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Introducing
Truman…
Dear Reader:
I’ve shared some of my thoughts with you, but I feel it necessary to
give you a little background about myself.
Truman Scott Bashore
I was born on November 9, 1944 at Good Sam in Dayton, and I have a
sister Beverly who is retired nurse and lives in Arcanum. We have
grown quite close in the past five years for which I am most grateful.
My parents were Harold and Naomi Bashore. Dad worked for Aero
Products heat treating metals. Mother was a waitress who, when we
were in the sixth grade was in a horrific auto accident coming home
from work in Versailles. She was laid up for almost two months
and a steel rod was placed in her hip causing her to limp badly.
However, she did not let that slow her down when it came to taking food
orders and delivering them.
The first seven years of my life our family lived on Grandpa Bashore’s
farm outside New Madison. My cousin Neil lived in New Madison,
and he use to ride his bike out to the farm where we go and play in the
haymow. Grandpa hada big rope that was attached to a bail
hook so he could load and unload hay and straw as needed.
But for Neil and me, the haymow was our playground and that big rope
was used to swing from one side of the barn to the other and of course
imitating the Tarzan call!
The hay had another use. Neil and I would stack the bales high
enough to hide behind and we’d take turns shooting arrows from one side
of the barn to the other. Now we may have been young, but we
weren’t stupid. When one was ready to shoot the other would shout
“Take Cover!” and we’d drop down while the other shot the arrow into
the hay and sometimes over it. As a result neither of was hurt
and we always enjoyed playing in the barn!
One summer Grandpa asked me if I’d like to make money by riding the
baler to check that the bales were tied or had not come undone.
On occasion, I would shout “Stop” and we’d clear the hay and continue
baling. On one occasion, it was so hot and I got so sunburned I
couldn’t go back to work after lunch. Grandpa came to me and
handed me 50 cents, and I said what’s that for to which he replied,
“You worked a half day and so you are entitled to half day’s pay!”
I was also responsible for gathering the cows for milking in the
evening and driving them to their stalls. On one occasion, I set
the cows to running back to the barn. Grandpa, “ kindly” asked me
not to do that because it could harm the cows and sour their milk!
My education began at the age of six at New Madison where I attended
school for two years. My third year of class was at Northridge
followed by a year at Tipp City. Finally, in 1955, we settled in
Bradford and we became Railroaders! I always loved football and
it was at Bradford that I began to play organized ball which I did for
seven years and in 1962, I was the 66th player on the third team
honorable mention list!
I mentioned Neil earlier and it was when we were in town at the post
office one day that I saw a picture of a Marine and I knew at that
instant that one day I would become one. However, after
graduating from high school, my folks wanted me to go to college
instead. So, I enrolled at Ohio Northern but was asked to leave because
of my low grades. At that time, it was legal to drink 3.2 beer at
the age of 18. Sadly my GPA was .069 which came close to my blood
alcohol content!
And so my friend Max and I enlisted in the Marine Corps and I set off
on the journey fostered by that picture in front of the Post
Office. I was 19 and did not need my parent’s permission.
The night before I Ieft for boot camp, I watched the DI starring Jack
Webb, and boot camp was everything I knew it would be because of the
DI. In short I survived boot camp and after a 30 day leave, I was
sent to Camp Pendleton, and in February of 1965 I shipped out Da Nang
Vietnam where 12 hour workdays were the norm and additional 8 hours of
guard duty of 2 hours on and 2 hours off. Finally, in Dec of 65,
I was ordered back to the states and after 30 days of leave, I was
assigned as a supply clerk and finished my enlistment in San Diego in
1967.
While in San Diego, I had the honor to participate in Marine Corps Flag
Pageant which celebrated this history of our flag. We were sent all
over California and even a trip to Bozeman, Montana. At first, I
had the role of Teddy Roosevelt until another Marine came along who
resembled him more than I.
The most honorable duty I had was Burial Detail. At times, we had
as many three details a day. I recall burying a full bird
colonel, but as the one in charge, I had folded the flag incorrectly.
My captain called me on it, but he did tell me that the flag was
re-folded before being presented to his family.
My service in the Corps made me eligible for college via the GI Bill,
and I earned an AA degree from Glendale JC and transferred to Cal State
Los Angeles from which I graduated with BA degree in English and landed
a teaching gig at Nimitz Jr. Hi in Huntington Park, Ca. which lasted
three years.
One other activity of note is that is that one Easter Break a friend
and I rode the Baja down and back in seven days on a Triumph 650
motorcycle. We rode hard and long and upon my return, I parked
the bike and sold to a fellow teacher.
However, after 12 years in LA and teaching Jr. High for three of those
years, I grew weary of the city so, my friend Bill Mixell and I decided
to bicycle the Baja. We left in February and arrived at Cabo San
Lucas in April. That this was an adventure goes without
saying. We had saddle bags on both sets of rims, the seat and the
rear.
When we started out, we did between 25-30 miles a day but eventually we
made it up to sixty miles a day. The best part of this was we
filled our bags full of tortillas, peanut butter, some type of fruit
and plenty of water. However, when we would come across a village
with a place that served food, we made it a point fill up on eggs,
bacon, and tortillas. And before heading out again, we’d resupply
with more tortillas, fruit, and peanut butter and of course more water.
Once we got to Cabo, my bike fell apart and so I gave it to a kid who
was happy to get it and repair it. Our goal was to ride all the
way to Ecuador but since I had no bike, I hitched a ride on a 28’ sloop
with Bruce who sailed us across the Sea of Cortez to Guadalajara where
we went our separate ways.
At which point, I began hitchhiking north through Mexico up to
Brownsville, Texas h to New Orleans where I attended the first New
Orleans Jazz Festival. This was very entertaining, but after that, it
was time to move on with the goal of visiting my mother in Wheeling,
West Virginia. This involved a bus trip across the south and
north to Wheeling, West Virginia. My sister and her husband came
down from Gettysburg, Ohio and took me to their house.
Bill, on the other hand, continued his bike ride to Ecuador and then
headed back to his home in Lompoc, Ca.
In 1983, I moved from Ohio to St Louis where I taught English at
Chaminade College Prep. Knowing I would need a Master’s Degree, I
applied to St. Louis University and was accepted. More importantly,
because I taught at a Catholic school, the university gave me 2/3 off
on my tuition. So, for $200 per semester plus books, I earned my
Masters Degree in English.
I am currently a writing instructor at Edison State College in
Greenville and have been with Edison for 16 years. I enjoy
watching the students’ from the first day of the semester until the
last. On the last day of class, I always ask the students if they
are better writers now than they were at the beginning of the
course. And the answer is always the same. “Yes!”-and then
I ask in what ways. “You have taught us how to state a thesis and
how to support it with specific details and bring the essay to a
logical conclusion.
In retrospect, I have been fortunate to have good health, to travel and
earn a college degree. but I am proud to have been an English teacher
for over 35 years-So don’t dangle your participle because I’ll
know it when I see or hear it
And that my friends is the Truman Story, and I am sticking to it.
EDITOR: Truman Bashore is one of CNO’s newest columnists. His first
published column is The Voting Rights Act
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