DeRidder...

I was born and lived the first 7 years of my life in DeRidder, Louisiana.  A few evenings ago, Papa and I were reviewing the two places we lived there during my childhood. I felt those needed to be a part of my Blog.

Below is a map of DeRidder, Louisiana.

When I was born my parents lived on Patton Street.  If you look at the center of this map above Highway 190, I have drawn some lines and put a dot on one of the lines.  The lines going top to bottom are North Frusha Drive on the left and North Texas Street on the right with Bell Street in the middle.  There is one line drawn left to right.  It is Patton Street.  The dot on Patton Street is where our home was located.

Our little home on Patton Street was made from an old Army barracks.  It was divided into two apartments.  My parents owned the entire house.  They used the left apartment as you face the front of the home for storage.  The right apartment  was our home.  I remember a living room in the front with the kitchen/eating area behind. There was at least one bedroom to the left of that and a bathroom.  There may have been a bedroom on the front and the back of the house with the bath in the middle.  

This home had a big back yard.  Papa worked for the telephone company. He was a lineman.  He brought home big telephone poles, sank them deep in the ground and made us a swing set out of them.  

In September 2002, I made a trip to visit my parents in Louisiana.  We made a long day trip driving to places that were part of our family history.  One of the places was to find Patton Street to see if the home and swing were still there.  Neither was there anymore.  We were at the site looking around and a lady came out to find out what we were up to.  Papa explained that he once owned a home on that property and built a swing and we were just trying to find the site.  It turns out this lady owned the property and they tried to take out the swing set.  Those telephone poles were planted too deep and they finally gave up and sawed them off at the ground. Here is a picture of Papa talking to the lady and another of the street sign.

 

My memories of this home are few.  My parents lived here when I was born.  My mother told me stories about how they didn't own a crib and she took the drawer out of a dresser and made me a bed out of it.  

I also remember being very sick and mom making something out of an onion wrapped in cheese cloth and boiled with some other things.  Not sure what that concoction was but I remember it to this day.  

I also had nightmares as a child. They were of living in this house and they were in color.  I was swinging in the swing and a pulsing sound would start.  It was faint and would get louder.  My mother would come to the back door and open the screen.  She would yell for me to run inside quickly.  I would start to run and, as I got to the door where she stood, she took my hand.  A red car was coming up the street while this was happening.  A man would get out and he came to the back door where my mother had my hand to pull me inside.  He would grab my other hand and pull me in the opposite direction.  I remember distinctly it was Satan.  My mother won that tug of war.  Years later Claude and I lived in California.  Just before we were to move from Californis, the movie "Jaws" came out.  Claude and I got a babysitter and went to see that movie.  The sound of the shark coming after people was like the sound I heard in my nightmare.  I only watched Jaws once.  The music was just too much for me.  After we saw the movie, Claude looked at me and said, "Let's get some seafood for dinner and eat the fish for a change!"

Later my parents purchased a home on 5 acres in the country. Looking at the right lower half of the map, this home was located at the very end of Crockett Johnson Road.  I have drawn a line left to right over Ed Jeans Road and top to bottom over Crockett Johnson Road with a dot at the end where our home was located.

We lived at the very end of the lane and Crockett Johnson lived next to us.  As you drove down Crockett Johnson Road toward Ed Jeans Road, you came to where the road curved and this was where Elmo Johnson lived.  He was Crockett's son.  He had two sons and two daughters.  They were older than us kids.  But we still spent time with them.

The first picture is of the home Mimi and Papa bought for our family.  The second picture is Crockett Johnson's home.  The third picture is Mimi and Papa standing at the base of a tree they planted when they lived in this home about 47 years before.

 

 

A few of my memories of this house were a nice big sandbox to the right of the front door as you face the house.  I remember Junie and I playing some little game called "doodle bug".  

As you face the house, there was also a nice porch to the right of the house outside the kitchen door.  The Warren's would come over to visit in the summer.  They had two children.  A boy my age (Mark) and a daughter Junie's age.  We would make homemade ice cream using a hand crank machine.  The kids would put ice down each others back and run all over that yard.  I remember having a big crush on Mark Warren. Years later they came to visit us and Shreveport and I am sure he felt the same crush from our childhood. We wrote each other for a bit after that visit.

Also on the side of the house and set back a bit was a big garden spot my parents made.  I remember armadillos digging in it and Papa taking care of that issue. 

I remember walking with my father past that garden and going through the woods behind to a creek and lake or pond to go fishing. Papa remembers that a man named Morris owned lots of the land around there and the main road was named Morris Road after him.  He was the owner of the lake or pond where we would fish.

As you face the house on the left was a long room and we had beds in that for us kids.  I remember us getting sick with something that cause sores on our legs that itched very bad.  We were not to scratch.  I remember Mimi putting socks over our hands at night so we wouldn't scratch during the night as we slept.

We girls were given some type of yellow tablet to chew.  I don't know if it was a vitamin or what but it tasted absolutely awful.  It was in shape and size like a Necco wafer.  We would take it when Mimi gave it to us and chew, then hold it in our mouth and then waiting till we were outside and spitting it out under the house. 

There is one other line drawn on the map on Crosby Road coming out of DeRidder going south and connecting with Morris Road.  Crosby Road has an asterisk drawn on it.  That is where the creosote plant and it appears there is a plant still there.  I remember the school bus using this road to get us back and forth to school.  We would sing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" all the way home.  I never remember that bus driver complaining. 

It feels good to get these few memories and pictures down as part of my history.