The Year 1963 Ages 11 and 12 years old
I was in Mrs. Vanderpool’s 5th grade at Bryant elementary when I turned 12 in April. She was one of my favorite teachers ever. She was a tall stout woman and since I had Jerry Smith and Loyd Davis in my class, it was a good year.
The only other eventful occasion that summer of 1963 occurred after a beach party and fish fry held at Seal Beach. Mom and Dad along with Frank and Barb Welte went to the beach and we stayed into the evening as I know we had a bonfire on the beach. I think Mom and Dad were quarreling as that dad was drinking too much beer. I really don’t remember the particulars or why Frank offered to give me a ride.
Anyway, on the drive, Frank started asking me how much I knew about the birds and the bees and that I could ask him anything I wanted to know. Mom and Dad never broached the subject of sex with me even as I was entering puberty.
My next memory is that we were at his house in Fullerton, and we were still talking about sex which was exciting to me and at one point Frank had me take my penis out. It was hard and he asked if I wanted to see what a grown man’s looked like and of course I did.
I had just discovered masturbation from Breese Beaty previously but had never ejaculated until recently. Although I knew it was inappropriate somehow to be playing with Frank’s dick, it was thrilling at the same time. He swore me to secrecy. I know now that Frank was a pedophile and that he preyed on other children too, even his own kids, but as it was a sexual outlet that I enjoyed even if a dark forbidden one.
As that mom and Dad were still very close to Frank and Barb as friends and especially after the Weltes put in a swimming pool in their backyard, I was a frequent overnight visitor for almost the next five years. I was molested almost every time I spent the night, mostly with Frank and I masturbating each other. As I became a teenager, the more guilty I felt about having sex with Frank, but I also would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy being with a man and exploring masculine pleasures.
My encounter with Frank led me to an ongoing sexual encounter with Phil Casas the 14-year-old boy who lived next door. One summer night we were laying in the grass talking and I suppose that Phil could tell that I was slightly effeminate or at least not like the typical boys he knew that rough housed. The conversation soon turned to sex, and I told him about what Frank and I had done, and Phil was extremely curious, and I suppose horny. He wanted me to show him what we did so we found a dark corner in his back yard and I played with this dick.
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| Phil Casas |
Eventually Phil Casas and I were involved sexually for much of my teenage years until he was a senior in high school where he was a popular football player and a “big man on campus”. He then was more interested in girls than the boy next door. Little did his friends in high school realize that he would throw pebbles at my bedroom window at night for me to come out into the side yard between our two houses for me to arouse him. His bedroom window was exactly across from mine and sometimes he would even expose himself to me to get me interested in climbing out my window.
I was not in love with Phil nor he with me. It was completely just physical, and I think he was not Gay at all. He just liked having his cock sucked and played with, being as he was a horny teenager and as I was a Gay boy, who did not understand it at the time. I just knew I enjoyed the intimacy with him.
Both our parents worked and many times Phil and I were home alone to explore our bodies and once while he was laying on top of me, he penetrated me. It did not hurt as I was not expecting it and he withdrew without actually fucking. That was the only time I was penetrated until I was an adult. So, I was a fairly sexually active teen once I reached puberty but mostly with Frank Welte and Phil Casas.
My sister Charline, while in high school often had boys over to the house, some who slept over in the front room for some reason and later, during the Vietnam Era, she had sailor friends of her boyfriend spend the night who slept often with me. I never had sex with these young man, but I so enjoyed laying close to their bodies.
Some of her high school friends sometimes were drunk and Dad allowed them to sleep it off at the house as we had a pull out bed couch. During these times when I was 12 sometimes I would sneak over to them in the middle of the night from by room and grope them. They often would get hard but never participated or acknowledged my fondling them. I was too young to know how inappropriate that was. I just seemed to be compelled to explore a male body other than my own. I was also too young and inexperienced to do more than just touching under the blankets. These boys would have been Juniors and Seniors in high school so I am not sure whether they were simply too embarrassed or they enjoyed it without acknowledging it.
I started Intermediate School in the fall of 1963 when I attended Marie L. Hare as a 7th grader in September. I choose to go to Hare as that Dale Street was the boundary line between Hare and Alamitos junior high schools. All the kids who lived on the west side had to go to Alamitos and to the east to Hare but those who actually lived on Dale Street could choose to go to either Intermediate school as they were about the same distance. Both Charline and Donna went to Hare, so I decided to follow in their footsteps. Besides, I think I wanted a new beginning away from my ‘sissy’ reputation at Bryant. My next-door neighbor Danny Battreall was in the 8th Grade at Hare so I at least knew someone in the upper grades.
Hare was located on the corner of Chapman and Magnolia Street which was a mile from house and was a twenty minute walk every day. I remember when Charline was in 8th grade we went to see her play a maid in a school production at Hare. Hare was much older than Alamitos which large established trees and even an avocado grove.
The first day of school I had brand new school clothes. Pegleg blue jeans with cuffs turned inside. Buttoned down collar shirts with a pleat in the back with a “fruit loop” at the top of the pleat. Brill Cream, “a little dab will do you” making my hair slick and shiny. Off to school for the first time leaving behind my closest grade school friends who because of the boundary line, went to Alamitos Junior High while I went to Marie L Hare, the toughest, meanest Intermediate school in the Alamitos School District.
It was so important to me to look cool going to a brand-new school with no support group of my own to speak of and try to find my niche. It was important for me not to be an elementary kid but try to be cool.
In Junior High School I think kids become more sexually aware as that their bodies are changing. I know that it was an all new experience seeing so many naked male bodies in the mandatory showers after gym class. While I tried not to be obvious, it was thrilling to see the 8th Grade boys who were mostly past puberty sporting more mature dicks, often turgid. At that age erections were a constant source of embarrassment even while sitting in class.
One of the most embarrassing time in Junior High was when we first had to suit up and we had to share clothes lockers. Since we were assigned in alphabetical order I was teamed with Edward Wolosonovich to share a locker. He had the unfortunate nickname of Ed “One-son-of-a- bitch”. When we were dressing after showering from P.E. we accidently put on each other’s underwear. The horror! I cracked my wrist in P.E. tripping playing Dodge Ball and wore a cast for what seemed months.
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| 7th Grade with Cast and new glasses |
My P.E. Teacher was Mr. Gerald Barrow who was probably in his in his late 20’s or early 30's . I remember being fascinated by him especially when I saw his pubic hair beneath his arms as I was attracted to his maleness. Other teachers I remember having were Mrs. Maragret Wattles for art, Miss Marie Edmonds for Science, Mr. Jay Whitaker for math and I can’t remember who else.
What I liked best about Intermediate school was that Hare had its own library, a small one but its own. Bryant Elementary never had its own library. Miss Pritchett was the librarian I got to know her fairly well from all the time I spent in there.
I received my first pair of glasses in 7th grade when I was tested for vision screening and they were amazed that I was so near sided. I knew I had a hard time seeing the chalk board in a lot of my classes but had never been tested before so I thought my vision was normal.
President John F Kennedy was assassinated on 22 November 1963. The news came over the intercom while I was in my 4th period science class right taught by Miss Edmonds before lunch. The world seemed to have been turned upside down. Danny Battreall, some other kids, and I left school at lunch and walked home, skipping class for the rest of the day. It seemed too bizarre to sit in class with teachers emotionally upset trying to make sense of what had happened. The whole weekend was spent glued to the television listening to the news about Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald and Lyndon B. Johnson becoming President.
The Year 1964 ages 12 and 13 years old
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| Barry Wendell |
My sister Donna and I went back to Texas in 1964 for the summer. I had finished 7th Grade in June and when summer vacation began my sister Donna, and I took the train back to Texas. She was 15 and I was 13. We got on the train at Fullerton and rode it all the way back to Littlefield Texas where Grandma and grandpa met us at the station. The trip took a day and a night. We had no supervision but were traveling on our own. My older sister Charline didn’t want to leave her high school friends and her boyfriends. It still kind of amazes me that mom and dad would let a 13-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl travel across four states over two days without any adult supervision. I remember that on the way to Texas Donna sat with this cute boy for most of the way and I was sort of jealous.
We spent four weeks in Texas with two of them at a house near Haskell they had bought at Lake Stanford where they went fishing. The house was more of a cabin with just three rooms downstairs, Grandma’s bedroom, the kitchen and bathroom. Upstairs was two beds where Donna and I slept in an attic type long room. The pitched ceiling was so low you couldn’t stand up straight. if not standing right in the middle. It was stuffy but had cross windows which kind of cooled off the room at night ""with a cross ventilation breeze on those hot nights but never completely.
One of the highlights of the summer was when and we went to the Texas Cowboy Reunion and Old-Timers Association” rodeo in Stamford, Texas on July 4th. Stamford was also about 15 miles from the cabin.
1930 as a tribute to the Texas cowboy and was held on land just west of the town of Stamford. It was held ”each year for three days around July 4 for working cowhands, not professional rodeo cowboys. Before the rodeo, there was a horse parade and farm implements through the street which followed the Baptist Hardin-Simmons University Cowboy Band of Abilene. While Donna and Grandpa went to watch the parade from the street, Grandma, and I instead of watching the parade just sat in the car and watched the people which was more fun for us.
Grandpa had a small motor boat that we would take out on the lake whenever he attended to his fishing lines that he called “trot lines.” They were long fishing lines with many shorter lines and hooks attached to it usually suspended between buoys Grandma and Grandpa fished a lot, but Donna and I didn’t care much for that but instead walked to a little dock on the edge of the lake to swim in the water which was a muddy red.
The only other boy at the lake was Clarence “Ronnie” McCoy, the son of a man only known to me as Old Man McCoy but his real name was Clarence McCoy. Old Man McCoy was only about 59 years old but he looked much older from a rough life I suppose. Ronnie was kind of a huckleberry Finn type kid whose mother deserted the family, and he was being raised by an alcoholic father who ran a bait shop at the lake down a country road from Grandma and Grandpa. The bait shack was the only place to get a soda pop outside of going into town.
Ronnie had attached himself to Grandma and Grandpa because I suppose the only affection he got was from them. Ronnie McCoy was a blond, slim, and about my age born in 1951 and took to me as I was the only other boy spending time out in the country. I wrote about my recollections of Ronnie in my Cypress College creative Writing Class.
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| Lake Stanford |
"A white sky blazed down on to my bare brown back as I lay resting on the catwalk which stretched out over the muddy red lake. The gray splintering structure swayed back and forth with the peaceful lapping of the water against the grassy bank. The Mockingbirds laid silent in the thorny Mesquite trees, suffering too from the intense heat. The only sounds were the rolling water and the sporadic clicking of the crickets out in the country. There too was the faint humming of hornets a few feet from my browning body. So it was that one summer day of my 12th year that hot lazy day.
"Feeling warm and sleepy from the hot West Texas sun, I rolled over on to my back so that it would not scorch. In that position, even with my eyes closed, the sultry sun seared through, penetrating into the very being of my soul. There was no escape from the sun’s brilliance.
""With my body pressed against the weathered grains of the wooden catwalk that stretch over the lapping red water of the lake, I tried to drowse off into a slumber but the country quiet kept me awake. Hearing the creaking and groaning of the catwalk, I opened my eyes and seeing pass the glare, a short blonde, sun browned boy of the same age as I, heading towards me. It was Ronnie McCoy. He was dressed as I was, in nothing but an old pair of blue denim jeans, cut off above the knees, shirtless, and barefooted.
“Oh, hi Ronnie," I said rather indifferently as I rolled back on to my stomach.” “What’s new with you?” “Oh, nothin' Ah jest wanted to come down to see what you were doing,” he drawled. “I ain't doin' much about anythin’ now, it's too damn hot," I replied. "Say, do ya want to go in swimmin' some?", Ronnie asked as he sat down on to the catwalk. He lazily dipped his legs into the warm red lake and kicked them slowly back and forth. “No,” I answered. “I went swimming this mornin' and it's too muddy today.” "“Hell, then Junyor, what do you want to do?” Ronnie persisted. “I don’t wanna do nothin',” I repeated. “ I'm fine as I am.” "Say, I know what! Let us go on down to Noah Crawford’s an' see if he'll take us crawdad huntin’.” "Naw, I doan wanna go crawdad huntin'. It's too hot Ronnie to do any thin' but lay here by the water. How come you got so much energy today anyways? It's so hot and humid I can't hardly breathe the air is so damn hot and heavy. Look here, you can peel the ol’ sweat right offin me!” I exclaimed and continued. “No, Ronnie I just want to stay here until it cools off some. I'm not use to this kind of weather. It's a whole lot cooler up on the caprock. I wish we'd go back up ta Littlefield, it’s too damn hot down here.” " “Oh, damn Junyer, let us go do somthin' besides sitting here on this cat walk. It’s cooler here when you am doin’ something’ then when you ain’t. How ‘bout fishing some?” “ I doan like fishin’ unless they’re biting and they ain’t biting cause Grandma and Grandpa went this morning and didn’t catch nothing.” "“That was this morning Junyor. It’s just that you doan know nothin’ about fishin'. It’s at this here time of day that those ol’' mud fish comes up to eat.” "I skeptically retorted, “Is that a fact?”
""Then a breeze from the east eased my sluggish feeling. I watched the sky for a moment as a huge billowy white west Texas cloud began to swirl in from the south. It seemed to drive away that awful afternoon and began the cooling.” "Later in the late afternoon, Ronnie and I went fishing after I gave in to his perseverance.
I remember once while Ronnie and I were laying on the muddy lake shore below the catwalk we began to talk about our dicks. He wanted us to compare them, and I was surprised that he hadn’t reached puberty yet and was hairless while I had already sprouted pubic hair which seemed to have fascinated him. We didn’t touch each other just kind of looked and compared our sizes. I think I would have liked to do more but didn’t dare.
Ronnie grew up to be a rather a bounder in trouble with the law. Having married in 1969 and again in 1972 he abandoned his baby daughter in Odessa, Texas and jailed in Hobbs New Mexico in 1976 after murdering his wife. His wife was found in a shallow grave and he was arrested in California on manslaughter charges in 1978.
While we spent the two weeks at Lake Stamford, we met the Curtis and Christine
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| Arnold "Buddy" Huskey |
Husky family who were building a cabin on the lot next to grandma and grandpa’s. Mr. and Mrs. Huskies were from Lubbock and had three kids. Their oldest was Judith Marie we called Judy about 17 and had just graduated from high School. Arnold Curtis who everyone called Buddy was 15 and was the same age as Donna. The youngest was Pamela who was about 11. We became very close, but they were not down as long as we were.
Mrs. Huskey was a elementary school teacher in Lubbock and Mr. Husky was in construction and oil field pumping and during most of the summer was gone in search of jobs. He was a tall lanky man who was good natured and had been in the air force during World War II. He always referred to me as “son” while Mrs. Husky called me “Junyor” like everyone else. Mrs. Husky’s family was from Jacksboro where Grandma Johnson’s folks lived before moving to Oklahoma in the 1890s.
The Huskys had a parcel next to Grandma and Grandpa’s cabin and were in the process of building a summer place. It was barely worked on and about the only thing done on the property was a concrete slab that had a picnic table and barbeque grill on it. As that the kids were all about our age, we became close that summer and had a lot of fun playing on the lake taking Grandpa’s boat out and eating barbecue with them most nights.
They only stayed down for less than a week, but we became close friends and I corresponded with Judy who went off to college at Sul Ross later that fall. Every summer that Donna and I went back to Texas we would make an effort to spend time with them down at Lake Stamford and in Lubbock. The Huskys also became quite fond of Grandma and Grandpa.
Donna and I went with Grandma and Grandpa to Cortez, Colorado where we met up with Mom and Dad who were on vacation. My uncle Milton and Aunt Marie was with Mom and Dad also on vacation. We spent about a week in Colorado visiting Mesa Verde National Park and taking a train ride up to Silverado from Durango.
Mesa Verde was really interesting but the only anxiety I had was when I think at one point Mom had to climb through a hole to then go up a ladder and as Mom was extremely overweight at the time, I was afraid she wouldn’t be able to make it through.
I entered the 8th grade at Marie L. Hare in September always after Admission's Day which was a state holiday. My favorite class was art which I took from Mrs. Margaret B Wattles [1906-1994] who later I learned was a friend and traveling companion with my 4th grade teacher Mrs. Richter.
While attending church with my parents in the fall I felt the need to be baptized. Perhaps because I was feeling wicked but mostly, I think because I did have a devout spiritual need for acceptance. So, after the church service I was taken to a place where there was enough water so I could be submerged as was the custom of the Church of Christ. There was no fancy celebration, and I can barely remember the occasion, but all my sins were washed away. I don’t recall that either of my sisters were ever baptized while we attended church as a family.
My sister Charline was engaged to a young man named Ernie Judd [20 April 1945--5 January 2014] from 1964 until 1966. He was born in Michigan. We just called him “Judd” and he was a major influence on my early teenage years. He was tall and skinny and a drop out from Downey high school however and not terrible bright but he was gregarious with a very friendly personality, and he loved Charline very much. Judd as we called him was her high school sweetheart.
There was another boy named Herb that I think had a crush more on Charline then she did on him, but he hung out at the house a lot when I was in Junior High and ate dinner with us. Charline had so many boyfriends in high school, and they often ate dinner with us that is why I remember them
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| Charline Williams Senior Picture |
Charline was a senior at Rancho starting in the fall of 1964 and I am not sure how she met Judd as he didn’t live in Garden Grove. Charline had a girlfriend named Jerri Biehner who spent a lot of time at our house especially before and after school. They both had ratted up bouffant hairdo and wore tight skirts, white blouses, and girdles that they snapped their nylons on to. Often Jerri spent the mornings with Charline hogging the bathrooms getting dressed and spraying their hair with a lacquer to keep it stiff and tall. John Water’s film Hair Spray often reminded me of Charline and her various girls friends who came to the house before walking to Rancho which was just down the street.
Jeri had this boyfriend who was probably 18 maybe, who would often spend the night on our couch. I can’t remember his name, maybe Terry, but my uncontrollable urges would sometime have me sneak out into the living room and fondle him while he slept or at least pretended to.
"Judd was a drag race car fanatic, and I can’t recall how many drag races he and Charline must have attended at the Lion’s Drag race strip in Long Beach. Charline would break up with him in 1966 using as an excuse that his mother Isabelle was too much of an interference in their relationship. I didn’t ever really know why as I was back in Texas when they broke up.
I liked Ernie a lot as did the family and I think he was one of the first to recognized that I was probably Gay as I was different from other boys. I don’t think it bothered him at all and once he teased me that an asshole was too tight to be fucked. He was just teasing me, but I was really embarrassed because I think he knew I liked boys and not girls. I think Judd recognized the queerness within me I have no idea why he said that to me except as he was older and perhaps recognized signs in me being a "sensitive" boy. I liked Judd however and not sure why Charline and he eventually broke it off.
After Charline and he broke up, I heard he joined the navy and was sent to Vietnam. His obituary said that he died in New Mexico and his tombstone stated he served "BM3 US NAVY VIETNAM BELOVED HUSBAND & FATHER." He married at least 4 times perhaps never forgetting Charline.
I received a letter form Judy Husky dated 12 September 1964 when she was a Senior in high school in Lubbock.
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| Judy Huskey |
She wrote, “Dear Donna and Jr. Please forgive me for not writing sooner but things here seem to keep me busy. School started here August 31 and believe me I feel as though I have been in school for three months. In English we are having to give speeches in front of the class. I hate that. If I had wanted to give speeches, I would have taken speech. Right? Junior , you said your cat had three kittens. Well Candy Bar had three kittens August 4, 1964. There is a white one like her, a black one and a gray and white one. Pamela wanted the gray one so I gave one to her. She named it “Blue Fairy”. Buddy didn’t want one so I have two kittens and a cat now. I named the white kitten “Little Running Deer” and the black one I named Naoche (na-o-she) which means happy in Navajo. Rusty is just fine but Yogi ran away two days ago and been missing since. We have offered a $5.00 reward for him. I sure hope he comes back because we miss him very much around here. We didn’t get to Colorado this summer except for Buddy. Eugene’s family went to Colorado and wanted Buddy to go with them. I hope you enjoyed you vacation and thanks for the post card you sent us a while on your trip. By the way Junior how many theaters have you closed since you have returned home? Ha! Ha! Donna you and Junior send me your birthdates so I can send you birthday cars. How is everybody? Fine, I hope. We are all okay except Mother thinks Buddy is taking asthma and Daddy has been having bronchial trouble. Well I have run out of things to say so I will go for now. Do you all have school pictures. If so send me one and make sure you sign it. We will send you one of us when we get them. (that is if you want one). Bye for now. Love Me (Who else) ""PS We miss your company down here in Texas. Guess what? I called the radio station today and had them broadcast about Yogi missing And the announcer said, “Judy Dachshund has lost her Husky! Then the announcer started laughing . I think he said that because husky is a type of dog. He corrected his mistake and said Judy Husky has lost her dachshund. Etc.
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| Eight Grade |
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