Connections

Hal McFarland

Description

Connections Summary
The events, emotions, and thoughts that I have delineated in this book represent 86 years of my life on a voyager called Earth--it is my attempt to establish the fact that there is no such thing as an insignificant trip. I have tried to include in this history both the noteworthy and the benign aspects of this journey and to highlight the people along the way who have influenced me and giving me direction; and as I step back and contemplate the part that I continue to play, I am pleasantly surprised to recognize the effect that I have had on others.
And that, above all else, has given my life meaning.

Sujets

• Personal Memoirs
• Biography
• Autobiography

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 05 mai 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781728359939
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 4 Mo

Extrait

CONNECTIONS
HAL MCFARLAND


AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
 
 
© 2020 Hal Mcfarland. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse 11/09/2022
 
ISBN: 978-1-7283-5994-6 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-7283-5993-9 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2020907597
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
 
Some parts of this book are works of fiction, and in those parts, names of characters places, and happenings are the product of the author’s imagination or are fictitious. Any resemblance to real people or places is unintentional.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
Part I.Life’s Many Challenges
Those Early Years
My Father
A Country Boy
And Then There Was the Country School
Athlete of the Town
Heading for College
The Haiku
The Arrow Strikes Again…and Again
The Inheritance
Career Decision
Love at First Sight
Our Expanding World
Meeting the Darker Side of Life Once Again
Letting Go
The Little Brother
Travels
The Babysitter
The World Around Me
Early Best Friends
The Farm Life
Heartache of a Different Kind
My Singing Career
The Renters on the McFarland Compound
The Drug Cartel
My First Novel: A Dream Within A Dream
The Last of the Stories Within a Story
Three Judges Span My Life
Nick…Not George
How the Play, Farewell to Rosegate: The Joan Kiger Story, Came To Be
The Clock Shop
The China Connection
The Barn House
Ranger Harold
Fred
City Life
Uncle Park’s Legacy
Casey
Part II.Articles, Stories, Opinions, And More That I Have Written
“A Close Call”
“Our Campus’ Archaic Conundrum”
“Suzuki No Challenge to Rose’s Record”
“Love and Money Well Used”
“The Mountain Code”
“Sean’s Revenge”
“The Butterfly’s Kiss”
“Wally”
“A Family Secret”
“The Names in The Bell Tower”
“What Goes Around”
“Burlington Loses a Significant Building”
“The School I Remember”
“Looking for Harry’s Fortune”
“Runnymede’s Tarnished Underbelly”
“Two Silver Dollars”
“My Love Affair”
“Everything but The House”
“Blue Hairs and The Economy”
“Hanging it Up”
Part III.Poems Reflecting My Life And Thinking
“First Love”
“Farley’s Promise”
“Life – Not Ours to Control”
“Do Not Assimilate”
“Clues to the Prize”
“They Almost Bought Our Farm!”
“My Bro’s Double Nickel”
Part IV.A Few Letters
Dear Gayle
The Things I’ve Never Said
Climbing Memory Hill
A Final Letter (of sorts) to My Father
Introduction to the Kiwanis Club of Cincinnati
A Letter from Nick Clooney
Dear Wife
 
My Final Thoughts
The J Letter
The DJ Letter
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I t’s very difficult to write a novel or other type of lengthy prose without guidance or input from those whom you trust.
This attempt is no exception, and even though most of the material comes from my own recollections filtered by the times through which I lived, I could not have been fair and factual, especially with the sections I call “My Heroes” without help.
Some of the material regarding these gentlemen, I had picked up through listening to the adults’ conversation as they talked about World War II and the exploits of my various uncles. What I did not realize was that a small part of what I had heard was embellished and rearranged by the storytellers. It was not until I contacted the following people and read through their collection of newspaper articles and letters from the servicemen that a clearer picture emerged as to the depths of my uncles’ sacrifices and heroism.
Bob McFarland, the son of my uncle Clyde McFarland, provided me with first-hand information regarding his dad’s intimate connection with the USS Hornet . Jean Meyer, the daughter-in-law of Bess McFarland Meyer, had inherited the lifelong correspondence that Bess had with her brothers, especially Clyde. These letters, in addition to the many newspaper stories, flushed out my recollections of Clyde’s heroism and also those of his brother, Chester, who was a tail gunner on a B-17.
Bonnie Schmutte, the daughter of my uncle Harold Bachman, provided me with his impressive array of metals and newspaper articles regarding his involvement in the Pacific Theater of World War II. It was a complete surprise to me that, knowing Uncle Harold as well as I did, he had not been at all forthcoming as to his exploits regarding the invasion of those Japanese-held Islands during the early days of the Pacific invasions.
And I was lucky to have my old friend, Debbie Dryden, to help me with organizing my material, arranging my nearly 80 pictures, and civilizing such minutiae as type size and so forth (as well as contributing a significant Haiku).
Although my wife, Barbara, had been an important part of all my other novels, she was now in the midst of her 11 th book, and because of that was unable to give met her usual microscopic critique.
PREFACE
A ll I have ever been in control of is the three-letter word now , and by compounding that moment over and over again, I have created a lifetime. Individuals and civilizations around the world have fought and often died, trying to own that instant, knowing that its duplication preserves their reality.
Why the struggle if there cannot exist a hope for the extension of who we are and what we believe in? Children bond the past to the future, but what if there are no offspring? Can ideas perform the same task? Can continuity of purpose be wrapped in the cocoon of words and pictures for electronic eternity?
One can only hope.
INTRODUCTION
T he seeds of this project have been germinating for many years, but suddenly as I look at the calendar and realize that I am closer to 90 years of age than 80, I asked myself:
If not now, when?
I know that later in one of my articles, “Hanging it Up,” I suggest that an autobiography is something best reserved for a time closer to death, but my excuse here is that this is far from a memoir; it’s more like a nod to those who accompanied me on this bloated sphere for a little while and how they influenced my life’s trajectory.
I have lost many of the people with whom I have shared life either very closely or in some cases, peripherally, but in any event, those losses chip away at my circle of being. All too often, I have been called upon by relatives or friends to help with final arrangements. Arrangements, as they define them, could be anything from providing comfort at a funeral to joining in cleaning out cabinets of files and hordes of trivia.
What are we all but a collection of this and that! And once our body goes to the funereal pyre or the cemetery, our lifetime assemblage of things to the garbage can or the auction block, and our friends to the great beyond, what is left of who we were? History records the famous, the infamous, and the Kings and pharaohs for all times, but what about us, Mr. and Mrs. Average?
Up until the advent of Google, social media, Ancestry websites, and other such searches and sites, we were all relegated to ultimate oblivion. However, these new gods favor us all with a posterity, which can be recalled by a few fingered keys.
And so, this book is my attempt to buy in to a little everlasting life; for in today’s world, even small, somewhat boring lives can have electronic immortality.
First, I get down to the nitty-gritty events of my life and my attitude toward people, places, and things; to do this, I have divided these recollections chronologically, with an occasional flashback or reminiscence.
Then, a few short stories, articles, and essays I have written over the years – some published, some not. I did not want them dumped in life’s final garbage can.
Third, and this is an area that some of you may want to skip – poetry, reflecting, for the most part, emotional times in my life.
Finally, a few letters to or from friends, relatives, and others, often expressing what I or they could not say in person.
PART I
LIFE’S MANY CHALLENGES
G ood food and fine wine throughout our marriage have been the drugs of choice whenever my wife, Barbara, and I were overworked (or in her mind, underappreciated); so, it did not strike me as unusual or suspicious when she suggested that we go to The Millcroft Inn in Milford, Ohio, for dinner.
It was Saturday, and occasionally we did treat ourselves to a night out, especially after a hard week or as a reward for some real or imaginary accomplishment.
I had just retired from the Cincinnati Public Schools after a 33-year career as an English teacher and school counselor. Only the week before, I had returned from a California vacation with Charles and Shirlee Williams, friends for three decades. They had suggested the excursion as a marker in the culmination of my career. Barbara was unable (or unwilling, I mumbled to myself) to take a week away from her private practice as