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Civilian Conservation Corps Alumni web site

Civilian Conservation Corps History (1) (2)

My CCC Experiences

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Robert's Memoirs
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Stories as told by my Mother

My personal memories
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(7) (8) (9)

My childhood memories
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Lettie's Memoirs

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Robert's Memoirs Page 4 (1936)

bowtie_sm.gif (400 bytes)    When I was in shipping at Charles H. Stone, Inc., there was a small trucking company that was owned by the Reid family, Charles, Leonard and their Uncle. They had a driver that could throw his voice who fooled me several times. He would throw his voice across the plant and it sounded like someone calling me to the operating part of the plant.This happened several times before I realized that Haskel Deaton was throwing his voice.

bowtie_sm.gif (400 bytes)    In those days we used mostly wooden barrels to ship textile chemicals. One day I walked up to the shipping platform and one of the black workers, Charlie, had cooper tools and was taking the head out of a barrel of textile finishing chemicals. I asked Charlie what he was doing and he told me that there was someone in the barrel. I saw Haskel when he turned his head and made his voice sound as though it was coming from barrel on the platform. I told Charlie that Haskel was throwing his voice but he didn't believe me. Haskel threw his voice away from the shipping area saying "I am OK now. I have gotten out and everything is OK". Charlie still did not believe that there was not someone in the barrel. I had to get Haskel to demonstrate that he was throwing his voice. If I had not caught Haskel in the act, I never would have believed that a person could throw their voice as well as Haskel could.

bowtie_sm.gif (400 bytes)    I remember another occasion when a car had run off the road and turned over in a ditch off Remount Rd. between Wilkinson Blvd. and the Southern Railroad tracks. The driver must have been drinking because he left the scene before anyone or the police arrived. A friend of mine, Tommy Lyles, lived near the site of the accident and was present at the scene. Haskel Deaton showed up and started throwing his voice like it was someone buried in the dirt under the car begging someone to "please dig me out of this ditch". Tommy and the police tried to push the car over but they couldn't. Haskel threw his voice again and told them to "get shovels and dig me out". Tommy Lyles ran home, got a shovel and Tommy and the police started digging. After some time the police and Tommy figured out what was going on. The police gave Haskel a dressing down that would embarrass an old salty sailor. This was the same man that taught me to fly several years later.

bowtie_sm.gif (400 bytes)    When Haskel was teaching me to fly we had a Boston bull dog named Toby that I carried with me when we made one flight. I talked Haskel into climbing to 3000 or 4000 feet and doing some loops and stalls. Haskel was piloting from the front seat and Toby and I were in the rear seat that also had controls. The first stunt he did was a stall and when it fell off he put it in a spin. There was a small compartment at the rear of the back seat. I was holding Toby when the lid on the compartment came open and a quart of Gulf oil was flying through the cockpit. Toby was barking and Haskel was as scared as I was. He pulled it out of the spin and we replaced the can of oil and fastened the lid on the compartment. After Toby got quiet we made a few loops and called it a day. I didn't carry Toby out to fly after that.

bowtie_sm.gif (400 bytes)    Haskel Deaton was named the Man of the Year and was the pilot for Ed McCoy, owner of McCoy Oil Company. Ed owned a DC 3 he had purchased surplus from the government and had converted it as an executive plane. Haskel piloted for Ed until Ed passed away at a very early age.

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