Growing Up on 5th Street - "New Friends"
Updated: Jun 11, 2020
By Butch Hurford
As I ventured down 5th Street,I met a new friend, Lynn. Both of us got to go to the movies on Saturday. It was always a western and we “played out the movie” the rest of the week! Lynn had two sisters that we played jacks with. Lynn moved from Augusta to Texarkana, AR in 1962 to work in the pulp and paper industry. He now lives in Decatur, IL.
Another boy in the neighborhood I became friends with was Harvey. Harvey and I competed with each other in one on one basketball. He was hard to beat although I could never beat him in tennis. Harvey graduated from AR State and later owned a sporting goods store. Back in the day we read “funny books”. After we read them we would trade with each other. Harvey always had a few books he would let you see and he wouldn’t trade them. Other boys in the neighborhood were Charles and Eddie. Charles didn’t have much money to buy cars and trucks so he just made his own. We always liked them better than our store bought ones! Eddie and Harvey,as they got older, got jobs in the barber shop shining shoes. Mr. Tom sent them to me for tips on shoe shining and later on you will know why.
Another friend of mine was J.R. J.R. Was the best marble player on 5th Street. The marble games were “funnies” or “keeps”. J.R. eventually owned All the marbles on 5th st.
I also played with BoBo, Leroy,Nathaniel, Jeff and Gertrude. I liked all the boys and girls but tomorrow I will tell you about another friend I truly loved.
