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Two favorite local entertainers, Bonnie Lou and Buster Moore, local television personalities and country musicians. |
IFEAR THE WORLD my children are growing up in is becoming a homogeneous, bland Every Town.
These days people attempt to hide their individuality by fitting in with everyone else. They live in the same type of house in an endless subdivision with the same kind of minivan or SUV and the same flat, unidentifiable accent.
I'm not being critical; I think some of those things are a certain measure of the American Dream. I just mourn the colorful individuals who used to be celebrated in both public and private life.
When I was growing up in Knoxville, Tenn., there were plenty of larger-than-life characters who took pride in their unique personalities. My mother owned a little country store that had its own cast of colorful regulars.
As an adult, I realized most people did not have the same richly populated childhood I did. My husband always laughs at my stories and says I should write a book, but I wonder why he thinks my stories are unusual.
As time goes by and my East Tennessee accent fades, I've started to realize how different my experience was from that of my children.
Cas Walker was a Knoxville politician and grocery store tycoon who ruled the city with an iron hand for 30 years. He had his own newspaper called "The Watchdog" and his own television show called "Cas Walker's Farm and Home Hour," which sometimes featured a young and gorgeous Dolly Parton.
Walker never hesitated to use his TV show to voice his opposition to whatever riled him up. No one ever seemed to question his outrageous remarks.
He once got into a fistfight with a fellow City Council member during a council meeting, and the resulting photograph made it into Life magazine.
Bonnie Lou and Buster were a country music couple with their own local TV show sponsored by Jim Walter Homes. They had delightfully thick mountain accents that no agent had tried to eradicate. They wore square-dancing outfits and sang all their sponsors' commercials live.
"Waffle House, Waffle House, meet me at the Waffle House. Breakfast, lunch and dinner, too, there's something there for you "
We could tune in to only two television stations, and
My mother's store was an endless source of entertainment, too.
There was Jack Ruby (his real name!), who worked in a chicken-plucking factory and married the girl down the street. Her brother claimed to be a sheriff's deputy, but we later found out he was making it all up.
There was also a woman whose main hobby was her various ailments. She favored scarves and dark sunglasses. It was always interesting to see what symptoms she might be highlighting that day.
One of my other favorites was the lady whose mind wandered a little bit and her husband worried about her driving when he was out of town as a truck driver. To solve the problem, he just took the wheel off her car when he left town.
Other regular shoppers included a family with 10 children who drove an old white hearse. It was the biggest vehicle they could afford.
When I was a child, before the advent of video games, DVD players and cable TV for the masses, these people were my entertainment and, in some cases, my friends. I was lucky to know them and to know of them.
There's no way to turn back time, but I sure wish my children could spend a summer in my childhood.
Shannon Howell is a freelance writer who lives in Stafford County.
