03/10/2025
I was born on October 4, 1962 in the town of Amite City, Louisiana in a tiny clinic that served as the area’s only Hospital. The clinic was located on US Highway 51 about a block north of Mulberry Street.
My dad dropped my nine month pregnant mom off there because he wasn’t allowed to wait in the clinic for her. So he took my four older brothers and sister to the Tangipahoa Parish Fair. The fairgrounds was only a few blocks away. My mom often joked with my dad through my childhood how he was probably on the Ferris wheel the night I was born. My childhood played out in the countryside not far from that little town on my dad’s strawberry farm but the culture that I picked up as a little boy in the 1960s stays with me today.
There are thousands of details woven into the fabric of my soul from my childhood.
Here’s a few of those memories that I still carry:
~Everyone went to church even the sinners.
~We didn’t take handouts.
~No permits were needed to fish, build a house or sell produce.
~Every little boy owned a gun at 12 years of age.
~Kids learned how to drive long before they had a license.
~Most of us got married at 18.
~Our first priority was to care of your momma ‘nem & your neighbors.
~Didn’t pay property tax, because no one owned a house more valuable than the homestead exemption.g
~Loved The USA but we didn’t trust Uncle Sam.
~Friday night was all football & Jesus.
1960’s culture is still in my soul.
