Father's Day 2022 Podcast (Pastor Keith Interviews His Father)

Hey everyone, it's Keith here and I want to tell you today's episode is different than anything we've ever done So stay tuned conversations with a Calvinist begins right now Welcome back to conversations with a Calvinist.

My name is Keith Foskey and I am a Calvinist recently, I had the opportunity to sit down with my father and Talk to him about his life and his experiences Now I'm bringing this up because it's Father's Day weekend, and I wanted to share Some of what my dad told about his life story with you all now again as I said in the opening This is different than anything that I have ever done a lot of this is not really Going to focus so much on his spiritual background because he didn't become a believer until later in life But he has such an interesting story going from a situation where he grew up basically homeless from the age of 12 and he's going to take us through what it was like living a Very difficult life and yet still coming out being a very good father so I hope that you enjoy this interview that I did I did it with my brother and my father and I hope that this is a blessing to you.

As I said, it's something different and Keep this in mind Conversations with the Calvinist comes out every week Sometimes we do multiple shows but we do at least one show per week and if you have questions or anything that you would like for us to Go over you can email us at Calvinist podcast at gmail.com And we do have a new website now that you can actually go and access our Podcast directly at Calvinist podcast calm you can go and find all of our podcast or house there and You can use that as a platform to share if you have people that you'd like to share a podcast with Thank you for listening to conversation with a Calvinist.

Here's the interview with my father for this Father's Day.

May God bless you Today is Father's Day We said that while ago.

Yes, we did And so what I would like to do is I would like to talk to you my father about your life several years ago we Talked about maybe writing a book about your life.

Yes.

Yes Well, we were thinking maybe instead of writing down your thoughts We would actually have an opportunity to record your story Bobby and I are your sons and we are here to hear your stories and we want to ask you questions and just go through your life and Hopefully maybe gain some wisdom throughout this no, you're not gonna gain that was Not by talking to me anyway How old are you? 77 77 years old.

Yeah, this is this is how it's gonna go.

Yeah Go off to a good start man.

I'm glad he's having a good day.

No.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely Okay, so you're 77 years old.

Tell us when you were born On my birthday June 2nd 1945 June 2nd 1945 in Macon, Georgia, okay Now you didn't grow you were born in Macon, yes But you didn't grow up in Macon.

No, okay.

I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida Now I thought you grew up in Lovett, Georgia No Moved here and then we went back and forth to Lovett But we were just living here Okay, cuz daddy was a bus driver Okay, that's where they had buses.

They didn't have none up there Okay.

Hey, all right.

See this is different, right? I'm not not different, but this is part of part of what we want to do is we want to be able to sort of Put your life together in a narrative that we can share with our kids and also, you know share with people So you're born in Macon, right and how long were grandma Janice and Papa or grandpa Foskey married because were that we're actually were they married when you were born? Yes, they were We probably have family for till I was about seven years old six years old with me Okay, and then they got a divorce And I went back then that was a pretty big deal, right? I mean, it's not as common as yeah.

Yeah, it's back then Men didn't get custody of the kids.

I mean it just just didn't happen So I got my mother got custody of me and as time went on she began drinking taking pills and drinking and taking pills and smoking and My life went downhill from then Mm-hmm.

So when we moved back to Lovett, Georgia a couple of times Her mom and daddy and that was Lovett, Georgia know what were their names? I always called him Pomack and Momack because his name was McDonald Mormon So that was mom I could vomit so his first name was McDonald.

No, I Can't remember What wait a minute? His last name was Mormon.

I Had to be yeah, you know, all right.

Yeah, I'm not trying to leave you out.

No, no, go ahead.

I'm just listening and mainly listening to parts right where I've been told before because I mean I've heard a lot of the stories and Yes, you know as they come up the other day.

We were driving on Hane Street, we went to get some crates from a Factory that was selling some crates we can use for chicken pens while we were there dad said yeah I used to run down that road.

What was the name of the road? It was Columbus or something I don't know, but it's somewhere off of Hane Street Expressway.

Yeah, there used to be a school over that me and Pat used to go to I think she went Franklin Franklin Street School or something like that And he said the first time you ever smoked a cigarette was on on the roof of that building And you never were a smoker.

I remember growing up you always you I never saw you smoke I never saw you drink very much either, but I never ever saw you smoke a cigarette Well, I took a I took a puff off of that thing and choked and gagged and said why in the world would anybody want to do this? Ain't no fun about this Burned my eyes and made me maybe snot run out my nose.

I said no fun in That was me too.

I was at Granny's house at your's and Jennifer's old house Yeah, I snuck one of Granny's tried it and I was like these people are dumb Yeah, what's the fun of this? Yeah, right cuz I did not do it.

I'm a kid No, so I remember you talking about and Not it now.

Who's the who's the one to Granny Harris? That was my grandmother and Joshua my daddy's mom.

So is that who you were living with in your here? Or did you yes, well, they had their own place.

Okay, but as time went on like I said when they busted up I Used to go to Granny Harris I'd stay with her for once a while and mama was always drunk And so, you know, it's just it's just a mess and I was here and there and here and there over I never was no worse for very long.

Yeah now when you were Seven I guess you said when they when they busted up was that before or after you got the mud ball in the eye You know that was after yes, but before that I'm gonna tell you else by my My experience when I was a little fella living in Macon just before we moved to Florida.

I Was on a escape Pretty cup.

Apparently you got an escape where you come down the stairs and get out of the middle of the fire escape Yep And so there's a bunch of little kids are playing and I was hanging on the outside of their stairs With my hands on the rail little girl hit my fang.

Shoot like that girl and so I Don't know why I did but I just turned loose both of them and smiled at her and fell over backwards And when I fell over backwards I landed on a pile of bricks broken bricks, but it was repairing the building and I Remember looking down and seeing them BAM and then I'll turn my head just like that for I don't watch her my head But when I next I remember I was in the doctor's off for a hospital.

I don't know.

I don't remember But I was kind of hovering up here in the corner Kind of like a dream I guess and I could see the see me laying on the table And I can see my mom was saying on one side table doctor standing on our side table nurse at the foot I think she's down there foot And I could see everything, you know, I could see myself and I thought that's me Can't be me.

I'm up here Anyway, so when I've hurt my hair right here.

Is that when that scar came from? Yes, and So the doctor they had a couple of big old heavy towel to have my head soaked in blood towels So the doctor said we can't give him run to kill the pain We got to hold him down to sew it up clean it up said because if we give him any of that He's lost so much blood.

He's gonna die.

Hmm.

We'll give him any painkillers.

So that's what they did And that's about all I remember that and of course, but I remember you telling me years later That that experience felt like you really come out of body experience.

I mean, yes, how different people have different Different people describe it but often similar like yeah, very similar.

Well, I didn't know it then Of course, I was a baby more or less and I didn't know it then but as time went on with my life you came along and And Bobby's mama came We got married and Bobby came, you know, and that's when you was born.

I kind of that when I got the idea God's looking out for me Because I've done a bunch of bad stuff anyway when I when when I got about 12 years old, I Think I finished the seventh grade.

I Couldn't take mama no more She was drunk all the time.

She didn't cook.

I was living by myself with her drunk Where was this at? Where were we all living at that time? I think it was in Georgia best I remember some of this stuff is a blur Yeah, you know, I can't remember everything this far plus I had a stroke too.

But anyway, when you told me this story before I Think you told me this story in Georgia Cuz cuz Paul Mack and Maumack were helped raise you after I guess that yeah, they they weren't they weren't raising type people Oh, okay.

No, they they didn't they didn't like me because they didn't like my mother She used to go up on Whipple once in a while and of course it took it out on me.

But anyway So I grabbed a white t-shirt and put it in my back pocket of my jeans And I left and that that I Didn't I didn't leave town right away.

I kind of hung around here I don't know why I just didn't want to go out.

I was scared by myself, I guess I can remember Going to the grocery store when they'd bring them of treats and stuff in Danishes and stuff they deliver them to a big grocery store before they opened I always I found out about that and I could go get me a couple of them to eat, you know I know we're stealing but so anyway, I Did that for a little while I found out this ain't gonna work I got to go from here because I was afraid every time I seen a cop car I'd run, you know so anyway Then I got Started out hitchhiking towards El Paso, Texas.

I remember that.

I don't know where I was going, but I remember the name El Paso, Texas And I used to wait at bus stations Grand bus stations and The people would go in there and order food and sit down and the bus they'd call a bus And I have to get up and leave their food up.

That's how I ate I ate food off these people plate.

So this is hitchhiking at 12 years old.

Yeah across the country.

Yeah.

Yeah And and during this time, I learned a few things like I Learned what makes somebody fight What makes somebody really fight is being scared? somebody's scared of kill you and anyway, I Do that grand bus stations and I made my way to El Paso finally and I got to El Paso I Got a job in a car wash And I Was I was a guy that scrubbing tires because I was younger little and it was a big old guy and a bully type guy And we got our money in a brown envelope or at the end of the day I think I made $3 a day or $2 a day something like that And he come along there Yeah, teasing us with you know, he's me with it You gotta get this you gotta jump and get it and I said I got too much pride But I ain't gonna jump and beg for my money.

I earned I took me one of them brushes and hit him upside his head BAM He fell down on one knee and dropped my money.

I Got my money left.

I never go back But I didn't beg for my money that I earned So You I think if I remember right you told me you hadn't eaten Like a day or so you hadn't eaten.

Yeah, you were starving When I got that money finally got in my hand.

I wouldn't got me a hamburger And I thought man, that's the best thing I ever eat.

Mm-hmm, but at some point in time, I can't remember exactly when it was I I Got a little money and I went to the to the grocery store big grocery store and told a guy What can I what can I buy for I think it's like $4 I accumulated some kind of way I said, what can I buy for $4 that will last me a long time? And I said it won't go bad.

I can I can take it with me and open it and I go and eat it He said well, the only thing we got is cranberry sauce.

I said cranberry sauce He said it won't spoil comes in these you have one every day All right.

I bought me a case of that stuff and he was very nice about it, though He gave me the jelly and the berries and mixed together.

He said so you won't get tired of this stuff so quick And so I kept going on that whole trail past their taxes and I went to Imperial Valley in California, but I'm getting ahead of myself getting ahead of myself.

I Went to El Paso, Texas, and there's a cop picked me up for runaway Hmm.

Yeah big old guy me and had cigars in his pocket.

Did your mom report you missing or something? Probably so probably so that's where I know I had to go because I was gonna be in trouble They wouldn't believe she done nothing right? I was a I've been juvenile or something So He stopped me and he put me in his car.

He said I got you down a runaway I said, well, you may have me down a runaway and I said, I guess that's what I did He said that's I'm gonna put you in jail.

I'll hold you and they'll send somebody to get you or another police officer come and get you and they Ferry you back to where you came from County by County.

I said you can you can put me in jail I said you can do all that stuff.

I said, but I ain't going back He says yeah, you're going back.

I said no, no, I ain't going back And he said you got to go back.

I said Why do I have to go back? Anyway over a period of time me and him talked he let me out of the cell Every time he'd bend over and the big old cigar would fall out of his pocket I'd be doing because he couldn't pick him up.

Too fat And I'd pick him up and hand him back to him.

I said why don't you butt in that pocket so they don't fall out Anyway make a long story short the next morning he got up.

He said I'm gonna drive you to the county line They said and don't come back this way no more.

I said I ain't coming back this way.

I'm going that way out west I ain't coming back here So he he carried me to the county line and he gave me some money And he told me how I said how much further can I go? He said you can go to California if you want to.

I really and truly didn't know nothing about California So that's where I'm going there so I went to Imperial Valley and stopped there for a few days and there's a bunch of Boy Scouts having a I think they call it a jamboree But it was camping out and cooking out and one thing or another So I'll just walk around talking to the guys and they said are you a Boy Scout? I said no I'm not no Boy Scout.

He said you want to hang around with us.

I said sure So they fed me and let me sleep in a tent for a couple days And of course when the jamboree was over all the Boy Scouts left I was still standing there So I got Headed out that way again California.

I got to California and I used to go to the blood banks and give blood so I could have something to eat and They finally got most of the places I was at got smart and they figured out they can't you can't do it so many times You know, they will only do it so many times So I said well, I gotta try to do something different because this ain't worth it.

They caught on to me So I said well So I used to hang around this little restaurant Because there's a girl worker her name was Rusty and She kind of like Adopted me and let me stay sleep on her couch, you know, which I was thankful for that and she fed me too So she wasn't like a girlfriend.

Oh, no.

No, she was a grown woman No, okay, and she used to have sailors in there thing all the time, you know And when she had sailors there, I had to leave I Can't say anything for good night or two.

I go back and get my shower You know, so one day sailor left the paper in there newspaper And it said on there so-and-so Advertising for a crew just helped sail a sailboat to Hawaii Now there's a bunch of stuff I can't remember I'm probably leaving out some of it I'm trying to remember it as it as it happened.

But anyway So I called a guy and he says have you ever been on a sailboat? I said, nope He says well, how old are you? And I told him I was 16 He said well, can you get a note from your mother? I thought oh man I'm gonna do that He said if you can get a notarized note from your mother and her signing He said I'll let you go with me and we'll both learn how to sail a sailboat him and his family so How was I gonna? Oh, yeah.

So then I I told Rusty about I said rusty I got a chance to go to Hawaii free And he said when you get over here He said when we get there if you really want to come when you get ready to come back I'll buy you a plane ticket or if you want to go.

That's all okay So anyway, I told Rusty I said I gotta have a notarized letter from my mother She said well, I can sign it.

I said she said I'd get it notarized too under somebody notarized it so anyway Anyway I carried it to him and I told him I said he said we're gonna leave in such-and-such a date He said will you be ready to go? I said I'm ready to go now He says where's your bag I still got the bag at the house Do you really? Yeah, it's a little canvas looking thing.

Brown? Gray Nylon looking stuff and that's what I had my stuff in But anyway my underwear and I didn't have much but anyway, so he said what you got and I said yes He says he said we're gonna leave on such-and-such a date come back.

I said, okay He wouldn't never he didn't want me to go then So I went back to our son's boat too, a 65 foot sloop I think they call it So I Met up with him and when he said he wanted to go and and he had a motor on the boat So he didn't try to sail it to start off with So we went out to the ocean and as we was in the ocean had a little young daughter about a little bit older than me probably two years older than me And I had my own little bunk on the boat And away from the family and yeah, him and him got out there sailing around We're pulling them sheets in and dropping the sheets out whatever you call that stuff.

I said, man I said, it's called hoisting the mainsail.

Yeah, but anyway, we finally got where we could make it go where we wanted to go And we cut the motor off and went to Hawaii.

It took 11 days I think I think it was 11 days to get there Went to Honolulu So we got to Honolulu by that time me and him had been friends I said, well, he said I'll buy you a ticket and you can go back.

I said I ain't got nothing to go back to He said well, what about you stay on my boat As part of my crew because I know you know how to sail now He said when we get ready to go out He said I'll call you and you get everything ready.

We'll go out for the weekend, whatever, you know so That's what we agreed on And he let me stay on the boat, but he didn't give me as much money as I wanted He gave me a little allowance, you know, of course, I want more you know So for extra money, I bought my scrub brush and I would go not scuba diving But a snorkeling around a boat scrubbing their bottom barnacles and stuff off and they'd pay me for that Of course, they knew that I wasn't doing nothing.

You can't take a barnacle off with a brush So they would just let they would let me think I was doing something and pay me a little something and While I was there, I don't know what year it was.

Can't remember but anyway, Hawaii had a tidal wave And you can look that up probably.

Mm-hmm.

That's when I was there.

So they had a big alarm You know and all the people's hurrying around their boats getting ready and I didn't know what to do with this boat But I got some people to help me and we made it through the night.

It's come at night and the water would come in and The boat would go up and they'd go out further and come back in further It got to one point where it would come in so far to the ropes was about to break.

Mm-hmm and Then it would go back out and then the last last time or two it came in the boats Started we loosened the ropes so the boats wouldn't break them They tried to float toward the dock and I saw now if it goes back out, it's gonna come down on that dock.

Yeah So anyway, we got a bunch we got together and we pull ropes and we got through that night And like I said It was called Ala Moana Boat Harbor in Hawaii, and I used to Get coconuts for the tourist out of an Ala Moana canal.

I Had a stick with a I mean a nail on it not stick it and give it to tourists I thought that was the greatest thing in the world.

Oh Coconut out of water.

Anyway, I did that for a while and tourists would Pay me a little something and Then oh, yeah, they had dried dried octopuses We like jerky, but they had dried salted octopus hanging on a string and I could get one of them things for I think it's 25 cent Like it was I could chew on that thing all day long So I used to do that eat coconuts So So Then I got what a bunch of people That was gonna go around the island and tour the island So that says where should we go? Of course everybody figured by this time I knew everything about the island and all I knew about was sailing on a daggone boat So I'd take them to these two places I heard about and they thought that was the greatest thing in the world They didn't know no difference They had a place called I think of Ala Moana Waterfalls, I think it was in there brother and you had to hike in there to it and there was about 80 foot high The waterfall was and the trick was to get up there on the top Show you a brave jump in the water because the bottom of that thing wasn't as big as this room And you don't know where rocks are That's not very That's why Yeah, but that's what the young people thought that was good.

That was exciting to them And I come up with the idea one guy jumped off.

He got water up his nose That time I said man, I said, you know how to keep him doing that? He said hold my breath I said no put a leaf underneath your nose get it wet stick it up under there It worked for him so from then on that's what everybody did Put a little where they needed or not they put a like that They would hold it with their finger even I knew it Is this about the same time as you learned how to surf Well during the during that all this time was all that stuff I had a surfboard and I learned how to surf and I wasn't never no good at it Oh, yeah, I would pay money to see you surfing But back then they didn't have these little bitty boards they got now Yeah, and mine was somebody gave it to me some lady gave it to me it was like a boat Like what they're paddling around I stand up and paddle.

I thought it was so heavy.

I couldn't tell that drag one in the dirt But anyway, that's before they put styrofoam in them.

They put styrofoam in them now.

Yeah Anyway, that thing was so heavy and I surf with it Anyway, it don't matter and I got in trouble in Waikiki Beach one time for digging a hole It's against the law to dig a hole on the beach There was a little girl had a bucket and she was well, I took the bucket She wanted to get her feet in there and cover them up.

I give her the bucket, I took the bucket, put your feet in the bucket.

First thing I heard I heard a bunch of guys From one of them hotels up there.

You can't do that boy.

You can't Anyway, they made me leave the beach And back way back when Kaiser Aluminum had a bunch of catamarans on the beach.

They were pink and white And I got part of it because I could sail a little bit I got on crew on one of them things and we just take tourists out there, surf back in here in the waves So we did that.

I did that for a while and I said what up? Something else We got a sailboat, me and the guy did It was sunk at the dock.

Old man said I sure wish I could get that thing out of here.

It's blocking my way I told him I said if we get it up Can we have it? It was probably a 14-foot sailboat.

Maybe just big enough to people laying in front of it He says yeah, so me and this guy got in it.

I said how we gonna get it up? I said well, we needed a little compressor Back when I started short I said we'll get some old inner tubes and stuff down in the cubby holes of this thing and leave the vagstem sticking out And we'll dive down there pump that things up.

Well, it'll raise up And the water should go out Did it work? Yeah Did you put a leaf on your nose? No, not for that, not for that thing But once we got it up the guy let us put it up on this little dry dock looking thing and fix it So it wouldn't leak no more So me and him got the idea.

Well, what we're gonna do now.

We're gonna leave Hawaii, the island of Oahu Because we're gonna leave there and we was gonna go all over the Hawaiian Islands in that little boat and We sailed and I think about two days.

I'm not sure about how long it was but we had a Had There's a beach there and we had a little rowboat and we went to the rowboat and was gonna row to the beach and these people come just running down to the beach and I looked at them I told the guy I said, what's wrong with them people? Some of them didn't have hands Some of them didn't have feet.

How were they running with no feet? Well, that's what I'm saying.

The ones that was able to run, you know but anyway We got almost to the beach probably about 300 feet from the beach and I got looking at them.

I said that people ain't got no feet no hands I had some ears gone So I told him I said we don't want to stop there so we rode back out and left and Yeah, come to find out later I'm just saying I'm trying to do this where it happened.

Okay, so we left there and we got talking to people They said yeah, that was Molokai I said, what is Molokai? They said that's a leper's colony.

I said, what? So We went from there we decided we don't want to go to a bunch of islands.

We're tired of that stuff already After two days.

Well, it don't take long when you're hungry Anyway, we went back to the boat harbor I just have to say and it's not that I doubted you for a moment, but I wanted to see if you were how to visit the Molokai leper colony in Kalapapa, Hawaii That is wild Do you believe what I'm telling you? No, it's not that I don't believe you.

I believe you but that was so fantastic Just seemed like wow.

I've never heard that part of the story.

You've never heard a lot of the story I know that, that's wild.

I don't talk about it much.

I know But anyway, so at this point are you done on the big sailboat? No, we went back and I went back to living on a big boat with the guy I said, he said you you want to live here again? I said, yeah My big adventure is over.

A little sailboat ain't for me.

Anyway, so then in part-time I used to cruise, get cruise on big sailboats.

People, they knew I could sail, you know, or basic so John Ford, I don't know who he is.

He's a movie director.

He directed a bunch of John Wayne movies.

Yeah So I Got to talking to him or one of the guys that worked for him I said, I said what chance getting on going on a job once in a while.

He said well, yeah, you can do that He said, well, why don't you bother the movie stars? I said, I didn't know about movie stars.

I didn't know about John Ford I just want to work on a boat.

A lot of hell power a boat wouldn't look like You can view this boat online too.

Anyway, so He said don't bother the, what do you call them, actors.

I said, I don't want to bother them.

I was like, you wouldn't be starstruck anyway.

No, I care about that stuff.

Anyway So we left, we left one time and left, went out and I think John Wayne was on it and the guy that plays on Gunsmoke was on it.

Marshall Dillon? Yeah.

That was his name on the show.

That's his real name.

Matt Dillon.

Matt Dillon.

Matt Dillon.

Yeah, okay.

And Lee Martin was on there.

Lee Martin was on there.

Oh, Lee Martin.

And they was all drunk, I mean They drank all the time.

You do know who Lee Martin is? Lee Martin played in Eraser, I guess.

I was going to say he played in Maverick with Neal Gibson.

I don't know, but anyway I went sailing on that boat for a while and I did all that stuff for a while.

I finally got tired of it.

I said, so the guy said, I told him I said, I'm ready to go back somewhere.

I said, I can't go that way because I can't speak Chinese and all that stuff.

He said, well, I said, well, I'm gonna go home and go back to Jacksonville and Florida, wherever I was at, and I'm gonna stay at my grandmother's house and I'm gonna get a job and then I'm gonna go in the military.

That was Granny Harris? Yeah.

Back at Granny Harris's house.

See, I didn't realize how much Jacksonville was in your story before I guess I didn't think about Granny Harris living here and Grandpa Foskey working for Graham.

So I didn't realize how much it played into the story.

I didn't put the two together either.

I just imagine you've lived and loved it forever.

Yeah, I remember being at Granny Harris's house.

That's where I got the scar over my face.

Yep, when we ran up, when you me and your mama ran up harbor next door.

Yep.

And then we went, I was running through the house.

I fell.

I hit the corner of the coffee table.

You took me to the Imerson Primary Care, but then you got mad at the doctor because he said you weren't paying attention.

I carried, we carried you in there and he was, he said, he said, I'm not gonna dead in there.

It's not like I ain't go anyway.

I told myself get dead in that thing because it's gonna hurt.

He didn't want to do that.

So he didn't, he dead in it, but he didn't wait for it to take effect.

He took the needle and stuck it in your eye and you hollered.

I said, whoa, whoa, whoa, we ain't doing that.

He said, you got to go out in the waiting room.

I said, no, we ain't doing that.

So your mama told me to go out in the waiting room and let him, and I heard you holler again.

I come in, I said, baby, I said, I'm gonna go outside and let you do this thing.

But if I hear that young man holler again, I'm gonna come in here and knock your head off.

He said that, well, we better wait for this medicine to take effect.

I said, very good idea.

Very good idea.

You come up with a good idea that time, slick.

So that, that one went pretty good.

Have you ever seen this car? Yeah, I've heard the story several times.

So, so they sewed you up and we carried you back home and I had just told you, stop running.

Well, it wasn't two seconds later, you tripped and blam.

I said, hey, I told you to stop running.

Of course, she was crying and we rushed you to the hospital, the doctor's office.

Okay, so I didn't mean to jump ahead so much because we were right before you went to Vietnam.

Because this is, I never, I didn't realize you were in Jacksonville then.

So before you went to Vietnam.

That's when I joined up at the Naval Air Station.

But you joined the Air Force.

Yes.

Now, why did you join the Air Force instead of the Navy? Well, I went down there, they had all the recruiters down there in the office.

I was painting cars during that time.

Painting cars? And driving a wrecker, working at a body shop.

Is this when JFK was assassinated? Is that when you were painting cars? Did you say that? No, it's a different time.

No, you said that's where you were, you were painting a car when you heard that it was.

When Kennedy got killed.

Yeah.

Was this the same time or was this? Yes, same time, same time.

He said JFK, I think he was confused.

Yeah.

But anyway, I went down there because I got drafted.

I was going to be drafted anyway.

So I went down there and talked to the Marine Corps.

I says, I said, and he told me, he said, you can't get in here unless you're a high school graduate.

And I says, I said, but I'm not a high school graduate.

He said, and he put his knuckles on the table, screaming, why do you want to be a Marine, boy? And I looked at him, I said, they all like you.

He said, pretty much.

I said, that's a good question.

Why would anybody want to join that outfit? Shit, I live.

So I went down to the one.

I went down to the Navy guy and he told me the same thing.

He said, you got to be a high school graduate.

And that's all I said.

And I went to the Army and they said, well, you can join, but it's not, you know, it's not like these other guys.

You sleep in the dirt a lot and you walk around the woods a lot.

Sleep out, I said, I don't like that at all.

You already did that.

Yeah, I do that.

So I went to the Air Force guy.

He said, well, you got to be a high school graduate.

I says, what? I'm not a high school graduate.

Is there any way I can join? He said, well, we need people.

I said, well, is there any way I can join? He said, can you pass this test? I said, I don't know.

I ain't took a test yet.

He said, if you can pass this test that we gave you, that's a high school equivalency test.

So if you can pass that, we'll put you in here.

I passed the test.

And that's pretty amazing.

In fact, because you didn't go to high school at all.

I mean, did you go to any high school? No.

Because you were, that would have been the time you was Hawaii and backpacking across.

I mean, I don't know, backpacking.

And back to that boat that John Ford had.

If you ever, Donovan's Reef.

If you ever see Donovan's Reef movie, that boat's in the background at Harvard.

You can view this boat online.

Oh, can you? I've seen pictures of it on the internet.

I found it one day.

And that lady, Merino.

Merino Harrier.

Merino Harrier or something.

She was on there with him too.

Okay, so phase three.

And we've gone through phase one.

That was before you left home.

Phase two was when you was making your way across the country and on the boat.

And I've known, I've known a lot of these for some of, you're filling in some gaps for me there.

The whole Jacksonville thing really is a big deal to me.

I can't remember all this stuff.

Like today, I can remember something.

Tomorrow, I remember a little bit.

And I had to put it together in pieces.

Because those are not memories you want to remember.

How old were you when you went to Vietnam? 22.

Oh, okay.

So you were late.

Last minute.

I didn't want to go.

Oh, okay.

Been drafted.

Well, if you were born in 45.

About 20 years old.

21 or 22.

67.

67, yeah.

I'm bad at that.

So it would have been 67.

When was Vietnam? Huh? When? I don't know.

68 and 69 is when I was there.

The best I remember, anyway.

I'm looking at when was the Vietnam conflict.

I went over it just before it ended.

November 1st, 1955 to April 30th, 1975.

Was that long? 20 years? According to Google, it says Vietnam War period, November 1st, 1955.

I don't think we were involved at that point, probably.

But, okay.

When did it start in for the U.S.? Okay.

The period beginning in February 20th, 1961 ended May 7th, 1975.

So that's still, I mean, that's what? 61 to 71.

That's 10, that's 14 years.

I was there for two years.

And you were there, what years? It was 68.

Right in the middle.

68 and 69.

I don't know, something like that, right in that area.

Where were you stationed? I was, well, first of all, I didn't go to Vietnam to start off with.

I went to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines.

And they supported, we flew missions to Vietnam.

Anyway, so I was stationed there for a while.

And then they sent me TDY to the, to, okay.

What's TDY? Temporary Change of Duty.

Okay.

In other words, I was just a fill-in for somebody before somebody else got there.

So I stayed there.

A normal tour of duty for us was 13 months.

So I stayed there for 13 months.

And I was supposed to come back to the States because I'd been overseas already over a year.

Yeah.

So they said, well, you can go back.

When I got back to the Philippines, I'd been there about two weeks, and they come up with some orders.

I said, these are my orders to go home, back.

But to make a long story short, when I first got to the Philippines, I didn't go to Clark Air Force Base.

I went to a little bitty rinky-dink Air Force Base, Mactan.

It's just a little rinky-dink place.

It might have had a dozen airplanes on it.

So I stayed there a little while.

Then they sent me to Clark, and then they sent me to Vietnam.

And they sent me, they were going to send me from Vietnam back home, I thought.

They just changed my records, and I stayed in Vietnam.

Wow.

So I spent two years there.

When you were there, did they have barracks, or did you live there? Yes, yes, we had barracks.

But it was like, do you know what an open-air barracks is? I know you don't.

It's like a dormitory.

Do you know? No, I know you don't.

Like a dormitory with sandbags all the way around it.

Okay.

In hot shots when it comes into the barracks.

Yeah, like that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, that helps.

That's called open-day barracks.

In other words, everything's wide open.

I'm assuming you didn't have air conditioning.

No.

We didn't even have hot water to bathe in.

When you got a bath, you went there and got in cold water.

Oh yeah, that's what I thought too.

That ain't no fun.

But man, I liked that place.

Beer was cheap.

So you liked Vietnam because the beer was cheap.

Yes, I did.

And believe me, people fussed about it, but it wasn't near as bad as where I come from.

Sure.

But your life is so bad that going to Vietnam is a joy.

I mean, in the military, they feed you.

They give you clothes.

At night, you can go do what you want to do.

I always had a bed waiting on you.

Yeah.

Man, that's nice.

Because when I was on the streets, I used to go to the suburbs and find people that didn't leave their car locked and climb in there and go to sleep in the rain.

Matter of fact, one morning I woke up and a guy snatched the door open and scared me and scared him too.

I was laying in the back seat.

Well, the door on the other side, took off.

That's how I got clean clothes.

People would hang their clothes on the line.

They don't do that no more.

And I'd go, that look like it'll fit.

That look like it'll fit.

I got clean clothes.

So after Vietnam, did you spend four years in the military? Is that what it was? Well, called four years active and two years inactive.

You know, they call you back.

Okay.

So you would have got out about 28 years old? No.

Maybe somewhere along in there.

I don't know exactly how long it was.

Because when you came back, did you come directly to Jacksonville or did you go? Yes.

What they do is they send you back where you enlisted from.

Okay.

When did you go to Japan? I went TGY to Japan when I was in Vietnam because every so often they have to send you what they call rest and relaxation.

R&R, R&R.

They'd send you somewhere R&R.

So I always chose to go to Japan because like I said, beer was cheap.

Bells.

Everything went.

General.

But that's where I went.

That's where I went to TGY.

I mean, I remember one time I went over there and they got what they call Japanese baths.

Oh, yeah.

They got a bath of hot water, a big old hole in the ground full of hot water, cold water, hot water, cold water, seven baths.

Going from hot to cold, hot to cold.

When you get in that first one, it's nice and warm and hot.

It's like a very big round thing, but it ain't very deep, but you just sit in there.

And after you sit there about 20 minutes, the water starts to cool off.

Then you get up and you get in a cold one.

And you sit in that thing about to freeze to death and they say it's time for another.

So then I come back and went to work at another body shop.

Then I went to work at a paper mill and I went to work driving trucks.

And that's...

Yeah, the other day when we were driving down what's Martin Luther King now, it used to be 22th Street.

You said I drove trucks for that place.

You pointed at a place and it was a movie.

That used to be a Benton Lees film place years ago.

Benton Lees? Benton Lees, name of the place.

Same name, was it a state place? No, they deliver film.

No, no, but Benton Lees is a state place in Georgia.

Well, it's not the same.

Yeah, this Benton...

It's called not the Benton Lees, but Benton Brothers.

And I used to drive for them a couple of years.

I would deliver popcorn and anything out in the woods to my drive-in theaters when it was closed.

So I was training this guy one night and he carried his gun with him.

I said, you don't need to carry a gun.

He said, well, I don't feel better with it.

I said, okay.

So we was taking these film cans, they call them cans, they're big old things about as big around, made out of metal, to handle them.

And we were taking them in the bathroom.

We had a key to the bathroom.

We was gonna put them in there and lock the door.

Well, we was putting them in there and I made about two trips.

I don't know how many he made, but all of a sudden, ah, ah.

What in the world? I went and opened the door and he had shot the toilet because of them, bloop.

He said, it scared him and he shot the toilet.

Yeah.

So the guy had to pay for the toilet.

He did.

Was that a part of the training? I guess it was.

It's funny.

Why is it so funny? Well, you handled that well.

Little Tackle Bear appeared.

He's just shooting everybody.

I'm so sorry.

That made me laugh, even the giggles.

The first place I went was Benton's, to drive, they trained me.

I don't know what year that was.

I don't know.

But I remember that Bentley's, they had a German Shepherd guard dog out there guarding the trucks.

They tied him to the trucks and he could just run on down it.

And I went one night to get my truck and he act like he's gonna eat me up.

It was closed.

So every time I tried to get my truck, he'd run at me.

I had some of Jenkins Barbecue.

Jenkins Barbecue hasn't been around that long yet.

And I had ribs and I had a lot of hot sauce.

So I went down to the far end of the trucks and I opened this thing up and threw it down the ground.

Dog come running down there and he's seen that stuff.

He started eating it.

I went and got my truck.

That's the only way I could get in there.

And he didn't like me no more.

Every time he seen me, he tried to bite me.

It's the hot sauce.

Well, Danny, we've been going at this for a little over almost an hour now.

I'll tell you it's gonna be a long time.

I'll tell you it's gonna be a long time.

Well, that's what I wanted to do though.

And you kind of brought me up to right before I was born, I guess.

I know you don't know what this is.

But when I was a young man, I was what they call a rounder.

I was always into something.

Always into something.

I never heard that term.

I was always in.

I'd get in trouble and get out of trouble.

I was always into something.

And like I said, I didn't realize at the end why I didn't go to prison.

Because I've done a lot of bad stuff in my time.

I mean, I've hurt people.

I've done nothing to be proud of.

I'm not bragging about it.

But I'm just saying I didn't know then that God had a plan for me.

And when I realized it, I really didn't understand it.

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

It's like you.

I was sent to help you too.

I mean, at least I think I was.

I feel like I was.

And your mama, that's what I'm supposed to do, is help her if I can.

So that's, I'm just doing what he wants me to do the rest of my life.

I think.

Maybe I'm wrong.

Now I do.

I want to finish, but I want to talk.

That's a good thing because you just talk about the Lord working in all this.

When do you believe you came to trust in Christ? When do you think? Because I think I know when it was.

And I think I know.

But I wanted to ask you, do you think you know? I mean, you believe in Christ now.

Oh, yes.

I would probably say about time you were born, I guess.

Right after that.

I mean, I just realized that that's what I'm here for.

You know what I mean? But see, I would say, and I guess I'm looking at it when I think about being born again, I think.

Oh, I didn't know nothing about none of that then.

I never even heard of it.

Yeah.

So you didn't go to church at all when you was little? You didn't know mom and dad? Well, they tried to make me go to church.

When your granddaddy's son couldn't find his feet with his hands drunk.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

It wasn't like going to church, going to church.

Yeah.

People didn't want to talk to you.

Didn't want to talk to your grandparents.

Didn't want to talk to your mama.

Well, I remember when you and Pat got married, Bobby became my brother, Pat became my stepmom.

You made me go to church because you said you thought it'd be good for me.

I know it'd be good for you, yes.

But you never went really with us until after I got saved, because I didn't get saved until I was 19.

Well, the way I, and I'm not making excuses now, but the way I worked was really hard to get a schedule.

You know what I mean? That's what made it so bad, because I was tired and sleepy all the time.

If I got a good night's sleep, it'd probably be three hours sleep in 24 hours.

And that drains you down, or you don't feel like doing a lot of stuff.

But anyway, I'm not making excuses.

You've never liked being around people.

No, I don't.

No.

And you're not making an excuse for that.

But that is, it's funny because you go places you don't stay very long.

You, this is the longest you've ever been in my house.

Well, that's because you made me.

No, it's true though, isn't it? If you get home for Christmas and it's- Can I tell you something? Yeah.

My little old place that I live over there, it's where I feel comfortable.

And you want people to come there.

I don't mind.

That's what I'm saying.

Like Gary today, he asked me, he says, are you ever going to come into my house and see me? I says, no.

He said, what? I said, no.

To be honest with you, no, I probably never will go to your house.

Oh, man.

What am I saying? Well, I know he is such a sweet guy.

I can't help that.

I don't care nothing.

You weren't trying to be mean.

You were just saying you don't have- No, no, I told him, I said, don't take it personal.

I said, I'm an old man.

I feel safe in my own place.

See, I think when, and Bobby backed me up on this, I think Billy Graham was a turning point.

Yeah.

Because I wouldn't have done that otherwise.

Going forward? Yes.

Because at the invitation, you went.

Yes.

Well, for one, for him to go not to like people, and to go to the Billy Graham crusade- All those people.

And then to go forward, you got up.

We didn't ask you to get up.

You just got up and went down.

I know.

I know, but Pat was sitting there.

I said, I'm going down.

I got to go down there and let them know.

Okay.

That may be the best invitation story ever.

I got to go let them know.

Yeah.

It was probably like a week after that too, Billy Graham wearing your truck.

It was the first time Papa even mentioned perseverance with the saints.

Wow.

Well, in his verbiage though, he said, boy, you think this thing's going to stick? Yeah, I hope so, yeah.

And he's been pretty active in the church since then.

I mean, and I guess it wasn't, because that was before I became a pastor.

Daryl was still here, because Daryl was part of the, remember him and Tim worked, they got people from churches to go work down there.

Right, yeah.

So this will be fun.

What about, I'm glad we talked about your salvation, but I want to ask this though.

What is your fondest memory of me, you, Pat and Bobby? Because that was, it was the four of us for years.

You know what I mean? Before Bobby married Julie, that was, how many years were we in the same house? Five years.

Five years? I forgot.

Six years.

But you know, I was- You came into the house when you were 11 or 12? 12.

And you left? At 18, and then returned 18 and one month later.

Well, I mean, but I remember being, when you, the first night you came to the house, I came in the door in underwear.

Yeah.

Because I didn't have any, so it was, I was, just wasn't, I remember, first night we spent the night at your house on a home drive.

I had a bloody nose, ruined your- Brand new pillow.

Brand new pillow.

You were the first person to use it.

And that was, I remember when we would go over there, but we would stay in the guest room, obviously Dad and Pat weren't married yet.

I remember sleeping with you in the guest room.

Remember that, Dad? And we'd spend the night at your house too, at y'all's house.

Just saying, while we were in the bedroom.

Well, no, me, you, and your dad would sleep in the master room, and then my mom would sleep in your room.

Because my room didn't, it just didn't have a bed in it.

Because when we first moved there, I had to sleep on an air mattress until we got all of our furniture, you know, my furniture moved over.

So what would you say is your fondest memory of those six years? I don't, I don't know if there is a fondest memory.

It was, it was a learning experience, I can tell you that.

Trying to change two city slickers to a redneck, that was hard.

And they tried to change me and that wasn't gonna work.

So I don't, I don't know if there's a, after I got adjusted to it, it was all fine to me.

Yeah, I think we matched so well.

That's what it did, it was for all of us.

Two families to match the way we did? Yeah.

Yes, sir, that was a blessing right there.

I'll tell you something that he did though, I don't mean to interrupt you, but something that, this just came to my mind.

We were going to the mountains, and you had had a topper put on the back of your Ford F-150.

Oh, yeah.

And he took a three-quarter-inch sheet of plywood, put it on top of the topper, and put a mattress on it.

And you and I rode on that mattress the eight or ten hours, or wherever it was, you were going to do.

Talk on a tape player? Was that the, was that NMC or NUC? NUC and New Kids Unblocked.

New Kids Unblocked, yes.

So, but can you imagine, they would bury you today.

I mean, the decent F-150, can you put your children, like the topper is bolted down, but not well.

No, that's the one, the one is when we had, when you borrowed Don Morris' truck with that cattle gate grade on it, the cattle, remember the thing? We'd be going down the road, we'd be on top, climbing to the top of that thing, just riding out.

I hadn't thought about that in a year.

But I remember trips to the mountains, I remember Ruby Falls, I remember Ghost Town in the Sky.

Now, I don't think we did that together, because Paul Freeman is in pictures with me.

I think that was, you may have been a little older at that point.

I've been a couple of times.

My mom and dad, we went, and they were married, and then after my mom and dad's divorce, before she got popped up, we went on a trip with Aunt Marty and Chris, and my cousin Chris.

I remember you telling me all about it, and I got to go and Jennifer Fife, when she was Jennifer Fife, it was me, her, and Paul Freeman, and you and Pat took us there.

We have a lot of good memories growing up, though.

Oh yeah, like Ron and his kids, you know? Because Ron was an adult.

I know, but I'm saying...

You can't in the picture, but her kids were younger.

Yeah, but we carried our kids everywhere you carried y'all.

Yeah.

I mean, they was all my kids, the way I look at it.

Yes.

I've treated them that way, too, tried to.

Well, Papa, you are the Papa.

I hope so.

I ain't good all the time, I know I ain't, but I ain't perfect, either.

Well, we love you.

Well, that's all I can care for.

And this is...

All this was for was for us to have something for good memories, and you shared a lot with me today that I didn't realize.

So...

What, are you thinking any less of me? I couldn't possibly.

Well, thanks.

No, not at all.

I think some of that helped clear up the whole Jacksonville.

I didn't realize how much Jacksonville fit into your story before.

And it seems like it should have, because I knew Papa...

I mean, I knew my Papa.

Y'all talk about places around here where he did stuff, like that time with Grandpa Foskey in a convenience store with a gun.

Yeah.

A lot of guns involved in these stores.

You know the Densmore Creek down there? Yeah.

Well, there was a great big rock.

I don't know if it's still there or not.

There used to be a wooden bridge going across there.

Yeah, it's still there.

The rock is still there, too.

There was a big, very big old rock.

I don't know if it's still there or not, but I got a picture of you standing on it when you was about JJ's age.

Yeah.

Standing on it with a pair of shorts on.

Well, if he was JJ's age, he would not have liked this song.

Since y'all came along in my life, I've got a very...

I have a lot of good members.

Hardly any bad members.

Most of my members, if it's a bad one, it's because I made it.

I helped out, too.

I helped out, too.

We all contributed, too.

I'm just glad to see y'all growing up.

As far as I know, y'all are both good men.

I hope Pat does this, too.

No, I think this would be good to hear.

Well, maybe we'll do this for the next time we get together.

Well, thank you, Dan.

I'm going to go ahead and stop recording now.

Okay, good.

I'm tired.

All right.