The Life and Writings of Laurence E. Hanna

By Laurence E. Hanna

Laurence (Larry) Hanna, author, grew up on a farm in Oklahoma during the Great Depression and the Dust Storms of that era. He has compiled short stories of incidents in his life as well as in others during that time. He served his country during World War II, spent over 40 years in the oil, gas and pipeline business. In his recent life, a retirement center seemed appropriate where he could josh with other old people about the “good old days”.
At age 94 he decided to make available for reading some of those earlier experiences all the way from the one room school to an office in New York City. Life changed dramatically from the “Outhouse” in the 1920s to the exploration of Mars in the 2000s. . Stories about making love on the front porch to life in a penal institution. Stories that will grab your imagination.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Apr 25, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483450124

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Hanna

Copyright © 2016 Laurence E. Hanna.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means---whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic---without written permission of both publisher and author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-5013-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-5012-4 (e)

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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Lulu Publishing Services rev. date: 04/18/2016

CONTENTS

Preface

Chapter 1 Early Life 1922-27

Chapter 2 School Years 1927-39

Chapter 3 Religion

Chapter 4 Activities as a Youth 1927-39

Chapter 5 College Days

Chapter 6 Army Life 1943/46

Chapter 7 Early Career

Chapter 8 My Career in the Energy Field..

Chapter 9 Miscellaneous Writings

Acknowledgement

PREFACE

Shortly after I moved into the Tallgrass Creek Retirement Center in 2007 a writing group was organized among the residents. My knowledge of writing consisted of only what I had learned in high school years ago which was only the basics. I decided I would check out the new writing class.

Nancy Scott, a lady from another retirement center volunteered to conduct the class. She had been a former high school writing class teacher. She, at first, gave us suggestions about which to write. She handled us almost as if we were high school students but without grades. She would red line our writings and offered many suggestions.

My early writings were very elementary and after a few months I could see where I was seeking more descriptive words and attempting better composition. Nancy started encouraging me and I began enjoying it more. Nancy's health began to fail and was then unable to continue.

Our writing class held together and we were forced to write on our own. I started to write about incidents in my own life and then shared them with my children. My children seemed to be interested in them and encouraged me to do more. As I continued to write I could see where the articles could become my life story or an auto-biography. Thus The Life and Writings of Laurence Hanna

Many of our group have gone on to bigger and better things. Some may have become noted authors. I continue to struggle hoping to have an acceptable auto-biography. I do not expect a Pulitzer Prize.

Someone once said An autobiography is both good and original but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good.

So now I seek to publish my works. My publisher has not given me glowing praises about it but he has taken my money. If and when it is published I have two or three friends who may wish a copy. That is to be determined.

CHAPTER 1

Early Life 1922-27

Birth of Laurence Hanna

It was a cold day in January, 1922 on a farm near Hennessey, Oklahoma that Laurence Hanna was brought into this world. Oscar and Pearl Hanna were expecting a third child. They had two sons born five and seven years previous. They were awaiting what they hoped would be a daughter. Mr Hanna was proud that he already had two sons that could assist in the farm work and Mrs. Hanna thought it only appropriate she should have a daughter to assist her.

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HANNA BROTHERS

On January 13, that cold day in 1922 Pearl tells Oscar she believed this was the day. Oscar went to the phone that hung on the wall and gave one quick ring. The operator came on and Oscar ask her to ring Dr. Ben Townsend, their family doctor. Dr Townsend was expecting their call and immediately grabbed his bag, jumped into his car and drove the five miles to the Hanna's farm where he delivered another bouncing baby boy. Pearl's first enquiry to the doctor was How does he look. The doctor replied He has ten fingers and ten toes. That made him a perfect human being. Pearl was disappointed that it was a boy but assured everyone she could love him just the same. They named him Laurence Eldon.

In those days most children, as in this case, were born in the home. Hospitals were for more serious illnesses and surgeries. New mothers had to have some assistance for a few days. Fathers were neither qualified nor capable of helping out. In this case Mrs. Roberts, their neighbor from down the road had heard on the party line that a baby was about to be born. She was there immediately and stayed for four or five days. She was of tremendous help.

Laurence was a healthy baby and gradually earned his position in the farm family. As the youngest he sometimes received preferential treatment. The Hanna family was a normal farm family and enjoyed a respectable position in the neighborhood. Farming was not easy and required lots of manual labor. This was before the days of power equipment. Most of the power was supplied by horses and hand labor. The Hanna's had their share of farm labor.

Laurence's early life was influenced by many every-day incidents in the home

Courtship and Wedding of Oscar and Pearl Hanna

My dad and his parents moved to Hennessey, Oklahoma from Nebraska in 1910. They bought 300 acres of land about five miles east of Hennessey along with a house in town. They lived in the house in town for a while before they moved onto the farm. Dad's father died in 1911 and he and his mother continued to live on the farm.

My mother was born and raised on a farm a few miles from where dad lived. Her dad had homesteaded in 1889. A little country church stood on the corner of their land a few hundred yard from their home.

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MOTHER AND DAD

As the story goes, Dad and his mother started attending Union Chapel Church and that is how and where Mother and Dad first met. The Coopers sold their farm and later moved to Vinita, OK but mother who by now was a young lady stayed and worked at various places. She taught school a few years at a small one room country school but later moved to Enid where she had a job in the feeble minded hospital. That was exactly what it was called at that time. She lived with her uncle and aunt in Enid. Her uncle was Frank Parker, Grandmother Cooper's brother.

So courting became more difficult for Dad. He was living on the farm at Hennessey and Mother was living in Enid. I was always fascinated at his stories about how he courted her at a distance. Enid was more than 20 miles from his home. There were no automobiles at that time but the main line of the Rock Island Railroad connected the two towns. Apparently the railroads had more local service than today. People had to rely on trains for lots of their transportation.

Dad's story goes something like this. He rode his horse from the farm into Hennessey. He checked his horse in at the local livery stable. There was always a livery stable or two near the depot just for that purpose in addition to having horses for rent for those people visiting at Hennessey from a distance. So he caught the train to Enid. It probably took an hour to get to Enid for there were two intermediate stops, at Bison and Waukomis. Mother lived just a few blocks from the depot in Enid. Dad never explained what activities they did in Enid but after a few hours he caught the train back to Hennessey. His horse was waiting for him and he then road back to the farm in the wee hours of the morning. It has never been determined how often they did this nor for how long it occurred. Dad's mother died in 1914 and he accompanied the body to Ohio for burial. On his way back to Oklahoma he stopped at Vinita where he and Mother were married at her parent's home on June 24, 1914. Mother had gone to Vinita to prepare for the wedding. After the wedding they came back to Hennessey for life on the farm

The Rawleigh Man

Good morning, Mrs. Hanna, may I show you some of my great, new products today? said the Rawleigh Man as Mrs. Hanna opened the back door to her farm home, wiping her hands covered with floury dough on the apron that covered her gingham dress.

Yes, come in, she said, being kind but knowing she didn't really need anything.

He replied, Let me tie Nellie up and give her some oats, and I will get my suitcases, for the Rawleigh Man traveled throughout the countryside selling his Rawleigh products to the farmers in his horse and buggy rig. He always wore a three piece suit that was somewhat thread-bare and looked as if it hadn't been cleaned in months. He was a short, squatty man almost as wide as tall, and he always wore a stained, felt hat.

Nellie was very well taken care of. She was a good looking animal. As they traveled the country roads, she was always in a trot. She probably traveled ten to fifteen miles per day. No one knew the Rawleigh Man's name. He was always just known as the Rawleigh Man, but everyone knew Nellie's name. They were a fixture in the area.

He brought two suitcases into the house and opened them up on the floor, displaying all his wares. Most of his products were home health products and flavorings and extracts, although at times he would have dish cloths and tea towels and perhaps perfume, all products the lady of the house would need. Such products included liniment, mentholatum, castor oil and vanilla extract among many others. Part of The Rawleigh Man's sales pitch was to get caught up on the family. He seemed to be concerned about everyone in our family.

As he told of the advantages of all his products to Mrs. Hanna, her five-year old son Laurence was nearby hoping there might be a treat for him. Sure enough, after Mrs. Hanna bought a box of nutmeg and as he closed his suitcases to leave, he reached into his tattered coat pocket, fished out a stick of gum and handed it to Laurence. He was then on his way down the road behind Nellie to the next farm house.

Farm life during the depression was so simple, yet so honorable. Simple things like the Rawleigh Man added to the pleasure of living in that era of deprivation. The Rawleigh Man and other such simple things, and there were many more, could not exist today; but they were a part of life in that period. The Rawleigh Man was later replaced by the Watkins Man who continued the direct-to-customer service to farmers. The Watkins Man had graduated to the use of a jalopy instead of a horse.

Motor Car Trip to Ohio

One of my earliest memories in life was a motorcar trip with my family from Oklahoma to Ohio when I was only four years old. My dad had moved from Ohio to Oklahoma at the turn of the century. He was born and raised in Ohio and then decided to go west. He spent a few years in Nebraska and then moved on to Oklahoma when it was first opened to settlement. He met an Oklahoma gal, married her and then had three sons.

Dad hadn't been back to Ohio since before he married. I can imagine he wanted to show his young family off to his relatives in Ohio. Perhaps he was proud of them. So he and his bride decided to take their family by motorcar to Ohio in 1926. We had a mid 1920s Model T Ford open touring car with side curtains. We joined another family that was driving as far as Indianapolis.

I was only four years old but it must have made such a large impression that I still remember a few incidents along the way. Perhaps I remember some of them because of overhearing my parent's conversations later. I recall it took us a week to travel from our home in Oklahoma to a town near Columbus, Ohio. Our car was an opened one with side curtains and it seemed to me we spent more time putting up the curtains and taking them down because of rain than we spent on the road. It was in the middle of summer so we needed the curtains only when it rained. We had to stop to put the curtains up.

There were very few paved roads at that time -- only a few miles in and out of the large cities. Most of them were gravel roads with a few as only dirt roads. We made it from our home near Enid, Oklahoma to Florence, Kansas the first night out and to Lawrence KS the second night. We can make that trip today in about five hours. There were no motels along the way and we couldn't afford to stay in hotels in the larger cities. So we camped out every night. Our car was loaded with camping equipment. It must have looked like the Joads going to California. This was well ahead of the Grapes of Wrath. The trunk on the back was loaded and both running boards were piled high. My folks pitched a tent each night and we slept on folding cots. Mother prepared our meals along the road. I believe we slept on three cots. My two older brothers shared one cot and I slept with Mother. My dad must have had the third cot alone. I recall while going through St Louis, Dad emptied his pipe out the side of the car and the camping equipment on the running board caught fire. The St Louis fire department had to put out the fire. We spent the rest of the trip with damaged camping equipment.

In those days the roads were miserably maintained and the rubber tires were nothing like todays. In addition to having to stop to put up the curtains it seemed that we were always stopped to fix flat tires also. Dad repaired all our flat tires alongside the road.

We spent a week in Ohio visiting Dad's relatives and were able to sleep in our kinfolk's beds. They must have been happy to see their Okie kin leave Ohio. The long trek home was just as treacherous as the first part of our trip.

We've come a long way baby. What a difference 85 years has made in transportation and communication. What will the next 85 years bring?

Old Shep

Most people have a dog for companionship today. A dog on the farm is for utilitarian purposes as well as companionship. During most of my time on the farm we had a dog named Shep. I don't recall where we got Shep; perhaps he was a stray. We didn't have papers on him and we never bragged about him. He was just a dog.

But he became a useful occupant at the Hanna household. He was not an indoor dog for he had to sleep in the barn or rather he was supposed to sleep in the barn. He always knew where his next meal was coming from; it would be from the back door. So he spent most of his spare time just outside of the backdoor. His food supply was scraps from the table- no Kittles and Bits for Shep.

Shep had his duties. He was always available to herd the cattle with us. Sometimes we had to bring the cattle in from a distant pasture approximately half mile away. He was always there to help keep the cattle in line. If a cow started to stray Shep would run after it and nip at its heels until the cow got in line. He was always available to go to the field with us in hopes of finding rabbits to chase. He was not very fast on his feet, for he seldom caught one. We decided he probably wouldn't know what to do with it if he caught a rabbit, for he knew his meals were guaranteed at the backdoor.

Another of his duties was to keep the varmints and critters from running wild in the farmyard. There was always rats and mice around where grain was stored. If a rat showed his face Shep would be after him and occasionally he caught one. He would bring it to the backdoor to show it to us. It was his trophy. I generally got the job of burying it. He also tried a time or two to kill a bull snake. He wasn't very successful at that. He would snatch the snake and shake it but the snake would always slither away.

One of Shep's worst experiences was with a skunk. He happened to see a skunk skittering around the chicken house one day. He knew that animal was not welcomed especially around chickens. Skunks were one of chicken's worst enemies. They were devastating if and when they got around chickens. Shep ran toward the skunk. Skunks do not move very fast but they have a more effective defense and the skunk used it on Shep. Shep was literally sprayed and he started yelping and barking. We started washing him down immediately, but he was really suffering. Some of the spray had gotten into his eyes. Dad rushed out with his 12 gauge and took care of the skunk. It took weeks for Shep to smell right again.

After a number of years Shep developed arthritis and couldn't run and play anymore. He had to give up his job as helper on the farm. He spent most of his time lying around the back door wanting for a little sympathy and some food. No thought was ever given to calling a veterinarian for they were only called for large farm animals. So one day we had to put Shep to sleep and we buried him down behind the barn. We missed Shep but we never had another dog as long as I was at home

CHAPTER 2

School Years 1927-39

Life during Great Depression, Dust Bowl

The first five years of Laurence's life was very protected and subdued. It then became time to start his education experience. He was to become a first grader at the College Corner one room school. There was no kinder garden in those days. Laurence had the advantage of having two older brothers to accompany him to school that first day. Oscar and Maury protected Laurence at all costs. College Corner was about a mile and half from the Hanna farm. The one room school is an historical emblem of life in the US. They were in existence throughout America for the education of farm youth until about 1940 or until the beginning of World War II. It played a large part in the Hanna family. Laurence was a good student through grade school and high school making As and Bs. And frequently on the honor roll. He made friends easily and always had lots of buddies. He was mostly shy and had very few dates. He did not participate in high school sports because his spare time was occupied with chores and studying. He carried his lunch in high school as well as in grade school. His transportation in HS was somewhat sporadic. The Hannas had only one car and Laurence would drive it when available. Sometimes during bad weather he was forced to spend the night with his grandparents, the Coopers, who lived in Hennessey.

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HANNA FARM HOME

Laurence's life during his school years was affected by the Great Depression. He had little knowledge of what was going on when the stock market crashed in 1927 for he was only five years old at that time. Everyone's lives changed tremendously as depression advanced. In the cities, the businesses went bankrupt and went out of business.

People lost their jobs and even committed suicide. Money was scarce. Commodity prices dropped to their lowest level ever which meant farmers couldn't get as much for their products. Their income was hardly enough to sustain the farm families. As equipment broke down, money was not available to repair or renew. Equipment started rusting in the fields. Feed became unavailable for the livestock and some starved. People started to lose their farms. The price of farms dropped tremendously. Hoping that it would soon be over, farmers attempted to borrow money to get by. Many banks were closed and the ones still in business were reluctant to lend to the farmers. The depression lasted from 1927 until approximately 1940 or until the start of World War II, .all through Laurence's school years.

To make matters worse the Dust Bowl occurred concurrent with the depression. In the early days from approximately 1910 to 1930 farmers in Western Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas used deep plowing methods to benefit with good crops. The soil became pulverized and as the wind swept across the prairie it picked up the loose soil and carried it in the wind. The atmosphere was full of the dust and turned daylight into darkness. The western half of North Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska were devastated. It became impossible to grow crops, thus very little income for their efforts The Hannas farm was on the eastern edge of the dust bowl during this period and suffered much damage.

Living on the farm during the depression and dust bowl was hard but families were brought together. Activities were centered around the family. Entertainment was scarce but socialability was great. Farm life during the depression was so simple, yet so honorable.

Franklin D. Roosevelt became president in 1932. United States was in desperate conditions. People were starving. Life was hardly worth living for many. FDR immediately organized governmental programs to try to get the country back to normal. Young men could join the CCC to work on simple projects like roads, camps etc. Farmers were paid to destroy animals so the price would rise. The government initiated many new regulations. After many years people could finally see conditions getting better. Here are some of Laurence's experiences during those years.

One Room School

The one room school served a great purpose in my youth. We studied grammar, arithmetic and geography. The teacher always prepared a schedule for the recitation of all eight grade studies where each class went to the front of the room to be grilled by the teacher on what we had studied and learned while the rest of us were supposed to be studying. It was somewhat distracting to try to study while all that was going on.

We were welcomed to school at 9:00 o'clock each morning by the ringing of the large bell in the belfry and school extended till 4:00 o'clock with two 15 minute recesses and an hour for lunch. We brought our lunch from home each day. Most of our recesses and noon-hours were filled with playground games. The boys always had a baseball game going and we even competed with other schools. Our grade school education may not have been of high academic standards but we learned the general nature of how to get along with others. A term lasted only eight months out of the year. The shortened term was because the farm youth were needed to help on the farm. Crops had to be harvested and/or planted. Animals had to be tended to.

Our toilet facilities consisted of a boy's and girl's out-house out in the back. Our drinking water supply came from a well nearby. The school was heated by a pot-bellyed stove in the middle of the room. The teacher or perhaps an eighth grade boy had to get there early to build the fire. We also had a barn or shed for our ponies for most of us rode our pony to school. Some of us traveled as far as two and a half miles so we could save a lot of time by riding. It was up to the boys with horses to keep the barn clean.

The One Room Country School, Part II

More needs to be said about the one room country school. In a few years there will be no one left who received their elementary education in the one room school. In the area where I grew up the one room schools were disbanded in about 1940 when those schools were consolidated with the public schools in Hennessey. Busses were then used to transport the kids to the school in town...

Shortly after Oklahoma was opened for settlement the farmers realized the need for education and built schools for their kids. The county government included a County School Superintendant that loosely set up the curriculum for the one room schools. School districts were set up on nine square mile intervals. Each district hired its own teacher. At that time there were no college educated people to choose from and very few high school educated people. In the early day there was a certain minimum certification required of the teachers by the County Superintendant. In order to secure competent teachers, certification was required and was issued only after passing a teacher's examination. Both my mother and grandmother taught school in those early days under those conditions and neither had even a high school education. Most of my teachers had only one or two years of college.

The first effort to provide teacher training was by the County School Superintendant. A short period of training, possibly a week long was conducted by the County Superintendant generally in the summer. There were two or three different grades of certification depending on the amount of that training and also the number of years teaching which also affected the teacher's pay. Money for the school was provided by a tax mill levee for that district. I recall during the depression there were some who advocated shutting down the school to avoid the tax.

Of the many strict rules of conduct imposed upon the one room school teacher was that they were not to be married. This was a rule for my high school teachers also. Others were that: you must wear at least two petticoats, your dresses may not be shorter than two inches above the ankle, and you may not smoke cigarettes and many other rules too numerous to mention.

Perhaps one should think of the one room school classroom as a busy highway intersection. Eight grades were being taught; the sessions were divided into 15 minute segments, several subjects were being taught and students were coming and going from their desks to the recitation bench to go through their lesson. When the others were at the recitation bench you were supposed to be working on your other subjects. The courses were set by the County Superintendant and included arithmetic, phonics, geography, reading, spelling, writing, conduct, etc.

Corporal punishment was permitted and most teachers kept their weapon in their desk.