Adventures, Wit & Wisdom

CHARLES HUGHES

Description

Adventures, Wit and Wisdom: The Life and Times of Charlie Hughes offers an entertaining, humorous, yet sometimes tough to read, walk with me through my years growing up learning God’s amazing grace and faithfulness through every challenge.

Years ago, I watched younger people than I asking questions about some things I had considered established facts.

I wondered why they did not know this or that. Then, I realized they did not know because they had not been told.

I decided right then and there, when I retired, I would write a book to enlighten these young minds with some words of wisdom from the past.

I have assembled some stories from my life that will inform you. Some will entertain you.

Others will make you laugh. Some will make you cry. Some will make you laugh so hard you will cry. And even some of our ancestry is very interesting.

As you read each story, I hope you will look forward to what I might say next!

It is my sincere hope that you enjoy reading this book as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Historical
• Lettres et linguistique
• Humor
• Adventure (Guyana)
• Deer hunting
• Biography
• Prayer
• Adventure
• Autobiography

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 30 décembre 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664284357
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

Adventures, Wit & Wisdom
The Life & Times of Charlie Hughes
CHARLES HUGHES


Copyright © 2022 Charles Hughes.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
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.
 
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.
 
Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™
Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
 
Scripture quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
 
Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the Holy Bible, King James Version (Authorized Version). First published in 1611. Quoted from the KJV Classic Reference Bible, Copyright © 1983 by The Zondervan Corporation.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8434-0 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-8435-7 (e)
 
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 12/15/2022
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
 
1 Our Ancestry
2 The Bicycle
3 My First Boss
4 Vacations
5 Friends From High School
6 The Early Years
7 Then Til Now
8 Grandma’s Apron and the Miracle Cure
9 The Quilting Frame
10 The Tragedy
11 The Story of Willie From Waxahachie
12 The Restaurant
13 My Dad’s Sayings and Discipline
14 Four Wire Gaps and a Woman’s Word
15 Angels Among Us
16 Celebrities and Politicians I Have Met
17 Food Preservation When I Was Young
18 The Lumberyard Stories
19 The Load of Shingles
20 The Pliers
21 Big Dave
22 The Dog House
23 Landry and the Cowboy
24 Mathematically Impossible
25 More Lumberyard Memories
26 To Bed at Four-Forty and Up at Twenty Til Five
27 Third Time’s a Charm: The Wedding
28 Kids and Pets, and the Cute Things They Say and Do
29 About Water?
30 Answered Prayers
31 An Adventure
32 The Campout at Singleton Bend
33 The Deer Hunters
34 More Hunting Stories
35 An Eight Point First Day
36 On the Spur of the Moment
37 The Huge Buck
38 Friends and Neighbors
39 The Kindness of Some
40 The Five-Cylinder GMC
41 The Tiny Coffee Pot
42 Daddy and the Cat
43 The Environment
44 Redneck Solutions
45 Crime
46 Hammer and Axe Domino Story
47 My Wife Alice’s Story
48 Our Daughter Monica’s Story
49 Our Daughter Amanda’s Story
50 Our Granddaughter Jessica’s Story
51 Our Grandson Josh’s Story
52 The Best Ever Explanation of Life
53 I Am Uneasy
54 Oh No! Those Baptists!
Acknowledgements
Loving support is greatly appreciated from family and friends, whose gifts of time and details helped make this book possible. Thanks to Monica and Jeff Cook for their gift of Storyworth, and Monica for contributing a story plus genealogy information. Thanks to Jim Cook along with Melba Merkel for additional genealogy information. Thanks to my wife, The Lovely and Gracious Alice, for contributing a story. Thanks to our daughter, Amanda Hughes, for contributing a story and editing the book. Thanks to our granddaughter, Jessica Snelgrove, for contributing a story and our grandson, Josh Cook, for contributing a story. A number of permissions are appreciated from Mike Caplinger, Ken LaRonde, Conrad Schade, Bryan Hawkins for the wire gap photo, to the J.M. Smucker Company for permission to use the Folgers coffee can photo, the Ford Motor Company for photo permission, and Daisy Outdoor Products for permission to use the photo with the Daisy Rifle.
Introduction
Years ago, I watched younger people than I asking questions about some things I had considered established facts. I wondered why they did not know this or that. Then, I realized they did not know because they had not been told. I decided right then and there, when I retired, I would write a book to enlighten these young minds with some words of wisdom from the past.
I have assembled some stories from my life that will inform you. Some will entertain you. Others will make you laugh. Some will make you cry. Some will make you laugh so hard you will cry. And even some of our ancestry is very interesting.
I put in some that are part of my favorite funny stories or are jokes included to break the seriousness and keep your interest such as “The Restaurant” or “Willie From Waxahachie.” When you read those, I hope you will look forward to what I might say next!
In some stories, I had to leave out a name of a person or a business because I had no permission. Otherwise, all the stories are true or were told to me as the truth. I have left out a lot of politics on purpose.
Perhaps now that I am addicted to writing, I will write another book devoted to my political views. It is my sincere hope that you enjoy reading this book as much as I have enjoyed writing it.
Charles Hughes
1
Our Ancestry
I t all started with a man named Solomon Geron. He was born December 28, 1761, in Roane County, Tennessee. The record was written in the Geron family Bible. We would have little record of his birth but his widow, Eleanor, tore the handwritten record from the Bible and included them as proof of who she was when she applied for the government pension afforded widows of men who served in the American Revolutionary War.
So lomon lived with his father until he was sixteen years old. It was then that he joined the militia to serve his country. He was discharged from the service a year later for an illness and sent home only to rejoin as soon as he recovered. He was discharged several times, once because he was severely wounded while in a command fighting to keep the enemy from crossing the river, and was successful. His last enlistment was in 1779.
The war ended on September 3, 1783, with the signing of The Treaty of Paris. He was my Great, Great, Great, Great Grandfather on my dad’s side. His son, Solomon Geron Jr., begat William Wilborn Geron who begat Charles Young Geron who begat Mary Arizona Geron Hughes. She was my grandmother who married my grandfather William David Hughes; they had two boys and four girls: my dad, Luther Leroy (LL or Slim) Hughes; one brother, Lester Lee, who died when he was one year old; and four sisters: Verna Irene, who died when she was three years old, Mable Doris, Ollie Mildred, and Lina Mae. My dad, Luther Leroy Hughes, married Edna Earl Hyatt. Their children are Melba Josephine, Tommie Louise (Deceased), and Charles Lester Hughes. I married the most beautiful girl in the whole school, The Lovely and Gracious Alice Marie Lester Hughes, on July 18, 1965, and we had three children: Christopher Keith (who was stillborn), Monica Marie Hughes Cook, and Amanda Antel Hughes. We have two grandchildren: Jessica Marie Cook Snelgrove and Joshua Paul Cook.
On my mother’s side, I could only trace back to my great grandparents. Through talking to my sister Melba and cousins, my great grandfather William Jefferson Hyatt and great grandmother, Susanna Duckworth, since grandmother Susanna was a full-blooded Cherokee, I looked up the meaning of her name in Cherokee and it means Many Graceful Lilies. They had six children: Callie, Bell, Bulla, Dan, William Jr., and Thomas Victor Hyatt, my grandfather. He married Otha Josephine Fridge; she had two brothers: Will and Dan, and four sisters: Jessie, Appy, Ann and Pearl. Grandfather and Grandmother Hyatt had three children: Napoleon Bonaparte Hyatt, Mamie Belle Hyatt Rhodes and Edna Earl Hyatt Hughes, my mother.
On Alice’s side, her grandparents on her dad’s side were Oran and Minnie Lester. They had six children; three girls: Fay, Ginger and Maggie; and four boys: Orban, TC, Virgil, and MV. MV Lester married Vivian Wingate who was the mother of my wife, Alice. Vivian’s parents were William (Bill) Wingate and Ella; they had one boy: William (Bubba) Wingate, and three girls: Shirley, Margie, and Vivian, Alice’s mother. Alice has three sisters: Pauletta Lester Berry (Deceased), Serita Kay Lester Butler, Arlene Lavon Lester Locke; and three brothers: Oran Perry Lester, Michael Dale Lester, and Weldon Bradley Lester (Deceased).
Notes:
1 William David Hughes, my grandfather, had a brother named Charles, which is probably where they came up with my name, who left home at the age of eighteen to search for fortune and fame and was never heard from again by the family.
2 The Buddy Holly connection: I have liked very few rock and roll tunes down through the years, but I like Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock And Roll” and Chuck Berry’s version of “Johnny B. Goode.” Like most of us my age