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You knew you were from Tuckerman if .....

8/21/2011

A new group started on facebook for all those Tuckerman alumni, family and friends to reminisce. Quite interesting to go down memory lane and remember people places and events of our earlier lives. Names familiar and unfamiliar as everyone posts their memories of a diufferent time and place.

I can sit and remember the one block main street of Tuckerman and the businesses on either side of the street. Parking was an issue back in the early 70's. Doing a u-turn at the end of the one block was required to park on the opposite side to get your mail from the post office. There was the Drug Store, the Tuckerman Mercantile, Paul D's grocery store, Mom had her beauty shop, Armstrong's. I can't remember the rest of the businesses nor can I remember if these were all in business at the same time. Everyone remembers Gene Elkins, the Shingle Shack and Marie's Dairiette. Daddy had a restaurant at the North end of town at one time. Spent many a morning there opening with Daddy before going to school.

The 70's were some good years, but, some tough times. Mom left, parents got a divorce, both parents remarried. Lots to be grateful for throughout my life. The 70's were probably one of the worst periods. It is not a time that I have spent a lot of time reflecting on, so, reminiscing with other Tuckermanians is therapeutic at this point in my life and I am enjoying the experience. Lookng at that point of my life in a different perspective

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Conversations with Daddy

8/8/2011

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It has become part of my weekly routine to call Daddy every Sunday morning. He looks forward to calls and usually will answer the phone with "Jake's Mule Barn" or some other silly greeting just to let me know he knows it's me calling. The discussions are usually about the same every week How hot is has been, how high the utility bills are getting, what vegetables are in season, who's sick, who's died and how his health is. Not necessarily in that order.

This weeks news consisted of Boyce Ray being in intensive care in Jonesboro. With Daddy's poor hearing, details are usually a little sketchy. He thought that Boyce Ray had gotten dehydrated. With the temperatures running over 100 degrees these days in Arkansas, it is easy to believe. Troy was home this week and him and Stephen Jay stopped over to visit with Daddy and Brenda for awhile. Daddy really enjoyed this. Daddy had an appointment with an arthritis doctor this week. He is having a lot of problems with his left shoulder. He seems to think it is from his walking with a cane. Don't know how much longer he will be able to get around without a wheelchair. I worry so much about him falling.

These weekly conversations have become a highlight of my week. Just to hear his voice and feel his smile warms my heart. Makes me miss him so much. He is such a wonderful man. He is never in a bad mood, he never gets mad, never has anything bad to say about anybody. In name and in life, he is really a GOOD MAN.

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Tuckerman, Arkansas

8/3/2011

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Downtown Tuckerman

The St. Louis, Iron Mountain and Southern Railway ran from St. Louis, Missouri and Texarkana, Arkansas, as well as to southeast Missouri. The line was initially established to deliver iron ore from Iron Mountain, Missouri to St. Louis. In 1872, the railroad was making it's way through Jackson County and by 1873 a train station was established in Tuckerman. Tuckerman was supposedly named after a railroad official named Mr. Tucker.

D.C. and F.R. Dowell, living at Elgin at the time, saw the opportunity the Tuckerman Station could bring and built the first store nearby. The post office was established in 1884 and Tuckerman was beginning to grow. By 1889, the population had grown to 150. The town now had a post office, three general stores, two groceries, two drugstores, two blacksmiths, a wood shop, a hotel, two boarding houses, a school house, a church and two saw-mills. The town continued to grow installing gas and water mains in the 30's along with asphalt being put down on Highway 67. Population grew to about 2000 and has fluctuated in that area for many years since.

As with many cities and small towns alike these days, there is not a lot of business in Tuckerman these days. The railroad quit stopping many years ago, businesses closed down and the one block main street of Tuckerman is just a sad shadow of what used to be. I have many memories of this little town and it will always be a special place for me.

Downtown Tuckerman

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Who do you think you are?

8/1/2011

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More and more people are becoming interested in finding out who their ancestors were. This is such an interesting and exciting journey. Not everyone can have such elaborate ancestors as a King or President or even a great war hero, but, all of our ancestors are interesting. None of my ancestors (as far as I have found so far) have done any elaborate deeds or held any high positions. What I have found is that they were hard working and good hearted. My grandmother Polly Goodman was a mid-wife and delivered many of the babies on Denton Island. Her and Grandpa Taylor always had extra children to raise besides their own 9. That says a lot about the type of people that they were.

Roosevelt's "new deal" in the 1930's probably allowed them to purchase the farm on Denton Island and have a home to raise their family. As the children grew, they all seemed to spread their wings and go where the work would take them. Uncle Orden and Aunt Neal ended up in Converse, Indiana. The automotive factories in Kokomo offered a new opportunity for families in the 60's.

For those that remained in Tuckerman and Grubbs, farming continued to be the way of life. Daddy became an Assembly of God minister preaching at Sunny Valley Church on Denton Island and later at Egypt, Arkansas. My childhood was happy. We always had food, always felt safe and ALWAYS ALWAYS felt loved. What more could you ask for?

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