I'd like to think that Mother and Dad raised all four of us right. One thing I remember is Dad telling us not to get into any trouble at school'cause we'd be in bigger trouble at home. That had a lot to do with me keeping my nose clean.*

Cliff Lane was another one of my friends in Brookings. He was a few years younger than me. He and I lived together as bachelors for a couple of years+. We managed to keep our place in decent shape. We lived out on the old Becker place in Hyde County before the folks moved out here. He moved back to Brookings after that.

Cliff claimed I saved his life. You see, back in those days the politicians told us we couldn't drink, and, of course, some people would drink whatever they could get their hands on**

There was a dance that night in the town of White, and Cliff got sick on this stuff he was drinking. I carried him up three flight of stairs to the doctors office. The doctor told me that if I'd waited too long, it would've been too late.. Everyone else in our group had been drinking too, and was not aware of what was going on.