Me and Johnny B.

By Bruce Graham

I remember the first time I met John, or Johnny B as most folks referred to him - it was at his daughter, Melodys wedding rehearsal, where I was best man for my friend Jeff. John was dressed in his best attire - new blue work pants with suspenders, blue suit with a white shirt and a navy colored neck tie. He had difficulty finding shirts with a large enough neck, so instead of the top button holding his shirt collar together, the task was forfeited to the necktie.
He and his wife Anne had married a bit later in life, as did both his daughters, so he was 79 years old at the time of Melodys wedding.
Anne told him, with a voice still slightly tainted with a Slovak accent, Papa, when you walk Melody down the isle, walk straight. Don't walk like an old man.
John looked at her over his glasses and said, I AM an old man.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 28, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463441005

Bruce Graham

Bruce Graham has had a varied career practicing law, in the legislative branches of two state governments, instructing law, as administrative law judge and criminal court judge, as political and social activist and as writer, whose stories and articles have appeared in several national publications. Born in New Jersey and graduated from Fordham Law School, he lived in New Jersey, Vermont and Iowa before settling in Florida, with Elizabeth, who he credits with inspiring this story. He is a parent of several children who are on speaking terms with him. Bruce and Elizabeth maintain a residence in Vermont.

Book preview

ME AND JOHNNY B.

A SERIES OF STORIES AND REMINISCENCES

BY

BRUCE GRAHAM

AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN47403 www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2005 by Bruce Graham. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means

without the written permission of the author.

First published by AuthorHouse 10/12/2011

ISBN: 978-1-4634-4099-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-4101-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4634-4100-5 (ebk)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011913164

Printed in the United States of America

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

Contents

1

Introduction to

Johnny B.

2

Epsom

3

Background

4

School days

5

Quiet Dedication

6

Cycle of Friends

7

The Fire Fighter

8

The Band

9

John B. Yeaton Farm

10

Buck

11

Relocation

12

Enter the sheep

13

Anne’s death

14

Amish for a Week

15

Geneva

16

Aging and the End of Aging

For Penny,

to whom words of gratitude are terribly insufficient. You are an incredible lady!

COPYRIGHT 2005 BY

BRUCE GRAHAM

1

Introduction to

Johnny B.

I remember the first time I met John, or Johnny B as most folks referred to him-it was at his daughter, Melody’s wedding rehearsal, where I was best man for my friend Jeff. John was dressed in his best attire-new blue work pants with suspenders, blue suit with a white shirt and a navy colored neck tie. He had difficulty finding shirts with a large enough neck, so instead of the top button holding his shirt collar together, the task was forfeited to the necktie.

He and his wife Anne had married a bit later in life, as did both his daughters, so he was 79 years old at the time of Melody’s wedding.

Anne told him, with a voice still slightly tainted with a Slovak accent, Papa, when you walk Melody down the isle, walk straight. Don’t walk like an old man.

John looked at her over his glasses and said, I AM an old man.

John once described himself to me as almost tall-he never quite made it to six feet, he was a half inch shy. The age at which I met him found him stooped a bit from the waist. He was also fairly large, weighing in at two hundred forty pounds. His hair was pure white and was still as thick as it must have been in his youth. His chin was slight, but his nose looked as if it had been taken from the same mold as NH’s Old Man of the Mountains. He walked with the assistance of an ash stockman’s cane he purchased from the local feed store. Overalls were his garment of choice, and at one point when his family was all gathered for a Sunday afternoon, he made an announcement. John informed us that, his time being short, he wanted us all to know that when he was laid out, he wanted to be in his overalls. To a large degree they had become his trademark, and were a reaffirmation to himself and a declaration to the world that he was, first and foremost, a farmer. My first meeting of John was also my first meeting of his other daughter-the one I married 10 months after Jeff and Melody’s wedding.

As I became more impressed with his other daughter, I also saw more of John. Penny and I were engaged about seven months after we met, so I spent more and more time at her house. We went to church on Sundays, and she started inviting me to Sunday dinners at her parents’ farm. The farm had been in the family since 1878, and it was where John was born, as well as was John’s father.

John began by asking for God’s blessing over the food using King James English and the eating commenced. Anne often told me about her family and showed me pictures that corresponded with the stories. John ate his dinner and visited for a while before succumbing to sleep. He had much of the history of Epsom in his back pocket, and was fun to listen to. Often, Penny or I played the organ or the piano while John gently beat out the time on the table. He always thanked the player.

Shortly before Penny and I were married, I opened a custom leather and shoe repair shop in a former vegetable stand that was built and had been operated by Penny’s late brother. I was doing a mediocre business, but was a new thing in town, and had generated some curiosity. People came in to see if I was actually doing shoe repair-most said it was a dying art, and was I sure I could make a go of it? I had so many curious visitors