{ 24 May 2009 }

School boy (cont.)

[Written by Jimbo's mother in her book, "My Son Jimbo"]

Wedding

I think things got a little out of control at [brother] Rick and Nell’s wedding. The night of the rehearsal dinner the booze, which we’d carted from Ohio to a hotel banquet room in this dry Georgia county, was running freely. We hadn’t been tipped off that Nell’s family were Southern teetotalers, so this turned out to be quite an unusual event, but I noticed that most of the men were having no trouble putting down their share.

In the middle of dinner, 7-year-old Jimbo and Nell’s little niece began to look awfully sleepy. Further investigation showed that they had finished off all the half-empty glasses.

Ringbearer

Nell had asked Jimbo to be ringbearer, so as is customary I tied the ring lightly on the little satin pillow with a single thread. Naturally we got to the church ahead of time and got busy with last-minute wedding tasks.

When the processional formed, Jimbo was missing. A quick search located him outside the church, in the dark, tossing the pillow high in the air, sometimes catching it, sometimes not. By some miracle the ring was still attached.

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{ 9 Mar 2009 }

Babe (continued)

[Written by Jimbo's sister Sherry]

Doll

Jimbo’s four oldest siblings were quite a few years older when Jimbo was born. Rick, his only brother, was 18; Sally was 16; Sherry was 14; and Holly was 12 (the fifth child, Marion, was 6, the “baby” for six years until Jimbo appeared). 

The girls, Sally, Sherry, and Holly, had never been much for playing with dolls — we were a very active group, and much more prone to outdoor activities and sports. When we were inside, we had each other, which led to games, challenges, and (of course) teasing matches.

When Jimbo arrived, we found ourselves with a new, extrememly “fun” toy — he immediately became our “live” doll. We dressed him up in costumes, applied make-up (lipstick, clown nose, a mustache — we were nothing if not creative), carted him around in a wagon, showed him off to our friends. The fairy princess and the cigar-chomping reporter were immediate hits.

And he seemed to enjoy the attention as much as we enjoyed doling it out. He was a happy little fellow.

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