my Dad...investing mistakes and great raspberries!

our Stone House Farm

Growing up....in bits and pieces!.

When I was about 6 or 7 (I guess) my Dad said let’s go ride the train!

We drove to the nearby Illinois Central railroad tracks in Effingham(Ill) and there was a big locomotive moving some railroad cars around.  My Dad waved at the engineer who stopped the locomotive and said “hand him up!”

      Dad picked me up and put me on the steps of the huge choo choo and the engineer grabbed me and hauled me in.  Dad shouted “go for a ride” and off we went for a really fun adventure for a boy my age.

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My father was sharp about things like that...but not too hot on investing.

I remember we went riding around the Decatur (Ill) countryside and he was looking for oil wells.  Oil was not big in Illinois but he may have put some money in it and we never heard a thing.

What we did see around there was a gleaming silver train which looked futuristic and went fast...but slid into history pretty fast also. It was called the “Interurban.”

Dad was asking us about a soda drink he brought home one day. It was dark and like coke and not bad. He said it was from a new soda pop company down in Mt. Vernon and they wanted him to invest in the company.  He decided not to take the chance.  He would regret it...the soda was called “Diet Rite” and it’s still on the market today!

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  Finally...up at the “Stone House Farm” as we called it...I was about to head to my NBC News stint in Vietnam in 1969 and was musing one day about how much I loved red raspberries...recalling that was the only thing I would eat for days after being stung by about twenty or thirty bumble bees out in the woods.  

I asked Dad if we could plant some seeds and he pooh-pooed the idea saying “too cold up here...they’d never make it.”

      Well...I did it anyway.  And about six months later I got a funny letter from my folks saying there were too many red raseberries...they were blooming like mad and Dad added that he was wrong and I was right about all that!  

Ha...just once I “bested” the old man!

Fun memories...I hope you enjoyed them!

stanmajor@aol.com