dubborders@sbcglobal. net

As I have written in an earlier article, there were seventeen Borders cousins in school at Allen during the 50’s and 60’s. The next generation produced ten more students (two later moved) that had Borders history. This last group was down to two that have already graduated.

It has been fun growing up with and having several cousins.

One of my first memories of having fun with cousins was when we would have a muddy cornstalk running punishment. We had read that the Native Americans would sometimes punish warriors and make them go through two lines of men that had hard clubs, they would be hit as they went through the gauntlet. Sometimes, as it is said, a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous. I believe we got Lewis and Donnie with four boys from my family and did that type of punishment. The corn had already been harvested, so there was no damage to it. Those wet stalks sure had a lot of mud on them. We were all having fun until someone broke the eyeglasses Johnny had on. Why he had them on? I don’t know. Now, we all are in trouble.

When I and two cousins, Sharon and Deonna were teenagers, having to hoe peanuts in June was a yearly thing. They told me that when they worked in the field west of their house, hidden from view, they would work in their swim suits to get a tan. Once their dad, Andrew, was looking for two more workers. He asked me to help him find a worker. I asked James McDonald if he wanted to help. I told him about the swimsuits, knowing all the time that Andrew would not ever let his girls dress and work that way with boys around. The work morning came, and James was there bright and early. I could see the disappointment on his face when Sharon and Deonna showed up with long-sleeved denim tops, head scarves with straw plantation-style hats, blue jeans, boots, and gloves. They were covered, head to toe. James came through and made a good hand, although he has never let me forget the prank I pulled on him.

Another time when RW, Lewis, and Donnie were seniors on the football team, there was a play where, including me, four Borders boys were all involved. Most of the senior football players for some reason had gotten Mohawk haircuts. Not much hair protection under those helmets, in this one play, Lewis was carrying the ball, Donnie was blocking me, RW was the linebacker. Donnie blocked me out of the way, RW went headlong to tackle Lewis and hit his knees. When the play was over, RW had some blood running down the inside of his helmet. Practice had to be stopped for a few minutes and RW had to leave and get stitches on his head. He should not have shaved off that great looking hair with the ducktail look.

A few years ago, I saw Skitter Hogue’s mother in the Allen Food Center, she said something to the effect that to help her memory stay good, she would say the names of the Borders kids. She told me she kept missing one name. I asked her to give me the names and she did, the one name she could not remember was Janice Borders. That’s a hard list to remember.

One of the funniest things about the four Borders boys in the same class was graduation night in 1960. It seemed like Mr. Darras would never get through calling out the name Borders. Merle was the Valedictorian. Merle was very smart and meticulous in all his schoolwork. RW used to say he would borrow Merle’s pencil in algebra to see if it helped and, according to him, the pencil would do good for two problems and then revert to his own style of writing. Pencils don’t have had muscle memory. I would have to say that in those four cousins, Donnie was the salesman, Lewis was the most athletic, Merle was the academic, and if there was ever a Johnny Carson in Allen, it was RW.

Once while teaching at Allen, Ruth Priest and I were in the entrance hall standing by the trophy case, facing the pictures of all the Homecoming Queens. I told Ruth that of all the pictures of the Homecoming Queens, I thought my cousin, Deonna, was the best looking. She kind of chuckled, pointed and said, “I think my daughter is the prettiest.” I did it again, foot in my mouth. I am glad my feet are not large.

At football homecoming my senior year, cousin Deonna had already been voted as the Queen. She and one of my best friends, David Watson, were going steady. The only surprise for Friday night was what senior football player would get to crown and kiss the queen. The week before the homecoming game, a few of us went to Coach Issacs and asked him if the senior player that worked the hardest in practice the next week, could be the one selected. He liked the idea, even though we all knew that all the senior football players would vote for David. That week was the most fun week of football practice ever! David worked his tail off. Someone got Bobby Perkins and Jay Rowsey to suit up and practice with us. They had been out of school for a year. Bobby was a ton of fun to watch. Both had never worn pads before. I remember Bobby running with the football and carrying it like a watermelon. Of course, Atwood was famous for producing watermelons and that led to watermelon raids. People who grew up during the 50’s and 60’s know what I am writing about. Friday’s game came, and David got to crown and kiss Deonna in front of the Allen fans.

When I started school at East Central, I was thinking that I would get big time counselor help. The EC handbook was the only help until RW, Merle Borders, and James Arnold told me what the enrollment process was. It was terrible with long lines everywhere, how could a college not do better. I remember the late H.C. Spain telling me that in the EC ballroom where the enrollment was taking place, he gave up, threw his hands in the air, and said “I’m just going to Southeastern.” A professor heard him and came to help him. Until the time I graduated, I never saw a counselor. When Loretta and I got the invitation from East Central to attend the Golden Anniversary Luncheon, I told her that if we went, the only question I had was, “Where is that counselor that I never got to see during my four years of college?”

One summer when Lewis Borders was going to summer school at East Central and I was staying and working in Ada, David Watson, Lewis and I went to OKC to see Johnny Cash at Springlake Park on the Fourth of July. While riding the roller coaster, The Big Dipper, David and I were sitting together, Lewis by himself. We held on to the safety bar real tight. Once the ride was over, we noticed that Lewis had broken his safety bar. He was as strong as a bull. I took the car with a full tank of gas and David paid for our hotel room. The next morning Lewis paid for our breakfast. Somehow his breakfast was served several minutes before ours. When he finished and we had just now got our food, Lewis looks around and said, “Who is buying lunch?” David and I look at each other laughing and tell him, “We are all even now.” He orders a hamburger, fries and pays for it himself. Lewis could also eat like a bull. Back then Lewis was a lot of fun to be around.

When my brother RW was teaching at Latta High School, the late Bill Johnson was his principal for a few years. Bill’s mother, Opal, and Vinita Borders were all sisters, making him cousin to those Borders cousins. RW and Bill were really good friends, he would joke with Bill and ask if he could be a cousin to Bill. Bill always said no, the reason was the boys in my family were too mean. A few years ago I saw Bill’s younger brother Jerry, and told him this story, he said, “maybe we can call each other near cousins.”

I do have to include this cousin story from Loretta’s side of her family. They lived in Eastern Seminole County. Both her mother and dad had brothers and sisters that lived in that area. Therefore she had many cousins. Every fall the families would get together and have a hot tamale cook fest. Loretta’s mother and another lady would drive to Calvin and get many corn husks from one of the Collins relatives there. The corn husks would be cleaned and boiled in a tub. The ladies would do all the cooking and I suppose the men sat around talking religion, politics, coon hunting and other things. There were several boy cousins, ages from fifteen down to four years old. Three of the oldest were the two bothers of Loretta and another cousin, Jim Knapp, later a very successful coach at New Lima. The boys’ job was to stay out of the way.

This one time, Jim’s youngest brother, the four-year-old, wore a superman cape to the gathering. While they were out of the way and playing, some of the older cousins convinced the superman boy that if he got on top of the small smokehouse and jumped off, he could fly like superman. The young boy had help getting on top of the building and with arms reaching out like superman, he jumped off. In swimming, it would be called a belly buster. When he landed it knocked the breath out of him. Upon recovering, he could not speak. The boys had to keep him hidden from the adults until about 10:00 that evening until everyone headed home. It was the next morning before the boy was able to start speaking again. You can picture the corrections that took place when the voiceless boy was found. Sometime, cousins can also be on the ornery side.

I have always enjoyed being able to have so many cousins. There are now only six remaining from the Allen area, four from my family and then, Karen Holman and Janice Carty. We had several in California on both the Owens and Borders sides of the family. I keep in touch with Brian Borders and Charles Owens.