By Velma Rose Smith

December 7, 1922, an 8 1/2 pound baby boy entered this world. He was born at my folks home as I was staying there with them while Arnold was working at Geneva, N.Y. He was worn out from a 24 hour struggle, and had to be helped by instruments. The third day we nearly lost him but Aunt Jen Marsh and Mama Rose revived him with a Whiskey Sling. We talked over names, and Arnold suggested Wayne and the rest said Arnold, so he became Wayne Arnold Smith.

That winter he had quincy and was quite a sick baby, he had to have it lanced. The next summer the three of us went to Seneca Falls and spent several weeks with Uncle Roger and Aunt Sadie and family. We came home and made a trip to Wilkes-Barre with Nellie and Evan Williams in a brass front Ford. We visited Sarah Evans and family. Wayne could eat by himself and Sarah gave him a nice baby plate, he was very neat at eating. His silver spoon and pusher were gifts from Amy Vaughn.

On August 1st we went to live on the Smith farm. On the farm that fall he carried a glass jar of water to his Daddy on the hill back of the house. He walked with Aunt Jen and I down the hill to Moses Thompson’s house. He left the barn at dusk and instead of coming to the house, he went for a walk. We couldn’t find him, scared us all. He came walking to the house in a plow furrow, dressed in his brown farm coat and hat. We couldn’t see him. He said he went to see the pigs, quite a distance south of the house.

He started down the big hill one day, Ralph Reese was working in the field, saw him and brought him back to the house, where we were frantically hunting for him. He said “I thought I would go see Papa Rose”. That summer he climbed a tall ladder that had been left in the apple orchard. I was picking red raspberries, looked around and saw him up that ladder. I called to him to stay there and I would get him. So a very pregnant woman climbed that ladder. Before I reached him he fell through the ladder and hung by his arms until I reached him.

He went hunting for eggs by going into the coop through a little door made for the hens to go through. Arnold heard him crying and made him come out that hole and down a board to the ground.

Another day he climbed onto a huge wagon and Arnold made him find a way down by himself. He cried, I cried too, but Arnold said he had to learn to get himself out of trouble.

When a baby, his swing broke, hit him on the head, cutting quite a hole. We doctored it by ourselves. We got a bigger, better swing but that broke and laid his head open again. We took him to Dr. White and he sewed it up. He couldn’t give him an antiseptic because his heart was still bad. He had trouble breathing and often passed out at night. He slept between us so we could hear him. Arnold would grab him, run outside and hold him by the feet and hit him on the back, etc. At 3 years of age, he outgrew this trouble, and we got insurance for him.

The big farm cat and Wayne played a game. When Tinker passed him on the floor, Wayne would grab his tail and hang on. Tinker would pull away but Wayne hung on. So one day when Wayne passed Tinker, he grabbed with both front paws into Wayne’s diaper and he hung on.

One day I caught Wayne by the diaper just as he started head first down the big long stairs in the hall.

He got the cupboard door open where I kept the eggs, took out the basket and broke all the eggs all over his head and floor. What a mess!

Another day he cleaned the oil stove burners, no negro baby was any blacker.

One day he spread all my Nine O’Clock coupons on the pantry floor (about the size of small tiles – they are washing powder coupons) then spread a bottle of furniture polish on them. Another day I came in and found him on the table, with my middle machine drawer, which held bobbins, buttons, needles, etc., he had dumped them all in the blue pitcher full of milk and finished by pouring the contents of the maple syrup in too. You see I had to go to the barn every day to do some chores. He also sat on the table once trying to put two colored eggs back into his cardboard rabbit.

On March 1st, 1927 we moved from the farm to Uncle Jays house on Rt. 6. Wayne was 4 years old. Wanda was 2. They were both blue eyed. Wayne had reddish hair which Arnold kept cut neatly. They played together real good. They looked forward to Papa Rose stopping for them, with the old Ford, taking them to town. He always bought them ice cream chocolate of course.

J. Emerson was born on June 26th, 1927. Then in November we moved to Montoursville. He went to a wooded area with Arnold and they cut a Christmas tree, and he helped trim it.

One day while I was ironing he was playing with his marbles and he swallowed a steely. We were both scared. When Arnold came home at 4:00 we took Wayne to the doctor. He said it would do no harm, it would probably pass through – But if it didn’t it would just stay there and wear out. But as we worried before going to the Doctor, he told me, “If I die, don’t bury me in the new suit Mama Rose just made me for Christmas, (Brown pants and tan shirt), keep it for Jay, my new coveralls would be alright to bury me. And don’t take the baby to the funeral, it is too cold in the cemetery, he would take cold”. He was very serious all afternoon.

When Arnold came home one day in the spring, he asked me why I let them move all that sawdust pile out back into the front yard? I didn’t know it, I knew they were playing out in the yard but I didn’t pay attention. With the little red wheelbarrow he got for Christmas and a shovel they had wheeled all that sawdust. Arnold said tomorrow you can have fun moving it all back. They did, but it wasn’t as much fun. Arnold was foreman in a milk plant there.

We moved back up the last of August to the Burr Dewey little house by the brick house (Ronald West farm on Rt 660) just in time for the big event, his first day at school. He was looking forward to it, I dreaded it. My little boy took his first step out into the big world when he stepped onto that school bus. He went to Mansfield to school without me. He learned easily.

That fall he was one of four children in Tioga County first grade to attend Teachers Institute in Bache Auditorium in Wellsboro to demonstrate how to teach reading. I was proud.

At Christmas time Burr took Wayne and Wanda with his children to get Christmas trees. The Dewey Children were a little older and told Wayne and Wanda that there was no Santa Clause. Burr told them about the Saint of Love, so they were not too upset and soon let it drop.

We moved in March to Niles Lumber Camp. I forgot to say his Great Grandpa Jones died before Christmas 1928. Grandpa thought Wayne was a perfect little boy. He said to me once “hes too good to liven. When we went to the lumber camp we left Wayne with Papa and Mama and Merritt to go to school in Charleston. He adjusted well, he liked riding on Bartoo’s bus. He was with us when we made the move to Blossburg. A small boy was watching us unload. He says to Wayne “I can lick you”. I called Wayne into the house. I didn’t want a fight the first thing. It was Billy Watkins and Arnold told me to leave them alone, so the next time Billy said “I can lick you”, they had a fight. They became buddies for the five years we lived there. Billy and Wayne with some other boys were playing Tarzan, Wayne fell, he came home and said he had broken his arm. Carrie Reese was with us, she said she believed it was broken. She gave it a pull. It felt better so we bandaged it, put it in a sling. He wore the sling for a few weeks. He never complained that it bothered him. One day Billy and he came back carrying a little boy, Alfred Eddinger, all three were dripping wet. Some bigger boys had thrown Alfred into the swimming pool. He nearly drowned, but they got him out. Wayne lost his jack knife that Papa had given him on this same path. We hunted and hunted but never found his prized jackknife.

Vaughn’s moved to Blossburg and we were together a lot. We had the car. We could go fishing, picnicking by some stream.

Arnold made the boys an airplane built out of wood, shaped like a plane, Wayne could ride it over town to get groceries etc. From the time we moved here, he was 7, he did the grocery shopping, also the 5 and 10, bought socks, underwear, binding, thread, etc., whatever we needed. He went to the Post Office, getting money orders. Stores often gave candy or little toys to customers. He wouldn’t take one unless he could have 4, so that the other kids could have one too. We had one Jew merchant, Wayne knew if he was the first customer of the day he would get half price, so he liked that.

He always had one of the leading parts in the school plays. He and Wanda entered a spelling bee contest and each got a new dictionary for winning in their age groups.

He ran a piece of woven wire into the calf of his leg, a deep wound. We put Japanese oil in it and kept salt pork on it to draw the rust out. It healed without getting infection. He brought home the mumps, chicken pox and whooping cough. He didn’t have them hard. Then Blossburg got scarlet fever, and he had that. He got over diseases quickly. He got shoved off the church porch. He came home but when he got there he didn’t know where he was or what had happened. He fell off the garage roof but that didn’t hurt him.

He brought rare iris bulbs from the dump and we planted them until we had iris of every color. Because there was no work, no money, we had to move from Blossburg, and we chose Whitneyville. So June 1st, 1934 we moved here. Soon Wayne’s leisure days were over and he was doing a mans work.

I forgot about the 22 rifle, I hate guns so I didn’t want him to have one, but Arnold won, and got him a twenty-two. One day the man across the street said Wayne was shooting at his window. I said it can’t be for I was with him and he shot straight across the street at a tree. When Arnold came home, he went over to see him. Wayne was shooting straight across and the BB’s were ricocheting across and hitting his window. How can kids be so smart!

Here on the farm he had Bob Bryant and Dick Reamer to play with and later Joe Robinson. He had a paper route and a bicycle. We had a team of horses at first and then an old Ford tractor.

One Mare, Molly, laid down in the field and I had to go get Red Bryant to go help Wayne cut the harness so they could get her up.

Wayne didn’t care too much for parties or going out. He attended Sunday School, sang in the church choir. He had a part in all the dramas that the grange put on for Home Coming etc. He was a charter member of the juvenile grange and was Master of the Tioga County Juvenile Degree team that went to Harrisburg to put on the Degree.

He went each year to State Music Chorus around the state. He sang with Merritt at Memorial Day Services. He sang bass in the Charleston Quartet which was well known. He was an active all around American Boy.

After he graduated from High School he enlisted in the Army. Pearl Harbor was bombed on his 19th birthday.