1740 Sharon

I was born in Sweetwater, Texas but my family quicly moved to the Arlington area when my dad got a job with Vought aircraft. Initially, we moved to Grand Prairie but, after a few months, bought a new house at 1740 Sharon Street in Arlington. Sharon street was directly west of C. B. Berry Elementary, right off Browning Street. Running along the east border of the school was New York Avenue and on the other side of the street was a big Cotton field surrounding a large farmhouse.

The house was wood frame with a light green color paint, like the cabins in the mountains, and had 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, a kitchen with a small eating area, and a combination living/dining room. There were hardwood floors throughout, except for linoleum in the kitchen and bathroom. Gary and I shared a bedroom, my folks were in another, and we used the largest bedroom as a den. There was no air conditioning. We had a big evaporative cooler. (That's a big fan with a water reservoir at the bottom. The fan evaporates the water by blowing over it and out into the room, cooling the air somewhat.) The cooler was in the den, positioned so that it blew done the hallway toward the kitchen. Hopefully, along the way, some cool air would get into each room. When I was 10 or 11 my folks got a window A/C unit for their room. There was a gas heater in the living room that always looked like to me that it had a mechanical man inside. I think there was a small gas heater in the bathroom, too. The total size was almost 1,000 square feet. The house had a large backyard with a nice sized patio and a covered front porch.

My earliest memory was Gary and I peeking out the front door to our neighbor's house on the east and looking at the little boy in that house who was peeking around his screen door at us. When we saw each other we quickly closed the door and ran back inside. Then we'd look out again, see each other, and run back inside. We kept doing that until eventually we met the little boy. The boy was David Purcell. He was Gary's age and his dad worked at Vought, Temco, Bell or one of the aircraft companies.

All of the houses were new, inexpensive, and owned by young families with small children. On our side of the street were the Purcell's to the east and then to the west the Wiseman's and the Dickey's. Across the street from the Purcell's were the Ferguson's and then the McAlister's, ???, Keener's, Brouillette's, a family with a son my age named Chuck, and a couple of houses futher, the Harrigan's. They all had kids around our age. I already told you about David Purcell. Then there was Frank and Wade Wiseman. Frank was a couple of years older than Gary and wade was my age. The Dickey's had Glenn, Gary's age, Paul (also known as Doody) a couple of years younger, David, a couple of years younger still, and another brother even younger. The Ferguson's had a boy much older than us, about Sis Erin's age or older, and Martha, my age. The McAlister's had a boy Sean who was my age and the house next to him didn't have any kids. That's why I can't remember their name. The Keener's had 3 or 4 boys, all older. Kenny was a year older than Gary, Billy was a couple of years older than that, and the other(s) were several years older. The Brouillette's had Mike, Gary's age, and Maureen, Bunny's age. The Harrigan's and a boy and girl the same age as the Brouillette's. I can't remember their names. Anyway, there were 8-12 boys of an age close enough that we could play baseball, football, or other games together, so we spent all our time outside playing. When we played hide and seek that game could be spread over several houses on both sides of the street.

David was left handed and grew up to be a pretty good pitcher. He played for the Bankers and, along with Mike Nichole, led them to our league championship when they were 12 and I was 11. He also pitched for Sam Houston in high school. Mrs. Purcell was Catholic but I think Mr. Purcell was Methodist. I don't ever remember seeing them go to church. Two other remembrances of David were: (1) Once Gary held my arms behind my back so David could punch me in the stomach. When my dad got home, he held Gary and let me punch him in the stomach. (2) We were playing tackle football in his front yard with no pads. I was tackled and hit the back of my head on the sidewalk. My head got busted open and needed 3 stitches to close it up.

The Wiseman's were originally from Illinios and Mrs. Wiseman was "Yankee" through and through and smoked. I didn't like her much. Mr. Wiseman was a tall, skinny, really nice guy. He was a salesman for Watkins, a company that sold products like Amway but it was a regular business, not multi-level marketing. Frank wore glasses and, despite being several years older than us, he wasn't much of an athlete. I remember a Little League game when he was the runner on 3rd base. The batter hit a ball down the line and it hit Frank standing on the base for the 3rd out. Wade was a much better athlete. They moved back to Illinios before he was 12. He came back to Arlington on vacation when he was 25-30 and came over to our house. He was a motorcycle racer. The other thing I remember about Frank and Wade was that they were saved in the same revival as Gary and me. I made my profession of faith first and Brother East came to our house to talk to me further since I was only 6. While he was there Gary also made a profession of faith. He then went next door to the Wiseman's and Frank and Wade made profession of faith. They all walked down the aisle at the revival meeting, I think on a Friday night. The Wiseman's were baptized on Saturday and Gary and I on Sunday.

Glenn wasn't much of an athlete either and Paul, David, and the other brothers were really too young. You had to tryout for Little League and you weren't guaranteed to make a team. When Glenn was 11 he tried out for Little League but didn't make it. His parents and a bunch of other parents went to the Optimists who sponsored the Arlington Little Leagues and demanded a change. They insituted a minor league for the kids who didn't make the "major" league teams, but after a couple of years moved everyone into the same league and guaranteeed spots for everyone who wanted to play. One time Wade Wiseman and I started a "club". The initiation was you had to drink pee out of a dog food can. We told Paul and David that we had both done it and if they wanted to be in our club they would have to do it too. Paul didn't believe we'd done it, so we peed in a can and I put it up to my lips and faked drinking it by swallowing saliva. I then put on a nasty face and ran for the water hose. Of course, I never drank it but they thought I had, so Paul did it. He took a big swallow and then ran for the water hose. We told David to just fake it and he did and ran to the water hose, too. Kids can be mean. The other thing I remember about the Dickey's was smoking my one and only cigarette. Wade, Paul, David, their little brother, and me were all out in front of my garage. I guess the Dickey's parents smoked because they had a cigarette and the little brother who was about 5 really enjoyed smoking. We lit the cigarette and I took a puff. It burned my throat! It was horrible! I've never taken another puff in my life. Wade tried it too with the same result, but the little 5 year old just smoked away.

On down the street was a family with two boys 6 or 7 years younger than me. One of them looked just like me. It was incredible. Of course, I liked him a lot, but I don't remember his name.

I'll tell you more about the other side of the street in another post.

1740 Sharon - the other side of the street

On the other side of the street, starting across from the Purcels were the Fergusons. They went to our church and had a girl my age, Martha, another girl a couple of years older, and a son several years older, probably Steve East's age or more. Martha was not good looking and not very smart. I never had anything to do with her, even at church. She's still a member of our church. She used to live in one of the low rent apartments that were torn down for the new Cowboys stadium. She and her husband, I think they're married, rode bicycles to church and sat in the foyer. I haven't seen her in several months but I remember her being so happy one day when I did see her and said "Hello, Martha." It's amazing how a simple "Hello" can seemingly brighten someone's day.



Next to her and across from our house was Sean McAlister who was my age. He wasn't an athlete but he had more board games than anyone I can remember. I used to go over there a lot and we'd play Chutes and Ladders, Life, and other games.

Next was a house that didn;t have kids and then the Kenners. They had 3 or 4 boys. Kenny was a year or two older than me and Billy was a year or two older than that. They other boys were much older. Kenny and Billy would play football and baseball with the neighborhood. I'll never forget two baseball games involving Billy. We were playing with some kids from another neighborhood and Mike Hedlund was pitching. Hedlund was a big red-headed kid and could really throw the ball. He was 12 and I was 9. He could have struck me out on 3 pitches, so Billy, playing left field, sat down when I came up. For fun, Hedlund decided to try throwing a knuckleball rather than simply striking me out on 3 fastballs. I smashed the 2nd pitch over Billy's head and got a home run. The other event I remember was having a brand new bat that I'd brought up to the field to hit with. I was playing left field and Billy decided to use my bat instead of his own and he broke it. I cried all the way home carrying my brand new broken bat.

Next to the Kenners was a family with a boy my age, also named Charles, but who everyone called "Chuck". He was a dork, a gangly, dumb kid that I didn't like. Because of him, I never let anyone call me Chuck to this day.

The Brouillettes had a son my age and a girl a few years older. Mike was a lot of fun and we'd play together all the time. When I accepted Christ as my Savior I tried to witness to Mike. He was a Catholic. As I was talking to him Wade Wiseman came over and started making fun of me. That hurt becasue he and both had just made professions of faith and had been baptized that week and I couldn't believe he was making fun of me for trying to tell someone else about Christ. I'm sure that experience inhibited me from sharing the gospel with anyone else for many years. Mike also woked in the CJ mailroom with Verne and me years later. He lives in Red Oak, I think, now. His sister Maureen and the Harrigan girl who lived a couple more houses down would sometimes have backyard plays. They'd charge a dime or something and we'd go watch them. They'd use a bedspread for the stage curtains and the shows were always fun. She's an artist now and has paintings at the Upstairs Gallery. Her dad was a nationally acclaimed watercolor painter who sold through the Gallery.

A couple of houses further down were the Harrigans. The main thing I remember with them was the summer that I sold tomatoes from our garden in the country, 2 pounds for 20 cents. They wanted only the cherry tomatoes.

Our neighborhood played the Farhat/Barnett neighborhood in baseball and football a couple of times. They had a great baseball field on a block in the middle of thier neighborhood where no houses had been built. I don't know who won, I just know we had a good time. The Farhat's daddy was Big Daddy as in Big Daddy's liquor store. I would play basketball against Owen Barnett later on in high school. I think Huey and Denny Insell were in that neighborhood as well. Denny was on the First Methodist men's basketball team that I'll tell you about later. And, a kid with the last name Vaughn was also in that neighborhood. He was a grade ahead of me and played quarterback on the football team. He peed in his uniform pants at the start of every game.

It was fun growing up on 1740 Sharon. We'd treat ot treat in an area from Abram on the north, Park Row on the south, New York Avenue on the east, and Meadowbrook Park on the west. Lots and lots of candy, haunted houses in people's garage, and just plain old fun without having to worry if any wierdo was going to do something.