With the holiday weekend coming up, it seems like a good time to share some fun short stories of Joe and Nellie (Peelle) McCracken’s kids.
On The Roof
The younger McCracken kids liked to tell stories about their older siblings. One of them involved the time some of the older kids along with some of their friends decided to have some fun by putting a buggy up on someone’s roof. We aren’t sure whose roof that they put it on or exactly how they got it up there. However, knowing the people in the neighborhood, the culprits were likely found out and required to remove the buggy.
This was just one of the goings on in the Rocky Vale and surrounding neighborhoods. Ester said that none of them ever got arrested, but they might have been shot at a few times.
Switching with the Baileys
Another story about the older McCracken kids is the time that they snuck out of the house during the night and went to the Bailey’s home. Meanwhile, the Bailey kids around their age snuck out and came to the McCracken home. The Bailey kids slid into bed and went to sleep. In the morning, the Bailey kids came tromping down the stairs at the McCracken home.
Joe and Nellie didn’t skip a beat. They put them to work doing their own kids’ chores. I don’t know for sure, but I assume that the same thing occurred at the Bailey home.
Ball Bearings
When they were moving highway 7 to its current location, the workmen often parked equipment at the McCracken farm since it was just off the highway. One day, one of the pieces of machinery broke down and the workmen pulled it into the McCracken yard to be repaired. The work on the machine resulted in a lot of ball bearings of various sizes being spilled all over the ground. After the machine was fixed, Don went around collecting the ball bearings and they became great play toys.
One night, O’Ella had some ladies visiting at the house (perhaps school teachers). According to Don, he fell down the stairs and many of the ball bearings fell out as he took a nasty tumble. Dad told the story a different way. According to him, Don had the ball bearings in a can and (intentionally or unintentionally) spilled them down the steep stairs. In either case, the result was the same. . . a major racket that would wake up the neighborhood.
Old Maids
Another night when one of the older girls was out on a date, some of the kids rigged it so that a bucket of “old maids” (popcorn kernels that didn’t pop) were hung above the front door (yes, they actually used the front door in those days). When the sister came home from her date and opened the door, down came the old maids.
This wasn’t the only night that a sister got pranked when she arrived home from a date. One night while Ester was on a date with one of the Baileys, Ruby and Bobbi (Peelle) Pryor (step-daughter of Grandma Nellie (Peelle) McCracken’s brother Passco “Patt” Peelle) cooked up a scheme to surprise Ester when she returned home. On this occasion, they filled a dishpan with tin cans and placed it at the top of the stairs. When Ester opened the front door, the dishpan spilled all the cans and they thunderously tumbled down the stairs. Ester’s date bolted. Ester fumed. The rest of the family woke up to see what caused the racket. But, Ruby and Bobbi slept right through the event. Source: Life with Father . . . And Mother . . . and Ten Kids compiled by Don McCracken.
Up We Go
Up We GoOne or both of the younger brothers raised Kay’s bed during the night while she was sleeping in it. Neither of them would admit to the prank. Dad claimed he didn’t do it, but some pointed a finger towards him. Not sure if Kay threw their small Will Rogers brass statue at her brothers for doing it, but I wouldn’t be surprised. As the youngest and smallest, it seemed to be her weapon of choice.
April Fools
On April 1st, 1935 (or there about), Dad’s sisters dressed him up like a girl. They curled his hair and found one of his sisters’ dresses that he could wear. He went to school looking like a girl. One of the neighbors saw him walk by their house and inquired as to who the new girl was. April Fools!
It wasn’t the only time he wore his sister’s clothes as he was a model for his mother when he was home sick from school one year. She was working on dresses, likely for his middle sisters, and she needed someone to put them on so she could get the hem straight. Since he was there, he became her model.
Dog’s Day Out
They say that you have to be careful of the quiet ones. They can stir up the most trouble. Well, that was the case at Rocky Vale one day. One of the dogs followed the kids to school. So, Dewey, who all animals loved, coaxed the dog up into the one of the school desks. Then he sat a book up on the desk in front of the dog so that it wasn’t easily seen from the front of the room.
As expected, the kids started to giggle. Meanwhile, the teacher looked around trying to find out what everyone was giggling about. I am sure that no one had any idea who had done it.
Another School Story
One of the teachers at Rocky Vale had sandy-colored hair. The teacher had a very strict rule that no students were to call him Sandy. Anyone who dared would receive punishment. So, when Ruby was 7. She and a neighborhood friend (and possibly Dee) misbehaved one day. Before leaving for the day, they received a spanking or more likely a switching using a switch from the tree next to the school, which was often used for this purpose.
Anyway, as they walked away from the school, Ruby looked back and said, “Goodbye, Sandy!” All the kids took off running. Ruby had a head start and outrun the teacher.
Oh, Goodness!
This isn’t a funny story of something the McCracken kids intentionally did. Instead, it is about something that occurred and the reaction that turned out to be a bit funny. O’Ella, the oldest, was about twelve when this story occurred.
Grandma and Grandpa (her parents), had a rare serious argument related to discipline of one of her siblings. She said that she had never seen them so upset as they were that evening. Flash forward to the middle of the night and O’Ella wakes up hearing the baby crying. The baby, whose bed was in her parents’ bedroom continued to cry and cry. So, she got up and went down to see what was needed. To her surprise. Her parents were nowhere to be found.
She changed the baby’s diaper and sat down to rock the baby back to sleep. As she did, she wondered where her parents were. She thought about the argument of the night before and began to wonder if they had left for good. She started to cry as she wondered how she was going to care for a house full of kids.
Pretty soon, her mom and dad came back in the house, laughing. Some cows had gotten out and they had gone to get them back in. By the time they were done, the argument was long past and they were happy again. Only O’Ella was upset. But, not for long. Now, that her parents were back, she knew her worst nightmare wasn’t coming true – she wasn’t going to be a mother of bunch of kids at age 12!