True Tales of a Wyoming Generation
The Unauthorized Autobiography of H. Barnett Jones
by
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I worked for Sam for three summers, returning to school each fall. In the familiar setting of town I was much more comfortable and confident. I was just beginning high school and found it an exciting adventure. Unfortunately, homework and classes were not the source of excitement, but rather the carousing with my buddies--and being around the girls.
Our friend, Corky, was probably the horniest and most innovative of our young bunch. He was a big, husky guy, with an enormous head topped with kinky blond hair. He was irreverent and witty, rebellious and nonconformist. He was full of outrageous and risky ideas. We all liked him a lot.
Before our first class many mornings, Corky led us to a strategic position at the upstairs railing overlooking the steps, where we engaged our female classmates in conversation as they came up. When a girl stopped and looked up we could see down her bra unless she had on a high necked garment. If that was the case we were of few words, but if she had a low cut blouse we became quite conversational.
As for sports, I tried basketball but somehow just didn’t get it that this game wants players taller than five feet six inches. I thought I just didn’t have a knack for it, so I quit.
Football wants big players too, but in my little school they needed every boy who was warm and breathed, just to make a team, so I got to play. I was dubbed “Mighty Mouse” in one school paper blurb. I was too dumb to know better than to tackle big guys, and often came out of a game with a bloody nose, as in those days we had no face guards. The closest to any talent I had was running as a scat back, which got me the moniker “Rabbit.” I was fastest when motivated by overgrown farm boys chasing after me with mayhem in mind.
The clearest picture of my adolescence comes from my own pencil: single minded, self incriminating excerpts of letters written to brother Bill.
My mother had saved these for Bill and he only discovered them after her death.
The girls referred to in the following letters are sweet Bonnie, who was my steady girl in my junior and senior years; and Jean Brug, who was cute, very nice, had strict parents and was too mature and smart to take up with the gaggle of gawking boys, fellow freshmen, who traipsed after her with tongues hanging out.
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About the Book
This book takes you through the follies of a boy, who slowly and belatedly evolves into manhood, long after a frivolous adolescence. The story begins during The Great Depression of the 1930’s and continues with the traumas the boy experienced as an “instant” and inept ranch hand during the manpower shortage of World War II.
His adventures continue at the
University he attends where the ratio of men to women is 5 to 1. After
graduation he proceeds to military service, travels, studies in
After his kids grow up and leave home, he takes up hiking, skiing and climbing in the mountains, which leads to more mishaps and adventures.
Each generation is different, and these accounts reflect the life and times from about 1930, and some contrasts to our present mode of living.
Although some fictional writing techniques are used, the author has strived to record these true accounts as accurately as his imperfect memory would allow.
About the Author
H. Barnett Jones was born in 1929 a scant two
months before the big stock market crash that kicked off The Great Depression.
He grew up in the protected environment of
After being thrust into a man’s
job on a local ranch due to the manpower shortage caused by World War II, he
matured a little, went to the