Judy's Birth & Some Trivia - Page 2

(1) I was born on the southeast corner of Pine and Harvard - WAY out in the country in those days. haha

(2) It's hard to put the number accurately on this map, but the house I grew up in was at the bottom of the 4th St hill between the Greyhound Bus Terminal and the railroad tracks. We used to go to the Bus Barn and get ball bearings to make go-carts with. We had a lot of fun, but a lot of skinned knees when we'd wreck flying down the alley. There was a pipe supply across the street from our house. We used to go over there and steal metal pipes to make blow pipes out of. Small rocks were our ammunition. We also made slingshots with forked tree limbs and innertubes from car tires. When hit with rocks by those suckers, it HURT LIKE HELL! But it was still fun. LOL

I was born with nothing, and I still have most of it left.
(KAOSKTRL, Hannity Forum)

(3) The first house George and I owned was across the 51st Street Arkansas Bridge (I-44) in Carbondale. It was on West 47th Place. I was 18 years old. He was 19. He wanted a boat. I wanted a house. I won. (Lot of good it did me in the long run though. I still ended up with nothing in my name, but at least I tried. Foolish decisions took everything away.)

(4) Going across the river, I-244 used to be known as the 11th Street Arkansas Bridge. That's the bridge Mama hauled Auntie Della down to in the middle of the night, threatening to jump. She was up on the rail, lost her balance, and FELL! Lucky for her, she landed on a sandbar instead of the concrete bridge pilings. I always thought that was funny. Auntie Della said she never threatened to do that again. I'm sorry now that I never took Mama seriously. I always thought she was just melodramatic. Nobody knew about bi-polar illness in those days. How she must have suffered. Sick and nobody believed her. Poor thing.

(5) I don't even see the railroad bridge that used to be there across the Arkansas River. I guess they took it down. That's the bridge Auntie Della and Mother were on, crossing the river when they were little girls, when a train came. They had to hang underneath the track to keep from getting run over. After hearing that story, I never even went NEAR that bridge! Rena and Buckley pulled a similar stunt in a way ... they crossed the 11th Street Bridge UNDERNEATH it. That was a daredevil stunt I wanted no part of either! Those two, I tell you, had NO fear!

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THIS IS A NEAT MAP!

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=tulsa+ok&ll=36.149017,-96.001337&spn=0.007629,0.019498&hl=en

Google has a better map than anybody. I just found it.

We lived at 409 South Maybelle. Maybelle was also named Heavy Traffic Way; it used to have two names back in those days. We lived on that street at the end of W 4th St across the street from the railroad tracks. I say "across the street", but you had to go through a vacant field for a quite a ways before you'd get to the railroad tracks.

Mama always warned me about those trains. She said when they were parked to NEVER go between the cars, because the train could start up all of a sudden and kill me. She said to go to the end of the train or not go at all.

You can't really tell by looking at the map, but along that railroad track down to the Arkansas River, there were what we called "hollows". That's where the bums hung out and where we kids played all of the time. Whenever I saw a bum, I'd run. Mama told me they would kidnap me and do bad things to me. I was scared of them!

Aha - I just noticed the railroad bridge across the Arkansas River. That's the one my mother and my aunt almost got killed on.

On the Google Map, you can also see Newblock Park where we used to go swimming. They also had an open-air nightclub. Mama and I stood outside one night and watched Carmen Miranda perform. I couldn't wait until I could grow up and go to that night spot. But when I got grown, it was gone. They also had rides for little children. The cars were my favorite. One of the best times of my life was the night when my real cousin, Armita (sp?), was working there. I got to ride over and over and over again. I had so much fun.

When you move the map DOWN, you'll soon come to "Sinclair Refinery". That's in Garden City where the Robinsons lived. They lived at 3668 South Maybelle West. It's just above the Refinery on the map. Richard Sinclair (no relation to the refinery), George's half-brother worked there and lived in a company house.

Richard's wife, Maralee, washed her hair every day. Everybody made fun of her for doing that and thought she was really weird. After all, you were only supposed to wash your hair once a month. If you had your period when it came time to wash your hair, you had to wait until that was over. Otherwise, it could kill you. You stayed out of the swimming pool for the same reason.

Back to the map. If you keep moving the map down, you'll see W 48th St. George and I lived on W 47th Pl. The kids had to cross S Union Ave W to go to school. It was a VERY busy street, and Kelly was a dare devil. He used to scare people to death the way he'd take chances. No way would I allow a child today to go to school by himself like that, let along cross a busy street all by himself when he's so young. It scares me just thinking about it now, but it was no biggie back then. Kerrie Lynn was more responsible. She always waited until there was no traffic.

My kids were independent and taught how to take care of themselves SAFELY. It seems that parents don't do that any more. They say, "they're too young".

I think that's why so many little girls are getting kidnapped and killed nowadays. They are treated like babies and not taught to be tough and wary. God rest their little souls and comfort their poor parents. Amen.