65 Years ago
By Mack Braziel, Jr.
It gets hot and dry during July in Oklahoma, so we looked forward to the fourth of July for several days before it’s arrival, because we knew that it meant we would get into our 33 Chevrolet and head for the old Deep Fork River where we could cool off and have some good old fashioned fun.
We made sure that we had our case of pop that usually consisted of a mixture of orange, strawberry, grape, cream soda, root beer and Coca cola.
We needed to ice the pop down, so we would stop by the ice house and pick up a 50 pound block of ice, then chip it up and place it, with the pop into the Galvanized tub that we used to take baths in.
When we got to the river, we would spend our day fishing and swimming.
We didn’t have bathing suits to wear into the river, so the boys would wear jeans and mother wore an old dress.
When we got done with our activities, we would eat the picnic lunch consisting of fried chicken and potato salad, that mom had fixed the night before.
We made sure we would leave the river in time so that we could get home before night fall. When we arrived back home, we would shoot off our firecrackers, sparklers and Roman candles.
It was a day spent sharing our time, laughter and love together as a family. We were not wealthy people according to the worlds standards involving money, but we were very very rich when it came to having the important things in life. We had each other and plenty of love.
Published in U S Legacies Magazine July 2003
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