| MY MARINE SCIENCE BEGINNINGS Starting in the late '40's I began to visit with the Powers (Paul, Gladys (Mother) and Vivien) in Pt. Neches. One of Paul's favorite things to do was to go to McFaddin's beach on his long weekends. Mother hated the beach, but she wanted to be with Paul and family, so she always went. We would stay all day and I got the worst sunburn of my life during one of these excursions. This is the same time that I chased a blue balloon in the surf and caught it. The Portuguese Man of War that I caught stung the "you know what" out of me and I cried for 3 hours. Everyone, up and down the beach for miles, knew I was hurt. Mother was very upset that I was hurt. There was a parade of people that came by, each with his own home remedy for the stings. Cover it with wet sand, pour beer on it, use tobacco juice, Baking soda and a myriad of other "well-meant" aids that did nothing to ease the pain. By the next day the pain had subsided. Then there was the sunburn that I cried about for three days off and on. No one knew about "meat tenderizer" as an aid. Meat tenderizer will break down the enzymes that cause the sting and I sure wish we had known about it way back then! All that needed to be done was sprinkle meat tenderizer on the bites. The Surfers learned this trick, but the cure had not reach the Gulf Coast ye. This special day introduced me to my first Marine science, which I spent almost 40 years teaching. Bubba (Paul Jr.)also visited during the summer and he and some of his older friends took a long seine and went out to the sandbar and seined up all of the Gulf creatures. This was my introduction to stingrays, bonnet head sharks, blue crabs, croaker and other interesting animals. It would serve me well later when for more than 30 years I took high students on Galveston field trips to seine and study marine organisms. BELOW REPRESENTS MY MARINE SCIENCE BEGINNINGS |
| In the pictures above you will see, Mother (at age 31), Paul, Paul Jr.(Bubba) age 13, Don (me) age 8, Viv (age 5), Keith (a neighbor to Mother and Paul, and friend of Bubba"s), Bob (another neighbor and friend of Bubba's), Dorothy Hardy, Wanda Hardy, Billy Hardy. Apparently in 1947, we made several weekend trips in a row. My memory is a little foggy, but I remember that Aunt Hazel's kids must have been staying with Mother and Paul for a while in Pt. Neches. At the time they lived at 1121 MacArthur and I was visiting for the summer. Later, Dorothy, Wanda, and Billy were adopted by three families and brought up in their adoptive homes. Dorothy went to nursing school and became a nurse and later married Dr. Jones and at last account she lived in Lufkin. Wanda at last knowledge was living somewhere in East Texas. Billy was adopted by Jewish parents and was in Galveston when he committed suicide. |
