April 16, 1963
Tuesday, beautiful sunny day, 60’s no wind. I wrote to Marilyn and and answered Louise's letter I received today. Girls and I cleaned the attic and girl's clothes room. Clifton came home at 3:30pm. His machine broke down. Briggs and Faulkies funeral. Evelyn and Clifford called in the evening.
Comment: More information about the car accident. From my brother who was in Prattsville that night:
Hi Gerry; If this is the accident that comes to mind, I think it was Jim Briggs, Aunt Ella's nephew and a Faulkie kid from Grand Gorge. I can't come up with the other kids name. I was out side the dance hall when they came to me and said, "Come on ,we're gonna see how fast we can make it to Grand Gorge." I almost got in that damn car. Instead I went to Jack's Tavern to have a beer. About five minutes later, we heard the news. They went to the upper part of town, turned around, then came back,and passed the dance hall at about 100 mph. They hit the first curve, rolled about 75 feet then hit the chimney of a house. Two died at the scene and one died at the hospital. I was lucky not to be in that car. Hope this helps..David John Hubbard..
And from Barry Taylor correcting my recollection of another accident where I said Duane Thorington, Marine, hit a tree at 90 mph. Barry was in Navy boot camp with Art Thorington who was killed: "Gerald, Duane's brother Art was in the accident. Duane later commited suicide. Also, it was the Navy, not the Marines, he went through boot camp with me 1958."
And from Susan Hubbard about singing in church and other places:
Dear Gerry:
I don’t remember what we sang at the chapel. It could have been a number of songs – as we sang a lot at Flat Creek Church and had lots of songs we could perform. I wonder if it was for Easter? Carol and I would sing at the Chapel Church occasionally, but usually on a special event: Christmas or Easter, or election night, (where they had a voting place). Clyda Mace sometimes accompanied us on the piano, but her niece, Joyce Bailey was a much better accompanist. Actually, she was the best I’ve ever experienced, as she would follow the singer – not the reverse – where the singer would have to follow the piano!
The first song we ever sang in church was, (I can remember it vividly – you won’t believe it – and I have often laughed to myself about it – as DAD thought this was the song we should sing: We’ll Girdle The Globe With Salvation!!!)
I bet no one reading this has ever heard of THAT song. WHY IN THE WORLD would our father want his approximately 8 year old and 10 year old daughters sing this song? I can remember the lyrics and the day vividly: ...”We’ll girdle the globe with salvation, with holiness unto the Lord, and light shall illumine each nation, the Light of the Lamp of His Word.” It starts out:
Behold His hand, stretched out for aid,
Darkened by sin, and sore dismayed,
Oh will you to the rescue go,
Lost wonders down to endless woe ....or almost like that).
Another thing: When we would sing, often times, because of nerves I guess, or because we became giddy because we were so scared we held our breaths – we would begin to laugh – and we would start over, etc., and on one occasion we had to sit down and never did finish.
But most of the time, the dear people in Flat Creek would put up with us – and they seemed to want us to sing again... Some times we would be nervous, and other times, not at all. Love to all - Susan
Comment: Ronnie is Ronnie Schermerhorn who lived at the top of Bull Hill in West Conesville and was a good friend of Doug's during his youth. Doug getting ready to ship out I guess, on a ship out of Virginia. Stıll cold and dreary. We once had snow ın late mıd May that closed the schools for a couple of days......On this day in 1963 the first American, (James Wittaker) conquers Mount Everest.
