My Journey from Plainville to Pensacola: The Russell Story

By Richard Russell

Dick has lived a full life. He wanted to record some of his memories for his current and future family to allow them to understand the different lives we all lived back in 1937 to 2017.

Growing up in small towns in Connecticut and then traveling through a good portion of this World has given him a different perspective than most of those who never ventured far from their homesteads.

Serving over 22 years in the U.S. Navy was a blessing in disguise. Though always under paid and poor. During the Vietnam Conflict being spit at, cussed, harassed and called names while in uniform by his fellow U.S. Citizens that he was suppose to be protecting tore him up! Now he is often thanked for his service and feels good to be appreciated. It makes him feel proud.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 8, 2017
• ISBN: 9781546215646

Richard Russell

Richard Russell is an author who has worked on several book compilations, most recently receiving the Bob Terrell History Award from the Old Buncombe County Genealogical Society and Special Recognition by the WNC Historical Association for his work on Fear in North Carolina. Wayne Caldwell is a novelist from Asheville, North Carolina. Caldwell is author of the critically acclaimed novel Cataloochee.

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© 2017 Richard Russell. 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.

Published by AuthorHouse 11/08/2017

ISBN: 978-1-5462-1565-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-1563-9 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5462-1564-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2017917031

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Dedication

In Memory of

Dad and Mom

Barbara (my wife for 30 years)

and of my brother Bob (who left us way to soon).

And to my sons, nephews and nieces for whom

I wrote this book so that they would know some

of the Russell family history!

CONTENTS

Dedication

Acknoweledgements

In the Beginning

Television Arrives

Fall Mountain Lake

Join the Navy and See the World

Morocco

London

Jacksonville. Florida

Washington D.c.

Japan

Return to Washingtin D.c.

Hawaii

Pensacola Florida

Acknoweledgements

T his book would not have been written if it weren’t for the encouragement of Brenda Dionne Lewis to tell the stories of my brother Bob and I growing up so that our children and their children would know about their family history. Who their relatives were and how we grew up. To Phyllis Dionne Russell who gathered 18 relatives on my 80 th birthday to learn about their father (my brother Bob) who died when his children were very young and never got to know him. To remind me of the love that is family! To my two Sons (Rick and Tom) who have cared for me and helped me survive since the death of my wife and my bout with Legionaries. No body has been as blessed to have such a great family as I have been! With this in mind lets start the tales of our growing up.

In the Beginning

I was born on 23 July 1937 to Florence Emily (Frasier) Russell and Samuel Lincoln Russell at New Britain General Hospital in New Britain, Connecticut. I was a 6 month premature baby and remained in the hospital until the doctors considered me big and strong enough to go home. Mom said that when they got me home they had to carry me around on a pillow because I was so small.

My first memory was standing in a parking lot in New Britain holding my Dads hand and it was dark outside. Mom was standing next to us holding a bunch of clothes as we watched the building where our apartment was burn. I remember going to my Grandpas house that night for a place to sleep.

On Moms side the Frasier family consisted of William Frasier and Mabel Fox. Their 7 children Clarence, Raymond, Mary, Buster, Irwin (Sonny), Florence (Mom), and Vera. They lived in an apartment in New Britain. My Uncle Sonny was only 2 years older than me and became more of a friend than an uncle.

On Dad’s side there was Peter Phillip Russell and Cora May Russell. Grandpa was a soldier in the Spanish American War and they had 9 children Samuel (Dad), Louise, Helen, Marion, Eleanor, Doris, Walter, Bradford and Herbert. Herbert and Grandma died when I was around 3 years old and I don’t remember them. Samuel, Walter and Bradford served in the Navy during WWII.

The Russell’s all lived on Russell Avenue in Plainville, Connecticut (street named after my Grandpa since he was the first person to build a home there). That was where my Dad built our first home that I remember living in. It was located about 1,000 feet down the street from Grandpas on the corner of Roosevelt St and Russell Avenue. It was about 16’ x 20’ in size consisting of 3 rooms (kitchen, living room and a small bed room). No electricity nor running water, only a hand pump for water, kerosine lamps for lighting and an outhouse for a bathroom The kitchen stove (a large black cast iron wood burner) provided heat for the house and for cooking.

I slept on the couch in the living room. We took turns having baths once a week in a large galvanized tub filled with hot water.

The next thing I remember was driving with my Dad to the Bristol Hospital and picking up Mom and my new baby brother Robert Phillip Russell (Bobby born 21 October 1940). I was so disappointed because I wanted a sister named Sophie but instead got a brother! Bob and I spent quite a few years in that house sleeping on the couch. We played with our friends. (Jerry who lived across the street and the Colella’s who had 10 children and lived a few hundred yards away through the woods.

Bob, Jerry and I played in the woods and in the street with the neighborhood kids. We played hop scotch, kick the can, and hide-n-go seek. When dark time came it was home and bedtime (in the winter that was about 6 pm).

When we were old enough we would scrounge