That seems like another lifetime to me.
I have spoken many times of those simpler, gentler times of long, long ago.
Well, this specific time in my life, the simpler certainly rang true, but I'm not sure about the gentler part?
Back to back summer jobs, the summers of 1964 and 1965 in Our Town.
Many times, life is full of good people and good things. My father, the legendary Col. C.H. Breedlove, knew lots, and lots and lots of folks during his full, 80-year life. One of his buddies, Our Town's Haskell Cudd, was a friend of my father's and a friend of mine, too. I knew the icon Mr. Cudd from my dad's acquaintance, but I, also, knew Mr. C on my own. He and his wife, Ethel, and 3 daughters, only lived 2 blocks north from our 1521 West 4th Avenue home; their home was on West University Avenue. Their youngest child, Nancy, was my age, and we were classmates together at then ultra-modern and new Westwood Elementary School for most of the 1950's. Even today, 65 years later, Ms. Nancy is still my friend, as are most of our early years classmates. Time merely makes those friendship bonds tighter, in my humble estimation.
My dear father instilled in me a fierce work ethic at a very young age, so when I decided I needed a good summer job, and one that would help better prepare me physically for C. E. Donart (Stillwater) Pioneer High School football, I paid Mr. Cudd a visit at his work. I simply drove my black 1960 4-door Chevrolet Corvair automobile (my first wheels!) to his business on East 6th Avenue, Stillwater Milling Company (SMC), shook his firm hand, and told him I would like to have a summer job working for him! As my current memory serves me regarding that event, he asked me only a few questions, since we had already known each other for several years. I also feel his positive attitude toward my father probably cemented the deal when he gave me a "yes' answer to my possible job question.
Of course, I was instantly thrilled! I would make the current minimum wage for the time (1.25/hour for the first 40 hours each week), and the 4 hours I would work Saturday morning, I would be paid time and a half, i.e., $1.88/hour). Folks, that was LOTS of $$$ in those days for a 17-year-old who could eat a hearty lunch or dinner anywhere in Our Town then for $1.50 or less.
What a summer of 1964 I experienced working for Mr. Cudd at SMC! In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I chose a repeat "command performance", and worked there again the entire summer of 1965. Yes, back to back summers there, so I earned my nickname then of "King Pellet" (as in compressed animal feed!).
Mr. C. definitely served as a meaningful mentor to youthful me then, and he helped cement my father's constant teaching to me as I grew up and matured, enabling me to give an "honest day's work for an honest day's pay". It also caused me to get into the absolute best physical condition of my entire life, since it was such a difficult manual labor type summer job.
Just what did my summer job during those 2 mid-1960's years require of me?
Well, about anything imaginable that an animal feed operation company needed from a young employee. Simply put, I was an SMC "gopher".
The first place my SMC supervisor sent me in early June, 1964, was their satellite mill operation, located on the south side of Perry's town square. Here my job, with a large aluminum scoop shovel constantly in my arms, was to help with the late spring wheat harvest. I constantly jumped into the terribly dusty, always hot, dump trucks loaded with wheat, and helped transfer all the truck's wheat onto the constantly moving, lower conveyor belts. Wow, that was super hot, filthy dirty, long hours of difficult work, and I was very glad when that portion of my summer work (about 2 weeks) was over. After that, I was returned to work at the main plant location in Our Town.
Probably, the largest extent of my work time was spent loading the tractor/trailer and bobtail feed trucks. We used wooden hand dollies, and would stack the 50-pound feed sacks 6-7 sacks high, then manually push them onto the large, empty trucks that were backed into the loading docks on the west side of the massive warehouse. There was definitely a learning curve associated with this entire loading process, and after taking lots of normal teasing by the old warehouse veterans, I was able to do this routine task well.
We would have a 15-minute break in the mornings, and the same amount in the afternoons. We would walk out in the shop/maintenance area on the southeast side of the complex, very near huge Crystal Plunge Swimming Pool. It was during these relaxation/cooling down break times, I would get to know the older guys. After a short time, they began to accept me as one of them. At that time, I was by far the youngest SMC regular-working employee, and most of my fellow workers were at least 25-plus years older than me.
Occasionally, I would get sent to the north side of the operation (on the north side of East 6th Avenue) to work in the company's huge steel-framed, open warehouse. Here I would unload railroad boxcars of various animal feed products, using my wooden dolly. In those days, the AgriCenter retail building did not exist, and what small amount of on-site retail was done, was handled out of the old wooden structure facing East 6th Avenue, on the eastern side of the complex. Occasionally, I would assist the few retail customers, by finding and loading their purchases into their vehicles.
So, I really came of age working in that difficult and demanding summer job long, long ago. I wouldn't trade my SMC experience for anything. It was absolutely priceless to me!
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