|
My name is Johnnie,
and I was born on a rainy Saturday morning on April 7, 1945.
I am 58 soon to be 59. I was born in the beautiful Ohio River Valley
along the river in the small farm town of Gallipolis, Ohio. I
started school in a two-room school with one of the meanest
lady teachers God put on the earth, and being a mean little boy,
that wasn't good. She didn't beat me to death that first year, but
the Lord knows she tried. If I meet that old girl in heaven, I am
sure going to be surprised.
The classroom had a potbellied stove for heat and two outhouses--one
for boys and one for the ladies. The seating in the classroom was from
front to back, according to your height--small in the front and tall in
back (unless you were a tall little mean boy from Maple Shade). I got to
sit in the cat bird seat, right in front of her desk everyday, so she
could reach out and swat me with her yellow pointer.
My most likeable times of the year are Spring and Autumn. You should
see my Valley when autumn turns the leaves to radiant flaming colors.
I guess that's one of the things that keeps taking me back there.
I have lived in Virginia, Texas, Florida and Ohio, but I have been most
everywhere, and met folks from all walks of life in every color, and I
have found most to be nice. But I got to say I like "Hill Country" people
the best--call them rednecks, Hillbillies, or whatever, but if you want
to know what Heaven will look and be like, come spend some time in my
beautiful Valley--just across the river they even call it
Almost Heaven, West Virginia.
I have five children--Johnny Allen Dray, born June 23,1965 (39),
Dale Wesley Dray, born October 31, 1967 (37), Teresa Leigh Dray, born
March 17, 1968 (she is turning 36 here in a few days and all three of
them live in Deer Park, Texas, just out of Houston), and Wendy
Michelle Dray, born October 7, 1970 (34), and she lives on the West
Virginia side of that Valley I told you about. These four children's
mother is Judy Kay Casto. She and I divorced after 21 years, but I have
nothing bad to say about her as she is my friend and, as you see, gave me
the pride of my life. I am now married to the beautiful Candie Sue
Oldaker. She is the mother of my last child, Sarah Jane Dray, born
March 25, 1986, and is about to turn 18 here in a few days and will be
joining her brothers and sister to live in Texas after school is out.
I was in the U.S. Army from 1962 to 1965 and spent 1962 and 1963 in
Korea and Vietnam. Korea was the coldest place on earth that I have
ever been. Not much I care to say about Vietnam. If ET was there, he
would have went home, he wouldn't have phoned!
I am pretty much a loner, but my friends and family are dear to me. I am
into fishing, my walk with God, and into trying to encourage folks with
different forms of COPD not to give up on life, but to fight as if
their life depended on the battle they put up, for it surely does.
I make and sell hand tooled leather belts as a hobby.
The Dray men...my son, Dale Wesley Dray, myself, and my son, Johnny Allen Dray.
My three girls (left to right) - Wendy Michelle Johnson; Sarah Jane Dray;
and Teresa Leigh Crawford.
Taken in 1962 when I was home on leave from the Army. My sister,
Margaret Faye Haskins, and me.
They say that a dog is man's best friend...Well, it's true...
meet BLACKIE, my best friend!
I saved the best for last...not because I'm in it, but because you
get to see my pretty wife, Candie Sue...
|
|
|
