A Hurricane and a New School

A Hurricane and a New School

 Pat O'Connor

Hurrricane Donna Pays a Visit

**Oringinally posted in Google**

So now, with my brother and sister gone to faraway Oregon, I was the last O'Connor left in Florida.  I would miss them very deeply, yet to this day
I have never regretted my decision to remain at Aunt Gladys and Uncle Austin's
School was about to start and once again I would
be starting a new school. There were many of us in our neighborhood who had been attending Central Elementary, which was in downtown Auburndale.

But, there was a newer school just blocks from our house and the school policy changed meaning we would now be attending Lena Vista Elementary.  

I was now in second grade and my new teacher was Mrs. Dial.  She was an interesting person.  I remember her being very hefty and everyday she would take home scraps of lunchroom food for her dog.

I had the same teacher for third and sixth grade, a Mrs McCarty.  In fourth grade my teacher was Mrs Mitchell.

In fifth grade my teach was Miss Harrison.  We all loved her and she was very unique in several ways.

First, she was an "old maid" having never been married.  She was very wealthy as she owned hundreds of acres of prime citrus groves, yet she drove this ancient old car from the early fifties. I want to say, it was a 1951 Chevy. Her classroom was special also as it was the only room in the school with a television and air conditioner.

Finally, she was also a vegetarian, the first one I can remember ever knowing.

It wasn't such a bad transition though, as at least I would know a lot of the kids and actually it was a much nicer facility.  I have many good memories of Lena Vista, even when I fractured my right arm in fourth grade and broke my left one in sixth grade.  Hey, you can't live life on the sidelines.

Life was also about to get very interesting  as a result of a monster storm roaring across Florida.

Hurrican Donna was a category four (some say five) hurricane with at one time sustained winds of 160mph, and peak winds of 175mph.  It roamed around the Carribean and the Atlantic from August 29, 1960 until September 14, 1960.

It was one of this countries deadliest hurricanes aslo, due to the path it took after smashing through Florida.  It made landfall in the Everglades, came straight up Florida and then cut accross the state at Tampa.  After leaving Florida, it hugged the US Atlanta coastline all the way up through New England.

It also held together extremely well and even when  it crossed Long Island it had a 100 mile wide eye.  When it made it's way to Rhode Island, it still had wind gusts up to 130 mph.  These states were simply not prepared for such a storm as this.  The illustration to the left is an actual radar image of Donna.

All in all 364 people lost their lives and billions of dollars of destruction ranged for hundreds of miles along the Atlantic seaboard.

I was surprised too at my reaction to Donna.  After the hurricane/tornado incident in Tennessee several years before, I had been terrified of bad storms.  But, this time I was unusually calm and actually slept a little bit.   Our house was an incredibly solid masonary and block home well capable of surviving an even worse storm.

The only damage we had was a shingle blew off a neighbor's house and went through a dining room window.

The eye of hurricane Donna passed directly over our town and you know, we couldn't resist going outside in the middle of it.  It was one of the eariest scenes I can remember.  Nothing moved, not even bugs, and there was absolutely no noise.  It was a scene of total and complete stillness.

After the storm passed, there was of course no electricity and the store close to our house had to get rid of all its perishables before they went bad.  So, I took my little red wagon and brought home a load of ice cream.

Most of the houses of that time were also built about three feet off the ground so as to avoid being flooded during storms or even the heavy monsoon type rain we had.  While our house was safe, the yard was covered with about a foot of red yucky water, with leeches floating around by the seeming thousands and with occasional snakes swimming around.  It would be days before the water finally subsided.

The rest of the year, thank goodness passed without much fanfare, storms or other memorable events.

A Home for a Little Boy

A Home for a Little Boy - Originally written and posted elsewhere January 2007 - transferred here Jan 15, 2013


"Finding our way back to Florida"

So our time in Yoncalla was drawing to a close.  In planning to take the O’Connor children to Florida, there was this small problem of what to do with a couple little girls of 4 ½ years and  2 ½ years.  However, if you are my mother, the solution is actually quite simple.

You put them into a tiny little white clapboard house and put the fear of Satan in them if they open the shades, answer the phone, answer the door or go outside. Looking back, it truly is a miracle that nothing happened to Susan and Diana while mother was away.

With that little problem resolved, we packed the ole wagon,  hopped in and were cruising the highwaysagain.

Since Aunt Paula was with us, mother had to be at her best behavior so the trip was actually fun and I remember having a good time.  There were four things in particular that really stuck with me though.

Since it was still Winter, the snow wa still thick and covered the land, trees and roads going through the Dunsmuir pass in the Mt. Stasta, Calfornia area.

Mt. Shasta was spectacular and majestic against a deep blue sky.  When the wind whipped around the mountain, it would scoop up the powder snows and the mountain was surrounded by shimmering halo.        

 When we went through the Southwest, you had to keep a sharp eye out for those gila monsters.  We were told they would sneak into your hotel room at night, and gobble you up while you slept.   Now that made for sweet dreams.                            

 Then of course going through Arizona and New Mexico we kept a keen look out too for the giant jackalopes.  These huge critters were a cross breed between a jack rabbit and an antelope.  Some were so huge, we were told, they could actually kick over a building.  We sure didn’t want them jumping onto the highway and kicking us off the road.  

I was also fascinated by the seemingly mile after mile of those oilrigs along the Texas and Louisiana coast.  They seemed to go on and on and sang in unison with their rhythmic ka-thunka, ka-thunka as they sucked the precious oil from mother earth.

The trip was a whirlwind event, and was over almost a quickly as it had begun.

After a few days of driving long hours, we arrived back in Florida.  Our first home there, was to be with Uncle Jake and Aunt Louise who owned a huge farm outside a sleepy little Southern town called Cottondale.  

The farm was beautiful with lush woodlands and deep green pastures set in gentle rolling hills.  There was also a small river that ran through the farm that we children loved.    One end was ideal for fishing and the opposite end was perfect for swimming.

It was also large enough so that Uncle Jake had a number of families that worked for him, with some actually living in houses on the property.  He raised corn, cotton, peanuts, hay and a sundry of other cash crops plus hundreds of beautiful prize Black Angus cattle.       

We settled in quickly and  were promptly enrolled at the local elementary school.  It was a quaint and typical ancient country school. It was two story, made of red brick darkened by enduring sixty years of changing weather and the school yard was filled with giant live oak trees with enormous boughs of swaying Spanish moss.

I made news friends easily and it wasn't long before I had a best buddy, Cliff, to hang with. Our special treat each day was either a real orange juice popsicle, one of those real lime juice ones or the all time favorites, a fudgesicle. They were a mouthful of delight for only one nickel.

But as the old cliche says, "all good things must come to an end."  Mother had always had this problem with Aunt Louise. What it was all about I never knew, not even to this day.  Apparently, she got in an argument one day with Aunt Louise and without prior announcement showed up at their house to yank us out of there.

We were taken to relatives in central Florida.  We were very upset and saddened, but nevertheless were all crammed back into the car and were on the road again, and again.  

A Home for a Little Boy - Originally written and posted elsewhere January 2007 - transferred here Jan 15, 2013

        

At least this time that we were on the road again, it was a much shorter trip.

Steve and Marion were Steve and Marion were taken to Aunt Vivian (mother's sister) and Uncle Kenney's home in Rockledge, Florida.

Uncle Kenny worked at Cape Canaveral and aunt Vivian was a homemaker.  They had three children.  The oldest we called Little Paula as she was named after aunt Paula.  Kenny Jr. was the middle child and then there was Terry, son number two and was aproximately my age.

I was to stay with Aunt Gladys (mom's sister), Uncle Austin and thier family.  They lived outside a small town called Auburndale. This quaint little town was in the very heart of citrus country. Orange, grapefruit and tangerine groves were everywhere. 

They had three children of their own.  The oldest Gerald was living in Alabama and was soon to be married.  Tom, the second oldest, who  was named after his dad was in the navy.  The youngest was Rod who was about four years older then I was.

Uncle Austin owned his own leather goods business in a neighboring city called Winter Haven.  Aunt Gladys was a histology technician at the Winter Haven hospital.

That first year was difficult for me and I am quite sure for them as well.  I had a number of emotional issuesdue to the abuse from my mother and stepfather.  One time I woke everyone in the house up because I had turned on all the lights...ever fearful of the darkness.

There were medical problems as well.  I continued to have stomach trouble and according to the doctors was in an emerging ucler stage.  So, I was put on a bland (yuk) diet for several months.

Also, we needed to find an answer a to the question of why my legs swelled like they did.

Aunt Gladys had taken me to their family doctor to get his opinion.  After a thorough examination and a family history, Dr. Smythe announced I had a condition called Milroy's Disease.  This was the old name applied to almost all cases of lymphedema.

My aunt and uncle's home quickly became "my" home as I was welcomed and settled in.  I was enrolled in school at the Central Elementary School in Auburndale.  This was the third school I attended  in my first grade.

The year 1959 was one of massive change for me and it ended on a good note.

At Christmas, I had decided I was going to rearrange a decoration at the top of the Christmas tree, and boy did I ever rearrange it.  I knocked the whole tree over.  Of course, I did what any little kid would do, I started crying.      

After some hugs of comfort from Aunt Gladys, both the tree and I were tidied up.  How totally strange it was for me not to be beaten with a leather belt for something I had done.   I honestly didn't know what to do since normally I would have been beat unmercifully....maybe there really is a Santa Claus