa Monica, CA to Chicago, IL.  It became a famous cross-continent highway, and was one of the first designated US Highways.  The individual states had highways that had their own state assigned numbers.  But from State to State, there were intentional connections made, and by connecting state highways from Chicago to California, highway 66 was born.

I was most impressed with the desert!  We had water bags, canvas bags that were very thick and held water without dripping.  But, the bags were barely "damp", and the evaporation of the outside resulted in cooling the water inside.  (Check with your physics teacher to understand this cooling effect.)

We needed these water bags for the motor coolant system of the truck.  In 1942, the engine cooling was primarily by circulated water, and the systems were not "closed", so heated water steam was allowed to escape, reducing the amount of water in the cooling system.  Radiators often developed leaks because of the high pressure of hot water.  As far as drinking water was concerned, we always had sodas, or water.  No Air conditioning in the truck!  Windows Open!

Nights were fairly cool, because there was no cloud cover. 

When we finally returned to Topeka, I was given a new home.

I was transferred from the Dennis grandparents to the McMurphy grandparents.  I had a room in the attic of the home built by Grandpa McMurphy at 2100 N. Kansas Avenue.  It was the first time since I went to the TB sanatorium that I lived in the same house as my sister, Mary Kathleen.

This began a completely different kind of life for me.  And I was comfortable with 'whatever' happened because my life had been continually changing, and wherever I lived, I was always loved!

Grandpa McMurphy's mother, whom we called "Grandma Dear", my sister, and I, were all now kept by Grandma Burris and Grandpa Archie, in a two bedroom house!  It was wartime, and these hard times were felt by everyone.

My life continued to change. I count 1942 as the year that provided more important influences than any other time in my life.  I had a great time learning about my Dad; about my two sets of grandparents; my ability to learn and understand ideas as well as feelings; and to sense what it means to have 'Hope'.

Here I am, again!

It has been almost a year since beginning my 1942 story.  That story post ended in Rock Springs, Wyoming.

I was in an Allied Van Lines truck with my Dad, on a trip that probably took 2 months.  We started in Topeka, Kansas and went to the West coast and back, with multiple stops each way.

We went to Salt Lake City from Rock Springs.  In Salt Lake, my Dad took me to swim in the Great Salt Lake.  It was said that you could not sink in the lake because of the higher density of the water.
It was easier to float, but sinking was still possible: my dad proved it!  I, however, could float without difficulty.  In 1942 there was a great swimming pavilion about 25 yards from the lakes edge, with change rooms, snack bar, etc.  The lake has receded significantly since 1942, and no public swimming facility exists there.  (When we lived in the Salt Lake area in 1964, there were only a few boat ramps for access to the lake.  My fourth daughter was born in SLC in May, 1964!) 

Dad and I drove from SLC to San Francisco, California.  I don't remember anything about the city, but the drive South to Los Angeles was very impressive.  (I suggest that my readers take that drive sometime.  I have made it several times in my adult life, and with several members of my family.  One of the most memorable was with Barbie and Sabine in 1972/3)

The Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 1941.  There were reports of Japanese submarines in the Pacific off the coast of San Francisco - possibly in the bay!  Every time I could see the ocean (probably on US Highway 101), I would look for signs of a submarine!

I never saw one.

In Los Angeles area, Dad took me to Santa Monica Beach.  I was fascinated with the great ocean waves and not being able to see the 'other side' of the 'lake'!  I remember walking out into the water until suddenly a big wave would take me back to the shore.  I don't know how long we were there, but I do remember getting the bottom of me feet sunburned while laying in the beach sand.  It was very uncomfortable to walk or to wear shoes.  Of course, an 8 year old boy doesn't wear shoes in the summer. (I could only have 1 pair of shoes a year.  I usually started school barefoot, and when it was too cold to do that, it was time to get me some shoes.  We bought the longest shoes I could keep on, because we knew my feet would grow all winter, and the shoes had to last until I could go barefoot again!)

Someone didn't know what the game I played in Rock Springs was.

We tossed a ball, like a soccer ball, over the roof of the firehouse.  We would call out "annie-annie-over" when we started the toss, but the receiver would not know where it would come over.   We kept score of how may times we missed catching the ball.

Next blog:  The trip back to Kansas.

Rock Springs

My first draft of this part of my series got "lost" in e-world.  But it is astounding for me to realize that I came from age 8 in 1942, in this narrative, to my life in 2015?

Dad with me and the Allied Van Lines truck made our way to Wyoming on US40. In Northern Colorado and Southern Wyoming and passed places where dinosaurs had died in a large groups.  These dinosaur "graveyards" were the largest in North America at that time. This pile of bones had been partially excavated. Museums around the world have restructured some of them into the skeletons we are all familiar with, today. 

We left Colorado and connected with US30, just West of Rawlins.  US30 has been replaced by IH80 but follows the same route into Salt Lake City.  Sinclair oil had a refinery in this desolate, but oil rich part of Wyoming.  There is a town there today.  Because the dinosaur graveyards (there were several in a 100 mile circle) were well known, Sinclair used the dinosaur for their logo emblem.

Several of my daughters and granchildren have been with me when driving through this area several times since 1960.  Here is a picture taken in 2015 with one of them!

This photo was taken at Little America, Wyoming.  Little America was originally a gasoline and service station in this desolate part of US30, started by a man that built a large, multi-million dollar service and hospitality organization.  His growth to a nationwide enterprise began in the 1950's.  Every truck driver heading to the West Coast of the USA was familiar with Little America!  It was a necessary 'oasis' because weather conditions in central and western Wyoming sometimes brought highway travel to a standstill.

We did not encounter any weather related issues, but just outside Rock Springs, an East bound Yellow Transfer semi truck took a curve too wide, and smashed into the front of our semi-trailer.  There were no injuries and neither truck tractor was involved.  Because of the curve, only the front of both trailers were involved.  But that was disabling for our truck.  And so, we spent a week in Rock Springs. 

The Sheriff of Rock Springs offered to let me stay with his family until we could continue.  He had a daughter about my age, and we played together every day.  The best place to play was in the city square, which had a city park.  We did have a softball, a volleyball, and I think a wagon.  We played with simple things.  Games like:  Dropping clothespins into a milk bottle;  jacks;  hide and seek;  tag; and 'annie-annie-over! 

Curious about those games.  Stay tuned!

Truck-Driver Living

After visiting my mother at the Norton, Kansas Tuberculosis sanitorium, my Dad and I continued our summer drive Westward.

The Allied Vanlines truck from Topeka Transfer was loaded with furniture of some military family being moved from Forbes Airforce Base in Topeka to somewhere in California. 

I don't remember how we slept in Norton.  Nor how we managed our meals.  It had been one long driving day since my Dad picked me up, and we were only in Norton for a nite and a few hours, I think.

As the summer travel went, I only remember eating breakfasts and dinners.  All at Truckstops.  And nights were spent on top of the Van trailer, in furniture pads for mattress and for blankets.  Most often, nights were spent in truck parking lots of Allied Van Line affilliated companys.  When the van was not completely full, we could sleep inside.  I don't remember any rainy nights?

My clothes consisted of a couple pair of bib overalls, two or three shirts, some underpants, sox, and a pair of high-top shoes.  We washed up in truckstop restrooms. 

We went from Norton to Denver on US highway 24.  Norton was about 35 miles North of US24, which we had taken from Topeka.  We probably took US383/US83 diagonally SW to Colby, Kansas and reconnected to US24 to Denver. 

A bit of trivia:  US 24 and US40 Westbound met at Topeka and separated there until Limon Colorado, where they met again.  Folks Used to think the vacation trips to and from Denver could be more interesting by taking US24 one way, and US40 for returning.  Either wasy, driving E - W across Kansas is more or less boring!  US 40 has been mostly replaced by Interstate highway I-70.  Kansans have always loved to go to the Rocky Mountains on vacation - especially the trout fishing and hiking folks.

Our trip proceeded West on US40 through Colorado and over the Continental Divide.  (My notes following use elevation numbers that I'm guessing about.  The point is that elevation was an important reason for the roadwork we experienced.)   It was a hot summer trip, and the high altitude, 2 lane highway was paved only up to about 7000 ft above sealevel because it was very difficult to get machinery, work crews, and materials for paving.  The "working season" for such construction was very short because of the cool higher altitudes.  Therefore, many miles of the higher portions of US40 were gravel roads.  Gravel roads with hairpin curves!  At levels between 6000 foot elevations to 7000 foot elevations, the roadway was a black tar on top of the gravel base.  When the sun was on this pavement, the tar softened, and the truck tires would 'stick' to the road.

My first driving experience came on these roads.

The Mack truck with a 30 foot furniture van behind had two transmissions.  There was the four speed transmission, followed with a two speed transmission.  This permitted getting into what the drivers referred to as "double compound low" for steep grades.  This compounding of "low" gears made the truck almost unstoppable!  There was a manual throttle, a pull-out knob, that would lock the throttle into a specific engine speed. 

One afternoon, sun bearing down, tar holding onto the tires, we were in double compound low gear with the throttle pulled completely out of the dashboard.  My dad was sweating.  He had let me sit on his lap before and steer the truck, but this was different.  He stepped out of the truck, holding onto the steering wheel, and asked me to get into the drivers seat!  I took over steering for awhile with Dad walking alongside the truck - motor racing at top speed, and we were moving at less than 3 miles per hour.  Of course, that only lasted five or ten minutes, and Dad returned to the drivers seat.  Tired, but glad to have had some fresh air.  I was really excited that I had driven a semi-truck up a Rocky Mountain highway, and I was only 7 1/2 years old!

Next Stop, Rock Springs, Wyoming.

Summertime 1942

After finishing up Decker School, my dad picked me up from the Linghy Farm and my farm days were over.  Lifelong memories of hard labor, primitive living facilities, and only occassional visits with folks outside of our immediate family - experienced in a little more than a year's time!

All of my belongings fitted into a small, brown, hard sided, suitcase. 

I think dad and I were in the 1243 Wabash house for a few days, and that I was left for some overnights with Aunt Jewel (Dennis) Mills and cousin Donna.  The Mills lived in Topeka on Clay street. 

My dad was very busy in those days of 1942.  The wartime effort required moving lots of military people and military materials from and to Forbes Air Force Base in Topeka.  Topeka Transfer Company, a franchisee of Allied Van Lines, was the largest moving company in the area. 

I remember being awakened early one morning and being carried in my PJ's to the cab of a Semi-truck, still half-asleep.  It was with Dad, so it was OK.  When I was awake, I changes my clothes in the truck seat and asked where we were going?  I was 7 1/2 years old, and had been "relocated" many times in the past 2 1/2 years.)

We were going to see Mom! 

Mother was in the Kansas State Tuberculosis Hospital in Norton, Kansas.  Norton is in the Northwest corner of Kansas.  Topeka is in the Northeast corner of Kansas.  This is the picture of my Mom and Dad, taken early in their marriage.  Before the onset of Tuberculosis.


My feelings are very strong when I write this and view this picture.

Some of you know that I am a "weeper", in times of joy, sorrow, or very special events in my life that 'rise to the surface' when I tell them.

"What feelings did I have when you posted this picture?", you may ask.

I felt the UNSWERVING FAITHFULNESS OF THE MARRIAGE COMMITMENT.
My dad had committed to marriage with this woman, .."in sickness and in health, 'til death do we part", and he and I were on a trip that started with the words:  "We're going to see your mother".

Dad's two kids have been in two separate homes.  He worked non-stop in the war effort, all across the USA.  His wife was in a TB Sanatorium where most patients died, almost 400 miles from their home.  I don't remember having seen my sister for 2 years!

We had a nice visit with Mother.  Probably less than 2 hours.  And then we continued on the 1942 summer trip that I remember as part of  the "1942 life changing" for me.

The first two or three days of this trip are behind us now.  Already you see how life-changing my viewpoint of marriage has been formed!

Stay tuned for more of 1942.