Veteran of the Civilian Conservation Corps. Childhood in Whitney and Amarillo, Texas; family’s difficulties in Great Depression; decision to enroll in the CCC; experiences at CCC camps in Cleburne and Hillsboro, Texas, and Grand Junction, Colorado; baseball teams; lessons learned in the CCC; World War II-era experience in the U.S. Army Air Corps; work as tool and dye manufacturer; Republican Party politics in Dallas County.