Papa Dave: Lessons from My Youth

By David L. Reece

Lessons from My Youth describes many of the authors experiences that had a profound impact on his life. The navet of the youthful David often lead to quite humorous results. This book demonstrates that neither death or time can diminish the importance of our earliest experiences and of the people that made them happen.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Aug 7, 2018
• ISBN: 9781973634805

David L. Reece

David Reeces passion has always revolved around the out-of-doors. Although he spent his life working primarily with fish and wildlife resources, his interest actually began as a youth in the woods and waters of Tennessee and North Carolina. Many of his earliest experiences resulted in profound life lessons. These life lessons laid the groundwork for many of the events that were described in his earlier book Papa Dave, Encounters with God. He and his wife, CK, live near the Mississippi River close to Millington, Tennessee.

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Copyright © 2018 David L. Reece.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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ISBN: 978-1-9736-3479-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3478-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-9736-3480-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018908566

WestBow Press rev. date: 08/01/2018

CONTENTS

Acknowledgments

Dedication

Preface

Chapter 1 Be Careful Where You Sit Down

Chapter 2 The Powerful Shell

Chapter 3 My Daddy—Uncle Albert

Chapter 4 Two Teachers

Chapter 5 Scout Camp

Chapter 6 Darden’s Cannoneers

Chapter 7 Flying High

Chapter 8 Sergeants

Chapter 9 Grad School

Chapter 10 Appearances

Chapter 11 Last of The Loud Music

Chapter 12 Mom

Chapter 13 Dad

Chapter 14 Snippets

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thanks to Mary Cay Phillips for typing most of this manuscript and to Shawn Phillips for technical assistance. I also thank my friend Rob Martin and my wife Cecelia Kay Reece for their valuable review and comments.

DEDICATION

I dedicate this book to my parents, James and Gladys Reece, and to my brothers Scott and Ted—my growing up family.

PREFACE

These are stories of my youth: events that impacted my life. From these events I learned important life lessons. Sometimes other people were significantly affected, and at other times they may have just been part of the background or to serve God’s purpose in some way. This is all true, sometimes painfully or embarrassingly so. I have done my best to not embellish these events and my part in them. But as I recalled my actions and thoughts, and from the vantage point of time, I often became overwhelmed with what happened. And believe me, the entire time I was writing I was keeping in mind the caution my friend, Rob Martin gave me, which says, The older I get, the greater I was.

These stories, though not meant to be biographical, are generally ordered chronologically from my early childhood in Tennessee and North Carolina to my early thirties when I started to work in New Orleans. Although chronological, each chapter is completely independent, and they can be read in any order desired. For you young readers questioning my considering early thirties as young, all I can say is, Just wait. From my perspective, looking back forty years, I was very young then and just getting a good start on life and raising a very young family.

You’ve heard it before: You just can’t make this stuff up. So, sit back, relax, and enjoy. I think you’ll get some laughs along the way. Here and there, you might just find a little of yourself.

PS—Proverbs 16: 9- The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

CHAPTER 1

BE CAREFUL WHERE YOU SIT DOWN

When I was a very young boy there were few places better than the bottom end of Tenth Street in Cramerton, North Carolina on the bank of the South Fork River.

My granddad and grandmother, I.T. and Susan Etta Jane Reece, moved their family to 224 Tenth Street in 1923 so my granddad could take a job in the textile mill. My dad was three at the time, and my aunt Dora, second of ten children, related to me the adventure. There were two mule-pulled wagons (one carrying the family and the other carrying the belongings) that Granddad hired to move them all from Grandmother’s family-inherited farm in York County, South Carolina. Aunt Dora even remembered the names of the mules, one of which was Betsy. Betsy was also the name of my granddad’s shotgun.

My grandparents raised all their children in that house. I won’t list them all here because you might forget and think you were reading a genealogy out of the Old Testament. But I could write quite a narrative about each of them—and their spouses too, and most of my cousins as well.

Uncle Albert and Aunt Johnnie, along with their kids George, Brenda, and Deva, lived next door to Granddad, and so they owned the very last house on Tenth Street. Deva was younger than me, but he was the closest to me of all the Reece cousins.

Once when I was about eight or nine years of age and had spent the night with Granddad, I got up early and headed for the river. It was my first solo trip to the river, and I intended to catch my first fish without adult help. I slipped behind Uncle Albert’s house, went downhill through the river-bottom garden, and stopped only long enough to dig out a couple of worms from where I had seen Granddad dig the day before. In almost no time I was taking hold of a small sapling that would serve as my pole, and I began baiting a hook with a nice juicy worm.

I had only begun to fish when the pressure on my lower tummy let me know that I needed to do my business. No way was I gonna leave that pole and run to the house, so I just pulled down my pants and did my job right there. I didn’t really think at the time that this was Granddad’s favorite fishing spot.

Well, soon thereafter someone was calling for me. Reluctantly, I had to leave, with not one nibble, and head for the house. Best I recall, somebody was worried because they didn’t know where I was. I was hungry for breakfast anyway.

About an hour later it was back to the river, but now I was accompanied by Granddad and Deva. When we got to the fishing spot, Granddad spotted what I had long ago completely forgotten. Who did that? he said, pointing to the ground.

I did, said I, matter-of-factly.

Hey oh, boy, Granddad exclaimed, don’t do a job where you sit down at! It was only then that I realized the error of my way.

But my cousin Deva just had to make the most of this grand opportunity. Ha- ha- ha! Don’t do a job where you sit down at, he repeated over and over as he danced around the riverbank. Here he was, younger than me, making sport of the whole situation. I didn’t know whether he was making fun of me or Granddad, but I was sure embarrassed—and he was having such fun at my expense. Because he was probably only five or six at the time, I can only hope that he soon forgot the whole episode. But I never did.

Fast forward about twenty-odd years into the future. I was working for the Florida Game and Freshwater Fish Commission. After about the third year of employment with low pay and not getting a promotion I felt I deserved, I became very