As I share his life's story, naturally I do so without his consent, considering that he passed to his Heavenly home on May 16, 2016.
https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/herman-pickens-obituary?pid=180030451
To begin with, I recall him telling me that when he was a young boy, he was fishing at a nearby pond off Cooper Anderson Road, West of Jackson, TN. They lived nearby on Ashport Road. I mention this in my video I shot of the old railroad saloon and train station called "Carroll Switch".
https://youtu.be/s_cmewISsoE
The way he described this boyhood incident is that he was playing/fishing with a colored boy his age who's daddy was sitting in the wagon watching the boys. Dad found himself being whipped at by the man's horse whip. When he got back home, he told his own dad, Herman Lee Pickens, that the black man was trying to hit him with the whip. Dad told how when the colored man drove back by with his wagon & son aboard, his dad, Herman, walked out to the road in front of their house,and confronted the man. He began to beat up the man getting him down on the fround, and if not for his mother, Nellie, he might've killed him. Granddaddy was a fist fighter, I hear tell. Why I've seen him hold a 8 lb sledge hammer straight with his arm outstretched, so I know granddaddy Pickens was strong!
Now, fast forward, to when he was about 17, in his senior year of Northside High School. He tells of the time of how he joined the United States Navy.
He said he and his 1st cousin, Billy Baker, both lied to the recruiter that they were 18. I'm sure their parents wouldn't have approved.
Here's a photo Chris (Herman's wife) shared where he looks to be about 18, mopping a ship's deck, possibly the USS Saint Paul, while serving his country during the Korean War. It's likely he got into trouble, and was ordered to mop the deck.
Chris Pickens memory:
"Remember the story about him mopping the floor with Bill Baker at school. Just months before they would have graduated. The principal caught them throwing water and told them to get a mop. Herman said if I'm going to mop I'm joining the Navy. I'm not sure that they didn't both sign up that day. I'm sure Nellie could have killed him.
That is so Herman!!! mister conformed😅"
When I see dad smiling and having fun in this USN picture, I think of him that way, always having fun, a good laugh, and wanting the best for his family, a great model for us men who watched him over the years!
He was a hard worker who never stopped thinking of possibilities of how something worked, or how to make it work better!
Herman was stationed aboard the USS Saint Paul, which made deployments off the coast of California, to places like the Phillipines, during the Korean War, 1950-53.
"The Korean War is often called The Forgotten War. It began when communist North Korea invaded South Korea in 1950. When the war ended in 1953, Korea was still divided and it remains that way today."
Source: http://www.softschools.com/timelines/korean_war_timeline/36/
He mentioned he would study technical and college books to pass the time. He told how he would scavenge surlpus electronic parts, then assemble a circuit of some sort. Using those parts, he built and tested a CW (Continuos Wave) AM transmitter, but he got afraid the FCC might catch him transmitting with it, so he threw it over board.
He told me he suffered some hearing loss by listening to shortwave radio with headphones, where tuning a Ross the radio band frquencies harmed his hearing abilities to high pitched sounds. This caused him to have to get hearing aides in his senior years of life.
He said when he got out of the Navy, 1953,and returned home, his parents informed him he had left a light bulb on in their attic for all those years he was away.
It doesn't surprise me since he always was curious how things work, especially with electricity, electronics, and mechanical things.
Dad was a teaser, aggravator, so I can imagine some of the trouble he might have gotten into when he was younger!
He wasn't big on conforming in a team group setting. 😊
Dad was a DIY man. At about 10, he had me crawling under the family car to help him change out the transmission, and had a love for cheap Volkswagens, where he showed us boys how to fix them.
When I was about 15-16, I recall dad taking our family to East Jackson Baptist Church, in Jackson TN.
