indiana territory

NO FIRST DRIVER'S TEST

I was out at the drugstore today and ran into my neighbor, Emory Feller. While we were waiting to pick up our prescriptions, we happened on the topic of driving. Why, I don't know.

Anyway, I mentioned that when my dad started driving he was 13 - this was in Fountain County, almost to the Parke County line and just a small distance from Turkey Run. Of the time when he was of legal age, he said, "I went in and plopped my 50¢ on the counter and got my license." Mr. Feller remembered doing about the same thing, but mentioned that for years he had had a chauffer's license, driving for Sears Roebuck.

My dad had four sisters and only one learned to drive - Geraldine, the feisty one . . . the one they say I look like. I remember once my Aunt Dorothy said, "Dad wouldn't let us drive, but he had Bob out there when he was just a kid." Ah, sibling rivalry.

My dad did have to take a driver's test - once - when he was over 75 and at that time you had to take one to get your license renewed. I didn't call that night because I was afraid the man with whom I felt safe enough to sleep while he was driving had flunked.

The next day I called and confessed to Mother and she laughed and said she thought that was the case.

Daddy's gone now, six years this month. His last ride was back down to Fountain County. He is buried by his mother and father and his stone says, "Robert Grismore - brought home to rest by wife and daughter."

posted by Jody @ 5:15 PM