UNIONVILLE ALLIGATOR

THE UNIONVILLE ALLIGATOR

I have been relaxing and watching Lake Placid on the Sci-Fi channel this lazy Saturday afternoon.  Watching the giant crocodiles on this movie reminded me of the Unionville alligator.  It was a warm summer afternoon when someone stopped by the store and said that they had seen an alligator crossing the road and headed for Rome's Pond.  This was a small pond behind the home of Rome and Rosa Colvin's home where I spent many hours fishing for bream and bass.

It took me very little time to load my 22 automatic rifle and head out to the pond with many of the other citizens of Unionville.  When I arrived at Rome and Rosa's house the yard was full of vehicles.  It seemed that most of Unionville had heard about the alligator and had come to take a part in the hunt.  When I got down to the pond, I found that the alligator had been shot several times and was in shallow water at the upper end of the pond.  One of the brave hunters, S J Barmore, decided he would venture into the water, grab the alligator by the tail and drag him to dry land.  When he grabbed the alligator's tail the gator swung his head around and barely missed catching S J between his mighty jaws.  Someone then got a rope and was able to lasso the alligator's tail and along with several other people was able to drag him out of the water onto dry land.  We then shot him in the head several times, loaded him into the back of a pick-up and took him to the store to display for the community.

As you can see from the picture above the alligator was large, about five feet long.  This was one of the biggest events that ever happened in the small community of Unionville, and I never felt comfortable fishing on Rome's pond after the great alligator hunt.

SPOOL FURNITURE

HOW MANY PEOPLE REMEMBER SPOOL FURNITURE?

This picture shows my younger brother, Richard, and me enjoying some time outside on a warm summer afternoon.  Pictures such a these bring back pleasant memories of our youth that we have forgotten about.  Sometimes, if we study these pictures in detail, we will see items that give a special meaning to us about the picture.  In this picture, notice the table and chairs that my brother and I are using.  These pieces of furniture were known as spool furniture and were just two of the many pieces of this furniture at my maternal grandparents house in Unionville.

Spool furniture was constructed using simple basic materials: empty wooden sewing thread spools, wood, nails, all thread metal rods, washers and nuts.  During the years after WWII, times were hard and people were very frugal and used materials similar to how we recycle today.

My grandparents constructed this furniture from materials that they found around their house and store in Unionville.  The wooden spools came from the many spools of thread that my grandmother, Dell, emptied while sewing clothes for the family.  The wood that was used in constructing this furniture probably came from the wooden crates used for shipment of fruits and vegetables for the store.  (Side thought - My grandfather, Tut, carved out some of the coolest slingshots from the end pieces to these crates)  The rest of the material used for the furniture was found in the store stock.

Some years before my grandparents house was sold and torn down, I was exploring the root cellar underneath the back bedroom and rescued the only two pieces of spool furniture that were remaining.
Below are pictures of these that I have rebuilt to be as near to the original construction as possible.

We use these two corner tables on our back patio and I always enjoy telling the story of how I rescued them from being thrown in the trash.  They bring back memories of my growing up in Unionville and I hope that some of my descendants will appreciate them in the same way that I do.

A VISIT BACK TO UNIONVILLE

My daughter, Lynne, and I made a day trip back to the Unionville area this last week.  The purpose of the trip was to visit several of the cemeteries in the area where our Colvin ancestors are buried and get record photos of tombstones for our research.  Lynne has become addicted to family history research just like her mother and father.  We are so thankful.  Now my wife and I will know that there will be someone to take care of all of our research and it will not be thrown out as happens so many times.

We visited four cemeteries: Old Colvin Cemetery, Thomas R. Colvin Cemetery, Colvin-Barmore Cemetery and Unionville Cemetery.  The first four were small cemeteries and we got photographs of all of the tombstones in these.  The Unionville Cemetery is quite large and I have many photos that I have taken there before, so we just tried to fill in the missing ones.  Only one more cemetery that we need to visit, the Katy Cemetery.  We will have to make that another day.  This cemetery is off the main road and quite a hike for an old man.

We went by our old Colvin and Jones store for a visit.  The above picture is the way it looks now - many memories in that place.  Mr brother Richard has cleaned around and inside the store and opens it up on most Saturday mornings in the summer for the eldery men that grew up around Unionville to gather, drink coffee, and reminisce about the good ole days.  I made a trip over one Saturday last year and really enjoyed visiting and talking with people that I went to school with and knew when I was growing up.

Whenever I visit Unionville, I get nostalgic and begin to think how different life was back in that time.  Many of the things that we experienced our children will never get to enjoy.  Later, we stopped at a service station in Dubach to get some nurishment to keep up our strength.  As I browsed the shelf looking for something to snack on, I ran across a "Stage Plank".  How many remember "Stage Planks" and "ROC Royal Crown Colas".

As we were getting back in the vehicle, my daughter asked me what I got to snack on.  When I replied a stage plank, she had no idea what I was talking about.  Our young people today are missing out on some of the better things of life.  By the way, they did not have a "Power House Candy Bar" so I had to settle for a Snickers.

Family History Research is Fun!!!!

Happy Ancestor Hunting.

COLVIN AND JONES STORE

This is a picture of the inside of my family's country grocery store/service station in the late 1950s.  The store name was "Colvin & Jones" and was a successful business venture that provided a living for the Jones and Colvin families for many years.  It was a ten hour six and one half day a week operation with only a part of the day off on Sunday to attend Sunday School and Church.  During the summer months we would usually close on Wednesday afternoon and take time off for some family time.

The individuals in the picture are my father,James Garland Jones, Sr; my mother Ruth Colvin Jones and the super cool young man in the center which happens to be me.  Notice that I was dressed in what would be considered very hip in those days.  With my FFA jacket, white tee shirt, rolled up blue jeans, white socks and black loafers, I was a real lady killer.  Probably hidden under the jacket was a thin white belt which was a mainstay of my wardrobe.  The store was a family project and we all chipped in to help to make the store a success.

Some of the interesting things that can be noted about the store in this picture are:  All of the electricity comes from drop cords and plenty of extension cords; By this time we had gone modern and had shopping carts; Grey Crickets for sale in the back room; We gave Delta Trading stamps with purchases (sign behind my father); the large amount of lard in buckets - we must have had a sale on lard that week.

I have so many interesting stories and memories to share about the store and will be doing so in the next coming weeks, so keep checking back.

SHOWTIME IN UNIONVILLE

How many people remember the movie theater in their home town during their younger days?  The photo above is a picture of the movie theater in Dubach taken in 2010.  Some of the old movie billboards from the 1960's were still on display at that time.  During the time that I was in High School and College the theater was owned and operated by the Fontenot family.

Dubach was about two miles from Unionville and on Saturday afternoons I would catch a ride to Dubach in front of my family's store for the Saturday afternoon matinees.  Yes, I did say "catch a ride" as in hitchhiking.  It was actually safe in those days to do this.  The movie was usually an old style western with Roy and Dale, Gene Autrey, Gabby Hayes, Tom Mix, Lone Ranger, Rex Allen or Smiley Burnette, followed by a short serial that was continued from week to week.  I usually was able to talk my father out of a little more than the movie admission price so that I could enjoy a coke along with a Snicker's candy bar or a peanut patty along with the movie.

One of the biggest events to come to the Unionville/Dubach area was a visit to the Gem Theater by the movie cowboy Lash LaRue and his famous bullwhip.  The theater was packed that Saturday afternoon as he showed his skills with the bullwhip.  The most impressive trick to me was using his whip to put out a burning match that someone was holding in their hand.  Lash LaRue grew up in Shreveport and was a born-again Christian who was baptized at Shreveport Baptist Tabernacle by pastor Jimmy G. Tharpe.

Later on in my youth I enjoyed many Friday and Saturday night dates with my wife to be, Esther, at the Gem theater in Dubach.

Until next time - have a great day.

TELEVISION COMES TO UNIONVILLE!

                       TYPICAL FAMILY GATHERING AROUND TV                      

REMEMBER THE OLD BLACK AND WHITE TEST PATTERNS   

The miracle of television came to Unionville, Louisiana sometime in the early 1950’s when our family bought our first television.  The television was a RCA black and white (color tv did not exist in those days) television housed in a cabinet that stood on four spindly legs.  Remember the old black and white test patterns that we would stare at for hours?  There was no remote in those days so the channel selector was mechanical operated by a large knob.  The fact that there was no remote did not make much difference since there were only two channels we could pick up and one of those had good reception only on good weather days.

The two channels that we could pick up were KNOE, channel 8, in Monroe and KSLA, channel 12 in Shreveport.  When we needed to change channels we not only need to change the channel selector knob, but we also needed to go outside to the corner of the front porch and rotate the television antenna to point in the proper direction.  When we moved into our new home in 1955 we had a great improvement.  The antenna was located in a position higher on the roof and a remote allowed us to rotate the antenna from the comfort of our living room.  Once we had fine-tuned the antenna to show the best picture, we then had to start adjusting the many knobs on the television to sharpen the picture.  Many times the best picture that we could get was one that looked like faint, shadowy figures moving in a giant snowstorm.  No matter how bad the picture was, we still thought that television was one of the greatest inventions of humankind.

This new television was located in the corner of the bedroom next to the kitchen.  This became our family gathering place after supper and with the procurement of “tv” trays we usually ate supper in front of the television each night.  Some of our favorite family shows were Gunsmoke, The Honeymooners, Father Knows Best, Amos ‘n’ Andy, You Bet Your Life, I love Lucy, Have Gun – Will Travel, Dragnet, Jack Benny, The $64,000 Question, The Hit Parade, Bonaza, Combat, Jackie Gleason, The Ed Sullivan Show, Howdy Doody Show, I Led Three Lives, The Life of Riley, I’v Got a Secret, Red Skelton Show, The Millionaire, What’s My Line, and Topper.  The men folk’s favorite television program were the “Friday night fights”, which the women usually left with us men.

My personal favorite shows were Captain Video and Alfred Hitchcock Presents.  Each weekday Captain Video and his Video Rangers would begin with an introduction I remember to this day:   “Captain Video! Master of space! Hero of science! Captain of the Video Rangers! Operating from his secret mountain headquarters on the planet Earth, Captain Video rallies men of good will everywhere. As he rockets from planet to planet, let us follow the champion of justice, truth, and freedom throughout the universe!”  Captain Video aired at 6:00 pm Monday through Saturday and I would never let any of my activities interfere with watching the show.  I was even a proud owner of a “Captain Video Secret Decoder Ring”.  Google “Captain Video” to see more information and watch some of the old shows online.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents aired each Sunday night at 8:30 from 1955-1960 and Tuesday nights at 7:30 from 1960-1965.  This was also a show that I tried to never miss.  My most memorial episode was shortly after Esther and I were married.  After a rather intense thirty minutes with Alfred I decided to retire for the night.  As I walked into our bedroom, my new wife was hiding behind the door and stepped out and simply said “Boo”.  For a minute the whole world blacked out and I thought that I was going to pass out.

Ya'll come back to see us.

THERE HE IS GRANDADDY!

One of the first steps in getting ready for a fishing trip is to obtain your fish bait.  In the days before the corner store or bait shop where you could purchase your fish bait it was necessary for the diehard fisherman to start out the day before and catch or gather the bait that he needed for his fishing trip.  The fish bait that was free for the gathering in those days ranged from crickets and worms to graveyard grasshoppers and wasp larva.  I will write later about some of the more exotic baits that we used, but in this story, I will be concentrating on the most popular and the easiest to catch – the CRICKET.

The cricket that we used for bait was not the grey cricket that you buy in bait shops today but was the common black cricket that you find in your own back yard.  These crickets could be found under rocks, pieces of wood, or just about anything that had been laying on the ground for a while.  In the photograph above, my grandfather “Tut” and I are searching for crickets under a rock.  Catching crickets was done with the bare hands and was really an art.  When you lifted a rock or piece of wood you had to be quick so the cricket would not get away but you had to be careful of two things:  First, that the creature you were after was actually a cricket and not a spider or worse, a scorpion  and second, you had to be careful that you did not kill the cricket while you were trying to catch it with your hand.  You could look under just about any object on the ground that a cricket could get under and find one or several.  But, the most productive place that I found was underneath a dried cow patty.  The only requirement for finding crickets under this type object was that the cow patty was several days old and sufficiently dried out.

The above photograph shows my grandfather and me looking for crickets in a field behind my grandparents’ home.  My grandfather was very patient with me and taught me many of the finer points of fishing that have been with me all of my life.  He is collecting the crickets in a quart jar and at home they will be transferred to his homemade cricket box (see photo at right) and used for our next fishing trip.

FISHING STORIES

The above photo is the results of a successful fishing trip with my grandfather "Tut" Colvin.  I am standing at the extreme left, my brother Richard is in front center and "Tut" is in the center behind Richard.

 

This is the first in a series of blogs about my favorite pastime – fishing.  I began this journey early in life in Unionville with the guidance of my maternal grandfather Ernest Richard “Tut” Colvin.  He taught me how to seek out bream in many of the creeks in North Louisiana and I progressed to bass fishing in the many farms ponds around Unionville.  Later on in life, I continued my quest for the elusive bass in many of the lakes and streams around Shreveport.  There are so many stories to tell about the pleasures that I have enjoyed from this hobby of fishing that this series of blogs will probably last for some time.

Fishing has been more than a hobby or pastime for me.  When I am fishing the rest of the world with its cares and worries seemed to fade into the background.  It is a time when my inner man is able to recuperate from the burdens of everyday life.  It is a time when I when I am alone with nature and just waiting for the next bob of the cork or the tap-tap on the line that tells me that my quarry is near.  I rarely have a fishing partner and just enjoy this time to be by myself and take pleasure in what God had provided here on this earth for me to enjoy.

I will forever be grateful to Tut for instilling in me this love for fishing.  I have strived to pass this on to my children and grandchildren so that they can experience the wonderful excitement that comes from fishing.  Even though these last few years I have not been able to go fishing,  I continue to hold on to the memories that this wonderful pastime has left me.