It was July of 1971 or 1972, Great Uncle Anon came and stayed with us for 2 weeks. Grandpa and Grandma Cox came down to visit us in Washington Court House, Ohio. The Fayette County fair was going on. Uncle Tom Pat and Aunt Sharon Maynard met us all there. Aunt Sharon dared Grandpa Cox to ride on the super loop. Well, he was not going to let her call him a chicken. So they got on the ride, they were hollaring and screaming. My dad (Carl), mom(Joyce), Tom Pat, Grandma, Uncle Anon and all of us kids were at the bottom laughing. When the ride went upside down, Grandpa Cox’s dentures, cigarettes, lighter, and wallet all fell on the ground. When they got off the ride, the guy had to keep everybody off the ride until Grandpa Cox could collect all his things. The only thing he had a problem finding was his teeth. They fell into somebody’s lemon shake that was standing there wondering what all the hupla was about. Because we had such a crowd of people watching those 2 on that ride. When Grandpa and Aunt Sharon got off the ride, She was puking and he was dizzy. But it was such a hoot!! Everybody had such a good time!!!
Author: Carla
Carl's oldest daughter
First time mowing on a riding mower!
I remember Grandpa Cox being parked in the drive way of our house when the school bus would pull up. He would show up on Friday afternoon’s and pick me up. He would secretly call my Dad(Carl) the night before. He did this about every other weekend. I would run straight over to the car, except he would be in the house, I would then run in the door yelling, “GRANDPA ARE YOU READY TO GO”. Mom would always make us change out of our school clothes before we did anything. I would not only change my clothes but I would also come out of my bedroom with my packed bag. Cara Leta would never go, and Cassie wasn’t born until 1974. So I thought it was GREAT!! Every weekend that I got to go Grandpa’s he would mow his yard. He would let me ride with him. Then he got nervy and one day he let me mow. This was out at the Cornstalk house. Dad would always call when he got home from work on Friday night and say that he would pick me up on Saturday. But if Dad had to do a side job I knew I wasn’t going home until after the big family dinner that Grandma would make on Sunday. Anyway, I thought, “OH BOY!! I get to mow”. Of course, Grandpa’s mower had the old clutch, so I would kill it when I would take off, so he would get it going and hop off. This was my very first time mowing by myself. Well, I would get done mowing, park the mower up by the house and run inside. Grandpa and I would sit down on the couch and watch roller derby. Grandma Goldie would sit there with us. We always ended up playing a game of Sorry. Well, Grandpa took the cellophane off of something. I don’t remember what, but anyway he gave it to me and told me to go throw away the trash he had in his hand. So I took it and threw it away. I came skipping back into the room and grandpa looked at me real funny. I said what are you looking at? He said did you throw that away? I said yes that’s what you told me to do. He just started laughing. He said you better go look again. So I went running back in the kitchen and looked in the trash can. Low and behold there was a $5.00 bill laying in the trash can. WOW!! I GOT PAID FOR MOWING GRANDPA’S YARD. He thought that was hilarious. So everytime I mow even now that I am 44 years old, I think of him and smile.
Carla Jo’s Junior prom dress
I remember my dad(Carl) would drop me off at Martha’s house when he would got to work. One day, Martha, Grandma Goldie, Richard, and I all went to the Dayton Mall. We pushed Richard all around the mall in his stroller. We went into Elder-Beerman’s where I saw at that time the most beautiful prom dress. It was all pink lace. Martha made me try it on so we would know what size to tell mom. I thought that was huge!! Only, the next huge hurdle was mom letting me have it. Of course, a prom dress with that slightly high price tag was my only worry. My mom(Joyce) wasn’t worried about the price tag, she was worried about the dress having satin spaghetti straps. Of all the things that never crossed my mind. It still had a little lace jacket, but mom just had a fit about the straps. Needless to say, we got the dress, but Martha had to help me out by talking my mom into getting that dress. Thanks, Aunt Martha!!!