Scott Family Of Kentucky Chapter (4)

Chapter (4) 1955 to 1961
"Scot Family Of Kentucky"

         In 1955 at the age of 18 Ronnie would go to the old cemetary with Gene on or around Memorial Day. The cemetery was overgrown with weeds and brush. It sit just off the main highway and between 2 houses. It was 4 miles from Versailles in a rural area named Tyler Hieghts. Gene's parents Ella and Joe Scott were buried there. Joe died in 1939 and Ella in 1940. Ronnie often went with Gene to help clean their graves. They died before Ronnie had a chance to know them. Gene worshipped his parents, Ronnie told him after he was gone, and if he was still alive he would take care of their graves on Memorial day. They did not have a marker for their graves, except the little bronze marker Gene made for his Mother. Joe only had a plain rock to mark his grave. So Ronnie made them each a small marker out of concrete, and stainless steel. His friend Jack inscribed them with their names. Ronnie placed the inscribed stainless in the wet concrete when they dried they looked good. He then put them at the top of his Grandma's and Grandpa's graves. He thought Gene would have liked that.

         Joe Scot did a lot of bartering, and trading around the county in his days. Such things as hogs, cows, and even garden vegetables. They had lived around the block from where Gene bought his home, in Versailles. It was an old house with no insulation to keep out the cold, no electricity, or running water. Ella Scot was a strong lady I guess she had to be with 8 children. If you lived in rural Kentucky in those days most probably you was a farmer. They would raise a hog to kill in the winter for meat. Ella would can everything they raised in the garden to eat during the winter months. Joe never owned a car this was in the days of the Ford Model T. All the families in the town had to can their crops for the harsh winters. Most of them also had a cow, and chickens. Life was very hard back then, In the early 1900s.

Indent}In 1955 after long hospital stays and a lot of theraphy Lottie's mental condition greatly improved. She was able to come home and regain her responsibilities as a mother. As soon as Ronnie knew his mother could care for the rest of the children. It took a big load off him and gave him more time for himself.

         So Ronnie's next older sister Norma asked him if he wanted to come over and stay at her house for awhile in Stafford Ohio. A city of 30,000 that sit on the banks of the Stafford river. To Ronnie Stafford was a big city. He went over, and helped Norma do a lot of painting in her 4 room apartment. Occasionally he would baby sit her 2 kids Louann and Kenny for her awhile she cleaned the apartment etc. Her husband Ken's Mother Mrs. Davis lived 2 miles from Stafford. In a little town of 1000 named Cape Hill. Ronnie spent a lot of time visiting there. Mr. and Mrs. Davis (Jose)and (Herb), and (Lydia) who was Ken's daughter by his first marriage. Ken allowed Mrs. Davis and Herb to adopt her. It was not long before Ronnie was painting for Mrs. Davis around her house and her garage. He stayed with them for along time, and got to know them all real well. They were all good people Mrs. Davis was a good cook too. While Ronnie stayed with them she paid him so with the money he got some of his decayed teeth pulled. Lydia was 4 at the time, just like one of his little sisters. Ronnie drank his first beer there at the Davis's home. Herb drank beer everyday, so there was always beer on hand. He drank 3-2 beer half the alcohol of regular beer. Come the weekend it got busy around the Davis house. Mrs. Davis came from a big family, and it seemed they were all there at the same time. The Davis family lived in a upper middle class neighborhood of Capehill. Ronnie often would visit them in those years when he stayed with Norma and Ken.

         Living there with Norma and Ken in the city of Stafford. There was a pretty red haired girl who lived down the block, near the Stafford river. She was about four years younger than Ronnie, but he still liked her. Her name was Gayle she was so sweet, pretty, and petite. He told Bill one of her friends he had met he liked her. Bill told her and Ronnie could not keep her away from the apartment. Ronnie liked it, but he thought maybe Norma or Kenny would get mad. They never dated or kissed each other, but Ronnie did liked her for a girl friend. One day her Mother decided to move to Florida. She Came to tell Ronnie he knew she did not want to move. She wrote Ronnie a long letter after she got to Florida, but he never answered it. He liked Gayle a lot and really did missed her comming up to visit him at Norma's. Soon after that he went back home to Kentucky heart broken.

         Then at the age of 19 his Aunt Bessie Lottie's youngest sister. Lived way back in the woods about a mile off the highway. Where her driveway intersected with the main highway it was called Ghost hallow. It was on a sharp curve and after dark it was a ghostly place. Bessie would often get Ronnie to stay overnight at her house. Her husband Arley worked second shift on the railroad. Bessie was frightened to stay there alone at night. There was nothing for miles around her house, except woods. The house was on the outskirts of Versailles and sit a half a mile back a old rocky driveway in the woods. Arley, Aunt Bessie's husband always kept a lot of Beagles at the house he did a lot of rabbit hunting. He would let Ronnie go hunting with him a lot, all over the county. The old farm house did not have electricity or running water in it. Naturally this made it even more ghostly without a porch light. To begin with Ronnie was not the bravest person around, and to tell the truth he was very much afraid to stay there at night.

         After that Norma asked him to stay at her house in the rural country of Ohio. in a little town of 4,000 residents named Closeville. The town had 1 stop light and a couple of stop signs. She had a big lawn for Ronnie to mow around her house. The house belonged to Uncle George a family member of Ken's. Their rent was cheap for such a big house. Again Ronnie did his usual painting for her it seems she always wanted him to paint. They had a big garage he also painted it for them. While he was staying there he had a terrible tooth ache on a Sunday. Norma called denists all around for hours trying to find a dentist to pull Ronnie's tooth. Finally she found one he told Norma to bring him to his office, and he would pull it. His office was 6 miles away in a city named Williamsburg. After the dentist pulled his tooth he told Ronnie One of his wisdom teeth was pushing the old tooth out as it was growing in. This is why it hurt so much.

         Later on at the same house. Ken's Dad Louie came up from Louisiana for a visit. He brought his young wife Marsha, and their 6 year old daughter Joanie with him. Louie was bald and in his 60s, Marsha was 30 and pretty, Joannie was a real pretty little girl with dark eyes and dark hair. They stayed for a couple of weeks visiting Norma and Ken. They drove all over Ohio in his new gray Pontiac car. One day it started to rain real heavy so Louie pulled off the road for safety reasons. While they were sitting there in the car it started to hale the size of golf balls. They were all frightened of a possible Tornado, but suddenly! the sun came out, and the sky turned blue thank goodness for that.

         About 6 months later Norma and Ken bought their new house on the outskirts of the city of Nicetown with maybe 20,000 residents. Nicetown had a lot of mansions and big farms with horses. It was a upper middle class area. Ronnie came to visit them for a stay. While he was mowing Norma's grass. a boy came walking down the road he was a young boy named Bobby he was 12 years old. He had a ball and ball glove with him he asked Ronnie if he would toss ball with him after he mowed the grass. While they were tossing ball 2 girl's came in the yard they were his sisters Sharon and nancy. Imediately Ronnie like the younger one Nancy better she was real pretty and sweet. The girls met Norma, and even went in the house to talk to her. Soon they were comming up every day. Ronnie went for walks with them the oldest sister Sharon developed a crush on him. She was okay bigger and taller than Nancy. Sharon had an important school function comming up so She asked Norma to ask Ronnie if he would take her to it. He did not encouraged her that he liked her. Besides Ronnie liked her sister Nancy not her. He probably hurt her feelings, but he told Norma no. Ronnie did not feel it was his fault, cause he thought Nancy liked him too. Naturally he did not want to hurt Sharon's feelings. However Nancy felt sorry for Sharon, and he never had Nancy for his girl friend.

         Soon Ronnie went back home to Kentucky for awhile. He never dated any of the girl's in Versailles Probably because he was so reserved, and insecure. Ronnie missed a lot of fun in his teen years because of these reasons.

         He was depressed living in rural Kentucky there was no steady jobs available for teenagers. In Ohio the jobs were plentiful especially where Norma lived in Nicetown. Ken's Uncle Gill was a caretaker For a rich doctor. He got his rent free plus a salary. There were several horses he fed each day it was a huge farm. The farm had 50 stables for the horses near the house where Gill, his wife Ruth, and 25 year old daughter Juanita lived. Gill was in his late 50s, Ruth was a small woman and kind, Juanita was pretty and liked to play softball. Of course the big rock house sit a quarter of a mile down the long blacktop driveway where the owner Dr. Carter lived. The land was flat with a log fence incircling it. He asked Ronnie if he wanted to do some painting around the farm for him. he started painting for about two or three weeks. After that Gill told Ronnie one of his friend was a caretaker for a huge estate.

         The person who owned it Mr. Wyman was extremely wealthy. Mr. Urton lived their on the estate with his wife and daughter. They lived in a pretty little white house with the big maintance garage next to it. His daughter was pretty a blonde about 22. Mr. Urton needed a teen to help him cut all the grass around the estate. Ronnie thought this sounds like a good job for the summer months. After Ronnie went to the estate Mr. Urton gave him a brief description of his job duties then Ronnie started working. Mr. Urton had the estate divided up into mowing sections. On a Monday he would cut the side lawn, On a Tuesday he would mow the back lawn, etc. The driveway to the mansion was a mile long, and on both sides they were trees every 15 feet. It had to be mowed first by the big mower. Then it would have to be mowed around the trees using the trim mower. Ronnie was given 2 days to mow the driveway section, It got easy after awhile. This was by far the hardest section to mow. Mr. Urton was a real nice man and boss he never once came around to where Ronnie was working. Ronnie worked a half day on Saturdays. Usually he work in the beautiful apple orchid which was behind the big mansion. They were picnic tables all over the area and fallen apples that had to be picked up. It was so cool in the shade of the orchard, and smelled real good. Ronnie worked at the estate the whole summer enjoying every moment of it.

         When he came home to Norma's after working Saturday morning he usually went home to Kentucky. Ronnie really missed his Mom, Dad, and all his siblings. He had a big jar he saved all his pocket change in when it got full he took it to Kentucky with him. He surprised all his siblings with it he told them to reach in it and grab as much money as they could. He let his youngest sister Candy go first then Dianne, from her he passed it to the youngest boy Wendell in order to the oldest boy Jerry. They were so happy when they got their hands full of the money change. This was Ronnie's way of showing his love, and how much he missed them.

         After his weekend visit he would go back on a Sunday night to Norma's. On Monday morning he would be back at work. Ronnie needed a car to drive back, and forth to work. Ken and him went to a new Ford dealership in Stafford. They had a brand new Ford retractable on display in their showroom. Ronnie was amazed at the way the top folded under the trunk, and the car became a convertable. He eventually walked out to the used car lot. They had a 1949 Mercury there in good condition. It was in his price range too. The paint was brand new, but apparently it had been rained on before it was dry. Because it had spots all over it making the paint dull. Ronnie still bought it and he only drove it to his work. At that time he did not have drivers liscense. His work was only a mile away from Norma's house. He got a hour for lunch so Ronnie would drive back near the apple orchard and eat in his car. He admired the beauty of the estate, and maybe dreamed a little. The owner Mr. Wyman had a new Ford T Bird sitting in his big garage. Not once did Ronnie see anyone drive it. It was a beautiful jet black on the exterior, and red in the interior. Mr. Wyman always had a Limosene pick him up for work. If you could call it work. Ronnie knew he had a job to do too.

         At the end of the summer he got home sick, and decided to quit his job. Soon after he quit working at the mansion. Mr. Wyman Decided to buy a neighboring farm just because there was a dispute over a right of way on his property. It was a nice place to live. If Ronnie had stayed working at the mansion he could have lived in the house. Kentucky was calling and he was ready to go home.

         When he came home he brought his 1949 Mercury with him. Eventhough he had no drivers liscense he drove it around Versailles for awhile. Sometimes he would drive it to his Grandma's down the road to Riverdale. He would take Bonnie, and Charles his two cousins for rides. Bonnie introduced him to a girl about his age 19, named Nancy. Soon they were going steady with each other. He liked Nancy a lot she was his first real girl friend. They dated he always respected her as a young lady. Nancy was from down in the Kentucky hills. She, and her sister Edna came to visit their married sister who lived next to his Grandma. Edna was younger than Nancy 17 with red hair. Nancy was petite with dark eyes and black hair. While Ronnie dated Nancy, Edna met an older man named Jay and started dating him. Ronnie did not know Edna was trying to get Nancy to go out with Jay's friend Arnold. Jay was 29 and Arnold was 24 at that time. Ronnie never knew if Nancy went out on him with Arnold while they were going steady or not. Nancy got a job in the city of Wellington working as a dental assistant. For some reason Ronnie and Nancy's relationship started changing. It seemed Ronnie went to see her less oftened. So it had been a couple of months since he had last seen her. Nancy called Ronnie on the phone and told him she was pregnant. She told him she had been raped by Arnold. Ronnie ask her what she expected him to do about it? She told him I love you Ronnie, not him. He told Nancy there was nothing he could do for her. Of course it hurt him to say that to her. He really liked her, maybe even loved her at one time. She married Arnold, and had several children by him. I was hurt not only because of her actions, but I felt betrayed by her. I tried to put it all behind me, and go on with my life.

         After those experiences with Nancy he got a little girl shy. It would be a long time before he would trust a girl again. He stayed around the little town of Versailles, and had a few girl friends. All they were to him were friends. He ran around with a few of his friends who had cars. There was a drag strip up the road about 6 miles in Postville. It was a little town of 600 residents it did have a Post office. Ronnie would often go there on Saturday nights, and Sunday afternoons. To watch the fast cars race down the Drag strip a quarter of a mile long. The Chevy Corvettes, Ford T. Birds, and Studebaker Golden Hawks were the fastest new cars. They were all sports cars, and had factory Superchargers or fuel injected etc. Ronnie always dreamed of owning one of those sport beauties. His old Mercury broke down so he sold it for scrap. He hated to see it go, but he did not have the money to fix it with.

         Soon after that Norma told him they were hiring at a Unit step place. Next to Ken's work place in Nicetown. She said if he wanted to he could stay with her, and work. The Unit Step Company was located in a big building with Ken's electrical shop next door. So Ronnie began to work there it was real hard physical work. Clay was Ronnie's boss and installer He was from down in Kentucky. He was also a very hard worker. They had pre-assembled metal forms that had to filled with concrete by hand. What made it so hard was you had to raise The bucket of concrete chest level to fill the form. It weighed about 75 pounds full. You had to fill it in a circular motion in order to fill it up evenly. Ronnie did the pouring of the steps while Clay mixed the concrete in a big mixer. Then after a couple days of drying the metal form would have to be disassembled and the step taken outside to be stacked. Eventually Ronnie got used to the hard work then it was not to bad. They sold several sizes of prepoured steps From a 2 (riser) or 2 step to a 7 step. Those 7 step weighed probably 5 to 7 hundred pounds. At times those big 7 riser steps had to be installed on a grade in the cutomers yard against their house. This made things very difficult to do the truck would not be level because of the grade. Clay and Ronnie had a flat bed truck with a boom overhead On that boom there was a chain hoist. They used the chain hoist to lift the heavy step. Then they had to push it on the boom into place. Naturally if it had to be installed on a grade the step became much harder to push off the truck. They were a couple of times on grades their feet would slip because of them trying to push the heavy step off the truck. If Clay or Ronnie had fallen down they would have been crushed by the heavy step. The job did not pay enough for the hard work Ronnie did. He did have a ride to, and from work with Ken. While he worked there he met a good friend who worked next door as Ken's electrical helper. His name was Bill he was a tall man 21 and he was married. While Ronnie worked there they did a lot of running around together. After Ronnie quit his job he found out later Bill had died. He was a real nice friend of Ronnie's, and he was sorry to hear he died.

         He went back to Kentucky after that. Soon he met a girl named Diane. Her Dad had just recently died, and he had a 1951 Ford they wanted to sell. Ronnie bought it from Dianne's Aunt Barbara. Her Aunt Barbara who she was living with had a real nice house in a nice section of Wellington. She had 2 children of her own Jonny and Michelle. Ronnie liked her a lot, but only as a friend. Dianne was pretty with a medium build and pretty brown hair. She lived in the city Ronnie had his drivers liscense by then. He would go to see her a lot they respected each other as friends, but they knew that was as far as it was going to go. They departed company as very good friends.

         Ronnie had a friend who lived up the road on top of Versailles hill his name was Lenny. He came from a poor family and often worked for different farmers to earn money. Lenny was the same age as Ronnie they often ran around with each other. He owned a 1950 chev they rode in to go to Wellington. In those days they had curb side waitresses at some restaurants. They would often go to the city just to ride around maybe stop at a couple of restaurants in Wellington. On one night they met 2 girl's who were walking on the street. They took them home there in Wellington and came to see them often after that. Ronnie's girl friend was named Yolonda she was real pretty. She had black hair and olive colored skin with big brown eyes and she was 17. Lenny liked the other girl named Carrol she was okay, but not as pretty as Yolonda, Carrol was 18. One night Ronnie went to see Yolonda in his car. She sat next to Ronnie before he knew it they were argueing with each other. He did not know it, but she had a very hot temper. Ronnie did not notice she had pushed his cars cigarette lighter in when it got hot. She touched his cheek with it, and of course he really got mad. He took her home, and never went to see her again. Lenny stopped going to see Carrol soon after that too.

         After being with Yolonda and her temper Ronnie met the girl of his dreams. He was standing on the railroad tracks in front of the Scott's home, throwing rocks. When a pick up truck came down the road on the other side of the tracks. It had a couple of girl's riding in the bed with a lot of stacked furniture. As they rode by they yelled out Ronnie. He did not recognize them, but he did wonder how they knew his name. A couple of weeks went by and Ronnie forgot about the incident. When school started that year in 1961. Ronnie's younger brother Wayne rode the school bus. The girls knew Wayne and Ronnie's last name were the same they asked Wayne if he knew Ronnie. He told them he was his brother. they gave Wayne a note to give to Ronnie. It said they wanted to meet him and gave the place and time to meet. So he went to meet them where they had suggested. One of the girls was a skinny blonde named Brenda she was 16. The other girl was a red head with freckles all over her face. Her name was Betty Jo she was of average build with long beautiful red hair and big Irish green eyes and was 15. Ronnie had never seen so many freckles on a girl before. As he talked to them it became apparent the red head liked him. She said she had watched him play softball a lot Around the county. Then suddenly Ronnie remembered her rooting him on at several games. She would go out to the outfield when he was fielding and when he batted she would root him on in a low voice behind the backstop. Although Ronnie never laid eyes upon her before. he noticed she always came with a couple of her friends. They always went away after awhile, but she stayed until he left. Her Step Dad Jack played a lot of softball all over the county. This is how she got to see him so often. She had followed him around for 2 years just to watch him play and so she could see Ronnie. You may say she had a deep secret crush on him.

         Even though Betty Jo was a lot younger than him he did like her a lot. She told Ronnie he would have to meet her Mother Nellie before they could date. So he went to her house to meet her Mother. At the house they were, Donna her older sister she was 18 average build with brown hair. Brenda her friend, and Nellie her Mother.
After he met the family he knew were she got her red hair. Her Mother Nellie was a red head too and seemed real nice. He would often bring his younger brother Wayne with him to see Brenda when he seen Betty Jo. Brenda and Wayne liked one another as boy, and girl friends at first, but they soon broke up. After that Brenda started having boy's to come see her at Betty Jo's house a lot. Everytime Ronnie went to see Betty Jo there would be some boy's there to see Brenda. He told Betty Jo he did not like it. He sure did not want to lose her like he did Nancy. Eventually Betty Jo told Brenda she would have to move back in with her Dad, and brother. Maybe he was jealous he just did not want it to happen again with Betty Jo. Ronnie knew her, and Brenda had been friends for a long time. If she had only one boy friend it would not have bothered him.

         There was another teen who lived in town who had a crush on Betty Jo. Every chance he got he tried to be with her. He sat next to her on the school bus. He tried everything he could to beat Ronnie's time. Relunctantly he finally gave up trying. She was a very pretty girl she could have had her pick of the boy's. Finally Ronnie met his guiding angel the one he asked God for as a teenager. There was no way he was going to give her up.

End Of Chapter (4)
BY: Kings