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Childhood newspaper route.

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Short Stack and Sausage

By Wilson Crabtree

(Please humor me. Since my topic concerns something from my past, I have chosen to use a photo from my past, ok?)
When I was growing up in the Oak Cliff section of Dallas I had a paper route. I began with an afternoon route with the old Dallas Times Herald and then, after about a year, I graduated to an early morning Dallas Morning News route.
On Sunday mornings the papers were huge, as they still are. My father would get up early and help me on Sundays with the family car, and I would leave my bike at home.
On really special days, when it was freezing outside he would take me to a local hamburger and breakfast spot called The Griddle Systems, on West Davis. It was a chain that has since passed into my memories.
We got to know one of the waiters behind the counter and I can still see his face as I write this. My Dad would always order a "short stack with sausage" and many times I would also. You know, those were the best pancakes and sausage that I ever ate! All pancakes since have been measured against those early Sunday morning experiences.
Afterward, with a full stomach, we would proceed to the paper corner and fill the car with the Sunday Edition of the Dallas Morning News. We would then begin my route with me filling the shoulder bag with papers and my Dad following along with a fresh supply for when I would run out. What memories these are!
No, that was not what led me to start two newspapers later in my life. I went into sales and marketing. It was only when the opportunity to start the papers presented itself that I branched off into the publishing field.
My Dad was a great role model for us in many other ways also. He took us to church on Sundays. He didn't take us and drop us off but we all went together. (I had two sisters at that time & my brother came along several years later) He and my Mom were great parents. WE STILL REMEMBER!
This little piece about my father, Leroy Newton "Skipper" Crabtree, a teacher and football coach, appeared first in the May 15, 2004 Gazette and was re-run in the September 12, 2009 issue. By the way, he coached at the Corsicana State Home, Plano, Tx., Denison, Tx. and Forest Ave (now called Madison High in Dallas), during the 1930 to 1948 period. W.C.

Last Updated on Sunday, 11 October 2009 21:41  

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