Glenn Springs Pool

The first Saturday in July we went to Jupiter Springs with Betty and Billy and their kids and Betty’s cousin James and Anita Beck with their kids.  We had fun playing in the spring with all the kids but I thought the water was too cold and had to get out and sit in the sun to warm up.  The following Thursday morning Mom took Brenda and I to swimming lessons at Glenn Springs in Gainesville on 23rd Boulevard, David was too small.  I remember getting the water and hanging on to the side of the pool and learning to kick.  The water was really cold and Brenda said she about froze.  That same afternoon we went to Magnesia Springs and met Betty, Billy and their kids Janice and Karen.  Mom had brought a picnic lunch to eat at the spring but we didn’t get to eat it because I was running around the pool, which was against the rules posted on the sign and enforced by all the mothers, when I slipped, fell, and cut my head right across my right eyebrow.  Blood gushed all over my face and around the pool before my got a towel to press against it after which Mom rushed me to Doctor Brasher and who put five stitches in it.  Not all was lost for Betty, Billy and their kids came over to our house where we had the picnic dinner and Mom, Dad, Betty and Billy played Canasta until after we kids went to bed.

The next day Brenda fell when running down the street and cut her leg on the rough road and cut her leg.  When Mom told her she had to had stiches, Brenda ran around the house and Mom had to chase her to catch her and drag her in the car.  Mom rushed her to see Doctor Brasher who put four stitches in her leg.  With stitches in her leg, she wasn’t able finish swimming lessons, Mom said, “Poor Brenda can’t go until next Tuesday.” but I think she was glad not to go into the cold water again.   That night us boys camped out in the back yard, Hank Weaver brought over a tent and Corky, Douglas, David and I all stayed in it.  We had fun in telling stories and staying up late but after they all fell asleep, I was still awake and went into the house and got in my bed.

My compass
Stamped USCE on the back for
U.S. Corps of Engineers

One Friday afternoon Dad went to Camp Blanding for the Chemistry Department to see if there was any military surplus equipment that they could use at the Chemistry Department.  I don’t know what he got for the Chemistry Department, but he bought home a brass compass and a folding army shovel which he gave to me.  Over the following years he would bring back other such small items.   

The last Sunday in July we went out to Grandma and Grandpa Mixson’s for dinner. Grandma went out into the barnyard and got a chicken which she killed and cleaned.  We had fried chicken, mash potatoes from potatoes David and I got from under the house, fresh green beans picked from the garden and fresh sliced tomatoes and biscuits with cane syrup for dessert.  After dinner we all went out into the front yard and Grandma taught us to take a Y shape seed shoot of grass and string 4 O’clock flowers on it making a small but pretty lei.  Then while Dad and Grandpa stood nearby and talked, Grandma, Mom, Brenda, David and I all sat on the grass and played around.  Mom, a cheerleader in high school, started doing tricks with Brenda with Mom laying on her back with Brenda balanced on her feet, when suddenly Brenda fell and hurt her arm.  After determining her arm was broken, we quickly piled into the car and rushed to the Alachua General Hospital in Gainesville. I remember Dad driving really fast and the whole way Brenda sat in the front seat cupping her arm going “euwe, euwe, euwe” in the car all the way to the hospital while David and I sat in the back seat.  The drive to Gainesville, down country roads, though Micanopy, then highway 441 was normally a good forty minute drive but Dad made it in record time. While Dad stayed with David and I in the lobby of the emergency room, Mom went with Brenda and was gone for three hours.  I was worried something terrible had happened to Brenda but then she came walking out with a cast on her arm.

The following week Grandma and Grandpa came to visit one day and Grandma spent the afternoon with the sewing machine mending torn clothes that Mom had been putting aside in a pile.  Mom said, “Boy, I was glad to see her, you ought to see the mending she did for me on the sewing machine! She’s so good about things like that!”  After all Grandma made all of Dad’s clothes when he was a boy.  After dinner, Grandpa went home but Grandma stayed the night and the next day she went with us to Sliver Glen where Joyce and Wyndall joined us.  We had a fun time swimming and had a picnic lunch although Brenda, with her broken arm couldn’t go in the water.   We left late afternoon and drove Grandma Mixson back to her house in Flemington where we stayed for dinner and came back after dark. 

Updated: 08-21-2023

August