Darrell and Karen's Wedding

Karen Ann Swackhamer, 19 years old

Rudy, Darrell, Karen, Pearl
July 27, 1974

Darrell Growing Up

Pearl and Darrell 1959

Darrell 12/65

Dean 5 months, Darrell 11 years Nov '66

Darrell, 19 April 1970, 14 years

Darrell 7th Grade

Jackson Citizen - Introducing New Jacksonians

Abt 1966 It is better to have wheels

We grew up with lawn mowers, go carts and mini bikes. My dad took a stingray bicycle frame and mounted a motor on a board with a belt drive and foot operated idler clutch pulley. We started off with small motors, but quickly grew tired of the slow speeds of about 20 miles per hour. We graduated to a 4 HP that was quite a bit heavier and too big to fit under the seat. The larger motor had to hang off to the side. The farther it stuck out, the more out of balance the little bike was. We had to compensate by leaning the other way. Now the bike went about 40 MPH. I imagine the neighbors thought it kind of comical and stupid to see us coming down the road at about a 30deg angle, sometimes barefoot, certainly with shorts on. The tires we had were from a reel type mower that had slip on tires. These tires were made to go about 1 mile per hour. When we would crank it up to full speed, the rubber tires would grow to about 1.5 times the diameter and sometimes slip off the wheel, making our ride quite slippery.

One time I was going full speed down Pioneer Drive headed home in front of Danny King’s house when not only the tires fell off but I lost the entire front wheel. Needless to say, going full speed with only front forks to ride on did not make for a pleasant sudden stop. I dragged myself home and thought I better clean up before anyone saw me. I was rinsing off in the tub when mom came in. I was pretty bloody, but the tub filled with a few inches of water did not help make it look less deadly. My mother (Pearl) about lost it. It took several weeks for all the scabs to stop hurting, then it was back to rebuilding the mini bike again.

Abt 1982 One more Scoop

When living on 320 Grayfield Ct in ADA, MI, we put up a retaining wall at the corner of our house in the front yard. I was digging a post hole and remembered that the power to the home was coming into the wall from that corner. I was ready to take one more poke with the shovel but thought better of it. I was about ¼ inch away from the main power line coming from the street to the house. I remembered the fuse box event from age 13 and thought the light show I just avoided, although spectacular I am sure, may have been life threatening. This is one time I listened to the promptings of the Spirit and avoided another disaster.

Abt 1968 Fire in the Hole

My dad used to burn the grass and trash in the back yard. He used gasoline to help get things started. (These days we just use Boy Scout water to do the same thing) He would splash on some gas, strike a match at a distance and throw it hoping to catch a wet spot and poof, it would be in full flames.

Doug and I became pretty good pyrotechnics at the ripe old age of 13. We cut grass for about 5 neighbors in the summer and one of them, the Gilcrest family had a big pile of brush in the back. As I recall it was about 15’ x 40’ and about 6’ tall. We asked if they would like it burned and we were given permission. If they only knew! We used about a half gallon of gas to get it prepped, then we let it ferment a few minutes, and then we did the match thing. It took about 5 matches being thrown for us to hit a wet spot. Vavoom, the pile took off like a rocket. It lifted about 10’ off the ground and was in a fierce flaming mode when it hit the ground. The fruit trees close by were getting torched and we kept looking at the rear windows to see if they were looking out at us. Phew, they never said anything and we learned not to use so much gas next time.

Abt 1968 Fort

We traded a motor with Bob Nims next door for a “Doll House” that we made into a fort. We dragged it up the hill and across the yard over the old fire pit. We made a trap door in the bottom and dug a basement. Every time it rained the dirt would get wet and wormy. We eventually dragged it to the other side of the back yard and built an addition onto it that doubled the size. Later we built on an upstairs that made our fort now four times bigger than the original doll house. We added electricity via about 200 feet of extension cords strung up on the telephone poles. I shimmied up the telephone pole by the fort and tapped into the phone line to provide us phone service too. We added air-conditioning too. It’s amazing we did not start a fire with all of the extension cords. Carpet and paneling came next. We were the pride of the high school for places to hang out.

Abt 1967 Stomping it out

The fields behind the house were great in the late summer. The wheat was golden and the grasses were good and dry. For fun us kids used to light a match and see how big the circle of fire could get and still be able to stomp it out. Depending on how many we had in our party, the circle could get up to about 10 feet in diameter before we felt it getting too big. One day it got out of control so we all ran and had someone call the fire department so the barns did not burn down too. Again, we had the stupid meter out quite often taking a reading on our family activities.