Description:
Don Porter talks about his life growing up in Texas and coming to Oklahoma after college.
Transcript:
Don Porter 8-16-07
Davidson: My name is Phyllis Davidson. I'm a librarian at the Downtown Library. We are here at Oak Crest Church of Christ. Today is August 16th, 2007. Can you please tell me your name and when you were born?
Porter: My name is Don E. Porter I was born November 7th, 1927.
Davidson: And where were you born and where did you grow up?
Porter: Nocona, Texas, Montane County. That’s just cross Red River.
Davidson: And did you grow up there
Porter: Until I went into the army? I was there.
Davidson: What was it like? Can you describe it.
Porter: Small town, 3000 people maximum. You knew everybody in town. Everybody knew you and what you were doing.
Davidson: Did that keep you out of trouble?
Porter: Most of the time.
Davidson: Did you live in town or did you live out on a farm?
Porter: In town
Davidson: And who were your parents?
Porter: My father was John Mack Porter. And my mother was an Edna Ethel Porter. My mother was born and raised in in that town also.
Davidson: What about your dad?
Porter: He was born and raised in Alapark, Texas.
Davidson: So you're all Texans
Porter: Excuse me take that back Park Springs, Texas.
Davidson: How is your relationship with your parents?
Porter: Oh, did what they told me to do. Very good. Yeah, well, a brother and a sister and a brother was older. My sister was younger.
Davidson: What were their names?
Porter: Brothers name was Gene Stratton Porter. Not the author. My sister's name was Charlotte Louise Porter.
Davidson: What about your grandparents? What about your mom's side of the family? Who were they? Where did they come from?
Porter: My grandmother was. I forgot her first name. Can you believe it? And, I lived with her for five years. Wrenn was her last name It'll come. Grimsley. Grimsley family and the Marine family We're all kind of interchange. But my grandmother we live with was Wrenn WRENN by the way. And Let’s see, I had a I never knew a grandfather on either side of the family. I also had my father's very slightly remember her. I think I was 3 or 4 years old when she died. My grandmother died when I was six.
Davidson: Your grandmother Wrenn?
Porter: Yes.
Davidson: OK. She was a widow. How did she make a living?
Porter: You know, I don’t know. She owned a house
Davidson: Was it in town?
Porter: Yes, right across the street from school. Oh, I wasn’t supposed to tell you that.
Davidson: Oh, you can tell me anything you want to.
Porter: Oh, yeah. It was a three-room house with an outhouse in town at 310 Grayson Boulevard... Grayson Street, excuse me. There's no boulevard in Nocona.
Davidson: Who were your favorite relatives?
Porter: Well, first, my mother and father and cousins of the Alison family lived across town. That was on my father's side of the family. There was four of them all. All of us played instruments. One type or another trombones...
Davidson: What did you play
Porter: Base horn. Sousaphone as a matter of fact.
Davidson: Do you still play it?
Porter: Never.
Davidson: What do you play now?
Porter: Nothing.
Davidson: Did you have a nickname?
Porter: Not until I got into the service.
Davidson: OK, let's go back to those cousins. What were their names?
Porter: Wanda Sue Allison, who is still living. Thomas Jefferson Allison who's still living. Uh, (unintelligible) Clyde Allison, who has passed away. And Mary Ellen Allison who passed away. Their mother was Dot Porter. That's the whole of it. Dot not Dorothy but Dot
Davidson: And that was your dad's sister, right?
Porter: My dad's sister, one of them.
Davidson: Can you describe your siblings? What were they like growing up? What did they look like? Were they tall were they short?
Porter: Well My brother was four years older than I am. He's tall, dark, good looking. He stumbled a lot and he picked on me a lot and I hit him two or three times and broken broke my hand because he picked on me.
Davidson: Where is he now? What is he doing?
Porter: He is living in the Garlin, Texas and he's retired. And so he would be 84.
Davidson: And what about your sister.
Porter: My sister passed away in nineteen eighty two. And but she was two years younger than me and she was a sweet little girl who was kind of reserved some time, but the thing is she married a good boy and they lived in Wichita Falls, Texas. And. That's where she died in a house fire. Yeah, that was a bad one. Yes, it was an arson fire. That's as far as I can go with that
Davidson: OK, I understand. Well, what is your earliest memory?
Porter: Earliest memory?
Davidson: You may not have one.
Porter: I do have one, but I just can't remember. OK. My earliest memory was waking up. No was visiting my grandmother and in her feather bed in the living room of our house. We were living with her at the time on her deathbed. She was a sweet lady with white hair. I could hardly see her face because the pillow was the same color as her hair so was her face. But no, I take that back my first memory was when her was switching me with a willow switch before she died. Somewhat before she died.
Porter: That hurt.
Davidson: What were the winters like when you were growing up? Was it hard to stay warm? What was your source of heat?
Porter: Oh, yes. Well, for a while now, a source of heat was a wood cookstove in the kitchen and a wood pot belly stove in the living room. And yes, it was difficult. It was during the Depression, as you well know, since I was born in Twenty-seven.
Davidson: Did you have shoes, coats?
Porter: Oh we managed to live my father operated a cleaning establishment. Didn't make a whole lot of money. Charged Twenty five cents for cleaning and pressing a pair of trouser. Pants just the same as trousers, you know, and my mother also worked in the shop as a seamstress and she took care of the money and the books, and all that stuff. Winters were cold, real cold. I remember finding a 10-dollar bill in our woodpile. One time and went down to the hardware store, bought with that ten dollar bill, I bought a pair of jeans, a pair of boots, big, long wool socks, come up over the top of the boots. What was... a sweater and the powerhouse candy bar. That's the important part.
Davidson: What about the summers? How do you stay cool?
Porter: Was the good old hand plan switch back and forth in the church building, play in the shade as much as you could? Course, as kids, we didn't not stay in the shade. We like to get tans, you know, just like they do today. But anyway, there was no air conditioning, of course. We finally found a system where we would put a wet cloth over a window and let the wind come through and kind of cool the air down as it went through.
Davidson: What were your meals like?
Porter: That we had. We had a garden. Most of the time, either in the backyard or in the make up a lot next to our house. And then dad took care of it, including the work that he did. And we had green beans, English beans, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, all that kind of stuff. And so we had food once in a while and we'd get rich enough to buy a half a side of beef and had it cut up.
Davidson: How did you keep it from spoiling?
Porter: Well, we had a locker across the street from the from the icehouse downtown.
Davidson: Did you have to rent it?
Porter: Yes.
Davidson: OK. You have already asked you about the music in your life. Do you remember any of the songs that you used to sing? Yeah, you can sing it.
Porter: Well, most of it's gospel songs. I think when I was around 5 or 6 years old my daddy was teaching me how to sing. I couldn't read music, of course, but I know harmony. And I still know harmony. He taught me how to sing alto. As a little bitty sprout, I was the alto in a quartet that he sung base in. Strangely enough, I was the only one in the family that really participated in that kind of activity. My mother was a good old country soprano and when I say country, I mean country.
Davidson: Did she have an accent?
Porter: Yes.
Davidson: What were your responsibilities as a young person? Did you have to help in a gardener? What did you do?
Porter: Whatever. As a young kid I had to mow the yard, take care of the yard or whatever it was full of stickers and cockle burrs and goat heads. Now I had to handle pull them out before I get trained enough to do the right thing with the lawn. But we didn't have sidewalks. We didn't have paved streets either. It was kind of rough. When I get up and go to school, I had to walk across the street
Davidson: Because you lived across the street from the school.
Porter: Our elementary school and high school were right across the street.
Davidson: How big was it? How many kids would be in a typical class, do you think?
Porter: Well, it kind of depends on the times. Actually, during the time I was there, I guess my graduating class was about 20 -25 people roughly, which are not very many. But before that it was bigger.
Davidson: Before the depression.
Porter: During the depression most all of was during the depression and. Of course, world war 2.
Davidson: If your parents were bragging on you to one of their friends, what would they be most likely to say?
Porter: Oh, I don’t know. Well, he can sing and he can play sports. That's I guess that's the thing they would probably remember the most would be my sports activities.
Davidson: What kind of sports did you play?
Porter: Every one of them. Football. I made all district and football. Basketball all district in basketball, Tennis, ran track, played baseball, softball.
Davidson: Well, what was the worst injury or illness you suffered as a child. All those sports, you probably got hurt.
Porter: Well, yeah, the first one that I the first real injury that I got was I was in high school and I was guarding I was on the second string guarding the first string starting center. And we went up after the basketball and he came down with his elbow on my eye. And I got a scar across my upper right eye and my eyebrow Its hidden. You can't see it anymore.
Davidson: Did the doctor come out to your house in those days or did you go to the doctor?
Porter: No. As a matter of fact, my mother stitched did it up.
Davidson: You're kidding?
Porter: No.
Davidson: Did it hurt?
Porter: Yes.
Davidson: No. Painkiller, nothing?
Porter: No, no. It wasn't all that bad. It only took four stitches.
Davidson: It's bad enough. So who would you say was the most important person in your life?
Porter: I have to give some thought to that. I guess offhand, I have to say, my mother, she kept us pretty well in line when she couldn't correct us in the right way, well, Daddy did it. And he had a way with the razor strap, so we stayed away from as much as possible.
Davidson: What did you do for fun? I guess, besides sports?
Porter: Well, when I was a little bit a kid, I would two boys in the neighborhood. Played with an awful lot. And we played cowboys and Indians. We watched the Cowboys show that on Saturdays and stuff like that. We'll just spend time together all the time.
Davidson: When you say the cowboy shows on Saturdays, do you mean at the movies? Or did you have a TV? Huh?
Porter: Yeah, we have two movie houses in that big old town in Oklahoma.
Davidson: So what were your friends like?
Porter: Bobby Stouter was my closest friend I guess he was the smartest boy at school.
He made straight A's all the time and he got a silver dollar forever he made
Davidson: from his parents?
Porter: from his grandfather. But Tom Lumb, the boy that was right behind us, that we lived not to back across the attic, and he now lives in Hawaii. He grew up with nice.
Davidson: What was your favorite pet and how did you get it?
Porter: My favorite what?
Davidson: Pet.
Porter: A beautiful blue, gray and white cat. That I named Joe Lewis. Because he was a fighter. He chased dogs away from our house.
Davidson: Do you know how you got that cat?
Porter: It was a stray cat or kitten. I mean, it just came up about six inches long. Then it grew up to be about twelve inches long.
Davidson: What did you think you were going to be when you grew out?
Porter: I had absolutely no idea. Other than that, I wanted to play sport. I wanted to play professional football. Couldn't make it that far because I got hurt too often. I blew out both knees. And at one time or another. But I still played football in college. All the way to college.
Davidson: What is the best memory of your childhood and the worst?
Porter: I'm going to say one of the best memories we got to move out of the garage into the new house that we were building. We had hardwood floors, my cousin Wanda and I and my sister. Got on (unintelligible) socks and skated around on the floor polishing it for Mother and Daddy. And that was more fun than a barrel of monkeys.
Davidson: Do you have a worst memory?
Porter: A worst memory? Yeah, probably.
Davidson: Would you prefer not to talk about it?
Porter: No, that’s not the problem I just can't recall what it was,
Davidson: but we can always come back to it. Can you tell me about your earliest memories of the transportation your family used?
Porter: Earliest memory of transportation? Yeah, I can remember that. Daddy had a model A Ford. And we delivered clothes in it from our dry painting business. And I would ride with daddy in it before I was big enough to do any of the delivering. Just to be riding with him. And then he finally taught mother how to drive. That was an experience.
Davidson: How so?
Porter: Well, she was kind of wild. She didn't know how very well, and she learned she got she got pretty good as a matter of fact she taught me how to drive eventually. Before that, Daddy tried to teach me
Davidson: In the same car?
Porter: No, not in the same car. No way. We graduated up to. What was that? He got thirty seven Chevrolet. I believe it was.
Davidson: What was your first car?
Porter: My first car. Thirty-nine Ford touring car
Davidson: Was it brand new when you got it.
Porter: No, no. I was I went with four friends of mine to State of Washington, to work in the fruit harvest. And this is actually this was after I got out of the service, but we went up there working the fruit harvest and after the first week's work we made enough money to combine and buy this thirty-nine Ford. For $300. That the total price. That was a total price. And we paid cash for that first week? We did pretty good. But I was the oldest one in the bunch and I was the only one old enough to register it in my name. It wasn't my car, it was our car. And we drove it back from Schelane Washington to Nocona, Texas.
Davidson: And then who got to keep it.
Porter: We still shared it until the time that we sold it for $600.
Davidson: Now, where these the two friends you tell me about before.
Porter: No. Well, one of them was Tom Long. Another one was who were those three boys. Tom and I and Taylor and Jim Taylor. I can’t remember the other guy’s name.
Davidson: OK. Can you describe your school life? You already told me you just had to walk across the street. Did you enjoy it? What kind of student were you?
Porter: As far as making grades was concerned, I was not very good. I didn't get at all wise until I got a second year in college. As a matter of fact. But I enjoyed school because of the sports activities. Because all the friends you could make at school. Except those times when I got in trouble for fighting, and what not.
Davidson: I can't imagine you fighting.
Porter: Well.
Porter: I got picked on a little bit. So I fought back
Davidson: What did you usually have for lunch or did you go home for lunch?
Porter: Oh, no. That's an interesting story. Yeah. No one never went home for lunch. Mother and daddy worked down town on Main Street. And there was a cafe.
I forgot the name of it, but anyway, there was a café that they usually always ate lunch, but they would we would go in shifts all the way up through high school from, the time I was little all the way up through high school.
Davidson: Did you go by grade or what?
Porter: No. No I would take off and run down the shop. Mom would bring me lunch And then after I got big enough, I could go by myself, I could go down and play my 35 cents and have my plate lunch to come back to school.
Davidson: So you mean shifts at the shop where your parents work? I thought you meant the school kids went by shifts.
Porter: No, no, no, no. Just my parents.
Davidson: Do you have any best memories or worst memories of high school or grade school?
Porter: Yeah. Grade school. I had to go through the same grade twice. That was kind of embarrassing. So, I mean. You know how good I was in class. But when we got to have up into the almost junior high age after sixth grade, somewhere in I skipped the seventh grade in Texas where we went from eleven year school to 12th grade school at that period of time. And I was never in the seventh grade, but we had a band director that lived at my house. He rented a room from us and he taught me how to play the bass horn. By position not by reading notes. So that was kind of interesting and I enjoyed it being in the band, playing football, and the whole ball of wax.
Davidson: What did you do when school was out?
Porter: Whereas a young kid in the lower grades that’s when we played cops and robbers and cowboys and Indians and stuff like that, and we started into the athletic spark, we built our own then our neighborhood. We built our own sports fields for the summertime. We built a tennis court. Good night, sandy lot and packed it down, really messed it up good. And we also used a track field we’d run around the block for 440 yard dashes 100 yard dash down downhill. Things like that. And we had an indoor basketball. We used a tennis ball in the garage with a coffee can as the basket we were pretty well into sport by this time. But in school, in high school, that's where it really got interesting. Now, I started to play football as a freshman and I got hit too hard and made back it out when I broke my tail bone I had to quit did not do it. So that was a bad experience. But the next year I came out again and got on the squad. My junior year I was first string. Full-back. And they made it all district senior year and we won our championships. District by district and regional, two years in a row, we had a winning bunch of kids. When I grew up with them.
Davidson: it sounds like it. What part did religion play in your family's life?
Porter: Religion? That was the centerpiece of our growing up. Our father was an elder in the church. My mother was well, my grandmother used to make bake the unleavened bread for communion. Then we would take it to church first thing in the morning. And of course, daddy sang in funerals all the time, being the song leader as well. And it was so important in our family that if there was an athletic contest on Wednesday nights, I didn't go. I went to bible classes. That's how important it was.
Davidson: How large was the congregation you attended?
Porter: Around 300 to 350.
Davidson: How is church different then than it is now?
Porter: Stricter, much stricter. There was problems back in those days, but not too serious. But there was some variances that... disagreements that people had. Don't think that given the days with the Christian churches and the Church of Christ. The mix up.
Davidson: Did you go straight from Nocona to the military?
Porter: Yes, as a matter of fact, that was my first to ever ride on a train and my first time to ever ride on an airplane. When I went into the service
Davidson: Did you volunteer or were you drafted?
Porter: I volunteered to keep from being drafted.
Davidson: How old were you?
Porter: I was 18 and I had to get deferment to finish the last semester of school because this was in 1946 when I entered the service, and I hadn't finished school. Anyway, I had to get a deferment to finish the last semester of school and then Tom went on a little bit in October of 1946, I was enlisted. Sworn in in Fort Worth, Texas, went from there to Fort Lewis, Washington, Fort Lewis, Washington on a seven day leave and a three-day delay in route and to San Francisco and shipped out to the Philippine Islands. I spent a year in the Philippine Islands.
Davidson: What did you do there?
Porter: I was in the military police. And that was a whole lot of fun.
Davidson: Were you in any battles?
Porter: No. Well, no. No battle. The war was over.
Davidson: So how would you say your military experience has affected your life?
Porter: It delayed my playing football. Actually, I played football in service, too. We had a we got together a team and played one game. After our inter squad battalions and companies got through playing. We had an all-star game. We played against the University of Hawaii and we beat them.
Davidson: Now, you say you were in college. She didn't say where you went college.
Porter: I went to Abilene Christian College. It's now near Abilene Christian University. And I played football there. I blew my knee out before I started college. So I waited another year because I wanted to play all four years. That was a waste of time. But then I started in 1949 I believe it was and was on the first team until I blew out my other knee and I had to start all over again.
Davidson: So this was after the military?
Porter: Yes, this was after the military. And in 1950, we went undefeated for the whole season. The only time in the history of the school that happened even to this day, which is for the guys. That's the best part about that, is that I still we still have a reunion every year every 10 years to get together at school and celebrate our anniversaries.
Davidson: So how did you end up in Oklahoma?
Porter: After college, I went to work for an oil field tank supply company and worked there for a few years in Abilene, Texas. And then I quit that job, I went to work for a drilling company there in Abilene. And I didn't like that because I wasn’t a very good bookkeeper. And so I went out of work for a little while and I met a guy who was one of my trainers when I was playing football in Abilene on the streets of Abilene, and he asked me what I was doing. And I said, well, I'm looking for a job right now. He said, well, maybe I can help you out there. I said what he means it well, give me a name and address and I’ll get back with you about a week later or two weeks later or something like that, the division manager for Liberty Mutual insurance company, called me and told me that I probably know more about you than you can remember right now, but I'm interested hiring you as an insurance adjuster after he told me who he was and what he was. He said, Are you interested? I said, sure. He said, can you be here first thing in the morning? This was on Thursday night. He said we have our medical examiner here and we have to have a physical examination. And I said, sure. So I took off for Dallas and got there the next morning. Staying with my aunt in Fort Worth the night before. And they hired me. He said he asked me if I didn't have to contact my wife first. And I said, well, no, she'll go where I go. He hired me to go to Oklahoma City, to Tulsa, Oklahoma. And he said, OK. And so I went home, put our house up for sale. Actually, we sold our house the next day on Saturday and our stuff shipped off to Tulsa on Sunday, Sunday evening.
Davidson: Fast work
Porter: Fast work. It was kind of a whirlwind situation for me. Of within insurance adjusting for 45 years. By the way, I did not mention that I met my wife in Abeline.
Davidson: Okay, go ahead. Tell me all about it.
Porter: I met my wife at the drugstore across the street from the administration building in the first semester. She came to school. I was already a junior at that time and I saw this girl with Big ol’ brown eyes. She looked kind of skinny, but. I went over and introduced myself to her friends whom I knew. These happen to be her roommates. She was the newest one of the bunch. And about a year and a half later, we got married.
Davidson: Do you care to tell me how you proposed?
Porter: I don't mind at all. We were going to a movie and driving down the street in Abilene. And I said, by the way, would you mind examining this ring it was an engagement ring that I had purchased for her. And she says, what are you doing here? I'm asking you to marry me. She said, “Okay.” On the way to the Paramount movie house.
Davidson: Do you even remember what the movie was?
Porter: No.
Davidson: No, of course not. How did you know she was the one?
Porter: I don't know.
Davidson: At that age. Did you understand the difference between outer beauty and inner beauty?
Porter: Probably because I was nearly 25.
Davidson: How much younger was she?
Porter: She's nearly six years younger than I am.
Davidson: You have any favorite stories from your marriage or about your wife?
Porter: A lot of them. But some of them I shouldn't say.
Davidson: That's up to you.
Porter: She didn't know how to cook. She knew it. And her mother, actually on our wedding day, her mother got me off and back into the back bedroom is crying. She says she doesn't know how to cook. And I said, that's all right, she’ll learn. And she did.
Davidson: Do you have any advice for young couples these days?
Porter: Be patient. It's very important to me to be patient. I don't have a whole lot of it myself, but it helps.
Davidson: How many children do you have?
Porter: Two.
Davidson: Can you tell me something about their son?
Porter: David was born first. John David. And he is now a fireman in Irving, Texas, living in Fort Worth. My daughter is Donna Ray and she is living in Oklahoma City and she works for an insurance company. And she only lives about two blocks from me. And have one granddaughter and a grandson.
Davidson: What are their names?
Porter: Granddaughter is Angela Ray. By the way, my wife's name is Mary Ray. My daughter's name is Donna Ray. My granddaughter's name is Angela Ray. And I have a great grandson and his name, Leblon Kane Belew. Oh, my Grandson's name is Colin David Porter.
Davidson: If you had to return to the way of life you lived as a child. What modern convenience would you miss most?
Porter: Stupidly enough, probably television for during football season. I love to watch football.
Davidson: What are your greatest joys in life and your greatest fears?
Porter: My greatest joy, I guess, is my family. Oh, past and present, my in-laws included by the way. And worst fears. Not having treated people the way I should have. Most of the time, but I do try to be positive in my later years and try to make up for it some way.
Davidson: Who would you say has been the kindest to you in your life?
Porter: My aunt Frank.
Davidson: Why do you say that?
Porter: That’s my father's sister. Oh, she just followed my life pretty close, she didn't have any children of her own, and then she kind of from a distance, adopted me in her mind, and I could visit her any time I wanted to in Fort Worth, she was so happy to see me.
Davidson: Are there any words of wisdom you'd like to pass along to future family members?
Porter: Do the right thing. Find out what it is and do it right. And work towards it.
Davidson: How would you like to be remembered
Porter: Kindly Oh, I guess, everybody does . I would like to be remembered by some of my people as the guy who made three hundred fifty yard hole in one.
Davidson: Okay. So is there anything we didn't talk about that you would like to add?
Porter: Well, one of my hobbies is golf. One of my hobbies is doing things for other people. I enjoy helping people out when I can. Somethings I can do that. I do work some woodwork. I’m not nearly as talented as your husband?
Davidson: Who is?
Porter: That's right. Who is? I agree with you. 100%
Davidson: Well, I appreciate your agreeing to this interview. It was kind of a last minute thing. And you've done a great job
Porter: I’ve got a short memory.
Davidson: Okay. Thank you very much.
Porter: You Bet.