JOHNNY PEEPLES

Across the Fence 



By Alvord Abernethy 

This is a small world after all. Back in early summer, John Cox from out Shive way called me to see if I knew Johnny Peeples who taught school and coached basketball up at Allison, Texas. Of course, I knew him well, so John and I had a long conversation as he also coached basketball at the same time. 

Johnny Peeples bought a ranch in Salida, Colorado about 1940, so when Mary and I were through Salida in September, I called up Johnny and had a long conversation with him and his wife, Gertrude. 

Rodney Love called me up Friday and told me of his association with Johnny. During World War II they got acquainted with each other as they worked together at an air base at Amarillo. Rodney was saying that they had two days off together, so they drove up to Johnny’s ranch at Salida. 

There was a cabin on the ranch, so that is where they stayed for the night. Johnny got out a tub with some horse feed in it, rattled it a little, and up came the horses. They saddled them and spent much of their time riding over the ranch. Part of the place is in mountainous country, so it made their ride a very interesting occasion. 

Rodney said that he got to thinking about Johnny so tried to call him up under the name of Peoples. The operator reported no one by that name. He later got to thinking that Johnny might spell his name differently, so about two weeks ago he called for Peeples and got him. They spent some 30 minutes talking about the pleasant times that they had had in the past. 

In my telephone conversation with Johnny back in September he was telling me of the homecoming they had at Allison back in June. He and Gertrude was the honored guest at the occasion. Word of this got out through the invitations, so those boys and girls who played basketball under him in the 1930s made a special effort to attend. They were all there except one who was sick. Johnny said the thing that made him swell with pride was to see all that group of clean-cut people who had done well in life. 

Those were some very difficult days there during the Depression, but a few hardships have a way of teaching true values.

ACROSS THE FENCE