BR Chitwood
*
It is all so strange looking back on such a crowded and awkward life, pulling scenes to fit the moment, finding harmony in your efforts, finding joy but struggling still to find the truth of ‘who I am?’
Born in the bruised but peaceful hills of Appalachia, there was not so much fanfare but the tedious questions of food and hunger and disease and, of course, ignorance – the very simplest of ignorance, walking hand in hand with what some were calling ‘The End!’
Work was a major disclaimer for most of the population. Some fathers left home for work in other states, leaving behind their most cherished belongings – their wives, kids, scrawny beasts of burden just about out of time for another breath. Some fathers gave up early, drank from their ‘fruit jars’ filled with ‘corn liquor’, ‘white lightning’, using the tools given to them by their ancestors.
One elementary school, one steepled, white-board church, a combo-store and post office.
The soft sounds of labor were the saw-mill camp pumping out the finished lumber for new houses, repairs for older homes, sawdust, and always the hope that someday this small space on the borders of Kentucky and Tennessee would be thriving. The people working were more or less happy with their pursuits, their radios telling them other cities and towns were not doing so well.
Old locomotives brought lumber from the other side of the mountain, just fallen trees ready to be made into homes for those with the money to build. There were, of course, some vitriol among the Hamlet’s ‘well off’ and ‘not so well off’. For .the most part, however, there were few feuds between the neighbors. Each day had a simple calendar…’slop the hogs’…’hoe the corn’…’plow the north 40’…
Wooldridge, Tennessee, a farming community of not too many habitants, was my ‘home’ for a short period of time, brought about by a divorce. I stayed with my loving grandparents, and my sister stayed some hundred miles away with my maternal grandparents.
*
Wooldridge, Tennessee is still there, and it has been many years since I was in the area…except for the ‘script that plays out in my mind on occasion…
There were so many debilitating thoughts occurring in my small brain at that time…I was going to stay with my mother and my sister. My little mind was titillated with the news, and I was happy…not, to leave my grandparents, but to live with my mother and sister.
My sister and I were separated again some months later, and my sister and I were ‘lodged and schooled’ at a large campus in Knoxville, Tennessee – John Tarleton, I believe, was the name of the State-run Facility.
From there, Friendsville Academy was my next stop…this would be the final boarding school before my mother found our first home in Maryville, Tennessee – across the street from the beautiful Maryville College.
*
Oak Ridge High School sat on a hill above ‘Towne Center’ in Oak Ridge, and I made friends quickly with Clayton ‘Eight-Ball’ Nunn, Bill Pullem, Tom McGrew, and my life seemed going in the right direction. I was on the Oak Ridge HS Wildcats football team – played a little because I was small and scrawny…Oak Ridge was the best part of my life!
In the US Navy and waited months after ‘boot camp’ and special schooling before being sent to Adak Islands in the Aleutian Chain…passed ‘high’ in my class. These would be the most difficult time of my recruitment.
Adak was headquarters for the US Navy Communications, and it was exciting work… Friends made, I wormed my way into shift-break work in the Beer Parlor. So many nights were spent in a small living room just behind the bar, each sailor in the room sharing stories from home, girlfriends, and, of course, eventual tears…then, break for the barracks (at the other end of the huge building) duty stations were in other buildings. I received some lovely reviews for my acting and continued to do film and modeling work.
From Navy came marriage…from marriage came college in Pennsylvania…from the AB Degree, I ventured ‘teaching’ at the high school level in Loraine, Ohio – a special writing class set-up for those wishing to go on to college…a fun class with some writing on a daily basis. Good kids with good futures.
With high school teaching I spread my wings and went into textbook publishing. Good people. Good books.
Also came, Divorce!
In California and Arizona, I dabbled in my writing and did TV commercials, some film work, still work (Magazines, et al). I performed in a play called, THE PLEASURE OF HIS COMPANY and received good ratings.
Then, through mistakes, victories, and just being me, I married the loveliest and smartest lady I had ever met. Our world would even run well with her at the helm.
Combined, we have a large family – some in Phoenix, AZ, some in Las Vegas, some in Maryland on the storied and beautiful Chesapeake.
*
Life can reach up and grab you roughly at times, but I must say, all the years have carried beauty and richness to my life…Children I love dearly, a wife I love dearly, a Golden Retriever named, Toby, who can still bring me fresh tears of love… Cats, we’ve had a few: ‘Lady Gray’ is our most recent and she is pure and loves her family…we brought this little delight with us from Kentucky.
There is a lot to leave: 20 books of fiction (some based on true cases); I’ve written 500+ blog posts, many short stories, Flash Fiction, and Poetry… (Hope you can read some of these great novels…) Stories, Flash Fiction, and Poetry…FOUND HERE:
https://www.brchitwood.com
The lovely young lady in the picture above is my wife…She is quite the lady…I Love her!
I married her at the age of consent…
*
It is all so strange looking back on such a crowded and awkward life, pulling scenes to fit the moment, finding harmony in your efforts, finding joy but struggling still to find the truth of ‘who I am?’
Born in the bruised but peaceful hills of Appalachia, there was not so much fanfare but the tedious questions of food and hunger and disease and, of course, ignorance – the very simplest of ignorance, walking hand in hand with what some were calling ‘The End!’
Work was a major disclaimer for most of the population. Some fathers left home for work in other states, leaving behind their most cherished belongings – their wives, kids, scrawny beasts of burden just about out of time for another breath. Some fathers gave up early, drank from their ‘fruit jars’ filled with ‘corn liquor’, ‘white lightning’, using the tools given to them by their ancestors.
One elementary school, one steepled, white-board church, a combo-store and post office.
The soft sounds of labor were the saw-mill camp pumping out the finished lumber for new houses, repairs for older homes, sawdust, and always the hope that someday this small space on the borders of Kentucky and Tennessee would be thriving. The people working were more or less happy with their pursuits, their radios telling them other cities and towns were not doing so well.
Old locomotives brought lumber from the other side of the mountain, just fallen trees ready to be made into homes for those with the money to build. There were, of course, some vitriol among the Hamlet’s ‘well off’ and ‘not so well off’. For .the most part, however, there were few feuds between the neighbors. Each day had a simple calendar…’slop the hogs’…’hoe the corn’…’plow the north 40’…
Wooldridge, Tennessee, a farming community of not too many habitants, was my ‘home’ for a short period of time, brought about by a divorce. I stayed with my loving grandparents, and my sister stayed some hundred miles away with my maternal grandparents.
*
Wooldridge, Tennessee is still there, and it has been many years since I was in the area…except for the ‘script that plays out in my mind on occasion…
There were so many debilitating thoughts occurring in my small brain at that time…I was going to stay with my mother and my sister. My little mind was titillated with the news, and I was happy…not, to leave my grandparents, but to live with my mother and sister.
My sister and I were separated again some months later, and my sister and I were ‘lodged and schooled’ at a large campus in Knoxville, Tennessee – John Tarleton, I believe, was the name of the State-run Facility.
From there, Friendsville Academy was my next stop…this would be the final boarding school before my mother found our first home in Maryville, Tennessee – across the street from the beautiful Maryville College.
*
Oak Ridge High School sat on a hill above ‘Towne Center’ in Oak Ridge, and I made friends quickly with Clayton ‘Eight-Ball’ Nunn, Bill Pullem, Tom McGrew, and my life seemed going in the right direction. I was on the Oak Ridge HS Wildcats football team – played a little because I was small and scrawny…Oak Ridge was the best part of my life!
In the US Navy and waited months after ‘boot camp’ and special schooling before being sent to Adak Islands in the Aleutian Chain…passed ‘high’ in my class. These would be the most difficult time of my recruitment.
Adak was headquarters for the US Navy Communications, and it was exciting work… Friends made, I wormed my way into shift-break work in the Beer Parlor. So many nights were spent in a small living room just behind the bar, each sailor in the room sharing stories from home, girlfriends, and, of course, eventual tears…then, break for the barracks (at the other end of the huge building) duty stations were in other buildings. I received some lovely reviews for my acting and continued to do film and modeling work.
From Navy came marriage…from marriage came college in Pennsylvania…from the AB Degree, I ventured ‘teaching’ at the high school level in Loraine, Ohio – a special writing class set-up for those wishing to go on to college…a fun class with some writing on a daily basis. Good kids with good futures.
With high school teaching I spread my wings and went into textbook publishing. Good people. Good books.
Also came, Divorce!
In California and Arizona, I dabbled in my writing and did TV commercials, some film work, still work (Magazines, et al). I performed in a play called, THE PLEASURE OF HIS COMPANY and received good ratings.
Then, through mistakes, victories, and just being me, I married the loveliest and smartest lady I had ever met. Our world would even run well with her at the helm.
Combined, we have a large family – some in Phoenix, AZ, some in Las Vegas, some in Maryland on the storied and beautiful Chesapeake.
*
Life can reach up and grab you roughly at times, but I must say, all the years have carried beauty and richness to my life…Children I love dearly, a wife I love dearly, a Golden Retriever named, Toby, who can still bring me fresh tears of love… Cats, we’ve had a few: ‘Lady Gray’ is our most recent and she is pure and loves her family…we brought this little delight with us from Kentucky.
There is a lot to leave: 20 books of fiction (some based on true cases); I’ve written 500+ blog posts, many short stories, Flash Fiction, and Poetry… (Hope you can read some of these great novels…) Stories, Flash Fiction, and Poetry…FOUND HERE:
https://www.brchitwood.com
The lovely young lady in the picture above is my wife…She is quite the lady…I Love her!
I married her at the age of consent…
https://facebook.com/billyray.chitwood
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