Bobby's World
I am Robert (Bobby) Clayton Smith born December 10, 1936 to Carroll Smith and Edna Mae Hamilton Smith in the Los Angeles County Hospital, Los Angeles, California. At the time my birth my father was 44 years old. My mother was 31.
Shortly after our return to Fort Worth, my mother died, and my father left us. My grandparents Asberry (Jack) Jackson Hamilton and Lavenia C. (Morgan) Hamilton took on the responsibilty for my welfare.
I can remember events beginning from the time I was 4 or 5 years old. The memories are as a child so most are somewhat distorted by a child's perception and an old man's faded memory. So bare with me.
My first memories include my Granddad Asberry Jackson (Jack) Hamilton and my Grannie Lavenia C. Morgan. To me they were my parents and the center of the world. We lived at 419 Louisiana Street, Fort Worth, Texas
My half-brother Ellis Austin Parker and half-sister Billy Jo Parker were also part of my first memories, also included was Toy (a cat) and King (a dog). And some how I knew that I lived at 419 Louisiana Street, Fort Worth, Texas.
I remember starting grammar school at age 6. The name of the school was "East Van Zandt". I remember that the school was within walking distance of my home.
Of course, at the time I started school, World War II was in progress. The talk of war seemed natural to me. My friends and I spent many of our days playing war in a vacant lot next to a Methodist Church near my home. We had foxholes and trenches dug all over the lot. Our biggest problem playing war, was that no one wanted to be a "German" or a "Jap", so we just pretended that we had an enemy. Of course we always won the battle
I remember that my Grannie worked as a nurse's aide in individual's homes. My Granddad would take her to work and then we would do things together. I don't remember whether my Granddad did anything profitable. I do remember talk about a ranch/farm, somewhere in west Texas called the "Varnel" ranch/farm. All I can remember is that my Grannie may have shot and killed a man there and that my Granddad and one of his brothers worked the ranch. Later, I understand that my Granddad sold the ranch/farm and went in the trucking business. The business later went broke. These are not facts they are just memories of conversations I overheard and pieced together
This is a 1935 Willys with a rumble seat, though not stock I think it will give you some idea how my Granddad"s car looked. His was a '34 Willys.
The most momentus thing I can remember my Granddad doing was buying two cabins that were located near Lake Worth and having them hauled to Castleberry (5512 Dartmouth Street). Joining the two cabins together, putting in plumbing, and electrical and creating our new home. It was so wonderful! I remember he would take me to help him and gave me the job of straightening nails that he had pulled from the cabins so they could be reused. Boy, I felt important, but I'd bet a weeks salary now that he never used one of those nails. He just made a little boy feel like he was part of the building of the home.
Living at 5512 Dartmouth Street (the house is still there) was the happiest time of my childhood. That was where my brother Ellis killed an armadillo that our dog had cornered under the house. Its where I learned to ride a bicycle. We had a woods near by and my friends and I spent endless hours there playing, and sometimes getting in trouble. Thats where I learned to play baseball. Its where I thought I was in love for the first time. Of course many other happy times occurred there and maybe someday I will find the time to add them. Unfortunately memory of my childhood in general has faded considerably or maybe I have lost the ability to embellish stories as well as I used to.
At some point we have to start growing up. I began in 1945. My Granddad died on March 11th. And a little over a year later on July 6, 1946, my Grannie died. My whole world had collapsed. I didn't really care about much anymore.
My sister, Billy Jo had married Bill Tise who was in the Army and whose family lived in High Point, North Carolina. Bill had been badly wounded in the war and my sister could not help me. Of course at the tender age of 10, I didn't understand that.
My brother Ellis Parker was in the U.S. Air Force in Panama and wasn't in a position to help me either.
So, I ended up with a man and woman who had a small child. They lived in a nice little home in River Oaks. I don't remember much, but I believe that they looked upon me as someone beneath them and we never got along. So one day my Aunt Helen came and picked me up, taking me to her home.
I didn't last but a month or two at my Aunt Helen's place. There were a number of reasons, I was always getting in trouble and my Aunt Helen's husband at the time tried to molest me were two of the main reasons. When I told her she threw him out of the house the same day. Later I grew to love my Aunt Helen very much and she me. But right after the lose of the two most important people in my life, we just didn't get along.
Pictures of me taken when I was about 8 or 9 years old. The dog in the picture to the right is Rusty. Both pictures were taken when I lived at 5512 Dartmouth Street in Castleberry just outside Fort Worth.
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