Reminiscing!

 My youngest daughter reminded me of something today, that I haven't thought about in quite a while. As a child and as a young lady growing up, I used to tell her stories of my boyhood days, as well as stories about my sojourn in the military, and so on. She said, she loved it when I was reminiscing, as I apparently told a good story. Funny thing about my stories (reminiscing) they are all true stories. Yes! I would embellish the stories sometimes, but not very much.


Following is a story related to me by both my mother and my father as I grew up. I think it provides a peep into the kinds of adventures I would have throughout my lifetime.


I was born on February 16, 1936, in Cumberland, Maryland. I had my first adventure when I was only about 2 weeks old. My mother and I were almost swept away in a giant flood in Cumberland, Maryland. It seems Will’s creek had flooded 27 feet over its high water mark. It fed the Potomac River in Cumberland, which also crested 27 feet over its banks. Dad and Mom had rented the upstairs apartment in a house right next to the river. My dad being a national guardsman was called to active duty to assist with keeping order and preventing looting. Dad actually went AWOL while on duty, because he knew that mom and I were right in the path of the flood and had no way of getting out. Dad was on the opposite side of the river from us, and the bridges had already been washed out. Dad went looking for a rowboat, which he confiscated and rowed across the river to our house. The water was so high that Dad pulled the boat up to the porch roof and pulled Mom and I out through the second story window and into the boat. Dad then rowed back across the river, and took us to a relative’s house that was not in danger of being flooded. This wasn’t the Johnstown flood of 1936, but it was just as bad. 

God Bless us all from the gahillbilly. 


"(C) Copyright by Victor Winebrenner"