A Life Wasted

Georgia Riots

In 1968 my parent's divorce became final and we moved to Augusta, Georgia. Mom landed a great job with the cosmetics company Revlon. She was Revlon's representative to the various military PX's across the southeast. She located us just outside the main gate of Fort Gordon Army base, as Augusta was near both sets of grandparents and geographically central to her sales region. The job was entry level but with great promise, a promise that mom realized by going very high within Revlon. By the time she left the company she lived in a company paid for apartment on Park Avenue, New York and traveled all over the world. But her beginning was spartan. Though the company did provide a car, we lived in rented trailer, in a poor trailer park mostly inhabited by military families. Though we were poor, we were happy. At least I was. Twelve years old and I was the man of the house, something mom made sure I understood. I would need to take on a lot of responsibility, something I was more than ready to do.

By the time 1969 had rolled around we had settled into a pattern that worked for a single parent family where that parent traveled constantly. Mom hired a series of live in sitters, none of which lasted long. Though she tried very hard to ensure we always had an adult with us when she traveled, it didn't always work. I can remember many times that I was left alone for several days at a time to take care of my brothers. Mom was conscious of the burden this put on my young shoulders and she was great about making sure I had both kid time and adult time with her.

During the summer of 1969 she found a decent sitter so she took me with her on several of her business trips for Revlon. One such trip really sticks out in my mind and is worthy of note. This trip encompassed a few days at the big Army base in Columbia, South Carolina. Mom had selected a hotel downtown and ordered me to have room service lunch and not to leave the room, then went to work.

Not one to miss the opportunity to explore, I left the room shortly after she did and set out looking for adventure. Though the capital of South Carolina, Columbia was a fairly small town. It was certainly a safe place for a twelve year old to walk around. So it was not as extraordinary for me to do as it sounds today. Mom had left me some money so I had lunch while out and about town, then about mid-day I spotted the state capital building. I'm not sure what drew me to the capital building, but drawn I was. When I got there I noticed there was a large crowd, like something big was going on. The doors were open and other than the number of people in my way there was no hindrance to my going in. I worked my way through the crowd into the main room of the capital. I found a good place to stand near the center podium and was just beginning to wonder what all the excitement was about when a man stepped forward and in a deep voice said, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the Vice President of the United States." Before that moment I didn't know the Vice President's name. I would have rather the speaker been President Richard M. Nixon, whose name I did know. Still, I was excited to be there as Spiro T. Agnew, the 39th Vice President of the United States, took the podium and began to speak. I don't remember a word he said, but I do recall the feeling that I was standing in the presence of a great man and that I was witnessing history being made. It was a heady experience for me.

History would later show me a poor judge of character. Less than four years after I witnessed the Vice Presidents speech in the South Carolina state house, Spiro T. Agnew resigned from his exalted office in shame as charges surfaced of his accepting bribes while Governor of the State of Maryland. Agnew did make history though. The 25th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1967 because there was no provision to fill a vacancy of a Vice President who left office before the end of the term. With Agnew's resignation, President Nixon appointed Gerald R. Ford to be the Vice President. So of historical note, Spiro Agnew's resignation did cause Richard Nixon to be the first and only President to use the provisions of the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

One of the more significant events of my young life occurred. in 1969, when I was in sixth grade. You'll need some background to appreciate the story: We still lived in Augusta, Georgia, in the trailer park not far from Fort Gordon's Gate 5. The school I attended in the fall for sixth grade was called Tobacco Road Elementary. Tobacco Road was well known due to a popular song about the Georgia state prison located on this road. My school was a few miles from this prison. At the time Curtis was in a lower grade at the same school and Lance was enrolled in a day care center. We had a sitter who stayed with us named Shirley, while mom was out of town. I don't believe I have every met a person with a lower IQ than Shirley. This says quite a bit about how stupid Shirley was, since in my full life I have met a large number of low IQ people. Mom knew Shirley's limitations, so she made it clear that I had to keep an eye on her as well as my brothers. Shirley lived with her mother in Augusta and would stay there until mid-afternoon when she would drive (no idea how she passed the states written test for her license) across town to where we lived, pick Lance up from day care and make dinner. Curtis and I rode the same school bus home from school. Enough kids attended Tobacco Road Elementary from the trailer park that we had our own bus. We had one bus stop in the center of the trailer park where we were picked up and dropped off. Convenient for the bus driver, but a long walk for me.