Oklahoma Voices: Charles Childers

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Transcript:

Phillis Davidson: Would you tell me your name and date of birth, please?

Charles Childers: Uh, my name is Charles Childers. I was born August 12th, 1919.

PD: Where were you born?

CC: Where? At El Reno, Oklahoma.

PD: Is that where you grew up?

CC: No, I was there only about… eh, few years, and then we moved to Gary, Oklahoma, and then when I was about ten, we moved to Oklahoma City and I’ve been here ever since.

PD: What was it like where you grew up?

CC: Lot of experiences. Now, I can tell you a few things that I remember when I was real young. I can remember, the first thing I can remember was being short and young, just a baby I guess, and I could barely reach the table to look over it. And I could remember that when I grew enough that I could look over the table, and that was quite an accomplishment.

PD: Yes, it would be.

CC: And then, later, when we were at El Reno… We traveled in a wagon and would attend church and then on the evenings, it would be rather late, ya know preaching then was one hour, two hours whenever they got through, and we were going home and we’re going down a little hill, little valley, and I’m sitting in the back of the wagon and I fell out. And… I can remember crying out and yelling and scared to death that my parents were gonna leave me.

PD: Yes

CC: But they stopped and they all… and… and the wagon where my mother and dad and four other children, and they all had a big laugh out of that, which I didn’t like at the time.

PD: I’m sure you didn’t. Who were your parents?

CC: Eh, beg your pardon?

PD: Who were your parents?

CC: Oh! Charlie Childers and Hanny May.

PD: Now I remember your mother.

CC: Yeah.

PD: She lived to be very old.

CC: 97 when she passed away.

PD: Yes. She was a great lady.

CC: Yeah.

PD: What do you remember about her when she was young?

CC: Well, I don’t remember too much. She… wasn’t too much… disciplinarian and she had eight children and she more or less let them raise themselves where the older children would help the younger children.

PD: Did that seem to work out well?

CC: Yeah, it sure did. I don’t know of any problems any of us had or have had. And I think it was a learning experience at the time.

PD: Were you living in the country?

CC: Yeah.

PD: What did your father do?

CC: He did several things, he was a farmer and he worked in a gin and he worked in different things around town and we were just country folks.

PD: How did you and your parents get along?

CC: How did a what?

PD: How did you and your parents get along?

CC: Oh, fine, I mean, no problems. ‘Course, I was just like any other kid. I’d have to be spanked once in a while and If I would… cut up at the table, he would grunt real sharply.

PD: Were you not allowed to talk at the table?

CC: Oh yeah, we could talk, but we had to be on good behavior. No playing around, we came to the table to eat and that is what we did. He was very strict, but my mother wasn’t.

PD: What was your mother’s maiden name?

CC: Booth.

PD: And what do you remember about her parents?

CC: Nothing.

PD: Nothing at all?

CC: No.

PD: Did they live in Oklahoma?

CC: I don’t know. I don’t remember them. I don’t remember any of my grandparents at all. Now, why? I don’t know.

PD: Do you even know their name?

CC: No.

PD: Okay. Do you know where they were from?

CC: They were from the eastern part of the state.

PD: Did you have a nickname?

CC: Oh, I’ve had several. I had Chuck, Chili, Charles, Charlie, and almost anything to call my attention.

PD: But your name is actually Charles?

CC: Uh-huh.

PD: Could you tell me about your siblings?

CC: Yes, I was the fifth of eight children and I was the last of the, more or less, first family. And then my mother and dad had, more or less, a second family. In other words, I had a brother that was ten years older than myself. And then next came my sister in about two years time, and another sister, and another sister. And then I came along, and it was several years before another sister came along, Maxene. You know Maxene.

PD: I know Maxene, yes.

CC: She came along, and then a brother, Don. And another brother, Jimmy, and he was the last. But there was a separation of those two groups that we call them the first family and the second family. And I was the baby of the first family, so all those girls took care of me.

PD: Uh-huh.

CC: But we would get into playful arguments and, as children do, and, but we got along real well.

PD: Would you say you were spoiled?

CC: Not really, I could have been, but I don’t think I was.

PD: What are some of the things you did together with your siblings?

CC: Mostly, we just worked, worked in the cotton fields, raising peanuts and different produce – potatoes and onions, regular gardens. And then we were just playing like the rest of the kids around.

PD: Which of your siblings are still living? Now, you didn’t mention their names, could you mention their names?

CC: Ernest was the oldest boy. And then Alpha, he’s passed away. Alpha was next, she passed away. Zelma was next, she passed away. Edna was next, she passed away. And I’m the oldest of them, the rest of them, and then Donald… Maxene, Donald, Jimmy, and… I don’t know if you want to know their ages when they died or not, I can’t remember names of, and my siblings, there’s some of the history. Now, my dad was sixty-six when he passed away.

PD: What happened to him?

CC: Oh, he had a series of problems that… he was… very sick the last year or so and… but he was rather young, I can remember him. He seemed to help me in problems that I had, whatever I was doing. I’d always go to him and he’d be willing to help me with anything I did. And then my mother was ninety-seven when she passed away. And then my brother was seventy-eight, and Alpha was ninety-three, and Zelma was eighty-two, and Edna was fifty-nine. She and her husband had an airplane and he was a minister out in Texas, and he flew all over the country with Edna in his airplane. And they had a… a lot, or some lots, in New Mexico, in the mountains. And, they built a cabin up there, two-story. The second story was just one large room that they entertained and took groups from church up there for summer vacations and Bible study and so on. Then… one weekend Jack and Edna, that’s were the names of… my sister was Edna, her husband was Jack Mackey. They were going up there and they… they… they were killed. He had two routes that he would fly going up there: one through the mountains and another one around the mountains. Well, he was in a hurry to get up there, it was getting a bit late, so he attempted to let down in the mountains, and he got too low. He wasn’t found for a whole several months, and ‘course everything was destroyed, but… I guess that’s the reason she was only fifty-nine when she passed away.

PD: Yes.

CC: And then, ‘course I’m eighty-eight, my sister is eighty… We’re an old family! And… Don is… seventy—seventy-eight? He’s ten younger than I am. And then Jimmy was seventy-four, so…

PD: I remember when your sister Alpha died, I wasn’t able to go to the funeral, but my husband told me a lot of the stories that were told about her at the funeral. Do you remember any of those?

CC: Oh? No, not really. She was kind of the mother of the family, she worked at the bank. And then when we moved to Oklahoma City, she worked at John A. Brown’s and a couple of banks and she was more or less the mother, ya know we looked towards her as the mother. Mom.. I mean she let us be free-willed, we could do almost anything. I was never guided or counseled or talked to or anything, but my dad gave me a little paddling once in a while. Like most boys.

PD: Right.

CC: She, more or less, took care of us. Our dad would be… living in different places, he would come to Oklahoma state and work, and we would work in El Reno, in different towns, doing different jobs, just whatever. He worked at the railroad in El Reno for a long time and, so that left Alpha helping mom and taking care of us. When she married in 1940, she and her husband never had any children, never… just single parents. But we could never understand that because everyone had children.

PD: Right… What were your meals like when you were a kid?

CC: Well, we always had a cow, so basically, we had milk. I can remember my mother had a big crock on the corner of the table that would be full of milk, and would make her own butter, cheese, and then we ate a lot of beans. And cornbread, and she’d make biscuits and gravy, but… potatoes, we had a lot of potatoes because we grew them. And her basic meal was first potatoes, and then other things would come in when they were available. But, we never starved.

PD: What do you remember about Christmas when you were a kid?

CC: I don’t remember hardly anything ‘bout Christmas. Usually, maybe I’d get a pair of shoes or a pair of overalls. But… we would get together and have, you know, turkey and a meal, but other than that, I don’t remember anything.

PD: Did other relatives come to your house at Christmas, or was it just your family?

CC: Well, that was a time when relatives would drop in anytime and you knew they were coming. Ya know people used to do that, they’d travel all over the country and they’d make plans on so-and-so lived here and so-and-so lived there, and we could make one day here and they would drop in and they would always be welcome! And, we’d enjoy them if they came on Christmas…

PD: But usually it was just your family?

CC: Yeah.

PD: What part did music play in your life?

CC: Oh? Very much. The girls all sang, and my dad was a songwriter, and… and he… we would sing church music, he would sing tenor, play a guitar. And one of the girls was a good alto, and when Maxene came along, she was a good soprano. And had, we thought, good music and when we get together a lot of times, and my mother’s sister and her husband would come over occasionally, they lived in Oklahoma City. And, he would… let’s see, I don’t remember what he played but he would join in with us… and we had a good—good group to sing together.

PD: and that was before TV, right?

CC: Yeah. Oh, yes. Before radio or any—

PD: What do you remember about having your first radio?

CC: I can remember on the weekends we’d listen to Amos and Andy and those programs, I don’t remember the… what they were, but we’d all get together in a group and listen to that static and the radio.

PD: If your parents were bragging on you to a friend or relative, what would they say?

CC: If I were what?

PD: If your parents were bragging on you to a friend or relative, what would they say?

CC: Oh, I don’t know. My mother would say a lot of good things, she would say I was a good boy, but I doubt if my dad would say anything. He wasn’t too expressive on… with any of us and he was more or less a stranger to most of us. He wasn’t around just—all the time.

PD: What was the worst illness or injury you suffered as a child?

CC: When I fell out of the wagon and hit my head on a tree.

PD: Okay.

CC: That’s about all.

PD: Other than music, what did your family do for fun?

CC: Oh, I don’t remember. When we were children, we just played. And what games? I don’t remember. But we… we would entertain ourselves.

PD: Did you have toys?

CC: Not many. I was lucky to have one, but whatever it was I don’t remember.

PD: Okay. Who were your best friends and what were they like?

CC: Growing up?

PD: Yes.

CC: Really, I wasn’t very close to many people all my life. I… until I became grown, married with my wife, we would be friends on Sunday and then we’d go our own way during the week. And I don’t remember any friends, well I had one friend when I was about eight and we would… play together and go into town and go across the railroad tracks and get on top of the boxcar and jump off and, ya know, things like that. But I don’t know where he is, I don’t even remember his name, but we were pretty much buddies.

PD: What about pets, did you have pets on the farm?

CC: Usually, we had a dog or two, maybe a cat. And when I was very young, I’d go with my dad and my brother Earnest and go out hunting for squirrels. And one of the dogs became sick and we found out that… What do they call it? A dog going mad?

PD: Rabies?

CC: Yeah, rabies. And the little puppy that followed him around all the time, I remember my dad after we found out my dog had rabies, I had to take shots to counteract the possible rabies myself. And I could remember him taking that little puppy, just a little thing, and holding it by its hind legs and hitting it against a tree and killing it.

PD: Aw.

CC: Oh, my dad would… my dad and my uncle would get together and butcher a cow or hog, and it would be up to my dad to kill it. He would take a big sledgehammer and hit it in the head, ya know. And then they would start cutting it up. Good ol’ days.

PD: Do you think you could do that?

CC: No. No, I once killed a cat at home. It was sick and I was there by myself for some reason or another. I don’t know where Paige (?) was, the kids. And it took me forever to get enough nerve to hit that cat in the head with a hammer. Then I buried it.

PD: Yeah. What are your earliest memories of the transportation your family used? Now, you mentioned that you had a horse and wagon?

CC: Yeah.

PD: What was your first car?

CC: A model T. And… and then we acquired a model A. And the trips that we usually took were from Gary to Oklahoma City. Which was about fifty-six miles, and at that time the roads were dirt ‘til we reached El Reno. And usually it was always raining. The roads were slick and muddy, and it would take us almost all day to get from Gary to Oklahoma City. And it’d be in the wintertime and we’d have icing (?) glass along the outside of the car, touring car of model A Ford. And of course. Those cars, you’d always have a flat, you’d have to stop and change and repair the flat. And one time I developed an earache in the cold weather. And the wind was coming from the icing (?) glass curtains, and my mother had some molasses and she put some of that in my ear and it stopped hurting.

PD: Really?

CC: Can you imagine?

PD: No, never heard that remedy.

CC: And then, my dad bought some big touring car, I don’t remember what it was. UpMobile (?) I think, and Alpha was the one who drove it when he was gone, so she was the chauffeur for the family. And my mother tried to drive it one time and she got so nervous she ran into a tree.

PD: Oh no!

CC: She never tried it anymore.

PD: So that’s why she always walked to church.

CC: Oh yeah, oh yeah.

PD: Even here in Oklahoma City.

CC: Yeah, she always did. She never learned to drive.

PD: So, was it while you were at Garry your daddy died?

CC: No, we were living in Oklahoma City. We moved here when I was about… oh I was in junior high about ten or eleven. And we were in the north part of town and we moved to the south part of town, we moved different places. We always had our cow with us. I don’t remember when we released that cow, but anyway, it was my job to stake the cow out in the pasture where there was water and grass. Then when school was out I’d come by and move her or take her home. And that’s the way conditions were… early stages in Oklahoma City.

PD: What—where did you live in Oklahoma City?

CC: On… by Horace Mann school. I think it was on North 56th Street. I took the bus into school and Zelma and Edna took the bus. Zelma went to Central and Edna went to another junior high and when school was out she’d miss the bus, Edna, and she’d walk all the way from school in downtown Oklahoma City back to the house, and she didn’t come back home ‘til dark, and we were worried about her. But she made it. And after that she caught the bus. And then we moved south and I was in junior high school and Edna and Zelma, Alpha had already graduated, went to Capitol Hill High School and I was all, more or less, had the desire of being an athlete and I would run from way north and run every morning up to 29th Street. And I would do exercise with bricks, ya know? And I really worked out a lot when I was in junior high school, and I ran track at that time and there was a little Mexican boy that was a challenge to me. I’ve always had to goal whatever I did, I placed a goal in front of me that I could accomplish and obtain. And I always desired to beat him in track, we were running long distance and I actually beat him one time and he couldn’t understand how I beat him, but I did.

PD: So, what was it like going to school at Capitol Hill?

CC: I enjoyed it. I was going out for wrestling, and football, and track. And then I was working part-time. I had a bicycle. I would cross town to go to work, and I’m really busy the whole—entire year. I wanted to play basketball and baseball, but I didn’t have time, I was always working or in the other sports. And I was unable to play baseball or basketball, so… I stuck to my football, track and wrestling.

PD: That’s a lot.

CC: That’s a lot.

PD: And where did you work?

CC: This was a produce house over on Northeast 13th Street. Nash Fetch (?) was the name, and they’ve closed up now, but I would handle produce of all type, handling… big sacks of potatoes, cartons of lettuce, oranges, lemons, and produce of all type. I learned to greet or talk to costumers that came in and I think that’s where I first started meeting people, that I could remember. Usually I was… I didn’t talk to many people, but I’ve learned now that I’d never find a stranger.

PD: That’s good. Were there any teachers that had a particular influence on your life?

CC: One, Jim Luckoval (?), he was the football coach at Capitol Hill when they won the, more or less, world championship game and he was so involved with our group. He was the coach for the wrestling team and he would take us on our wrestling trips to different towns. And he could… actually he could coach anything, he was a very knowledgeable man. And I listened to him so much, and he helped me along.

PD: What part did religion play in your family’s life?

CC: We were always church members. I could remember when we moved to Oklahoma City, we started going to the Capitol Hill Church, at that time it was on 28th and Harvey. And we continued going right there, and that’s where I met Peggy. I’d see her at church, and we attended every Sunday, ya know, Wednesday, Sunday night. And… our dad was gone and he’d already passed away, but we continued going to Capitol Hill and then we had building improvements and building drive. It was a little… wooden structure building at the time. And then we later on built that brick building and then we added onto it and then of course we merged with South Walker Congregation at that time. And… this was about 1938 when I first… well, young people at that time would, more or less, get together after services and just kinda have fun and go places and go attend some of the spiritual meetings that some of the black people had over on the east part of town. And we enjoyed that. We got together a lot, and I began to notice Peggy a little bit. And it developed, and we wouldn’t start going together until after I graduated and she had one more year to go to school. I went to OU. And then we began going together and one Wednesday evening I called her, and I said, “Peggy, let’s get married.” She said, “Well, all right.” And then we borrowed my sister’s car.

PD: Alpha?

CC: Alpha. They had a little sports roadster Ford, 39 model, and we borrowed that and went to Wichita, Kansas, and got married, came back. I went back to school the next day and she went back to working at Cress’ (?) downtown. And then other things developed, I finally found us an apartment and worked up from there.

PD: Did your parents know you were going to get married?

CC: We didn’t tell them.

PD: You eloped?

CC: Well, more or less, yes. And we knew the preacher up there. And his name was Wiseman. And we had no way of knowing the procedures and what was normal in marriage, and we had no license.

PD: Were you really married?

CC: What we were gonna do is get married. And he went ahead and made arrangements to get us licenses, he performed the ceremony and his wife was there to witness and all.

PD: Why did you decide to go there instead of getting married here in town?

CC: Well, because he was the preacher that married Alpha and Joe.

PD: Oh.

CC: And we liked him so much. And so, we decided to go up there and let him marry us.

PD: And besides, I guess you can’t elope if you don’t go somewhere, right?

CC: Yeah, I guess. And he tied a good knot because we were married 59 years.

PD: How long has she been gone?

CC: 8 years.

PD: What was her maiden name?

CC: Harris, Peggy Marie, Harris.

PD: And what were her parent’s names?

CC: Well, her mother married—her mother was Harris, and she married a Harris.

PD: Oh.

CC: Strange. And then her mother was close by Mable, Peggy, and she helped, ya know, helped us through things, a great aid to us.

PD: Now, was your dad alive at the time you got married?

CC: Was what?

PD: Was your dad still alive when you got married?

CC: No. No.

PD: So, there were minor children still at home when he died?

CC: Yeah.

PD: So, how did your mother take care of the family?

CC: That I can’t understand. I think we took care of ourselves.

PD: But, how did she get money for groceries?

CC: I don’t know.

PD: She never had a job?

CC: No.

PD: Hm.

CC: We were on shoestrings most of the time, but we managed. I don’t know how.

PD: How did she manage to get that little house over on Southwest 28th in independence?

CC: When… we talked her into selling the house on 29th Street to buy that little house where she was when she died.

PD: Was that Southwest 29th Street?

CC: Mhm. Mhm.

PD: Where did she—where was it?

CC: She was on 28th.

PD: Uh-huh.

CC: When she died. I—I’d go over there and put a new roof on her house, on her barn, paint her house and do everything I could, and I was quite handy with—working with tools and all. And the girls would come by and help her and Maxene would take care of her medicines for her. And take her to the doctor and—and we just managed.

PD: Well, Maxene just lived right across the street from her too, didn’t she?

CC: Yeah, for a while, mhm, yeah.

PD: Do you have any significant memories of downtown when you were young?

CC: Oh, yes. I can remember all those stores. Brown’s, Halliburton, Cress’… and that drugs store, Cat’s Stride. I didn’t have the money to buy anything downtown, but my sisters did. And they worked and with money they had, they would go shopping downtown.

PD: Did you ever use the downtown library?

CC: No. I was hardly ever in it.

PD: Do you have any advice for young couples today?

CC: Well, I would say be understanding, talk to one another, and not be on the defense or offense, work together. That’s the only way they can solve things is to work together and talk to one another and not complain or blame each other on things.

PD: That’s true.

CC: Togetherness.

PD: So, what about your children? Tell me about them.

CC: Well, we had 2 boys, 1 girl. Now, the oldest boy was very brilliant, Chuck. We called him Chuck; his name was Charles. He graduated from OSU and he went into the computer business, in fact he’s the one who set up the computer system at OSU. Oh, he was a brain. And he was crazy about a little girl who lived close by. And she wasn’t very much good, she had—didn’t have much effect on him. But they had 2 children together. And then she ran off with another man. And then she was married 4, 5 times after that, but they moved to Houston. And, well, first he had a job in Missouri. And he helped… put the information of a model baseball team in a computer where they can analyze and develop what each player could do, usually. And that was a big success for him, but— and then they moved to Houston. And then he became in charge of all the computer section of a big oil company conglomerate. And they had purchased a house, just north of Houston, then they decided to build another house on the south side of Houston. And they were just about to move in, it was completed, and they were packing to move in. He had a second wife after this, who was a member of the church. He and her were working well in the bus program. And she had 2 children, and of course Chuck had 2 children. And then, some how or another, a gun was—a gun was… entered into the picture some way, and he was shot. And he was only 35 years old.

PD: Well, that’s too bad.

CC: And, we were in church there at Capitol Hill when, Brother Williams came—took me outta class and says, “Just found out your son killed himself.” But I know it wasn’t. Anyway, he passed away then. Then I had another son, Garry. My first son was born in ’43, and Garry was born in ’47. And then Linda, my little girl, was born in ’51. And Garry was in the band, or was a band instructor, band director, for different schools around. And all 3 of them were music majors. Garry was a drum major, and Chuck was a drum major, and Linda was a… she was honored, she played the piano and some instrument. All 3 were music majors, and Garry is still a band director. He just moved from Bridgeport, Texas to Guthrie, and his wife is a teacher. In fact, she taught six hours of Spanish at—in Texas, which would be difficult. And then Linda is in Winfield, Kansas. She has a daughter that’s entering college in Kansas this Fall. And of course, the girl was the baby, she’s the one I’m closest too, really. But just three’s all we had.

PD: And what did you do for a living?

CC: Well, in 1941, I invested in the Air Corps Cadets. I went into the Air Force; I was a pilot instructor. Then I stayed in reserves, I was an instructor on B-24’s in Liberal, Kansas. And I’ve flown several types of aircrafts: BT-19—BT-19 and BT-13 and 18— 12, 18, 11, and B-25, B-24, B-29. I was transferred to Randall Field when—when the war ended with Japan. And stayed in reserves, and I was recalled in 1950. I was taking training on the B-26 out on Tinker field. I could go out, take a plane, and travel anywhere in the United States, whenever I wanted to, anytime. And that was just the training we had. But they recalled me to Korea, and I flew 55 night missions in Korea. Came back and I was in the transport command that traveled all over the world. They had B-47 that traveled the states. They had a C-54 that traveled in South America, places like that. And then they had what they called a C-74, which they had 10 built. And we had 1 of them that traveled all over the world. I’d go to Tripoli, I’d go to England, and I’d go to South America, everywhere. And finally I had the chance to get out, and I resigned my commission and I wanted to fly with Brannif. And I was separate at Randall Field in Texas. And I came by, of course coming home, I wanted to stop by Dallas and sign up for a pilot, but Peggy wouldn’t want it. She said, “No, I don’t want you to fly anymore.” So, I didn’t. I came back and started working for the post office. And I became the postmaster of Capitol Hill. These were some of the goals that I met. I had a goal for being a pilot, I had a goal for being an instructor, I had a goal for, when I started working at the post office, to be a postmaster. And I think I’ve met those goals. And I think everyone should have a goal that they can attain and gain.

PD: So, would that be your advice to future generations, is to set up a goal?

CC: Oh yes. No matter how little it might be, but the first goal they accomplish, I would encourage them to set a higher goal.

PD: Do you have any stories from the military you would like to share?

CC: Well, one night…. Well, one night, I was in a—before instruction, we would have altitude flights, that we would fly to 40,000 feet. And I’d have 4 students and train them. Then I’d get 4 more students and train them. And I had 4 students with me and we went into an altitude flight, everything worked perfectly, we were on Oxygen, had to. We started coming down, I ran into a thunderstorm, and thunder hit. And it turned that pane almost upside-down and the hail and the rain and the… nose gunner had a plate of glass in front of him for bullet-proof… in combat. And it was about 2 inches thick, and that thunderstorm broke that thing right half in 2. And the air currents were so strong going up and down that when going up I would—we would be pulling back on the controls trying to gain altitude with the full-power, and that thing was still sinking. And then it would stop, and then the air current would go up and it would stick the nose down and we’d still go up high.

PD: Wow.

CC: And, when we got on the ground, that airplane was just beat up like someone took a hammer and beat all over it.

PD: But you made it back safely I see.

CC: Yeah!

PD: Great.

CC: No accident. And then in Korea, we carried ten 500-pound bombs on that B-26. And after we took off for one mission, we lost an engine. Someone decided we’d come on back, we weren’t going up there any further on one engine with all that load. So, we came back and I told my navigator to drop the bombs and arm them safe, where they wouldn’t explode. And we were off on the coast there in Korea, and I said we’re gonna dump all of these bombs off at once. But he forgot, and they were armed, so you can imagine ten 500-pound bombs exploding all at once. It woke up the whole base.

PD: Oh no.

CC: Course, we landed when, ya know, we came in and everything was all right. But, uh—

PD: They went into the water?

CC: Yeah. Yeah.

PD: Wow.

CC: I hope there weren’t any fishermen out there.

PD: Is there anything else you’d like to add before we stop?

CC: No, I don’t think so.

PD: I wish we could’ve had more time.

CC: Present time, I’m doing— I’m walking every day. And I just love it over at the hospital. I walk over at Southwestern. And we’re just, more or less, a family. We talk every morning, have coffee, do our walking, and… I have 3 rose bushes that I grew the most beautiful roses, and I guess I’ve taken… 50 roses there and given them away. And I would take bouquets into the admitting section and also in the cancer section, I take them bouquets of, ya know, flowers and roses. And then, if I’d meet some strange person, ladies of course.

PD: Of course.

CC: Nurse or a doctor or—it didn’t matter, but I’d give them a bouquet and you should see their eyes light up when they receive a rose!

PD: Yes.

CC: I like to talk to people, I’d never seen a stranger in the last few years that, you know, I like to talk to people in church, you know, meet people and talk to them. And I don’t have time enough, so, that—while I’m walking, if I run that I don’t know, I just start talking to them. And it’s surprising that the… results that some people have when you start talking to them, they may look so sad and in deep thought and you start speaking to them, you know? And they just brighten up and smile and… enjoy it. I enjoy doing that.

PD: And I’m sure that’s good for you too.

CC: Oh yeah it helps me. It helps me.

PD: Okay, well I’m so glad you were able to do this today. I think you’ll be glad that you did it in the future and I think your family will too. So, thank you very much.

CC: Thank you.