My Journey to Tennessee: I have often been asked "How did you decide to come to Tennessee". It was a little unusual so I would recite it until one evening we were watching The Mike Huckabee Show and Gov. Huckabee had as a guest Kathy Lee Gifford. In response to a question Ms Gifford commented that one of the most interesting persons she had interviewed was Paul Newman. At the time Mr. Newman was fighting his battle with cancer and Ms Gifford asked him what kept him going as he was pursuing an active life. His reply: "Each morning when I awaken I believe I am here for a purpose so I just keep going."
I began to think about this and it occured to me that I just didn't end up in Tennessee per chance but that I was destined to be here for a purpose and as of this date I don't know what that is but the start of my journey, I believe, was 70 years ago when I enlisted in the Pennsylvania Air National Guard. It was at that period I met Mario Grasso, a South Philadelphia Italian-American. I dislike hyphenated designations so, to set the record straight, Mario was an American citizen, born in Sciliy and came to America when he was a year old, as I remember. It was an unwritten law in the community at that time, maybe still is, if you were born in South Philly you lived and died in South Philly and you married a nice Italian girl. If one did move out of South Philly it was only a short distance away, probably within 50 miles. Mario was an anomaly.
Mario married late (although not as late as me) and married a nice non-Italian girl, then he not only moved out of South Philly but he moved over 700 miles away to Tennessee. You will see a little later on how all this about Mario affected me. The 103rd Observation Squadron entered active duty on February 16, 1941 with, as I recall, about 260 personnel. Mario was one of the first people I met and we became instant friends. All 260 of us were a cohesive group and we knew each other on various levels of friendship. I was close with about a dozen of them but Mario was the only one I kept in touch with after the war. When the squadron was split to form new units I went to Europe and Mario went to Burma.
When Mario married his wife Jane and then later moved to Tennessee we stayed in touch and I would visit them regularly in Tennessee. They always tried to get me to move down and I would say: "Me, move down to this hick country" and so it went. In June 1987 we came down for a week of fishing. On our arrival Mario asked if we would like to meet friends, Jim and Charlotte Bulleck, who had moved down from New Jersey and Jim was a woodcarver, like me. Our 20 mile trip ended at the most beautiful "Garden of Eden" imagineable. A small home overlooking a small lake and gardens of beautiful flowerining flowers. Everything was located in a most pristine setting. We were so impressed, the next day we decided to contact a real estate agent in the hope of finding another "Garden of Eden" in the area, looking ahead to retirement. Mario directed us to 20th Century Realty where we met Boyd Raper. We told him what we were looking for, something that had to include a lake, etc. Our search was not fruitful.
Unbeknowust to us, while we were gone Mario had told the Bullecks about our search and they announced they had been thinking of returning to New Jersey to be near their grandchildren. I immediately contacted Mr. Bulleck and was advised they were thinking about it and he promised to get in touch with us first. The next day Mr. Bulleck called and asked: "Are
you serious?" The answer, of course, was in the affirmative so we went over, made a casual trip around the property and I asked: "How much are you asking?" He told me, I said "You have a deal". We made the deal for a year later, I gave him a check for $2000.00, we shook hands and I told him to send us an agreement of sale when he got around to it. We had no intention of moving at that time so we decided to rent the property and went back to Mr. Raper and asked if he would handle the rental. He agreed but called me the next morning and said: "I looked at your property and wouldn't have any trouble renting it, but anyone I rented it to would dsestroy it and I don't want that on my conscious." We decided he was right and without hesitation made a decision to go home, wind up our affairs, and move a year later. This was our first 'Tennessee experience' and I'm pleased to say we have met many more fine Tennessee folks over the past 22 years.
Now, these may be a series of coincidents but I don't think so. I think we were destined to end up in Tennessee and that destiny has yet to be fulfilled. Perhaps more on that later
Hawkeye
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
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