The county yard

The county yard was in the back of our house. It had a fence around it, probably 10 feet tall and barb wire on the top. We would play baseball in the back yard and we always hit a ball over the fence. They had a night watchman and when he came to work he would throw the ball back over the fence. He wore some type of clock that had a strap on it that hung around his neck. He went from place to place about every hour and put a key in another box and turned it. In later years we found a way to get it back with out him. Right behind the house was where they made the cement pipes for the roads. They had some type of mold and they would pour concrete in them. They would pour one morning and the next day, they would take them out.
When we move to Barnard there was no over pass on Cottonwood highway. But about the time we move they started building it. It was right behind the county yard. We would go over there and play on the piles of dirt as they were building it. After they got it built we would take cardboard and slide down the side of it. We even slid down on pieces of tin. it’s a wonder we didn’t get cut up. We would also go up under it and play. It was real cool up there in the summer time. This is me in front of the county yard tearing something up. I will tell what it was later.

Big Tent

There was a big field across the street from the house. We would play ball over there. One time a revival came to town and they must have rented the field. Anyway they were on big trucks and sit up a big tent. They also hauled sawdust in and put on the floor. They hired some of the boys in the neighbor hood to set the chairs up. We would have races around the big tent. Every year there would be straw that would grow up head high and someone would catch it on fire and the fire truck would come and put it out. They would always try and fine out who had set the field on fire. In later years we dug a big hole over there. We would build a fire and roast marsh mellows. That was a lot of fun. I have more to say about the field later, there was a lot that happened over there.

sandbed

The next three or four years seems all jumbled up to me. School was still a place I didn't like for sure. I would stay out every chance I got too. There was a boy that lived down on Selma St. His name was Gary Cain and was in my room at school. He lived in the house that Johnny Mack Brown lived in. We played a lot together. Hodges was a little bit older than me and we hadn't got to know each other. Me and Gloria Jean still played a lot. She had a bicycle (a girls) and I tried to learn to ride it. One day after I had been riding for a while I put a pencil in the handle bar for some reason. So I was coming down the street in front of our house. There was a sand bed in front of our house and I hit it and fell and the pencil lead stuck in my chest. For years I thought the lead was still there and I would show it to everyone, but found out it was just the mark of the pencil and not the lead.

School

Well we got settled in by the first of the next week. Mama enrolled me in school at Southside elementary. M.C. went to Young Jr., Betty rode with someone back down to Ashford, because it was her last year I think. Ellis was delivering groceries for a little store across the railroad track from our house (Carpenters). Louise was still working at Cash Drug store, Bud was in the Army and Sarah hadn't started to school yet.

Now it was time for me to start school. I don't remember how I got there but I was so scared. They put me in Gloria Jean's room, she was like a big sister to me. Our teach was Mrs. O'mary. Back then the elementary schools went from the first grade through the sixth grade. I really don't remember much that first year except that I couldn't tie my shoes and had Jean doing that. I do remember failing the first grade though. Never did catch up with Jean.

Neighbors

While living in the country we had no close neighbors. About all the people I saw was family. I didn't have any friends because there were none near by. Maybe a cousin would come on Sun. but other than that it was just family. I think that's what made me so shy when we moved. Because we had close neighbors, bunches of them. Living next door at 502 was my Mama's brother, Uncle Jake and aunt Nancy and my cousin Gloria Jean. Jean was 6 mo. older than me. I found out later that Uncle Jake played a big part in our move. Next door to them was the Hightowers, they didn't stay there long. At 506 were the Beasley's (Roy) and his wife ( don't remember her name and she died soon after we moved there. They had 3 children. Betty was the oldest and she had already married to Buford Fowler. They would soon move into the Hightower house. Mack was the son and him and M.C. became good friends. A daughter Sue, and she and Sarah were good friends. Next to them were the Armstrong's (Floyd) and his wife. They had a daughter name Elmeta (ms)and a son named Hodges. We grew up together and were best friends for years. At 510 were the Chancey's I really don't remember much about them except they had some girls and a son named Obe. They also had a television, the first one I had even seen.

The move

Our neighbors must have thought we were the Beverly Hillbillies, but man I thought we were up town. There wasn't but eight of us living there to start with because Bud had already joined the Army. It had a living room a kitchen a small bath room with a shower and two bedrooms, kinda small for the eight of us but it served the purpose at the time. The lot was about 50 ft. wide and 75 ft. deep. The street was still dirt, I don't think we cared because we had never seen anything paved but a highway. It had a paved walk going to the street and hedges in the front. It had a kerosene heater in the hall with a 55 gal drum sitting out back on some concrete blocks. I don't think we could ever afford to fill it up but I sure do remember walking down to Cherry's store and getting 5 gals later on in life. Oh yes, it had a little building in the back yard, maybe an 8x10, but it didn't last long. I'll get to that later. All in all I think this was the best move Mama and Daddy ever made because we moved yearly in the country. I was a happy little boy, had all this and ever had Sis living back with us again. Not bad for a six year old.

The Hutto clan moves to Dothan

Well I don't know if this was planned or not,but we moved to Dothan on Nov. 3,1953, it was mama's and daddy's 25th wedding anniversary. You would have thought we had moved into a castle, or that is what I thought. The address was 500 Barnard, st. That sucker had an in door bathroom, running water and electricity, but we were already use to the electricity you know, but it had switches in the wall instead of a string hanging from the ceiling. It was made out of block and had a little wash room attached to the back but I don't think we had a washing machine at this time. I maybe wrong but I think I remember Mama still washing clothes in a pot in the back yard. The laundry room came in handy later.

Other things I remember about that place is that it had two front doors, one went to the living room and kitchen and the other one went to the two bed rooms. I remember that there was a light in the ceiling and it had a pull cord and the cord was tied to the bed where you could turn the light on from the bed. Daddy would farm during the week and on weekends he would cut people's hair on the front porch, for like a dime each. I never did know how he learned to cut hair. Back to those school days at Ashford like I said before, I hated school but there was one thing I did like about it. At recess we got to go across the street to a place called the canteen and we could buy cokes and crackers, both for a nickle. I don't remember much about the school because I only went there from Sept. to Oct and then we moved to Dothan. We had some neighbors that live back of us on a dirt road. We would walk through a field about a half mile to get to their house. I think their name was Griffin. There was a ditch near their house that had water in it. M.C found an old car hood and tried to float on it, never worked.

The Pecan Tree

The next year we move to farm a little closer to 84 east. That was the year I started school. I hated it too. Mama would try everything to get me on that school bus. I would finally tell her " I will go today but I am not going to tomorrow". We had a Dodge car, a big black one. My brother Bud (Johnnie) would take me riding in it. I had a yellow and black shirt and it had long sleeves. I would hang my arm out so everyone could see my new shirt. We also had a barn and two mules. There were some big shrubs in front of this house and we had a porch. We had a dog and his name was Big Dog. I don't know who named him that. One day I got a stick in my finger, and my sister Betty got it out on the front porch. She told me to rub it in my hair and I wouldn't get another one. There were some big pecan trees across the road from this house. M.C. had a limb that he would lay down on in one of the trees and it would look like he was laying on a bed. We would also go over there and play. We would take spoons and start digging a hole as long as our arms were. M.C. said we were digging a hole all the way to China. I always believed everything he said because he was older. ( Guess I still do) I remember my mama would catch the bus in Pansy and ride it to Dothan to take care of her mother that was dying of cancer. Sara and me would go with her. I don't remember much, except that we would be standing by the road and she was holding Sarah until the bus came. Sometime daddy would get drunk and pass out on the porch and mama would be mad. I remember riding a wagon to Ashford to take a bail of cotton to the gin and it would be late when we got home. I would go to sleep in the back of the wagon. Daddy would buy oil sausage, hoop Cheese and crackers on the way home.The family thought they were steak. Sara made up a song called "Sara Welch and Ester Griffin" They were friends of Betty's. She would sing it all the time. I got my first tricycle that year at Christmas, at that house, it was red and white.I remember we had a smoke house where we kept meat. Daddy would take me to Tolars store and I would get a R.C. and some crackers. The drinks were kept in a box with ice on then, I don't know if there was electricity or not.

The Field

The next thing I remember was living in an old house in the middle of a cotton field. My daddy was farming for a man named L.Y. Tolar. He owned a store in Pansy and had lots of land and a gin. He had lots of share croppers too. He would furnish the land, seed and fertlizer and the farmers would furnish the labor. After the crop was made the money was split, but being that he had a store the farmers would owe him more money. It was west of Pansey, not for from highway 84 east. My sister Louise had already finished school and had moved to Dothan and was working at Cash Drug Store. She came home Easter weekend and brought my sister,Sara, and me an Easter suits. My suit even had a tie with it. I thought that was the coolest thing. For some reason it was very cold that year. I remember M.C. and me sitting behind a barn and eating cain. This house had electricty but the one behind the church didnt have.That man Tolor owned both places. There was a man that lived across the road from us named Mr. Hicks (Avery) I think. He took up a lot of time with me. I really liked him. He had gray hair. He had a son named Coot. We meet the rolling store in front of his house. There was a hill in front of our house and I remember that on Sunday my brothers and sisters would ride down the hill in some type of wagon or buggy. There was a creek at the bottom of the hill and Ellis would fish there. I also remember an old car that sit in the front yard and I think it ran. Somebody had some cows around there because there were some pipes laying across the road. I think they were called cattle crossings. You could drive a car across them but a cow wouldnt cross them. I didnt like them because I thought I might get my foot hung in them and couldnt get out. There was a couple that live down the road. I think their name was Swan and dont think they had children. We went to a church west of there and the name was Antiock. My mom and dad were charter members. At one time my Dad was the oldest living member. We ate in the kitchen, there was a table and benches on each side. Mama had a pie safe where she kept left overs.

Ray Hutto
Son of John Henry Hutto and Ethel Mae Infinger Hutto

I was borned on August 11,1947 (birth certificate says 12) in Houston County Al. on a farm south of Ashford. My father was a share cropper for many years, before we moved to Dothan, in the early 50's. I started remembering things when I was about 3 years old. I first remember living behind Liberty church, just a little north of Pansy. My brothers were playing baseball and I got too close to the bat and my brother M.C. hit my nose and broke it. I also remembering that we had a purple couch and thats where my Mother doctored me. I also remember that we had hogs across the road and I had a pig named Runt.

The Start

I have been thinking of doing this for 30 years or so. In a few months I will be 61 and now think that it maybe time to start writing about the things that I remember most in my life. When I first began to think about writing, I couldn't think of a way I could do it. First, my spelling has always been very bad, second I really didn't know how to start. I thought about recording my thoughts and having someone type it. But then the computer was born and it has spell check, so I guess I am good to go.
This will be about somethings I have done and some people I have known. About somethings I learned the hard way. This will be about my family too, the most important thing to me. How they help me through some hard times and didn't even know it at times. Why I think that family is one of the most prized processions that a person can have in their life time. About a little boy born on a farm in the middle of nowhere can make it in this world with little education and not much money but with a lot of luck and many blessings from God.
I don't even know if anyone would be interested in reading this but I guess that is what blogging is all about. I hope my family does read it though and find out how proud of them I am. Don't forget to check back often, for I will write more all along.