It’S Been a Great Ride

By Gary D. Cluck

Our lives are
made up of
stories. Just
when we think one
ends, another begins.
My Memoirs are a
series of stories, from
childhood, through the business world,
through a military career, as a Son,
Husband, Father, Grandfather and
now retirement. What A Great Ride It
Has Been!
Gary D. Cluck

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Mar 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781483615998

Book preview

Copyright © 2013 by Gary D. Cluck.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2013905474

ISBN:      Hardcover      978-1-4836-1598-1

                Softcover       978-1-4836-1597-4

            Ebook            978-1-4836-1599-8

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Rev. date: 03/23/2013

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CONTENTS

It’s Been a Great Ride

My Military Career

IT’S BEEN A GREAT RIDE

It was a beautiful summer day in June 1953. My parents let me buy a motor scooter with the money I had saved from my paper route, and working part time at my Dad’s service station. I picked up two of my best friends, Jimmy Ness and Ronald Perkins, and we were cruising down Brown Avenue over by Compton Elementary School.

I was using my handle bar throttle and it stuck wide open! I hit the brakes, they went to the floor. We started going faster and faster, and I told Jimmy and Ronald to jump off. Once they had jumped, the scooter speeded up and there was no way for me to jump. I was in for a wild ride.

Still several blocks from the end of Brown Avenue, I knew I was going to have to make a decision because there was a house at the end of the street, and I sure didn’t want to plow through the front door. I turned into a drive way and got on a sidewalk but now I was headed to Main Street in downtown Wewoka. I saw a big tree ahead by the sidewalk and headed straight into it! Wham! I came to a sudden stop but flew off the scooter into the grass and was not hurt. My buddies ran up to see if I was dead or alive.

This is one of the many rides I will talk about in my memoirs.

It may have been coincidences or just being in the right place at the right time but in these memoirs I will tell you how blessed I have been in my life. I have had a chance to influence many people and I have had friendships and associations that few people get to experience, all over the world.

I have had a chance to lead and train soldiers in my military career and a chance to lead and train civilian employees in my business career. I have tried to be a good Christian and treat everyone I come in contact with respect and dignity. I have tried to be a good Christian witness for my family and friends.

I have had several close calls that could have led to serious injury or possibly death that I will talk about in these memoirs. Evidently God wasn’t quite through with me and wanted me around for awhile.

I have had the opportunity to be involved in many charitable organizations that have helped those less fortunate. I have been a member of many churches throughout my life and have become as involved as possible. My faith in Jesus Christ has brought me through several life threatening incidents. I have achieved most of my goals in my professional career, military career, my education and served on many church and civic organizations.

I attained the rank of Full Colonel in the military. I retired from American Standard/Trane as a Vice President, I received my Masters of Science Degree and have been President of a Chamber of Commerce, Chairman of United Way, Chairman of Board of Governors of a Country Club, President of a Civic Club, Rotarian and on the Board of Salvation Army, and I was selected for the Officers Candidate Hall of Fame.

One of my proudest moments was being selected to carry the Olympic Torch for the Atlanta Olympics through Vidalia, Georgia. (The torch hangs on the wall in my office).

I often ask myself how I could have been so blessed? I always seemed to be at the right place at the right time. I recently read a book When God Winks by Squire Rushnell. He writes about all the coincidental events in a person’s life and how we can use the untapped power of coincidence to vastly improve our lives. I call it a God thing. Ask God to direct your life as He has mine, to be where He wants you, in order to touch other peoples lives.

I was born in Wewoka, Oklahoma on May 8, 1940, to Sam and Nadean Cluck. Wewoka is a small town 70 miles southeast of Oklahoma City. It had a population of 9,000 when I was growing up but is down to about 3,000 now. I was the oldest of three boys. My brothers Ron and Larry and I have always been very close. Our Grandparents were Ben and Mae Crow and Sam and Lillie Cluck.

As of March, 2013, my Mom still resides in Wewoka. She lives by herself in the same house that I grew up in. She is still very active at the age of 94 with her dog Sadie and her two cats. She rarely misses Church and is a prayer warrior for her family and friends. She and her identical twin Jalean, are able to communicate through e-mail and phone.

My Father passed away in 2009 at the age of 92 and had a full Military Funeral. He died in his big recliner eating a bowl of Blue Bell ice cream that my mother had just handed him. What a way to go! My brother Ron also lives in Wewoka and looks after our Mother.

The house grew from a four room house in 1945 to a nine room house today. My Grandfather Ben (better known as Daddy Crow) did most of the building and remodeling. He was a Pumper in the Oil Field but was a very good carpenter in his spare time.

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, we were living in Los Angles, California. My Dad was going to school to learn how to build military aircraft. I was almost two years old at the time. Due to a concern that California would be attacked next, we moved from California to Tulsa, Oklahoma and my Dad went to work for Douglas Aircraft. We lived in Tulsa for the next three years until he received his Draft notice in May of 1945.

My brother Larry was 12 days old when we moved back to Wewoka and my Dad left for Camp Robinson, Arkansas. I can remember holding on to my Dad’s leg and begging him not to leave us. My Mom was left with three little boys, ages five, three and a baby a few days old. The war ended in