Reflections of An Uncommon Common Man

I took an interest in history and the Civil War from an early age and my fantasy was always to buy a WW2 mine detector and hunt for Civil War relics. I was not able to fulfill that dream until I was discharged from the active Air Force in the Summer of 1972. By that time companies like Whites and others were marketing metal detectors and I bought a Whites. I found my first Minie ball while on my lunch break at Baird-Ward printing company. Construction on Interstate I-65 South had just begun near the plant where the Confederate lines crossed Thompson Lane near the old Battle of Nashville monument location. Over time I found many bullets, buttons and other relics there along with old coins. I was close to my brother-in-law Hulon Helms. He was like a brother to me. His hobby was hunting Indian relics and he had a fantastic collection. I tried to talk him into hunting Civil War relics but he was very reluctant at first. I finally talked him into going with me one weekend Hulon had an uncan...

My dad's oldest sibling Aunt Viola walking with my cousin Joyce on Church Street in front of McKendree Methodist church probably in the 1940's. I am told that it was common for street photographers to take random pictures of pedestrians and they would make money selling the picture to their subject.   My mother on the right was a nurse at Dr. Martin's office on Church Street before I was born My Aunt Goldie "Didi" Brown in deep thought somewhere in downtown Nashville

Claude Segroves My grandfather Claude Segroves as a young man in Hillsboro Alabama and his brother Jim Seagroves. One of the mysteries of my family is why we spell our last name differently so often. They were brothers but Jim added an a to our last name. I had a cousin named Fred Seagroves and his brother went by William Seagraves. I have seen the name spelled Segroves, Segrove, Seagroves, Seagrove, Segraves, Segrave, Seagraves. and Seagrave. Many times when a receptionist or some official asks for my name I will spell it out and they will invariably put an a in my name or spell it Seagraves. Segroves and Segraves do not sound alike to me. .My grandfather Claude would die of colon cancer in 1940 and Jim I think died of TB in 1952. Jim Seagroves

After my Aunt Didi died I found this newspaper article about my Aunt Lillie and her long lost son that somehow she was separated from when he was a baby. The article doesn't give details of why they were separated. This is one of our family mysteries that I would like more information about. Aunt Lillie was married to my grandmother's brother Jake Frogge. They lived on Hermitage Avenue for many years and I can remember going to their house many times. My mother was born close to their house on Hermitage Avenue. The famous country singer Kitty Wells also lived on Hermitage Avenue and Didi said that she was always sitting on her front porch singing. They were friends growing up but Didi said that after she started working at the Grand Ole Opry house as an usher Kitty would shun her. Didi thought that she didn't want to be reminded of her humble origins. Uncle Jake had worked on a steamboat for many years going up and down the Cumberland River. He once survived a sinking of on...

I remember this trip well. My dad was very spontaneous. Late one Friday night in the late 1950's after he got home from working at the drugstore he told everybody to get dressed.. We were going to take a trip. My brother Mark and myself were already dressed for bed but no matter the five of us, my parents, Donna Mark and myself excitedly got dressed and piled into our car.. We didn't know where we were going but there was a sense of adventure in the air. Things really ramped up when we drove over to East Nashville and picked up my sister Faye who was living with her mother across from East High. I didn't know that our destination was Fort Knox Kentucky. My sister Carolyn lived there on post with her husband John. These years were some of the happiest of my childhood but in retrospect it was the calm before the storm.

Edward Segroves, on the left in the picture, was born on December 26, 1912 in Alabama and would die in Nashville on December 15, 1935. He would die when he was almost 23 from a injury he sustained when he was about 12 years old. While playing with other boys he was hit in the head with a rock and a blood clot formed on his brain. My grandmother Mary Segroves took care of him for the rest of his life. The clot eventually expanded too far into his brain and killed him. My Aunt Freddie, daddy's youngest sister, said that my grandmother tried to get an operation for him at Vanderbilt but by the time she sought help it was too late. I had my head busted with rocks a time or two when I was a child but I never threw rocks at other kids. Mainly because I grew up hearing the story of Ed's death and how dangerous it was to throw rocks. Ed is buried in an unmarked grave at Spring Hill cemetery near to my grandparents.  

This is the earliest picture I have of my dad and my Aunt Margaret. Daddy talked frequently of how poor his family was when he was growing up around Huntsville Alabama. He said that the only thing that he ever got for Christmas as a child was a cap pistol. Like many his age he grew up during the depression. Daddy made a pretty good living as a pharmacist and Aunt Margaret married a man who started out poor but would eventually become a multi millionaire.

In May 1979 I was working at Colonial Baking on Franklin Rd. It had been raining hard for several days without let-up when I headed home one night driving on I-24 East toward my house in Murfreesboro. When I topped the hill overlooking the valley near Bell Road exit I was caught up in a massive traffic jam. It was raining so hard that I couldn't tell what was going on so I stepped out of the car and realized that I was surrounded by roaring flood water. The sound was so loud I felt like I was standing next to Niagara Falls. The only thing that was above water was the pavement of the interstate. I got back into the car for a few minutes trying to decide what I should do. When I opened my car door again water was swirling around my feet. I decided to abandon my car and head for high ground. I only had that car for three days and it was one of the best used cars I had ever owned. As I was climbing the hill I could see houses down in the valley with furniture floating around inside. I ...

When I was working at the mall I ran into Larry Schmittou who is the owner of Strike and Spare entertainment centers. Larry was my Little League coach in West Nashville and my football coach at Bailey. He is best known for baseball. Larry coached Vanderbilt baseball teams for many years winning several Southeast Conference championships. He worked for the Texas Rangers and owned the Nashville Sounds when they were at Greer stadium. He brought baseball back to Nashville and unsuccessfully tried to bring a major league franchise here.

The two most hated presidents in American history during their lifetime are without a doubt Abraham Lincoln and Donald Trump. I believe that once historians have a chance to evaluate the presidency of President Trump in an unbiased manner in the coming years he will be in the same league as Lincoln and Washington. The following is from a speech made by president Grant who knew Lincoln well. Grant knew how hated Lincoln was and the following words could also apply to Donald J. Trump. " Amidst obloquy, personal abuse and hate undisguised, and which was given vent to without restraint through the press, upon the stump and in private circles he remained the same staunch unyielding servant of the people. To know him personally was to love and respect him for his great qualities of heart and head, and for his patience and patriotism." Washington brought about the birth of our country. Lincoln saved it from a Democrat party trying to protect the evil institution of slavery. Trump ha...

When I was a child in the 1950's the nearest zoo was in Memphis. My parents took me there several times during those years. White people could go to the zoo everyday of the week except Thursday. That day was called Negro day and only black people could attend. I was 14 when segregation was legally ended in America. It boggles my mind to think that kind of thing existed during my lifetime. Never forget, however; that it was the Democrat party that was responsible for segregation laws. They have done a good job over the years of making people forget history. If you asked most low information younger voters today who was responsible for segregation they would probably say the Republican party.

My 1964 Chevy Impala. We were getting ready to leave Oregon on our way back to Nashville. I had orders for Turkey. It took us four days to get home. I was driving on 5 dollar recaps with Robbie standing on the seat between us. He was just turning a year old. This was before seat belts and child restraint. The day we left Oregon was the day that the Apollo 13 astronauts successfully landed back on earth. I loved my Impala. It was a smooth ride.

 I was about 15 or 16 working as a bagger at H.G. Hills on 6th and Shelby. Debbie and I were dating during this time. I lived on Mckennie Avenue and would walk to school at East. After school I would walk her to her house on Boscobel Street and then walk to work at 6th and Shelby. After the store closed at 9:00 PM I would walk all the way back to Mckennie except on the rare occasions when I could hitch a ride. Debbie wasn't allowed to date during the week so I could only see her when I was off on Sundays. When my kids would complain in later years about having it rough I would tell them how I had to walk to work everyday. Of course I embellished the story a little by saying I had to walk uphill all the way butt naked in snow up past my knees.

Debbie was very pregnant with Rob standing next to our 10 inch black and white G.E. TV. Klamath Falls had one television station and it went off the air around 11:00 PM. Cable was available for 5.00 dollars a month but we couldn't afford it. When Rob was born he cost us 25.00 dollars. I had to set up payments of 5 dollars a month. As an Airman I made 100 dollars a month and was paid every 2 weeks. Deb was paid an allotment of 100 dollars a month. Our rent was 65.00 dollars. In the last few days before I was paid we would usually be down to spaghetti and water. I worked a lot of day jobs on my days off at an ice house and a moving company to make ends meet. I also worked on a potato farm. We walked most places because we didn't have a car. Deb was craving banana splits. The nearest Dairy Queen was at least a mile one way. I would walk two miles to buy her banana splits. The ice cream would be melted by the time I got to her with it but she didn't care. Things were tough but ...

  My 1964 Chevy Impala. We were getting ready to leave Oregon on our way back to Nashville. I had orders for Turkey. It took us four days to get home. I was driving on 5 dollar recaps with Robbie standing on the seat between us. He was just turning a year old. This was before seat belts and child restraint. The day we left Oregon was the day that the Apollo 13 astronauts successfully landed back on earth. I loved my Impala. It was a smooth ride.

 Over the years our government has designated certain groups as terrorist groups. Al Qaeda, Isis, Hamas, and Hezbollah just to name a few. Since president Trump's inauguration the Mexican cartels, and Tren de Aragua has been added to that list. In my view the worst domestic terrorist group of them all has been the Democrat party. It will never be officially designated as a terrorist group but the evidence is overwhelming that it should be classified as such. It has for the most part been a dark part of our history dating back to it's founding in 1828. It was the party of slavery. The party of Indian removal better known as The Trail Of Tears. It was responsible for starting the Civil War in which there were over 750, 000 American's killed and thousands of men permanently scarred for the rest of their lives. Lincoln's assassin was Democrat John Wilkes Booth. It was the party of the KKK, voter suppression, segregation, and lynching.   The Democrats were the party that int...

My brother Mark in the front with his usual look of confusion. I appear to be having a seizure of some kind. Then there is my sister Donna posing for Vogue magazine I guess. My cousin Alton Anderson with the rabbit ears and next to him on the right is my cousin Jenny Brown. Behind Alton is my cousin Judy Brown and next to her is my cousin Roy Anderson. These were happy times at our grandparents house at 1300 Mckennie Avenue. Sadly only four of us in the picture are still alive. My sister Donna has been dead for a couple of years now. Alton died a few years ago of complications caused by a drinking problem. Jenny was murdered in 1980 by her live in boyfriend who strangled her to death dumping her body on the side of the road in Mt. Juliet. She was discovered by a mail carrier. Her body lay unclaimed in the morgue for several days. Jenny's daughter recognized a necklace she was wearing from a composite drawing made of the body which was published in the Tennessean newspaper. Although...

I was stationed at Erhac Turkey from May 1970 until May 1971. This was before the convenience of cellphones or laptops. The only way I had to communicate with my wife Debbie was by mail. She wrote me every day and I wrote her every day. The mail was sporadic. We would go days without mail and when it did come I would usually got a stack of letters. We had a radar station that was connected to Norad at Diyarbakir Turkey. it was down near the Syrian and Iraqi border. This was the only place where we could place a phone call back to the states. I was able to talk to Debbie about 4 times while I was there. We worked 9 day cycles and on our 72 hour breaks we could take a trip to Diyarbakir. It was a dangerous trip so we always traveled in groups. When we were close to Diyarbakir we would see a lot of camels. A Turkish friend of mine recently told me that it is rare now to see a camel in Turkey today.

The biggest fish I ever caught was this 5 pound large mouth bass on a cane pole. We were at Camp Boxwell Boy Scout camp. The fish fell off the hook as I pulled him in over the bank and slid back into the water. I was fishing with my friend Gus Fowler and his father. Mr. Fowler jumped into the water and caught the fish barehanded before it was able to swim away and he threw it up on the bank. I was 15 years old.

 Our flight line in Nashville on March 13, 1993. Our Security Police unit was deploying to Hickam Field Hawaii and we were boarding our C-130 when I took this picture. There was 12 inches of snow on the ground in Nashville and 26 inches on the ground in Atlanta. I almost had to miss this trip because I was told a week prior to leaving that I was 14 pounds over my maximum weight of 220 pounds. I was determined to go to Hawaii and through fasting, exercise and saunas I lost 14 pounds in 6 days. When I walked into the orderly room and weighed I weighed exactly 220 pounds. You should have seen the looks on their faces. They didn't think I could do it. I was told that I could go but if I gained any weight on the trip over I would be placed on a plane and flown back to the US. When I weighed again upon landing at Hickam I had gained 2 pounds somehow. I don't know how because I was starving. Luckily they did a body mass test and I passed. Needless to say I ate like a pig when I finall...

 Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. At that time America was also being invaded, especially on our southern border. Millions of people from all over the world were pouring into this country and being encouraged to do it by the Democrat party. The Nazi war criminal George Soros was financing much of this migration. Criminals and terrorists were mixed in with this migration and they were terrorizing American citizens. People were being brutally murdered, women were raped and murdered. Children were molested. American's were robbed and carjacked by migrants. Stores suffered the loss of millions of dollars through theft and  American's were killed and injured by migrant drunk drivers. Our medical system, schools, prisons, welfare system, justice system and cities were overwhelmed by illegal migrants. Not only was the government doing nothing to stop this invasion but they were actually flying illegals into this country and putting them up in fancy hotels supplying their ...

  Many bloody wars have been started over what I think were stupid reasons. For example WW1, which was one of the bloodiest wars in history was started because of the assassination of Austrian Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sofia. With the right diplomacy that war could have been easily avoided. As a result over 10 million soldiers died before it was over and it changed the political landscape of Europe. It would also be the catalyst for the creation of the first Marxist-Leninist state called the Soviet Union. Communism has been responsible for the deaths of over 100 million people in the Twentieth Century alone and that is a conservative estimate. In my view the war in Ukraine could have been easily avoided. Putin is a tyrant but America has to be held accountable for it's part in bringing on the war.  In August 1939 Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin signed a non-aggression pact. Hitler had blamed the defeat of Germany in WW1 on the fact that the country had involved itself in...