Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

If I tried to show you photos of all of the different places the Andrews boys lived during the 8 years they were in north central Arkansas, I’d have to do a large photo album.  And, it wasn’t just during those years.  Between the three of them (not counting their oldest half-brother, long dead) and their much younger sister, Debbie . . . but I’m getting ahead of myself . . . there were a multitude of houses.

For today, we’ll just cover some of the highlights.

Here is the second house in Cotter they remember well.

Dickie remembers this one because he was working with a gun toward the back of the house and shot a bullet through the back side window.  The windows look original and he wanted to go find the hole he shot in the pane, but we were afraid to venture into the strangers’ yard, ya know?  Might still be some gun owners inside.

Things moved a bit downhill from there.  The next place we photographed is one of the other places they lived “downtown.”

They lived in one side of this blue building and their mom ran a cafe in the other side.  She actually worked in cafes all around town at various times and we photographed several of them, all still there, but various other kinds of stores/offices now.

Finally, a year or more after their parents’ divorce, they moved to a small building next door to the Paradise Theater that until recently had been a pharmacy.  That building has now been restored and is named the “White River House.”

This is where the story gets interesting, weaving in pertinent Andrews memories/history as well as connections to today.

Jimmy, who had had polio by then (when he was 10, remember), was a young teen and mostly living in a hospital up in Missouri where he had many, many major surgeries, was home for a short visit.

He began to share with all of us (just what we all needed to know) that their dad, who was traveling all the time, came “home” one night for a visit, as well. A few months later, their mom sent Tommy & Jimmy to live with their dad for a while down in Pass Christian, Mississippi.  Tom even went to school down there while he was there.

When the 10 year old Tommy returned to Cotter to his mom, again, he found she had adopted a baby girl she named Debbie.  She told him she had always wanted a daughter, so adopted Debbie, despite the fact that she was by now 45 years old, divorced with two young sons and very poor.

Tom accepted his mom’s story, not knowing any better, but the years proved that Debbie bore a striking resemblance to their mom and that their dad, who was 66 when Debbie was born,  remained on the sidelines at a distance.

Yep – he was 66 when Debbie was born.  He was 56 when Tom was born, and Tom’s oldest half-brother, Leonard, long deceased, was born about 1915 to their dad’s first very young wife.  Their dad – Tom’s dad – was born about 1989.  (Do you realize that Tom’s dad was the same age as my grandmother, born in 1890?!   Tom has done extensive historical research, but has not been able to ascertain exactly when or where his dad was born.

He knows that it was somewhere in Illinois, that his dad was born the youngest of a second grouping of children, after his dad’s (Tom’s granddad, who was born well before 1850 – I don’t recall the actual date) first wife died and he remarried, and that his dad left home when he was about 14, never to return and totally losing touch with his family.

Tom’s mom was their dad’s third young wife and he was married to her the longest.  Their mom was in her early 20s when she married their dad, who was 20 some years older.  I’ll post photos of them next time when I can get them out of their frames and scan them after I figure out how to use our new printer/scanner, etc.

Tom’s family history is incredibly different from anyone else’s I know.   He and his brothers all think they had the most glorious childhood, ever, despite the fact they were dirt poor and on the verge of being “nomads.”  I’m constantly amazed at how well they all turned out, so steady and true in their ways.  Great family men, all, who’ve raised terrific kids and done very well financially – considering.  But, more about all of that later . . . maybe.  (You interested?)

To end, I leave you with a picture “puzzle” for next time.  Look at the photo below and guess what two historical businesses it housed, both begun in 1905, one on each side.  I’ll reveal the answer next time, which will have a very interesting connotation for one of you readers!

Isn’t this fun?!

Cheers and many bless