This is a good example of a transcribed interview. It's the kind of story that gets told on the porch after dinner but is seldom written down.

“A glorious place to grow up barefoot and irresponsible, unencumbered by the modern miracles of television, radio, electric power, running water, or indoor plumbing. The memories of that place flood my mind and are overwhelming. It is almost as if I can recall each individual day, not just a collage of events.

“The lake was not spectacular but was a typical small muddy Florida pond among probably hundreds just like it. It was no more than about 250-300 ft. wide by maybe 600-700 ft. long. It was no more than about 15 ft. deep. The shorelines were mostly choked with reeds and other water plants. It was attached to another much smaller lake accessible only by boat through a narrow passage about 1/2 of a rowboat wide.

“Both lakes were well stocked naturally with catfish, turtle, bass, gar, bream (perch), cottonmouth moccasin and alligator. We regularly caught and ate turtle, catfish and bream. To me it was paradise. I didn’t realize the emotional attachment to this place until the big move away. More about that later.

“Our property fronted maybe 150 ft. on the lake and extended from the center of the lake to a roadway approximately 1000 ft. away, for a total of 5 acres. Pine/oak woods and a large area cleared for garden and citrus trees were between the roadway and house. My parents named it ‘Echo Bend.’

“Few have known the pure joy of growing up innocently in the country, near a lake. I didn’t have to read Tom Sawyer— I was Tom Sawyer.

“We had a dock, more like a pier, until I fell through it and landed on my head (this explains everything that follows). Pop had hauled in several trailer loads of sand to make a small beach and there was a diving float out maybe 100 ft. Away from the sand the bottom was ‘oozy’ and a small child could imagine all manner of creatures living in this muck.

“I learned to dive at about age 4 or 5. This came before learning to swim and I had to be pulled out after each dive. Because of the reversed order of things, I learned to swim underwater better than on top.”

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