Excerpts from My Autobiograpy (autobiography of Ron Vincent) On the 20th of February I was reassigned to the 93rd Bomb Wing, Castle AFB near Atwater, California. Leaving Kokomo was to be a very traumatic experience for us with more obstacles to overcome than I could have ever imagined. Preparing to Leave ------------------ My car was not up to the trip. A bad spark plug needed replacement. I learned it was the aluminum head that was stripped and a helicoil (threaded insert) could not repair it. The engine would have to be overhauled. A good friend on base offered to loan me his Volkswagen to get back and forth and help me overhaul the engine or else I would not have attempted the job. I took him up on the generous offer. We had tools and heated garage bays on base for the airmen’s free use. I borrowed $100 from my mom for parts. It took us 3 weeks and having to drop the engine from underneath but we got the job done. Meantime I invited this good man and his wife over for dinner. I also invited the missionaries. They discussed the gospel with them after the meal. I thought I was doing a good deed. Missionaries Rejected --------------------- After the missionaries left, this lady lit into me like a wet hen and gave me a piece of her mind. She said, “We bear the burden of us working 2 jobs with just one car while you used our Volkswagen." "My husband spends hours a day for weeks helping you rebuild your engine. And you invite us over so you can shove your religion down our throats!” She stormed out. I was left limp not knowing what to do. I’ve tried to be very careful who I share the gospel with ever since then. I don’t keep silent but I try to listen carefully to the spirit in case I might again offend someone. Nothing Went Right ------------------ The engine overhaul didn’t go as we had planned. The car was now very difficult to start and wouldn’t crank without me squirting starting fluid down the carburetor throat. I purchased a small trailer and hitch with what money we could scrape together. Every day when I went to crank the car it was the same routine. That year, Indiana had one of the coldest winters on record. Temps dropped to 26 below zero. One morning the air was so cold the starting fluid wouldn’t come out of the can. I had to heat the can on the radiator in the house, quickly run out and spray it down the carburetor, then try to start the car. It finally started after some prayer and several attempts. We pleaded with our landlord Bob Jaqua for more time but he said, “My hands are tied. I have new renters moving into your apartment Monday morning.” It was Saturday. We had two days left. When we got all our stuff packed into the car and little trailer they were full to over-flowing and half our stuff was still on the sidewalk. I called Jim Holmes. He made the sacrifice to let us put some of our stuff in his garage and pick it up on another trip. To do this, Jim had to leave his car outside in the cold and hope it would crank when he left for work next morning. Meantime, I still had problems with the trailer. Something just wasn’t right with it. I packed Susie and the baby in the cold car, and left for Jim’s house to unpack. When we left there we went to J.C. Penny’s garage where I hoped to convince some mechanic friends of mine to take a look at the trailer. When we got there they were hard hearted. They said they had too much to do and couldn’t help me. I went back to the car, told Susie all the bad news, and said, “What else can go wrong,” as I reached to pull the handbrake. The handbrake broke off in my hand. Since then I’ve tried to be very careful uttering those words. The LDS Church to the Rescue ---------------------------- I had never before known anyone outside of family and friends who I would be willing to ask for help even in a troubling situation. But by this time I was desperate. I called President Lyman Marler’s house and spoke with his wife Audrey. Once I told her our troubles she said, “Don’t you worry about a thing. You just drive straight over here. We’ll come up with something and you can spend the night with us. Audrey gave us a meal and a place to spent the night. Susie called her dad. He left Alabama after working 3 straight days with little sleep and drove nearly 600 miles without stopping. He arrived the next day exhausted. Audrey let him nap in her bedroom while she prepared a big meal for us all. While doing so she entertained Dot Little and Susie in the kitchen. One of the things Audrey cooked for us that day was her recipe for yeast rolls, called “Audrey’s Hot Rolls” in the Kokomo Branch cookbook we purchased later. These little folded yeast rolls became a family favorite of Coot and Dot’s family. Susie made them every year on holidays after eating them that day for the first time. Coot to the Rescue ------------------ Coot went over to our little apartment Sunday where we packed all our remaining things in his truck. We then went to Jim Holmes and retrieved all our things from his garage, then headed toward Alabama. We had to stop about every 200 miles to buy another used tire for the little trailer. It’s wheels were so out of line that it scrubbed all the rubber off a tire in that short distance, but we finally made it home. The original plan was for me to go on out to California, find a place for us, then send for Susie and John. It wasn’t to be. Affordable housing out there even back then was near impossible to find. The only place I could find for us was a cold, roach infested garage apartment that was barely big enough for one person. After discussing this with Susie by phone, we decided it was best for her to stay home and let me fend for myself in California. Great things were accomplished even though we were far apart. A New Branch for Susie, a New Ward for Me, and a New Friend ----------------------------------------------------------- Before I left for California we attended the nearest branch of the church we could find in Alabama, the Bessemer Branch. The building was erected in 1957 at 813 Briarwood Drive, Bessemer, Alabama. It was a 1st phase Kent style building. They had their sacrament meetings in what is now the Primary room. The 2nd phase wasn’t completed until about 1971. Meantime, I attended church in the Atwater Ward, Fresno Stake in California. They had an active institute group. I met another LDS young man in my barracks for the first time. He was Jim Brey. We became lifelong friends. Jim persuaded me to join institute, a group of college-age young adults from church. In this group we made other friends including our squadron commander and his wife who were also members of the church. Jim Brey -------- Jim and I walked back and forth to church together on Sundays, we visited others together. We attended church on Wednesday nights together. And on Sunday evenings we would go to the institute teacher’s house for a lesson and some activities. she was my squadron commander's wife. He became a dear friend and often gave us 3-day passes so we could attend conference or other activities in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was my first time ever to go to Salt Lake City. Some of the guys in our institute group were from Salt Lake City. When we went to conference that year in the Tabernacle, we got to see the new prophet Joseph Fielding Smith for the first time. They let us sit near the front because we were in military uniforms. At one of the conference sessions they held a solemn assembly, my first, in which they sustained the new prophet. We all stood by priesthood groups to sustain him. What an experience. After Jim and I parted late that summer, it would be nearly 40 years before I saw him again. The next conference we had together was another solemn assembly where we sustained our new prophet Thomas S. Monson. Jim and I went together to get our patriarchal blessings, first him, then I the following week. Patriarch Blaine F. McKinlay of the Fresno Stake told us, “I perceive you two are kindred spirits. I feel to tell you that you should remain in touch with each other after your military commitment.” The Atwater Institute Group --------------------------- I had many treasured spiritual experiences with this institute group and with Jim Brey. We visited Yosemite National Park two or three times while I was stationed there. We went to a young adult conference in Los Angeles. We went to Salt Lake City twice. Most of the driving was done by one of two men in the group who owned a car. Most of us had no car and walked everywhere we went or took a bus when one was available. California was hot and dry that summer. I recall not sweating a lot even in high heat. Sweat would dry almost instantly. My father had told us stories of how he was stationed at Treasure Island off the coast of San Francisco during WWII. He said the air was so dry he could hang freshly washed clothes out to dry. By the time he got the last item hung up the first was so dry he could begin taking things down and folding them. I found the California air to be similar. We left the Atwater Ward chapel one hot August afternoon headed for Jim’s apartment. He had just been discharged from the Air Force and was waiting on his mission call to Germany. I walked at least half a mile or more before I realized how hot it was. It wasn’t ‘til then that I took off my suit coat. It was 100 degrees outside. More Spiritual Experiences -------------------------- Perhaps the most blessed experience I had while stationed at Castle AFB was when Susie and John came for a visit. She had been carefully saving all the money I sent her and bought a plane ticket. I got a few days leave so we could go to the temple. Susie, John, and I were sealed in the Oakland Temple on May 7th, 1970. We only had time for one endowment ceremony. It would be another 2 years before we got to attend the temple again. For their visit, a fellow Airman I barely knew loaned me his car for 3 days so Susie and I could go see Yosemite and the northern part of the redwood forests. John seemed impressed with the big trees but it took him a while to warm up to me. He didn’t know who I was. As far as he knew I was a total stranger. Who's Your Daddy? ----------------- The only male figure he knew for much of his first year, except for this brief visit, was his Pawpaw, Coot Little. Coot later told me how sad he thought it was that I couldn’t be there for John’s first words or his first steps. At least I was there for his birth and the first 2 months of his life. Their visit was far too brief but, only a week, but that’s all the time I was allowed. One of my most memorable spiritual experiences during this time was my patriarchal blessing on June 21st, 1970. I had no doubt that the patriarch, all patriarchs or anyone else who gives a priesthood blessing, must do so through inspiration. At the time I received my patriarchal blessing, I felt God was in direct communication and was speaking to me through his representative. The words might be the person speaking but the thoughts are from God. Because I had the faith, the Lord proved I was right by having the patriarch answer a question no one but God knew I had asked. He said, “You have desired of the Lord in your prayers to know that which you could do which would be of the greatest worth in building up the Kingdom of God. His answer to you is that the salvation of souls and the crying of repentance unto His people will be that which is of greatest worth to Him.” He told me I would be among a people where there would be great opportunities to teach the gospel by example and by word of mouth. More KP ------- I suppose the Air Force had nothing else for me to do but to pull KP until I was discharged. That’s what I did the last two months of my service commitment. I was assigned to the wash rack. We called it the “wash rag.” We washed airplanes and treated corrosion by using spray paint in cans. I actually enjoyed the duty. It was non-committal. Anyone could do it and the work wasn’t all that hard. All we had to do was team up. A couple of team members would scrub the plane with street brooms doused in a wet, caustic solution while another would spray the soap off with a fire hose. It was a dangerous job. If the caustic got on you it would melt your skin off. We had to suit up in rain suits, pants, rubber boots, heavy rubber gloves, and face shields. We had to carefully tape our cuffs closed to prevent any possible leakage into the suit while working. This protected us well but the August California heat sometimes rose to 108 degrees or higher. This made us lose so much fluid through sweat that we could only work 30 minutes at a time before we had to come in and rehydrate. No More Air Force – My First and Last Job ----------------------------------------- Including my time spent on inactive status prior to basic training I had accumulated 4 years, 2 months, and 20 days of military service by the time of my discharge on August 17th, 1970. I never enjoyed the military that much but it helped me grow up fast. There were some other benefits. The Judge Advocates Office wrote us a will for free, easily a $100 value. It looked funny because we only had one child at the time. That will mentioned “any other children” we might have. The military also taught me how to search for and apply for a job and how to create a résumé, one of which I sent to South Central Bell Telephone Company. When we lived in Kokomo I also attended night classes for credit at two off-campus colleges: Ball State University and Indiana University. One of the courses I took was electronics engineering. The military had also given me a 9 month school in electronics along with additional courses at Grissom AFB. These credentials looked so impressive on my résumé that the phone company hired me as a telephone installer with 36 months on the pay scale. That meant they paid me as if I had already received 3 years of pay increases (an increase every 6 months for 5 years). The day I started my new job I was making more money than I had ever made. I bought health insurance just before leaving California. I knew the possibility of Susie getting pregnant again and I was afraid for her to have a baby and us with no insurance. Fortunately, I only paid for one month’s insurance. My first day on the job at the phone company was just 3 weeks after I came home. They were eager to have me because I was qualified and my military commitment was behind me. Our First Home in Alabama ------------------------- We lived with Coot and Dot Little during those 3 weeks I was waiting on employment. Coot had already been looking out for us. He was a regular customer at Vertis Diffy’s Phillips ’66 service station at the intersection of Warrior River Road (now Allison-Bonnett Memorial Drive) and Lover’s Lane (now Brooklane Drive) in Hueytown. Vertis’s son, Curtis had lived in a 10 by 44 mobile home in Vertis’s yard in Virginia Mines about 3 miles from Hueytown. Vertis needed to sell the mobile home and agreed to let us stay on his property for a time. Coot Little purchased the little house trailer for about $1,500. He paid $500 down and $50 a month ‘til it was paid off. We rented the place from Coot for $50 a month so he had no monthly expense and we had a very cheap place to rent. It was a win/win/win situation for us all. Virginia mines was a place that became the closest we ever lived to where I worked or where we went to church. We lived there only a short time, though, then moved to Woodstock which was 15 to 30 miles from everywhere!