(Vaughan relatives and friends, please read. Other folks.. not imperative.)

INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE ..  PART ONE

(Please forgive me for concentrating on aspects of my life.. it is cathartic for me and may trigger some insights for your life.)

YOUNG LOVE

Elaine Eva Langlois.. This was the 4 year-old cutie that I followed out of my role in a tap-dance recital when I was 7 years old.  We met again ten years later.  At which time she told her friend Jean in French: "That's the boy I'm going to marry."

And that happened... five years later when she tricked me.

I was helping her get on a bus and she had been talking a lot about marriage. I was scared of that prospect and in answer to some question, to humor her, I muttered: "If we get married." But, by mistake I said instead: "When we get married."

Elaine immediately responded: "I do!" and jumped on the bus.  

We married soon after and Elaine Eva became my wife, my friend, and the fantastic mother of our three children for 42 Years!

DANCING 

When I was in the sixth grade, I attended a dance at the local YWCA. However. I was too shy to do anything other than stand in a corner disguised as wallpaper.  My mother had taught me to waltz, but I was too scared to try it in public.

A young lady grabbed me and attempted to teach me the Fox Trot each week at the YWCA.  After a few sessions, I "chickened out" and quit and never learned to dance.  Luckily, my wife, Elaine Eva, didn't care about dancing, so everything worked out well, until after my wife "passed" and I met Elaine Alice.

Elaine Alice loved to dance and practiced it weekly at functions where she dragged me along.  She danced and I pretended to dance. But we had fun.

BICYCLE  HUNT/HAUNT

In the sixth grade, I built a working bicycle out of parts that my Uncle Billy provided.  I went everywhere with that "bike."  I especially spent a lot of time cruising around Bedford Street, where I knew a young lady lived. (Later photos showed a young girl who looked amazingly like Elaine Eva.  I didn't realize it at the time.)

I rode my bicycle around her house over and over,, although I don't know what I would have done if she ever came out to see me. That was solved for me when her boyfriend chased me away. 

Normally,  I welcomed confrontation, I was a tough kid. But I knew this guy from the local Boy's Club and I had seen him lift some heavy weights and swing effortlessly on the hanging rings, and I wasn't crazy, so I gave up on this potential romance.

Mesopotamia Gomes.. This was a young lady in the fifth grade who was nice to me, and didn't laugh when I mumbled and stumbled in class.  She also was blessed with the most beautiful mahogany colored skin that I had ever seen.  

BIM.. This was an amazing person. I wrote about him in a much earlier blog entry as follows:

Picture a 6'5" man with an enormous paunch, partially covered with a torn t-shirt, and the darkest skin color imaginable. Place an unlit and squashed-end cigar in his mouth and there you have my friend, Bim.

Bim was a real gentle guy with enormous strength. I would hate to have him mad at me. We worked together at the local YMCA.

Once a month, a truck would pull up to the side of our building and a ramp would be placed from truck to basement. Four hundred pound drums of soap were offloaded by Bim. It was interesting to watch him wrestle those heavy drums from truck to basement.

Everyday at 11 AM, he would walk down to a nearby tavern for his two-hour lunch. After which he would come back to help in Brad's Health Area of the YMCA to give massages.  His massages were sought after because he was very gentle with his big hands.

I'm sure he is gone by now.  Rest in Peace, my friend.

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Go, and remember your friends.