From roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Wed Mar 8 08:43:38 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k28Fhcjb003877; Wed, 8 Mar 2006 08:43:38 -0700 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l.rootsweb.com [66.43.16.22]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id k28FhceH028259 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2006 08:43:38 -0700 Received: from roots-l.rootsweb.com (roots-l [127.0.0.1]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with ESMTP id k28DDUFI001981 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2006 08:13:30 -0500 Received: (from roots-in@localhost) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.8/Submit) id k28DDUr7001980 for roots-approved@rootsweb.com; Wed, 8 Mar 2006 08:13:30 -0500 Received: from lists5.rootsweb.com (lists5.rootsweb.com [66.43.27.41]) by roots-l.rootsweb.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with SMTP id k28D2ZFI001888 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2006 08:02:35 -0500 Received: (from slist@localhost) by lists5.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) id k28FWW6x031093 for roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com; Wed, 8 Mar 2006 08:32:32 -0700 X-Envelope-From: paul_odlesr@yahoo.com Wed Mar 8 08:32:32 2006 Received: from mail.rootsweb.com (mail.rootsweb.com [192.168.65.34]) by admin.rootsweb.com (8.12.8/8.12.8) with ESMTP id k28FWWjb031082 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2006 08:32:32 -0700 Received: from web60924.mail.yahoo.com (web60924.mail.yahoo.com [209.73.178.252]) by mail.rootsweb.com (8.13.4/8.13.4) with SMTP id k28FWTt0023053 for ; Wed, 8 Mar 2006 08:32:32 -0700 Received: (qmail 12189 invoked by uid 60001); 8 Mar 2006 15:32:25 -0000 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=yahoo.com; h=Message-ID:Received:Date:From:Subject:To:MIME-Version:Content-Type:Content-Transfer-Encoding; b=KYbGKhiz0tQ41HTFwxk97WvO5RsygMgaz29qV9yhZapxRO4QC5dV3FatEJCI0haKGMbyPabCNBs/8zaHL119v1QJujs2MoF/1Lzgw7CI2HoonORdbJExZVePUrLYQWuQDF2YL/ShCwTxAW3eTcHZ9EuqksPxc12MP4HKKbVHXRI= ; Message-ID: <20060308153225.12187.qmail@web60924.mail.yahoo.com> Received: from [66.141.90.216] by web60924.mail.yahoo.com via HTTP; Wed, 08 Mar 2006 07:32:25 PST Date: Wed, 8 Mar 2006 07:32:25 -0800 (PST) From: Paul Odle To: Roots Webb MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 X-Scanned-By: MIMEDefang 2.52 on 192.168.65.34 X-MIME-Autoconverted: from 8bit to quoted-printable by lists5.rootsweb.com id k28FWW6x031093 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-MIME-Autoconverted: from quoted-printable to 8bit by roots-l.rootsweb.com id k28D2ZFI001888 Sender: roots-in@roots-l.rootsweb.com Subject: [ROOTS-L] THE RAILROADMAN The Railroad Man The year was 1938; I was 5 years old, one of my favorite couples in Yukon were the BLAIR¡¯S. Mr. Blair was a RAILROAD MAN, and he lived on 6th St. next to the Rail Road tracks and the only house north of my grandmother ADDE ODLE¡¯S house at 601 Cedar Ave. Mr. & Mrs. Blair had the most beautiful home, lawn and garden in town. He had a big yard. In those days no one had a lawn mower with a motor on it, but Mr. Blair did. His son put an electric motor on his motor less lawn mower. My brother Bud & I loved the Blair¡¯s. My father JAKE ODLE worked construction in those days. No matter what town we lived in because of my dad¡¯s job; Mr. Blair¡¯s train came through that town. I remember my parents taking my brother Bud & I to meet Mr. Blair¡¯s train in Stillwater, Okla. City & several other towns. In 1939 on Christmas Day, my folks gave me a red & white tricycle with a bell on the handle bar and a dollar pocket watch with a leather watch fob to go in my watch pocket of my BIG MAC bib overalls. I jumped on my new red and white tricycle and I drove it as fast as my little Legs could peddle down the sidewalk to Mr. Blair¡¯s house to show him my new tricycle. When I arrived at his house he was painting white wash on his trees and I ask him if he would paint my new tricycle white, and he did. And my folks did not say a word about my new paint job! The Blair¡¯s were a good Old Irish couple, that lived a long life. They did not have a car, Mr. Blair walked past my grandmother Odles house every day to pick up his mail at the Post Office, to buy the daily groceries & to pay bills. Mrs. Blair never left her house, excepting on Sundays their son Walter would come from Oklahoma City and take them back to the city for the day. I always looked forward to his trips to town, as he would always stop and talk to me. When Mr. Blair passed away, Mrs. Blair did not know where the Post Office was or where you went to pay bills, because her husband took care of those things. After I was grown and had children of my own, I still loved going to the Blair¡¯s and sitting in their porch swing catching up on the latest news. There was no running water in their house. They had a water pump and cistern by their back door. That pumped the coolest best water, that hit the spot on a hot summers day in Yukon, Oklahoma. We had some great Irish Folks in Yukon, Oklahoma in those days. And there was some great Rail Road Folks that lived her also. Everyone loves trains and Rail Road men. They were the childhood hero¡¯s of that day & time. The last time I saw Mrs. Blair alive, she said she had something for me. A set of pillow cases that my Grandmother Odle had given her for her birthday years ago. These pillowcases were fashioned from printed chicken feed sacks. My Grandmother ADDE ELIZA ODLE had crocheted the edges of the pillowcase. Mrs. Blair said that she had used those special pillowcases until my grandmother had to go in a nursing home. Mrs. Blair said she could never use those pillow cases after that. She had put the pillow cases carefully wrapped in tissue paper and then in a plastic bag. I shall always cherish this gift from Mrs. Blair, the wife of my RAILROAD MAN. By Paul L.Odle, Sr. --------------------------------- Yahoo! Mail Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.