Friends Forever-
I love hearing memories of my subject. For me this brings them to life, makes them more real and helps me to put life and essence into the clay. This came from my client. Dave and John have been friends a long time. I’m sorry I don’t have photographs to go with this post.
FRIENDS FOREVER
Friends from the first grade, but really good friends when David and John started playing sports. David, the mischievous one and John, was one who had to be convinced that skipping school was a lot more fun than going to school. Then when they would get to the train tracks, after skipping school, John would say…..”man, I can’t believe we just did that.” David would say, “well we did and now we are going to ride some horses! ” They would go get the horses and away they would go.
David loved having John as his catcher when they played on the school team for Frisco High School. David said John was a born salesman, because he would convince all the batters that they couldn’t hit, so it made David’s job easy. If they were out with a group of kids from school and if anyone from other schools said anything about Frisco…..John would come out swinging because he didn’t want anyone saying anything bad about Frisco, Texas.
David’s big brother, Bob and Johns bother, Bob Ed, were good friends, so David was always trying to be like Bob and John trying to act like Bob Ed. Bob Ed was both David’s and John’s hero, as he got a contract with the Yankees, but Bob Ed felt like he should be working, so he left the Yankee team and moved back to Frisco.
Joe Bailey, John’s oldest brother, always looked after John and David and ended up marrying David’s second cousin. David loved John’s parents….just hard working, salt of the earth people, who raised their boys to always do the right thing and work hard…..guess that is why John always felt so guilty about playing hooky.
After John lost his sight and all his friends were going off to serve their country, John even tried to enlist by telling them…..”surely there is something I can do to help our country.” John, to this day, worries about our country and the direction it is heading….and stays very current on the world affairs by watching FOX News.
When David came home from Korea, he picked up a few friends that went to school with he and John, picked John up and told him they were going to go to one of their old haunts, which was McKinney….BUT JOHN HAD TO DRIVE. John jumped right in and was ready for the fun. They would tell John where to turn….when to turn and when to stop. John drove around the square and honked and waved at all the girls. They had John drive to Dutton’s Drive In and all the guys in the car started laughing when they got there…..John said “what are ya’ll laughing about,” they all said….John, you just pulled up right next to a cop!!” They all had a ball and John did not even have a wreck!
The one thing that David always has admired about John was his determination to succeed and succeed he did and has always excelled at everything he has done…..David said it best….”John does not have any QUIT IN HIM…….HE JUST NEVER GIVES UP.” For all these years David and John have always called each other, to stay in touch and since about 1999, they have spent every New Year’s Day together…..really catching up….eating tamales and black eyed peas!