PASSIONATE PERSISTENCE

Growing Up in Indianapolis

This crazy life of mine began September 4, 1927, the day I was born. It’s easy to understand why my mother put her foot down, announcing in no uncertain terms, “No more kids!” This one, the youngest of three, weighed 13 pounds, 8 ounces. Ouch!

September 3, 1877 was my father’s birthday. As you can see, he was 50 years old when I was born. He was a very good father. Since I was the youngest, I was his baby boy until he died at the age of 98. He would always introduce me as his baby boy even long afer I was married and had children. He drove his car until he was 92, and he would drive 40 mph on all of the city streets, down his long driveway, and into the garage until he ran into the two metal garbage cans at the end of the garage.

My father’s name was Hiram Addison Giles. As we would walk down the street my father never held my hand. He would tell me to walk next to him, and I always did.

The shopkeepers, butchers, bakers and the preacher (that is what ministers were called in those days) would all call my dad Addie which was short for Addison. He was friendly with all, and everybody knew him. I made up my mind at that time – that’s how I want to be.

I never ever remember my father kissing me or telling me he loved me, but I knew he loved me by the things he would say and do.

One thing my father told my two brothers and me was that he wanted the three of us to become members of the Masonic Lodge. You must be 21 when you are initiated into the Lodge, so when I reached that age, I was just getting out of the army, and my brothers waited for me to go into the Lodge.

I worked hard to learn what I was supposed to know about the Lodge. On the night of the ceremony, my two brothers and I received our “Third Degree,” something my father had always wanted for us. That same night my father was awarded his 50 year pin.

There were tears in his eyes when the four of us stood in front of the whole Lodge as everyone clapped and congratulated all of us.

My mother was much younger. I guess that’s why she could have me at age 40.

Mother taught school, so she was a big help for me, especially in English – reading as well as writing. For me, writing a complete sentence was a hard job. Now I hope this book is done correctly.

When I was growing up, there was no T.V., just one radio in the middle of the living room. We would listen to Jack Benny and then go to the piano, sing songs and then off to bed.

Mother liked me, but I think my two brothers were the apple of her eyes.

She died just six months after Dad.

My two brothers always thought it was fun to play football with me except I was the football. If this had happened today my two brothers would have been put in jail for child abuse.

I made it through the first six years with just a few cuts and bruises, except for one July 4th when I was 6 years old. My two brothers and I had gone to the local city park for a fireworks show. Before the show the three of us were lighting firecrackers and would throw them at one another’s feet. One time both brothers tossed firecracker packages at my feet. I took off running and ran right into the path of a moving automobile. I got hit, knocked down and pinned under the car. My older brother pulled me out from under the car. There were no broken bones, but lots of gravel cuts and lots of blood. Everyone at the scene told my brothers to take me to the hospital. My oldest brother assured them he would take care of me. We went to our family doctor and my brother John, the oldest, made the doctor promise never to tell Mother what had happened. We told her that I had fallen down a hill. I was married before my mother found out that a car had hit me.

In elementary school everything was going good until I reached the sixth grade. At the age of 12 the hormones were on the rise. I had a neighbor girl who was already 14. She decided to teach me the facts of life. We would play doctor and she would say to me, “I will show you mine if you will show me yours.” I did. She did.

On graduation day at IPS #27, a grade school in Indianapolis, Indiana, each student had to write something about the other students in the class. One of the girls in my class said she knew what I would do when I grew up. She said I would go to the strip show where they have bubble dancers, sit on the front row and break their bubbles.

A movie came out in the summer of 1971 called “The Summer of ‘42.” It was about three boys, age 16, in California who would go to the beach and make friends with some of the 21–28-year-old girls whose boyfriends had left for service. They were all very horny. The boys would go to their houses and have parties. It was fun and games.

It just so happened that the two guys I ran around with in 1943 were a year older than I was and the same age as the boys in the movie. I even had a leather coat just like one of the boys in the movie. The three of us would go to what was then known as West Lake Beach on the west side of Indianapolis, swim a little, meet some girls or maybe young ladies, take them home and have a party – fun and games. This was a very good time for us because most of the guys were in service.

Age 14 for me meant a big change in my life. I was a freshman at Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, a school with a student body of approximately 3000 students. Considering that I had just graduated from an elementary school in a class of 24 students, this was a big change.