Rabbit Box Blog

Memories and stories of our family

  • Dogs

    Dogs were perhaps as important to a child growing up in Alexis as family. But they were not a part of the family in the modern sense. If you had called your dog your “fur baby” or referred to yourself as the “dog mommy” back then, you would have received confused looks. (“Doggy Daddy” did Continue reading

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  • My (Brief) career in radio

    One of the benefits of Dad’s sideline business in TV and radio repair was that it gave me access to lots of spare parts. Dad worked on old tube models rather than transistor-and-printed circuit models, so when someone offered him an unwanted TV or radio, he gratefully accepted and added it to the collection. Often Continue reading

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  • Uncle Marion

    When his younger brother Marion became pastor of Sunset Road Baptist Church in Charlotte, Dad took all of us to hear him preach. As he began to speak to the congregation, he motioned toward us and welcomed us as visitors. “My brother Bobby was like Andrew in the Bible, for he introduced me to Christ,” Continue reading

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  • Uncle Ray’s Cars

    I read recently that Volkswagen is resurrecting the Scout name, and it reminded me of Uncle Ray. Sounds a little odd, but here’s why: In case you didn’t know Ray Shelton, he was a born engineer, although he never got the chance to get a degree. On second thought, a degree might have just held Continue reading

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  • Side Hustles

    When I was growing up in the 1950s and ’60s, money was usually tight. Although we didn’t use “hustle” to describe our extra jobs, almost everyone I knew did something or other to raise a little extra cash. Hustle, for those of you who don’t know the old lingo, was something your coach would encourage Continue reading

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  • The Man Upstairs

    My best friend Brad lived across the road from Alexis Baptist Church, and he struck up a friendship with our pastor, Stan Howard, almost as soon as the Preacher (as almost all Baptist ministers were called) moved into the parsonage beside the church. By tagging along with Brad, I was privy to many of the Continue reading

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  • Mr. Hager

    The Experiment When C.A. Hager appeared at the head of our sixth-grade classroom, he could have been an astronaut for all we knew. Male teachers were rare. I had known of only three in the whole school system up to that point, and they were over at the “old school.” They were gray, old men Continue reading

  • Grandma Iva’s cussing cat, part 2

    It turns out Grandma Iva’s cantankerous cat is still wreaking havoc, even 60 or so years later. When Mom read what I had carefully written based on what she told me, she said I had it wrong. The cat never came in the house, she said. I protested that I wrote exactly what she told Continue reading

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  • Don’t call me Granny!

    In July 1951, Nelson and Estie Shelton became grandparents for the first time, when Chuck and I were born just a few days apart. Okay, I’ll admit I’m the older one. They were still in their forties, and Grandma Estie wasn’t happy about suddenly having achieved grandparent status. After all, she still had children at Continue reading

  • Grandma Iva’s cussing cat

    After Grandpa Charlie had been dead a number of years and all of the children had left home (or maybe Aunt Emily Jane was still there), Grandma Iva Lineberger had a cat that was about as cantankerous as a cat can be. She used to claim he cussed at her. She insisted he could, and Continue reading