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.