BATES, ETC.

 

 

02/26/1981

 

Across the Fence

 

By Arvord Abernethy

 

Terry and Carol Bates are building themselves a new home in the Shady Oaks Addition which is in the north part of Hamilton. Tommy Watson is working with him as they work together under the name of B & W Construction Co.

 

The house is a three bedroom two and a half bath, two story brick and siding structure, built in a beautiful architectural design. Right off the tiled entry is a large vaulted ceiling living room with a fireplace made of colored native stone. Joining this is the formal dining room, joined by the kitchen and the regular dining room. The three bedrooms and three baths are upstairs. The two children, Christel Dawn and Quentin Dean have almost identical bedrooms which they will surely enjoy.

 

On a lower split level is the utility and work room and the half bath, and also the entry to the double garage. There is a covered patio on the west side with an extended balcony above it. This will make a fine place for bird watching and squirrel watching, as there are lots of large oaks around.

 

There are two other practically new homes near the Bates. One is the home of the Don Woodliffs and the other one is the home built by Rev. Larry Jones and now occupied by the John Hartgraves.

 

 

Some of the Hamilton County Historical Committee were together the other day discussing some of the people who contributed much to the development of Hamilton County . Ralph Lawrence was telling how he, as County Agent, had worked closely with I. Comer in the chicken development business. Ralph said that Mr. Comer told him the first work he did after coming to America was selling bananas, and that the first English words he learned were “Two dozen, Two bits”.

 

That reminded Mrs. Mattie Tate of a banana experience that she had. As a young lady teaching school at Valley Mills, she and four other teachers were riding around one afternoon when they saw a banana peddler. They drove up and asked for a dozen bananas. He said that he couldn’t sell them a dozen, but would sell them a full stalk. They said that they couldn’t use that many, but then he told them that it would only cost each one 25 cents, so they bought the whole stalk for $1.25. They took some to the drug store and had banana splits made in exchange and then they went to the hamburger stand and swapped some for hamburgers. One teacher who lived near the school took some of her pupils to her house the next day and served them bananas. The 25 cents that each invested in bananas that day has yielded rich dividends of laughs over the years.

 

Our Hamilton Fire Department boys had to make four calls over the weekend. Three were for grass fires and one was for a car wreck. It is reported that the grass fire in the Gustine was pretty large. With dry springtime winds ahead of us, it is a situation where an ounce of prevention is worth many, many pounds of cure. The car wreck was on Highway 36 east, a one car wreck in which a boy suffered a broken leg and had to be hospitalized.

After looking at a prescription that the doctor gave me the other day, I can understand why it took him eight years to get through college, he hadn’t learned to write so the teacher could read his papers.

 Shared by Roy Ables

 

 ACROSS THE FENCE