OK, let’s continue. Are you bored yet? When I was about 3, my parents broke up as I mentioned last time. About a year later, my mother met a man named Ray Clemens. This guy wanted to impress my mother so he would come by and pick me up and take me everywhere he went. My earliest memory (and it’s pretty fuzzy) is going to the barber shop to get my first haircut when I was four. Ray took me and I remember two things from that visit. One was a big gumball machine that was at the barber shop and how I begged Ray to put in a penny and get me a gumball. He always did. The second thing was he would brag to the barber how I was only four and I could tell time. I’m not sure if that was an accomplishment or not, but Ray seemed to think that a four year old that could tell time was pretty special.
My mother ended up marrying Ray Clemens and for awhile was Emily Clemens. They had one child together who is my half-brother. He is Thomas Jay Clemens and he now lives in Florida, I think. I haven’t seen him in about 20 years. We were bothers but I was 5 years older than him and we were never very close. Tom was born on Dec 28 (probably in 1947 since there was 5 years between us) and he was mad every year when they always seemed to combine his birthday with Christmas. He felt cheated, rightly so, and I think he never quite forgave his parents for giving him such an unfair birthday.
We lived on Haskell St in Battle Creek, Michigan. I thought I remembered the number but now realize I don’t. I went back to Battle Creek about 10 years ago and the house is in the slum area of town and is now all boarded up. No one is living there. It may be torn down by now.
Are you enjoying this? Should I go on. We’ve covered the first 5 years. Only 60 more to go.
Dad