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They used to ride the range on the little stick horse
singing a happy song.
Many years have passed, they’ve all grown up,
The kids are married and moved away.
But if they keep coming by singing, ‘Happy Trails,’
They are alive and living today.
Roy’s
hearing aid begins to squeal again. “I’ve got a story to tell you about
these little things,” he says, removing both hearing aids carefully and
placing them in the palm of one hand. They look like small peanuts.
“This
friend of mine was telling a friend of his, who made them, about me.
Well, he came over and wanted to make a pair for me. I said I didn’t
need any. I didn’t have anything to compare it with, you know. This
was about three or four years ago.
“Dale
had been telling me, ‘Honey, you should get some hearing aids or
something.’ I said, ‘If you would fnish telling me the story before you
start walking two or three rooms away, I could hear you!’” He laughs.
“She said, ‘Well, you’re using that as an excuse.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ What
could I do?
“So
when this guy offered to make me a pair, I said, ‘Okay, let him think I
need them.’ He called me after each pair and asked, ‘How do you like
the hearing aids?’ I said, ‘All right.’
But I didn’t put them in. I’d put them in for a little bit and then take them out.
“After
about the ffth pair, I was beginning to get a little embarrassed. So
when he called to ask how I was doing, I decided that I was really
going to give him a chance. I put my hearing aids in and got ’em tuned
up pretty good because I didn’t want to be doing this in church. I got
in there,” his voice assumes a tone of wonder, “and I heard EVERY WORD
the minister said.” He laughs hard. “I didn’t get sleepy or anything.
“When the choir started, I thought that I was in the middle of the Cincinnati Symphony!” He pronounces it “Cincinnata.”
He’s
been wearing them ever since. “They’re small, you can’t hardly see them
little things. They have a teeny battery that lasts about a week and
then you just get another one.
“These hearing aids open up a whole new world,” he says.
“It’s like a blind person getting a pair of glasses. The world comes alive.”
Are you still singing? I ask.
“Yes,
I made a recording last year,” he replies. “It was a big surprise to
me. When I was honored at the Country Music Awards about three years
ago in Nashville, they suggested that
I make some records. I told ’em, ‘I’m retired, I don’t sing anymore.’
But they heard me sing someplace and they wanted me to do an album.
“Well,
to make a long story short, I made one, and it’s still going.” He
sounds pleased. “I don’t read music, so I had to memorize the songs.
They got them to me early enough and I learned six new songs. Then I
took some of the old songs, and I wrote a new one, because it sort of
hits my time and place, meeting people out here in the museum.”
Without my asking, he starts to sing.
“And I yodel once more.
His
voice is clear and precisely on key. The song, “Alive and A Kickin’
Today,” is featured on the album Tribute, with country music singers
Willie Nelson, Randy Travis, and Clint Black. Roy stays in touch with
them all. “I’m raising some offsprings of Trigger, Jr., and I just sold
one to Randy Travis.
He
just talked me out of it,” he jokes. “I was keepin’ it for myself, but
I liked old Randy and he wanted it so bad that I let him take it!
“You
know,” he says, “I love to drive, too! My dad had an old Model T that I
loved to drive. The last 40 or 50 years with Dale fying all over the
place to all these shows a jillion times, things are booked so close
together, there is no WAY you can drive,” he says. “So you fy most of
the time.”
“Dale
and I were talking, and she said her Aunt Estelle, who’s 86 years old,
had been sick and couldn’t come to Dale’s family reunion last year in
Texas. Aunt Estelle’s got a great sense of humor. I talk to her on the
phone every once in a while. She’s been to California and I just love
her.
“Well,
right after my birthday, right after we had a big Thanksgiving party, I
says, ‘Honey, let’s get in the car and drive down to see Aunt
Estelle.’ Dale says, ‘You’re kidding, aren’t you?’ You know, it’s 2,000
miles.’
“‘No, I like to drive,’ I said. So she said, ‘Great.’
“We
got ready and drove, and in two days we’re in Crowell, Texas. The
highways were unbelievable.” His voice is tinged with awe. “You know
the roads today, they’re all freeways. You have to drive so fast,
because the truck drivers would run over you if you didn’t.” He laughs.
“We spent two or three days with Aunt Estelle and had a wonderful time.
Then we came back by Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Dale had never
seen them, I’d seen them a couple of times. We visited a cousin she had
in Phoenix, Arizona, and then came on back home. We was gone ten days
and had a wonderful time.” He smiles to himself and becomes quiet.
I realize that Roy is tiring, so I get up and thank him for their time.
“That’s all right, honey,” he says, shaking my hand firmly.
“It was a pleasure. I hope you have time to go through our museum. It’s full of interesting things.”
I do and it is. Especially the long yellow Lincoln Continental convertible that Roy likes so much.
I feel like I’ve grown up with everybody
that’s alive and a kickin’ today.
If it wasn’t for you, there wouldn’t be no me,
That’s exactly what I always say.
I want to thank you for the many years of fun and the
love that always comes my way.
I feel like I grew up with everybody that’s alive and
a kickin’ today.
ANNE
SNOWDEN CROSMAN lives near Sedona, Arizona. She teaches memoir-writing
at Yavapai College’s OLLI (Osher Lifelong Learning Institute), and is
the afternoon host for “All Things Considered” on KNAU, Arizona Public
Radio
“YOUNG AT HEART “ is available from Amazon...
“Then,” he says, “I do a little yodel. Second verse.”
When I made my frst picture, ‘Under Western Stars,’
They really were exciting days.
Old Trigger was four and I was 26,
It wasn’t work, just play.
Back in ’39, it only cost about a dime to see a
western every Saturday.
I feel like I’ve grown up with everybody that’s alive
and a kickin’ today.
“I do another little yodel. Third verse.
It was a wonderful time for the kids growing up in an era learning right from wrong.
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