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Families : Greely Jarvis family
Posted by Webmaster on 2005/8/27 2:30:00 (6475 reads)

A history of Greely and Gladys (Engle) Jarvis and their son John.

Gladys & Greely Jarvis


Greely and Gladys (Engle) Jarvis lived at Amma in southeastern Roane County for many years. They raised their family, Donald, John, Betty and Arliss, (who died at a young age), at their home on the Amma hill overlooking the home place where Gladys had lived before her marriage. Greely and Gladys owned a grocery store at the intersection of the Amma and Pigeon roads across from the home of her parents, William and Clara Engle. The post office was within the same building as the grocery during my childhood days in the 1930's and remained there until Interstate 79 was constructed about 1971. This highway took their home and their place of business including several outbuildings, one of which was the garage for a Spencer High School bus. They then purchased a farm and home on the middle fork of Reedy Creek and Gladys and Greely lived there until his death 15 Apr 1990. Gladys continued to live on the farm near her daughter, Betty Lee Sears, until Betty's death 07 Mar 2002. Gladys passed on 10 Oct 2002, leaving their son, Donald, as the only surviving member of their family. He resides at Maysel in Clay County with his wife.



Submitted by Jack Nida
Photos courtesy of John Michael Jarvis

A MAN CALLED JOHN
By John Michael Jarvis

He stood 6 ft. tall, a giant to his young sons. He was lean and wiry from years of farm work as a youth. With muscles to prove it, too. He had brown hair with a wave in it that eventually became salt & pepper. His eyes of brown were piercing but kind. He wore a mustache, sometime as handlebars that he waxed with care. He grew a beard, just to do for fun or to disguise himself. He wore braces and not the kind on your teeth. No, he lived the better part of his adult life with a back brace and two leg braces. Crutches assisted him when needed.



But how did this man begin, how did he mature? We would find him helping his father, Greely, on his farm. Being friend, being a brother, being a student, being a football player. Learning the love of a mother, father, sister, brother, and girlfriends. Faithful to his fellow man, and church. Somebody that could play or tell a joke & in kind take one in return in good spirit. Mischievous but smart. No not the college kind, the street kind. Or in this world of the backhills of West Virginia, comman sense. Like when, he stopped to help a bus load of children escape out the emergency exit when it slid off the road, hanging precariously off a cliff.

After graduating Spencer High School, he tried to start his own roofing/painting business. But times were rough and our country was at war again, the Korean War. With the spirit of the warrior, whether he knew it or not, he joined the Air Force to serve his country as those forefathers did before him.

Ole Uncle Sam sent him to Fairbanks, Alaska towards the end of Korean War when he finally got out of basic. Snow, more than he'd ever seen in WV. But the task of setting up a base in the frozen tundra was his as a carpenter. In preparation for any invasion across the Bering Straits, the AF drew the first line of defense. He helped build hangers for our aircraft, for example Shooting Stars or Sabres. But like any structure in war, it becomes a target.

No different in this one. It wasn't attack directly by foot, sea or air. No it was by stealth. Sabotaged! While performing maintenance in the upper rafters or under direction to search for a bomb, we will never know. For a device did explode and brought down this hanger into the cold snowy Artic air. Long he fell from above with a girder following behind him.

Now if there was ever a doubt of the Lord having a hidden agenda for this poor lost soul, here is a prime example. There must have been a Guardian Angel with him that fateful day, because he survive that fall. Yes, he was hurt. Hurt bad! An injured back near broken resulted. But he pulled through. He recovered.

Life went on, he married his sweetheart, Elsie Ann. Oh what a team they made. They set up a small family compared to the sizes of our forefathers. Starting in apartments and later on base housing in Hampton, VA, he served our country at Langley AFB, VA.



Well the gleam in his eye, was born and his first son came to know the laughter of his loving father. I can remember being taken to see Buckarow Beach with its amusement park and a lighthouse fountain there. I remember the lights of a fishing pier has he showed off his skill at fishing. During this time, Elsie Ann's sister, Bicky was introduced and married by Dad's friend and coworker from the base, Henry Mason.

Then as Uncle Sam has a way of doing, this young family went west to help with the nuclear testing by way of keeping up the airbase that the aircraft used in testing. We landed up in Windover AB off of the Bonneville Salt Flats next to the Great Salt Lake of Utah right on the Nevada border.

Here he really got to show what a backwoodsman he was. Well almost...no trees out there! But he could hunt & did with his friends in an old model T ford truck. His adventurous spirit took us in the old Mercury out to places that are long gone. We saw Black Falls, Idaho and the tumbling, tumbleweeds. Dust storms and desert animals. Sheep herds and mountains.

Closer to home, he got his son his first train set which he played with as much as the son. He would win suppers at the local casino. If he lost, it was never big. He helped at a local 76 station for extra cash with his knowledge of mechanics. He took his son out to the barracks on base to show off imitating Elvis. He even captured a mean old Golden Eagle and caged it behind the house. The eagle was eventually set free and soared to freedom. But boy could it tear up a steak.

A reprieve was given to this young family as it was shipped lock stock and barrel to Illinois. A little town of Rantoul next to Chanute AFB. And life became a little more interesting for all.

As the age of self-awareness continued to grow upon the son of John, life in the Jarvis household came with never a dull moment. This is a time when age of electronics was fresh...a time of the space race...a time for family...a time for the family to grow. As this wee tyke grew the shadow of his father was ever there to comfort his fears.



Moving to Rantoul, IL so Dad could continue his career in the AF, we reported in at Chanute AFB. John was put in charge of the Base Hobby Shop. This is Tim the Toolman Taylor's Heaven. There are not many children who could be as proud as I was of my father. Why he could build anything, make wonders, do just about everything, and all before lunch.

In this dungeon of saws and drills, he was teaching others woodcraft, photography, ceramics. Father was able to build furniture, boats, pottery, etc. As his son went through Cub Scouting, Dad did his best to teach his son the skills and knowledge required to earn his badges.

He brought me to work with him to show me the different hand tools and power tools. He showed me how to develop film in the darkroom. Also how to paint simple ceramics and prepare them for firing.

To expand my horizons he took me to see Stock Car races, to visit historical monuments, to see the country. Our extended family was moving out of West Virginia and into the Nation. And to visit them, we did a lot of traveling to get there. And when we arrived, Dad would educate me by showing me the area. We went so many times to visit I started to know the way by heart. In this way, I didn't realize it but the rich heritage and lore of the West Virginian Hills and Mountains became the foundation stones of my love of history and family.

How many kids were able to say Dad shot a pheasant for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. Dad was a great hunter. Those pheasant feathers made many a Robin Hood hat. Dad even took me hunting once. Then he also went on the Cub Scout campout with me. I remember us sleeping in netted hammocks between the trees. On another adventure, we had a hike thru the entire town of Rantoul. And he ensured that I learned how to swim at the base swimming pool classes. He came to my school plays, even the one with me as a wounded Union officer singing the Battle Hymn of the Republic and the one where we sang Christmas Carols.

Dad and Mom had a time of it with all my childhood illnesses and problems. But he was there for me all the way, through dehydration, fevers, colds, measles, tonsillitis, & stubborn meal selections. He even bought me another train set. He taught me how to ride a bicycle.

We lived in house that was large in my eyes. This was only temporary because Dad wanted to live in a trailer. Our trailer was adequate and he even changed it to suit him. It was parked on base as well as off base. Both locations were hit by tornados.

The first time we were at the Commissary when a tornado hit the trailer park. The winds pushed the front window back to rear of the trailer where we also found the pet bird whimpering in his bent up cage. We were lucky. Other trailers were blown apart all around us. But it was repaired and life went on.

The second time I was in elementary school, when the alarm went off. We all went into the halls and sat down with our heads covered with our arms. Dad heard of the emergency and drove like the wind to get me home. At the neighboring grocery store, Piggy Wiggy was completely destroyed.

The third time, Mom & I was home in the trailer when the alert went off. Dad had the car and was driving home to get us. When he reached the corner of our street, as he made the turn in the Valiant, winds of the tornado picked it up. So that it made the turn on two wheels. It sat back down, Dad got us out and we drove to the base hangers. Our trailer bathroom window was busted by debris. This time like other false alarms, we stayed all night on cots in the hangers. They even provided ice cream.

These hangers supplied a couple of adventures. Dad took me there to see all the displays and aircraft during Armed Forces Day or Scouting Jamborees. I was certainly given an education in the multitude of aircrafts that were in the AF inventory. Displayed all over the base, some were big enough to raise a family in. They even had a clothesline. I even learned to draw these planes.

But time was running out and we didn't even see it coming. On one of our trip back to WV, Dad was taking us out for a spin in his boat. We had a great time seeing the Kanawha River from Cedar Grove to Charleston. But the day grew old and we turned around to call it day. The boat was hitched and drawn up on its trailer when it slid off the rollers and landed on Dad, pushing him down awkwardly back into the river. It hurt him but he shook the effects off and got us all back home.

But the damage had aggravated his old injury. Time was short and getting shorter. He tried to continue his occupation in the Air Force but it was getting too difficult to pick up and carry implements of his trade. His back was beginning to ache terrible, medication was not going to keep the pain away. Finally, the doctors showed him that his back was had herniated discs. He needed surgery to fuse his back.

I can remember a series of operations with Dad going to another base for the operations. He was taken by AF Medical aircraft on one of these occasions. I remember Mom traveling to go see him in the hospital, of Grandma, coming to help and to see her son. During one of these operations a miracle happened.

As he lay on the operating table with his back up for the doctors to enter. He was sedated and put unconscious. However, he regained a measure of insight. How was it that he was above the operating table, sitting upon a stone seat, watching every move that the doctors made. There was a measure of peace and tranquility that he would not forget and now known would not fear the afterlife. But now was not the time, he was returned to us. His trials and tribulations would carry him forward many years to come. He awoke and told the doctor all that he did. The Doc could only shake his head in wonder. There is a Lord, my God because he was there with my father that day.

Dad came home in a full body cast. He recuperated on the couch-bed. He hated a bed pan. So there was a time when he propped himself up and got out of bed. Down the hall he walked to the bathroom. His walk reminded me of Frankenstein's lumbering gait.

The cast came off and he recovered but with crutches to aid his walk. Time went on but the feeling in both legs lessen until, to aid him to walk, leg braces were used. Then to help him keep from twisting his back in pain, a back brace was worn. My father gained an exoskeleton.

Dad decided to redesign his leg braces. So he fixed them to bend by just pushing his leg back into the chair seat. It would open a pressure switch that would open the knee joint. But because he was a government employee being in the AF, this invention could not be patented but it was no time at all that this improvement was aiding all who used leg braces. Before Dad, one had to reach down & unlock the knee joint for it to bend. My father was "Tony Stark, Iron Man!"

Then there was a certain Blue & Gold Banquet that Dad, Mom & I attended. I was up on the stage getting a badge and silver arrows. Dad was beaming and proud. They were sitting beside the Base Chaplin who seeing Dad smiled asked why? Dad told him about me and pointed me out. The Chaplin smiled and said, "I bet you'd enjoy seeing another child up there getting awards." Dad said, "Sure but after all this time I don't think it is going to happen." The Chaplin replied, "Well, my son, I tell you what I am going to do with the Lord's help I will pray about it for you." It wasn't much later when Mom told me I was going to have a baby brother. I was so happy. I went to church and during the greetings I spoke openly and loudly that all would know that my Mom was going to have a baby. Certainly it embarrassed her and Dad, but after the services Dad asked the Chaplain if he had prayed for them. His reply, "Why, certainly! Congratulations, now you will get to see another son earn awards." Then it happened and I had a baby brother. Steven Patrick Jarvis had arrived and I was so proud of Mom.



But Dad had to have another operation on his back and he was off again. Mom decided that we'd go visit him. So off we went with Mom driving the Valiant with me on the passenger side and brother Pat in a car seat between us. Remember, we live in a plains state and when the wind blows it blows with a vengeance. Mom was passing a huge state dump truck when a side-wind hit us hard causing the car to push into the dump truck. It bounced off it and swerved into the ditch on the left. I planted my feet into the floor and my left arm went across my brother to protect him. We were heading straight into a telephone pole. Mom turned the wheel and we flew out of the ditch and back into the dump truck. Bouncing off, we went back into the left side ditch. The car came to a halt, bouncing hard into the air but never flipping. We were shook up but ok. The car was a mess. The papers wrote headlines about Mom like "Whoops, Here She Comes Again!" So Mom went to see Dad alone next time.

Dad couldn't remain in the AF. So with T/Sgt so close, he had to leave a S/Sgt with a medical retirement, 100% disabled. He had the trailer moved to FL. He took his growing family back to WV to stay until our trailer made it there and got set up.

Life In Daytona Bch, FL:
Dad brought his small family back to WV to Grandpa Jarvis' farm to stay after he separated from the Air Force. He must have had it in his mind to set up his new life in Florida because he had started to buy a small plot of land for the future. However, he had to find work, too. So what work he found in Florida was not very close to the land he was buying.

Dad went ahead of the family to see the parking of the trailer home in a new trailer park in Daytona Beach. This enabled him to land the job working for a pleasure boat firm in Daytona. So while he was gone, you'd think I'd be having the time of my life out of school and with lots of time to goof off and explore Grandpa's store and farm in the mountains. Nope! I came down with the mumps. I was miserable all through the holiday season. Then Dad got back before Christmas. We had the typical huge extended family Christmas with all the relatives and cousins showing up. So we laughed and played and ate good food prepared by all the experienced cooks. Still it came to an end and we traveled to Florida.

Dad got me back enrolled into the 5th Grade. I can remember our time in Daytona Beach, which was only a year. With all the hassle of moving there it was only temporary. I remember we lived in the shade of a big old oak tree that had hanging moss. There were egrets and flamingos that waded through the drainage ditch adjacent to the trailer park. We could see the early rockets and missiles launch into space from here.

Still Dad did his best to show his sons the area. We had trips to the Beach since it was so close. That meant sand, surf, and boardwalk. He took us to the ruins of an old sugar plantation which they had found Indian burial mounds and dinosaur bones. No bones to look at. Nope, they had big dinosaur statues all over the park paths.

I can remember that Brother Pat had his first haircut here. Dad took us both around the corner to the barbershop. Pat being a wiggle worm and impatient didn't hold still for the barber. When we returned home, Mom just cried. All Pat's lovely curls and locks had been shaved off for a crew cut. But Pat was ok; it was cooler for him.

I don't know how Dad could afford it, but when the boat company had to move from Daytona to Folkston, GA, we went too. Dad must have impressed them a lot with his abilities and skill even being disabled. Dad was still getting his retirement check in addition to what he earned with them. Mom had always stayed home with us. But her story is a future project.

Life In Folkston, GA:
Dad bought an acre and a half of land in the little town of Folkston, GA out on Okeefeenokee Street and the trailer was moved onto it. I was enrolled into the 6th Grade there. Dad had to plow up the entire plot to rid it of undergrowth. We had a line of pine trees in the middle of it dividing the property. It had oak trees in the front corners and a fence all the way around it. Eventually, Dad had a huge garden in the rear. Behind the property were the Atlantic Seaboard Coastline Railroad tracks. So we had trains to lull us to sleep.

Folkston was a sleepy old small town with major industries there of logging and lumber industry. There was a titanium mine and textile factory that opened later. It also had lots of motels to hit tourists on their way to Florida. Mind you, that this was before the interstates drove them out of business. A golf course was eventually put in across the street from our property on land that had been an old private airfield.

Dad took me out to the factory he worked at and showed me the fiberglass boats that he built. He even designed one of the styles they sold. It was so neat to see more of what my Dad could accomplish. However, he didn't purchase one of the boats. In fact, the government told him that he would have to quit his job if he intended to continue to get a full retirement check for being 100% disabled. He thought long and hard, but he told the boat firm farewell and came home. I can recall that the boat firm went out of business not long after that. So it was for the best anyway that Dad left when the going was good.

That didn't keep Dad down or in the dumps. He built a full-length addition next to the trailer to give us more living room, storage space and a laundry room. I can remember him buying our first FM radio to set down in the new living room. He still owned the monaural record player bought while in the service. He got me a small reel to reel tape recorder to play with. It goes without saying that the televisions we owned just got better and in color! Dad finally was happy with the house and turned his mind to other projects.

He found a Sinclair Station on the main drag through town that the owner would allow him to work at his leisure. Dad didn't work officially for Sinclair, or wear the uniform, but he'd go down there and show off his expertise in fixing cars for them. In fact, I remember an old prop aircraft engine was repaired and put onto an airboat by him. Dad had no set time schedule to be there but he made friends easily and helped as he could.

Our land was big enough to allow his friend, Bob Fine from the Air Force, to move his trailer behind the pine trees to live until he could get on his civilian feet. So it was nice to be able to play again with Janice and Mom had Bertha to talk with. Still it wasn't too long and the Fines moved onto Florida to where he found work in Ocala.

I can remember Dad's big canvas family tent being bought for one of the trips back to WV. We went to Brunswick, GA to Sears to buy it. Dad drove us up the Shenandoah Valley in VA. We had a swell time listening to park rangers tell us about the land and seeing the deer. Night came and wind blew though the mountains. Then the tent walls flapped all night long. I could have sworn I heard bears outside. At Grandpa's farm, my cousin and I camped out by his garden. Later during the night, Dad crept out and scared us with sounds of rustling and grunting like a bear. Scared us enough for us to run into the house. He got such a charge out of that for years to come.

Dad tried to put me into Boy Scouts in Folkston, but I wasn't being accepted very well with the good old boys in school and they were in Scouts, too. So after a few times of being humiliated, I begged out of that situation. Dad supported me getting into a few dance classes. I was quite good at it. Mind you, I did have to do my chores to earn the money to do these things.

Dad had found a new hobby...fishing! With the great Okeefeenokee Swamp at our backdoor so to speak, he found buddies and fish camps, rented, borrowed long boats and went back into the swamp. He would bring back ice chests full of fish and was in seventh Heaven. Eventually, he took the family a few times into the swamp with him to look but not to fish. I remember a big old alligator that crawled into the water and hit the underside of the boat.

Another time, he took me fishing in a boat and out of it along the St. Mary's River. Dad asked if I wanted to know about "the Birds and the Bees"? I replied I already knew about birds and bees. Little did I know what he talking about and that was the only time he tried. For he told Mom, I already knew and went on with his business. Needless to say, I learned from my friend, Mike later. But Dad took care of my teeth, and had the orthodontist put in a temporary retainer for awhile.

Dad was allowing my friends to come over to our trailer for sleepovers and some were back in the tent. He would help us make a big campfire over a lighter stump to help him burn it out of the ground. He sent me off to Methodist Church one summer. Another time he took us to see a train museum that had opened near us that had working trains to ride on. Dad took us a couple of times to see an Old West theme park that had guest actors and actresses. We saw the actors who portrayed Hoss Cartwright, Daniel Boone and his wife and son from the TV shows. Dad had even baked homemade pizza for my Methodist Youth Fellowship group at one of their parties.

During the time period, we experienced something new...a hurricane. With us living in a trailer, we had to evacuate for safety sake and we spent the night at the Methodist Church. I remember Dad sitting up all night listening to the radio. I suspect he even went out driving to see what was happening. But the hurricane missed us and we went home to rake up all the pine needles. Grandma made baskets from them. Oh yeah, thunderstorms were plentiful, too. Lighting struck the tree right beside the trailer in one storm. That was loud.

Then Dad got a new passion...hunting and guns. With all the pine forest around us, he decided to try his hand at that, too. He was quite the sharpshooter. It was in his blood, I think. He bought me my first 22-cal. Rifle level action from Western Auto and got me enrolled into a NRA rifle safety course. I remember Dad going out to shoot rattlesnakes and water moccasins. I could shoot ok, but he was terrific!

Eventually, I was in Jr. High and it was combined with the High School football team. Since he did football in school, he really enjoyed going to see their games. He'd watch football on TV or in person to make it a life long passion for him. He wanted me to try out for the junior varsity team. After returning home all one big bruise, he saw there was no future football star in me and allowed me to find other interests. Like the gas powered tethered airplane he bought me. He wasn't mad at me when I broke it the first time I flew it. Or the Schwinn Hornet bicycle he bought me to ride all over the place with. Or the model rocket he helped me build and fly. He encourgaged my love of building plastic model airplanes.

It seems we were so secluded that when the Cuban Missile Crisis occurred, it didn't faze us a bit. (It did Uncle Don flying recon for the Navy.) Then President Kennedy was murdered and the family watched all the proceedings on TV, but to the kids the national day of mourning was just another day off from school. The Vietnam War was just getting into gear and various members of our extended family was coming and going. However, things were fine at home because Dad was here! Even if that meant that seeing a Pink Elephant when Dad was out with the guys one night, he decided to buy it to prove he saw it. Or at least that is his story when he drove home a pink Cadillac for the family.

Living in Folkston, meant we had to travel over an hour down to Jacksonville, FL for him to go see the military doctors at Jacksonville NAS or for us to go to the commissary to stockpile food items. Being retired at this time, he was still able to use both to save money. We would also go to Jacksonville to see his brother, Uncle Don and his family, since he was stationed at Cecil Field NAS at the time. Yes, Dad's back and legs were still bothering him but he took his painkillers and endured. He was sure it was only going to get worse as time progressed and he didn't want to be so far from the doctors. So when Uncle Don needed to move on with the Navy, he helped Dad and us by selling him his home in Jacksonville. It was the summer before I was to go into High School and we were leaving the nest again. The pain of leaving friends had been with me all my life and it wasn't getting any easier. Pat had had time to enter Kindergarten and through a few grades of Elementary School. Mom was leaving her friends in the Folkston Methodist Church that had become United Methodist. Even the family dog was given away so as not to be a burden when we moved. And we thought it was hot in GA, FL was going to bring a whole new expression of humidity thick enough to cut.

Life In Jacksonville, FL:
Dad got the trailer home sold and off we went with all our gear. Well almost all...Pat & I didn't have a bed for months but we each had our own rooms for the first time in his life and for me since he was born. No more playing Hand-hand & Hand with Pat from the top bunk. Dad's bedroom opened to view both our bedroom doors so he could keep an eye on both of us. Just living in a house meant more room to do everything. Dad had a backyard garage to putter around in and Mom a big kitchen and dining room to make us huge feasts during the holidays. Of course the backyard was fenced in and had 2 big pecan trees. After mowing our last yard, this was much smaller and easier to cut except for the heat.

We were changed to members of the Wesconnett United Methodist Church. Dad made friends quickly with the neighbors and the local gunsmith. He would help the gunsmith with rebuilding rifles and guns, but his favorite thing was to make rifle stocks and pistol grips from scratch. Beautiful carved stocks that would match the owners hand grips for better shooting. In fact, he rebuilt a Wheel-lock antique rifle to actually work. Dad could still out shoot anybody in the VFW at turkey shoots and would come home with multiple turkeys.

Then Dad got into reloading gun ammunition with special loads. He'd do this for the police officers. I remember him saying that one officer came back and told Dad that one of his bullets when fired at a fleeing felon in a getaway car had sprung open the trunk, ripped through back & front seats, through the dash, and into the engine block, stopping the car. But the garage was an armory with all the black powder out there. Dad was careful working with the explosives and molten lead.

Dad got a part time job as an Auxiliary Policeman. He did a few Coliseum show guard duty stints before he started bringing home free tickets for us to go to wrestling matches. He would have enough for me to bring a friend, too. This was special male bonding time for us. We watched wrestling faithfully together. So going to the shows was a real treat. He even could go back stage when in uniform. He found Dusty Rhodes sitting on his new used car, a Lincoln, and was able to tell him to get off the hood. Dusty moved before the law. Ha, Ha, Ha! I remember one match we were watching was getting Dad, who was out of uniform and sitting with us, angry at all the cheating. He took his cup of ice and smashed it into a ball. He threw it at the wrestler just as a security cop walked in front of the wrestler and got smashed for his efforts. Dad sat back down real quick and avoided detection. But, boy, was it funny.

During this time of my life, I was moving away from doing things with Dad. I had friends to be with and girls to date. But Dad was cool about it. When I fell in love and wanted to get engaged with Sandy, he liked her enough to hand me $100 and told me to go get the rings. Well, when we broke up, Dad got the rings back. Or when he paid for 2 proms: tuxes, suppers for both, and lent me the Lincoln. He would allow me to bring my friends over for all night card games. He even taught us how to play Michigan Rummy. My friends held Dad with great respect and awe; he treated them as if they were his own kids and helped get them out of trouble with the law from the background. Dad was a role model for my friends in that he did not give up, that he kept his spirits up to endure through the worse of pain, that he continued to lead his family through his example.

Dad allowed, my best friend, David Albert, one summer to go to WV to work with Grandpa putting up the hay. We worked hard and sweated more than we'd ever had. Lying on the top of hay bales stacked high on Grandpa's truck, it swayed all the way up the mountain to the barn. Then it swayed once to often and both of us slid off with the bales at the barn. Thank heaven! Still we both swore that we didn't want to be farmers and decided to go to college. Dad just laughed and Grandpa smiled, but both knew they had done right in teaching us what hard work really was.

Initially, Dad bought me a 10 speed bike to ride around with. Then I found part-time work and earned some pocket money. I saved enough for a motorcycle. Dad chipped in for half and I had wheels of my own. But before this, Dad was allowing me to drive his own car with him with my learner's permit and eventually trusted with the Valiant and Lincoln. He let me drive on long trips back to WV and even drive Grandpa's tractor once. Dad's Lincoln was neat; it had hand controls for breaking and acceleration, which I wasn't legally supposed to use, but learned anyway. It was a big car to date in, that's for sure! But Dad made sure I knew how to change tires, do tune-ups, & oil changes on both cars. When I wrecked the Lincoln, he was madder at me for being supposedly at the beach rather than where I said I was going. The police had phoned home with the wrong location, so I had to do a lot of talking to prove I was hit on the way to where I had been going. The Lincoln was fixed, Dad's photos of intersection convinced the Judge I wasn't at fault, and life got back to normal.

Before learning to drive, Dad drove me downtown to Junior Achievement meeting for a few years. And when I got into DeMolay, he helped get me to those meetings too. When Dad picked up a new hobby of movie making with a 8mm camera, he taught me how to use the camera and edit film, too. In fact, my friends and I made a music video before MTV was even around with the 8mm film and cassette music of Quicksilver Messenger Service's "Pride of Man". The Film made honorable mention in a Kodak film contest.

Where we lived, looking out the rear sliding glass doors, we could watch the Saturn V rockets take off to the moon. We watched all the shots on TV with Dad. Then Dad took us to see Cape Kennedy, and Disney World. There were a couple of aquarium parks that we went to and St. Augustine's Castle Fort. He really loved to see the sites as much as we did. Like taking us to Fort Clinch. But he hadn't given up fishing. Nope, he just changed to deep sea fishing with a friend who had a big fishing boat that could go out into the Atlantic Ocean.

Dad wasn't going to the high school games here, but was watching TV for all the football games. He even stitched together a latch-hook rug for in front of his chair. He was in that chair a lot. If not the garage, the chair was where he was. He bought a console record player, am/fm radio, reel-to-reel tape player for the living room. That's when our neighbor's son, Jeff Carlise of the future band, Thirty-Eight Special, was put on country music. Jeff would turn his amp down then.

Still he was starting to hurt worse and that brought on the stronger painkillers and at one time he told us that he was given a doctor's prescription for alcohol. Later that was found false. But Dad was hurting and switching from drugs one week to alcohol the next. And we thought it was normal. Dad was known to fall from back spasms, but he learned to fall without hurting himself. I swear he hurt sometimes enough to sweat blood. However, he was a medical miracle in that he was still able to walk with or without crutches or a cane which he used both.

Somehow or another, being with the auxiliary police for awhile, he did some undercover work for the force against the drug lords in town. He caused a few to go to jail and when released was looking for him at times. That is when Dad would grow a beard for a disguise.

Then the new interstate bought out Grandpa's farm and store in WV. So Dad brought the family back to help salvage as much as possible to move to the new farm. So I learned the hard work of taking apart a house, barn, store, and moving the stuff to the new farm. So for a short while I had a new farm and hills to explore and learn. It was the least we could do for all the times Grandpa would bring down a freezer full of beef for the family from his own cattle.

Because Dad was 100% disabled and couldn't use his GI bill to go to college, his rights went to Pat and I. So we both were able to go onto college on his ticket. I showed I could do well with electronics and after graduating High School, I was enrolled into DeVry Institute of Technology in Atlanta, GA. This way I was exempted from the draft with Vietnam still going on. Dad helped me set up a bank account and kept me with some food money. My part time jobs gave me money to entertain myself and get home on. I didn't have a car of my own until graduating with my Associate Degree. Then Dad gave me a Gremlin and even picked up the insurance while I was still going to school for my Bachelor's Degree at Ohio Institute of Technology in Columbus, Ohio.

The Declining Years:
It is the least I could do to remember he who took care of me when I was sick as a child. For with the New Year and millennium but a few hours away, I pick up the prose to finish this work of love. I owe a lot to that man, my father, and proclaim it I will. Gladly, tears not withstanding, for John Herbert Jarvis was the Man of My Half-Century.

It was 1970 & I was being sent off to college as the family went north for a WV visit. John Herbert could now turn his attention to Steven Patrick and Elsie Ann. However, John was feeling worse. He was hard to please, as Pat found out. But with Mom around a happy medium was established.

I could come home with my dirty laundry from college once in awhile. I was still trying to keep an engagement working with Sandra, but it was just a matter of time before that was over. I did my best to keep my grades up and work part time jobs to help with my living away from home and going to college on Dad's GI benefits. I know I was giving Dad bragging rights on what I did, now that I was away from home. Yes, my prime job was studying and Dad encouraged this. I was sent money to eat on and a little for entertainment.

By 1972, I was finished with DeVry in Atlanta and the family came to the graduation. But I had one more year to go in Ohio Institute of Technology in Columbus, Ohio. Now that a bus ride would be over a days ride home, and logistics of getting to the campus from across town, Dad awarded me with a Gremlin for achieving an Associate Degree of Electronics Engineering of Technology. So visits were few again.

Then with no job offers before graduating, Dad told me I could continue to look for work from home. So towards the end of 1973, I came home with my Bachelor Degree of EET. Since I was coming and going all the time back home, Dad had let me keep my room. After continued searching brought nothing, Dad supported my decision to join the Air Force just like he had done.



Off to boot camp I went. Dad was kept on pins and needles but wouldn't let on that he was worrying. So when I did call home, Mom would be the first to answer. They did their best to encourage me to hack it out. So in no time at all, I left boot camp in Lackland AFB, TX for continued service education at Lowry AFB, Denver, CO. During this long school, I was able to take leave and come home to visit and get the Gremlin. For after this school was done, I didn't get my wish for an East Coast base. Nope, I was being sent to Beale AFB, CA. This was a proud day when I told Dad that I would be working the Side-looking Mapping Radar on the SR-71, the world's fastest jet.

But Dad knew that I wouldn't stay there long. So in less than 2 yrs., orders came down for me to go to Kadena AB, Okinawa. Which meant one more trip home with the Gremlin to leave because I couldn't take it overseas. But it was a big trip home because we didn't stay in Florida. Nope, we went to WV for the 1975 Christmas vacation and to celebrate Dad & Mom's 25th Wedding Anniversary. Everybody showed up at the Glasgow Church of the Nazarene and it was a joyous occasion.

Dad was enjoying watching Pat come of age. Pat was singing in high school and won first place bass in the State of Florida. Talent that Mom encouraged, but Dad was just much proud of; for Dad didn't sing much, except for songs like "Down In The Valley", "Ole Yellow Cat", & other country folk songs. He enjoyed doing this on car trips when we were young. Pat wrote a song, "I'm Going To Walk", and Dad helped him get it copyrighted. I think it even got published once. Also, Pat was showing a proclivity to helping friends with their problems like any pastor would.

So in one of the biggest years of our country, I was going to miss the 1976 Bicentennial Celebration. Oh, I got to see it on delayed TV. Whoopee. A month after the celebration died down Mom's father, George Martin died of a heart attack. So that was a trip back to WV that I missed. However, the American Red Cross did get the news back to me. All I could do was send home a poem about Grandpa. I was told everyone enjoyed and respected it.

President Carter was in office at the time, when two Army Captains were murdered by axes on the DMZ and that gave Dad time to worry again. For a show of force was sent to Korea, part of it from Okinawa, and I had went with the Pave Spike pods carried by F4Ds. Being a past Korean War Veteran, even if Dad had not served in Korea but rather Alaska, he feared for his son's safety, but was terribly proud of his son answering the call of duty. Needlessly, after a month of the American Superpower flexing its muscles, it was all over and everybody went home.

But the year was far from being over as the family was about to learn. Plans were being made for all the holiday vacations with the Jarvis household. Pat, Mom and Dad packed up and went north on Thanksgiving Eve to Wilmington, NC to spend Thanksgiving with Aunt Betty and Uncle Lee Sears. However, things didn't go as planned. With all that had happened to Dad, it was time for a new twist in his life. For on a long lonely stretch of road, out of the blue, two drag racing teens sideswiped Dad's car twice. He lost control of the car, which flipped and landed in a ditch. The two family dogs survived and jumped out of the car and ran away not to be found for days. Brother Pat came through ok in the backseat, but the door was jammed. He crawled instead out the busted out rear window. Fearing the car's fuel tank would explode; Pat used his Boy Scout First Aid training. With a clear head, he removed both parents from the car with hidden strength to access the interior of the wreck to carry them both to safety. Elsie had bruised her knee severely on the dash. Dad was the worst. His face was pretty smashed up. Pat did his best to staunch the flow of blood. The paramedics finally arrived and took the family off to the hospital. Dad had his nose set, cheek sewn up, and an artificial tear duct installed by his eye. His whole face was blackened. Talk about pain, but this didn't keep Dad down. He wanted out of the hospital and started drinking Gator-Ade like it was going out of style.

Meanwhile, I got news of the accident. I was granted an emergency PCS move back to the states because of having orders anyway for Davis-Monthan AFB, Tucson, AZ. So I flew back to Jacksonville, FL to get my car & follow up to NC to see the family. By the time I arrived, Dad was back at Aunt Betty's. To describe what Dad looked like would be to describe the Batman villain, Two-Face. With Gator-Ade slowly flushing his bruised flesh, his face was healing unevenly for weeks to come. Dad had a fit with the artificial tear duct working right. But with repetitive trips to the doctors, the duct finally was made to work. One more item about this incident was that Brother Pat as a member of the Boy Scouts of America was honored with the Medal of Merit for his first aid skills. Dad was so proud of him when pinned.

Not able to stay any longer and the family safely back home with Christmas under their belts, I had to say goodbye again as I took off for AZ to work Pave Penny pods on A-10 Thunderbolts. Now if 1976 was a terrible year, 1977 definitely got better. By October, a summer romance had finally claimed my heart and the family was told after the fact that they now had a new Daughter-in- law, Nancy. It was a disappointment that they didn't get to see the wedding but Dad readily accepted her into the family. And to boot, with Nancy came Erika, which made my parents grandparents. Why it was shortly after that, I was calling home to tell them they were going to be Grandparents, again.

A grandpa...Dad had achieved immortality as the family line was to continue. So when Christmas vacation came and I brought home my new bride and daughter in my new used Pacer, Dad made Nan feel like the daughter he never had and spoiled Erika like any grandpa would. But the AF wanted to move me again. However, this time, it was to the East Coast to Myrtle Beach AFB, SC.

So after a quick trip back west, the new family was heading back east. After getting settled into an apartment complex, it was time for Nancy to give birth to Christopher Alexander. The happy grandparents could not be restrained; they were up to SC as soon as they heard. Dad was so happy. He was having a hard time on other visits up to see the grandbaby with back spasms that would make him fall during the night.

As the year progressed, Dad would spend a good deal of time in bed waiting for pains to subside in order to get up and socialize. He felt too bad to go to Pat's graduation from High School at the Coliseum downtown, but he was still so proud he could dance. However, Nan, Erika, & I were there with Mom to see Pat graduate. Still Dad would stay up late at night to listen and talk on his CB base station that sat by his chair. He even had one in the car. I remember him getting mad at people on the air and trash talking back at them. This helped him let off steam and his own hurts. Also, he was call cross country to talk with my In-laws that he would never meet.



But Dad had more to be proud of because by Nov. 79, Barbara Ann was born. This time both Grandparents and Great-Grandpa came to visit the new Jarvis child. So for the first time in many years, a picture was taken of 4 generations of Jarvis. Dad even brought up a dining room table and chairs, which he refinished to look good as new.

Still the AF wouldn't let me stay put & now they were sending us to Denver to Lowry AFB, CO to be an instructor. So during a farewell visit home, Dad spoke to me late one night. He spoke of how proud he was of his sons and that he was thankful that we were good stalwart citizens. But his doctors had told him that he was slowly dying. No news to Dad, but I didn't want to believe it. Dad would be around for a long time. Still Dad had to say it, would I do my best to take care of Mom? Of course, I said I would. I gave him a hug and went on to bed.

The Big Sleep:
This move was in winter and this southern boy had many a tale but not for this story. What is important is by summer 1980, I was broke with no hope of going anywhere. My growing family was quickly outpacing AF pay raises. There were reports from home of Dad having to be taken to Jacksonville NAS hospital with complications. They stabilized him and sent him home. But his condition continued to get worse, so by the next time he was transferred to Lake City Veterans Hospital. It was there that the doctors gave up and said they couldn't stop Dad from dying.

I was told by the American Red Cross & couldn't figure out how I could respond. My AF supervisor got me in to see the AF Aid Society where I got a grant. So taking extended leave, I drove cross-country with Nan, Erika, Chris and Barbara. I got home and got the family situated.

The entire family went to visit Dad in the hospital. It helped to cheer him up to see how much they had grown. That Nan was pregnant again and it was going to be a boy. So he knew his immortality was doubly insured. Grandma Gladys Jarvis came down to be with her son during his final days. Early on, Dad wanted me to kidnap him & take him to WV to die, but I felt I couldn't handle it. I would return to visit with Dad over the course of the month. We would watch wrestling on TV together and talk of my plans. I even had his favorite barber come give him a haircut in bed. He was being visited by all his friends and relatives as they could come and see him for the last time alive. Still he only got worse, his liver had long since quit working and he was so jaundiced. He lapsed in and out of a coma. Finally I couldn't stand to watch my Dad die. God, it was hard. But Mom and Grandma stuck it out to the end staying in a home across the street from the hospital. Mom seeing how hard it was on Grandma sent her from the room and she remained with Dad in his final moments. Remember I have said all along how Dad was not a quitter in anything he started. The same with life, Mom watched as he gasped for life, grasping for a chance to continue, and then go still. The Nurse would say that was it, when Dad would do it again. This cycle happened ten times before he let his soul go to the Great Beyond on July 10, 1980.

Dad's journey was almost over. Mom and Dad had made arrangements for Dad's brain to be donated for scientific research that was kept secret until months after he was dead and buried. But Dad was flown back to WV to have a funeral in Spencer, WV. The rest of us had to drive, but we got there safely. Once again to stave off sorrow, Pat & I wrote epitaphs to be read at the funeral. All his friends, Grandpa & Grandma Jarvis, and other relatives in WV and the surrounding states came to pay their last respects. I talked Mom into burying Dad in his military uniform and the casket we got him was baby blue like the sky with winged angels on the corners. So Dad lay with all his medals on and I didn't cry until they closed the lid, the last time I saw my father. We followed the hearse along the windy mountain roads back to Amma Methodist Church and laid him to rest there beside the rest of the family members in full military honors. Mom accepted the flag and has it still. Pat remained behind to watch the grave filled.

We all parted again and I took the family back to Florida. Mom wanted to give all Dad's Florida friends a chance to grieve and had put on a memorial service at the Wesconnett Methodist Church. So this was put to bed, & I took my family back to Colorado.

This would normally be the end of his story except I really missed my father. I would rock baby Barbara and sing her to sleep with songs of Dad. And when John William was born and brought home, I swear I could feel Dad's presence watching his arrival. Finally, there was a couple of mornings when I woke up and went to the bathroom mirror to shave. I looked in and saw my Dad's curvy, wavy hair on my head. Was he playing tricks with me? I have long since quit feeling his presence. But to this day we all miss him and wish we could share another day with him. Yes, I know we will meet again in the great family reunion in heaven, so it isn't all that bad. All in all, John Herbert Jarvis lived a full life and accomplished much in his half century of life on Earth.

He wasn't a terribly religious man, but he had been saved while courting Mom when he got saved rather than be left behind alone. He made sure Mom got to church with the boys. When he could attend he brought his inflatable seat pad to ease the hard pews against his broken back. He tithed the best he could. He believed in God and with all that had happened to him knew there was a plan with a purpose for him even if he couldn't see it outright. So to conclude, John made it to those pearly gates in heaven.

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rjnida
Posted: 2007/8/27 3:30  Updated: 2007/8/27 3:31
Not too shy to talk
Joined: 2007/8/27
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 Appendix
John Jarvis, Bob Looney, and I were known as the Three Musketeers of Amma when we were growing up as we were always together. We went to school together, John and Bob being two years behind me in class, even though we were almost the same age. We played together, hunted and fished together, went swimming together, 4-H camp together, double dated together, joined the USAF together, and remained good friends all of our lives. While our paths did not cross very often in later life, it was a joyous occasion when we did get together.

At Amma School about the year 1941, the teacher was Lena Cobb, a rather stoutly woman and strict disciplinarian. She selected John, Bob and I to find a Christmas tree for the school one morning so off we went in search of the finest specimen in the area. It was rather late when we returned with the tree that afternoon and as a reward for missing most of the day of school, she proceeded to take each of us out into the hallway one at a time and give us several swats on the behind with a ping pong paddle, her favorite weapon of choice for misbehaving children. After school, the three of us were comparing notes about the severity of the punishment we had received and John was visibly upset more than Bob and I. The reason turned out to be the fact that he had a very good sling shot in his hip pocket that had been broken during the application of her gratitude for our good deed for the day. As I recall, we all three declined the next year when it came time for volunteers to locate a tree for the Christmas decoration.

Jack Nida
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