Nolan Bailey's
Oak Ridge Memories
I'm attaching a photo taken of my sister and I with some of
the Roosevelt Drive homes in the background...they are on East Roosevelt Drive.
On the left is Ruth Bailey, and of course, the guy on the right is me... :-)
Not that it matters, or is of any importance, but I just found a photo of my
family taken during the 1941-1945 time frame, when we lived at 210 South
Roosevelt Drive in Minden. My father worked as a fireman at the Louisiana
Ordnance Plant (the "Shell Plant) and was there when a large explosion killed
several of the workers. He never did forget having to move several bodies out
of the building. In the attached photo are Ralph "Wayne" Bailey and Nova, the
parents.
Wayne is wearing part of his "Shell Plant" uniform in the photo. The children
in the parent's lapsare Nolan and Ruth. I think that this portrait was taken
at a Minden photography studio around 1942-43
210 Roosevelt Drive
David was the son of Lucian McDade "Dade" Wimberly and Martha McEachern
Wimberly. Dade was a State Trooper.
It's interesting that the McEachern family lived just down and across the street
from my family on South Roosevelt Drive during WWII. We lived at 210 South
Roosevelt Drive back then. I've attached a photo of my sister, Ruth Bailey, and
"yours truly" sitting on "our front steps" at 210.
AC McEachern was quite an adventurer. I may have told you that he had dug a
maze of tunnels underneath their home on South Roosevelt Drive. He may have
been a leader in the "bomb shelter" movement of the 1950's. I'm surprised that
their home didn't crush AC's tunnel network and tilt right over. The back of
the McEachern family's home faced a wooded hill with deep ravines. I think that
A.C. is the one that did this. Someone had attached a cable or long rope to a
big limb that was over a deep ravine. At the bottom of the rope was a wood
"cross bar" that the kids would hang from and swing out over the "canyon." Boy,
looking into the deep ditch was enough to insure that one held on tight during
the "swing." I can't believe that I participated in this adventure since I must
have been five or six years old at the time. They say that "The Good Lord takes
care of those who don't have enough sense to take care of themselves." "Thanks,
Lord." :-)
I also remember that we would have air raids out there in the Oak Ridge
subdivision. As I recall, a siren would blare and a "warden" would come around
to make sure that everyone had their lights off. This included cars, too. Not
too long ago I met an Anderson that lived down around Ashland. It was amazing
to learn that he was the child of an Anderson that lived just up the hill and
around the corner from us on Roosevelt Drive. It's a small world. One of my
cousins, a single Army Air Corps pilot, would often visit us on his "Indian"
motorcycle and take the single "gals" that lived on Roosevelt Drive for a ride.
I think that one of the young ladies had the last name of Roberts. I'm trying
to remember the name of this "older lady." She lived just up the hill on the
right. I thought that she was cute and I was only six years old at the time.
;-) See, I was even a "dirty young lad." ;-) It's too bad that there isn't
someone on the Minden Memories site that lived in Oak Ridge during the war. It
was a "brand new" housing development back then. Ever so often, when I'm in the
Minden area, I drive through the subdivision and take a look at the "memories."
By the way, the Hennigans lived just down the hill and around the corner from
us. Charlie had a younger brother, I think, that was older than the rest of
us. He would condescend to play with us every once in a while...we were honored
by the attention. We didn't play "cowboys and Indians" back then, just "Yanks
v.s. the Germans and Japs." I know that it isn't socially polite to use the
derogatory term, Japs, nowadays. But, it was used in the newspaper headlines
back then. Think not? Look it up... What did we know, we were just little
kids with "big ears," like the "little pitchers" used to have. ;-) You
remember the old saying, "Little pitchers have big ears."
Enough "smoke blowing" for now...
Nolan
For more Oak Ridge Memories VIsit My Oak Ridge Memories
By Charlie Hennigan and His Neighbors
Also Under Stories
There was a ravine which began at Red Cupples house which became progressively
wider and deeper until it reached the road at my house. We hung bag swings on
trees at the edges of the ditch and had fine times swinging out over the
ditch. We also played in the sand at the bottom of the ravine planting bull
nettles there for the unsuspecting to dig. I think there may be some who
remember the remedy for bull nettle stings. I'm not going to tell!!!
Charlie Hennigan
