Throwback Thursday: A Look Waaaaaaay Back

My brother David and me in about 1955.

David (left) and me. He's older, but grew slowly. 1954.

Here are some oldies from the early 1950s. I was between about five and eight years and that's my

Becky, David and me in 1953.

brother David (a year older) and my sister Becky (five years younger). I think we may have lived in North Augusta, S.C., for all these, but the very oldest may have been in Johnson City, Tenn., my father's hometown.

David is smaller because of a thyroid problem he had all his life. He was--in the terms of the time--"retarded" and he died at 24 in an unexpected tragedy. David lived at a time when people who were not mentally astute were categorized and compartmentalized by the educational system into "special classes." It didn't take into account what he could do, only what he couldn't. It was truly sad because he was one of the most gentle and kind people god ever put on earth.

You might note my burr head (Mom cut our hair, to our great dismay and discomfort--the clippers pinched the hair out) and one of the world's largest cowlicks. My head got sunburned every summer.