21 Years in Blue

I was born November 18, 1932, to Martin E. and Stella V. Tate Duke, during the great depression. We lived in a small three-room house with an outhouse in a small farming community called Big Opening in southeast Missouri. I was the 6th of ten children , 5 boys an d 5 girls. Our first little sister, Lydia Belle, died at one year old so there were 5 children plus Mom and Dad in that little house. My older sister said we almost froze to death that first winter, 1932. Franklin D. Roosevelt was recently elected president and the doctor told my parents if they would name me after the new president he would buy my first set of clothes. They did and that’s how I got my name, Franklin Delano Duke. My parents were very devoted Christians and we went to church in the back of a wagon pulled by two horses. I can still hear the sound of the hoof beats and the iron wheels clanking against the rocks. On Sunday nights, Mom would make pallets on the wagon floor for us to lie on. I attended public schools at Salcedo, Miner, and senior high school in Sikeston. At 18, I enlisted and served 21 years in the US Air Force, retiring as Senior Master Sergeant. After retirement I worked the next 20 years in the aluminum plants in The Dalles, Oregon and Goldendale, Washington as a Millwright. My interests are growing flowers, genealogy and volunteer work. We have a daughter, a son, three grandchildren, (one deceased) and two beautiful great grandchildren that we adore .