This is me [Jimmy] at about 10 years old, in 1946, with my
favorite dog, Bulger, and our dad, Dave Carpenter. We lived
on an eighty acre farm and Dairy in Northeastern Oklahoma. I
grew up there in the late 40's and early 50's. I had a mother,
father, a sister and at least one dog...sometimes three dogs. In
November of 1947, I obtained a new baby brother.
Looking back on it all, now, I realize we were poor but we never knew it at the time. At least I
never knew it.
We operated a Grade A Dairy so we had morning and evening chores. I always helped with the
milking night and morning. My parents gave me a cow of my very own and I got the money for
the milk she gave. I kept records of her milk production and every payday for my parents was a
payday for me. My parents furnished her food, but I helped in the fields to raise it. I always had
money for anything I wanted.
When I was 16, I bought a car...not a new one but it had wheels. I kept trading up until I had a
pretty good car. After High School, I enlisted in the army and sold my cow and car.