My favorite childhood room.

I had many homes in my childhood. The earliest was a farm house in Winnebago Nebraska. The next was a house near Dakota City Nebraska. Then it was another country house in Jackson Nebraska. After that a house in Sioux City, Iowa at 3096 Myrtle St. During high school we moved back to a farm house in Correctionville, Iowa. My favorite room was probably my bedroom. It was quiet and many books were read there. The next favorit room was the living room because that's where the TV was.

What was my father's Occupation

My father was mechanic all of his working career. He first worked at a dehydrating plant as a mechanic on tractors and other equipment. When I was about 10, he changed jobs. He worked for a fruit company and repaired their fleet trucks. After I reached adulthood, he started his own business which lasted over 20 years. I was interested in mechanic work and my Dad and I had many special projects together.

Where I was baptised.

I was baptised at a small church in Walthill Nebraska by Reverand Warner. I later at age 12 was confirmed into the church body at that same church. Later in life I came to believe that baptism should be done after receiving the Lord known as being born again. At that time I was baptised again with my wife, Dottie. I believe the second baptism was the corect and biblical way.

What I remember about my first kiss

I was Sixteen at the time and knew nothing about such activities. However my high school buddies decided one night after they were off work to hook up with a group of girls and ride around the town. Well, of course, as it would happen the driver of the car stopped at a convenient spot to aah, well you know. I being really naïve and didn't have a clue what was going to happen. Anyway the girl next to me looked at me in anticipation and I just looked back. I happened to notice all the others in the car were swappin' spit. Well, I figured I'd give it a try. I puckered up, shut my eyes and leaned into it. It was probably the worst kiss the poor girl ever got. After about 5 minutes of trying to figure out the whole procedure, I was glad to end the adventure and head back to our cars to go home. I don't think I ever became a good kisser.

Insights for working well with others

Working well with others in my opinion has to do with making the job fun. I have developed over the years a knack to work hard but make it fun. If I can make the job fun then others will have a good time working with me and the job will get finished and leave others in a good mood. I learned that from my Uncle Don.

Who was my name sake

My mother worked for a country doctor's family in Bancroft Nebraska as a house keeper. She did house keeping chores for the family. This family had three children as I recall. One of the children was named David. My mother always liked that name so when I was born I was named David. This same doctor delivered me when I was born and continued to be my doctor until I became an adult. I have fond memories of visiting the doctor's house and playing in the basement with the doctor's children. They had the neatest horse swings hung from the ceiling and would swing back and forth almost up to the ceiling. The doctor's offical office was on the second floor of a store front in down town Bancroft. I can remember climbing what seemed like the longest set of stairs on the planet every time I went to the doctor. The remedy to what ever I had was usually a shot the bottom.

Most memorable books read as a boy.

 When I attended a one room country school, our teacher would read to us while we ate lunch. The book she was reading when I came to the school in the middle of 3rd grade was one of the Hardy Boys books. It sparked my interest and my Mom encouraged me to read by taking me to the small town one room library at Dakota City, Nebraska. Population only a few hundred. It was the coolest library and they had a whole shelf of Hardy Boys books as well as a series of Poppy Ott books. I don't remember that thirst continuing when we moved to the city. Over the years I've read more books but usually not for pleasure. Now in my aging years it's mostly magazines as my attention span is about as long as a magazine article.

Special person that helped with Christian walk

Family finances while growing up

How I learned about sex

Three things I wish I had done during Junior High

Life as a teenager

What my family liked to do on weekends

Childhood memories of my best friend

Special occasion memories

Favorite Mother Memory

Image of Father that was most striking

Special memory about sister

Father's attitude about life.

What I enjoyed most about childhood

I was alone most of the early childhood years. I played with imaginary friends. I had three imaginary friends. Their names were Gokey, Honey, and Little. I don't remember playing with them after age 10. I had moved to Sioux City and had made friends with the neighbors named Doug and his brother Bill. Bill was actually the first to come over and meet me and became my best of friends through High School and collage years. We did many things together until adult lives parted our ways. I kind of miss those times. The earliest I can remember playing under a porch with an old popcorn popper in the dirt. This would be about at the age of 3 according to my mother. I was a curious boy which got me into many situations such as in a freshly dug outside toilet hole, into a barrel of oil, and head first in a huge pig waller hole. Other stories that circulated the family were about stuffing my dad's watch down a rat hole and dropping my belt down the outside toilet hole.

Those were good memory years. Mom always had chickens, geese, and a big garden. I don't remember helping her in the garden but I do remember watching her plant, tend, and harvest the garden. I don't remember her processing any of the garden harvest but the under ground cellar always had shelves full of canned vegetables. Mom was a great cook if she stayed in the kitchen but there are many family stories about her failures when she would get distracted from the kitchen. Dad took everything in stride and never made a fuss about it. I think I have inherited that easy going life style from him. I don't get too excited about the journey of life and all the ugly things that pop up.

Probably the best thing I enjoyed about childhood was country living and the best thing about that was driving tractors. I don't remember the first time I got to drive a tractor but I suspect it was on my Uncle Don's lap. I rode the tractor many miles while he worked the land and soon I was doing every thing from plowing, disking, harrowing to cultivating, mowing and raking hay, and running the hay stacker. Throwing bales was hard sweaty work but Uncle Don always had a way to make it fun.

I suspect all that country Midwest farm expose fed the DNA that was already there. By the time I was in middle school Dad had me farming with the old time F20 and F30 tractors that started with a crank and had power nothing. One even had steel wheels. They had a whopping 15 and 20 horsepower. I have very fond memories of wrestling those tractors around the fields. Later Dad bought a newer tractor but still no power anything.

Life was good for me growing in the country.

Not all childhood was in the country Fifth grade through a Junior in high school was spent in the city. City life was different but still the place we lived had an acre of land behind the house and Dad convinced the neighbors to let him use the acres behind their houses. One year we planted potatoes, another it was sweet corn, and another it was field corn.