Terry Lee Brock

  Autobiography

My name is Terry Lee Brock and I was born on the 24th of March 1948 in Medora Indiana. My parents were Arvil (Bud) Wright Brock and Wilma June Beavers.

I will be sharing the relationships and important events of my life.

Year 1952

My earliest memories were from this year. I and my two younger brothers (Ronald and Donald) were living on a farm Northwest of Medora Indiana that my parents had rented. We had hogs, chickens and even a very large black snake in the barn plus a variety of other creatures over time. I was told my favorite toy was a hammer, which I used on a regular basis to reshape my little brother's toys.

I was also very good at catching small animals as Mom told me that anytime someone would kick over a bucket something would always run out from one of my traps. My most disturbing act was when Dad brought me a baby duck home at Easter and I was told that I promptly bit its head off. Are you beginning to hear “Dueling Banjos” playing in the background?

Mom also told me she was in the middle of canning season and came out to the well pump to find me filling a large fruit jar containing baby chicks with water. This was an indicator that I probably would never become a Vegan.

Fortunately for me, I had a large collie dog that would not allow my mother to spank me. My most memorable event of this year was when I fell out of our car when Dad slowed down to make a left turn off of highway US-50.

As I lay on the side of the road with my lip bleeding, I watched our car continue down the road without me. After traveling about a quarter-mile mom realized I was missing and convinced dad to turn around and come back and pick me up.

Year 1953

We moved from the farm to a house right on highway US-50 North of Medora. My main memory here was dad always working on an old open top car that he called his jalopy. Dad would take the car out on the highway for fun rides with family or friends who would stop by. However; about half the time it would have to be pushed back to the house for a repair of some type.

Year 1954

Another move, this time to a house close to a body of water called the “Old Bed”. A couple of memories here, one was my Uncle Ed removing his clothes and having Dad time him as he swam the length of the “Old Bed”. The other was my older cousin Rose showing me how to polish my shoes and how she laughed when I also polished the bottoms.

Year 1955

A move once again. This time to a house in the country southeast of Medora next to the Persinger Farm. The family farmed the White River bottom ground. Our families became good friends and we spent a lot of time playing together. Their daughter Betty, became a fellow classmate through all my years in the Medora school system.

One Unforgettable event here was when I awoke from a long nap and found that my twin brothers (Ron and Don) had cut off a bunch of my hair and put bright red lipstick all over my face.

In late summer, we moved to the south side of Medora and Dad and Mom opened an automobile service station.

They also bought a few acres south of Medora and began construction of our first home. Some of my memories here included kissing my first girl, taking my wagon downtown every day to pick up large blocks of ice for the station's pop case and uncle Ed taking me on my first motorcycle ride.

My worst experience was being held down and circumcised without any numbing agents. This was the year I started school and encountered one of the meanest teachers ever.

For the boys, her favorite discipline was to pull our hair. After a couple of these episodes, I got a buzz haircut. However, this upset her and I found her other form of punishment was a smack across the fingers with a ruler. I was so happy to move on to the second grade, only to find that she also moved up to second grade.

Year 1956

We didn't realize how poor we were as for the first two years of school my lunches were either an egg or Spam sandwich.

When I got to third grade, mom found work as a cook in a local restaurant and I was thrilled to walk downtown and have a plate of comfort food.

Dad completed the first phase of the house which was to clear trees and brush from the land they had purchased.

Dad was a very good mechanic and had a good customer base. However; He extended credit to too many folks who failed to keep their accounts current which resulted in having to close the business. Money was scarce then and I remember Grandpa handing Dad a twenty dollar bill. Dad was reluctant to accept it, But Grandpa told him “Don’t make me slap you” in a fun way.

Year 1957

Dad got a job with former employer Floyd Stark where he and my papaw Beavers had worked in a sawmill for Floyd. Mr Stark was a partner with Ralph Mitchell (A civil engineer) in starting up a new infrastructure construction company.

Floyd was so impressed with Dad's skills and work ethic that he handed him the key to a new bulldozer and told him to go out and practice moving dirt around. In a very short time, Dad became an outstanding heavy equipment operator.

Many years later when Floyd decided to retire and sell the business he included in the purchase contract that Dad would have a job with the company for as long as he wanted.

Construction of the house focused on building a block basement with a coal furnace and hand digging a well for a water source. Harve Beavers helped finish the upper portion of the house and we then moved there in the fall of this year. While we had running water, we did not have an indoor toilet for all the years we lived there. Thus, I became very familiar with the Sears and Montgomery Ward catalogs.

We used the cinders from the coal furnace to pave the new driveway. Typically; we only got new shoes when it was time to start a new school year. This meant for most of the summer we were barefoot and we were always happy when our feet got tough enough where we could walk on the sharp cinders.

All the kids in the area had bikes and we rode them everywhere. I went over the handlebars of my bike twice, once into a deep ditch where I lost part of my nose.

This was the first year that Mom began working me very hard. My chores included keeping coal in the furnace in the winter, waxing the wood floors and doing the dishes on a frequent basis.

Summer meant cutting the grass, clearing brush and weeding the garden. Weeding a large garden was the worst because of the swarms of mosquitoes that made you feel like they were trying to eat me alive.

We were basically very good kids. However, looking back I believe I had a very mild case of Asperger's as I would find my mind lacking clarity and was very introverted.

My brother Don, always seemed to find himself in various degrees of trouble. I remember on one occasion when our parents left us at home to go grocery shopping. The three of us decided to explore the attic which was a definite No-No.

Later, we heard our parents coming back home and Ron and I made it back down OK. Don lost his footing just as Mom and Dad came in and he fell right through the ceiling drywall into the main closet.

We all got severely punished with a big stick. Mom's philosophy was to always beat all three of us as she was sure to punish the true offender. This caused me to have a lifelong emotional scar.

Don did get punished again when he decided to go to work with Dad one morning. But, he failed to tell anyone.

Dad had a stepside pickup truck that he drove to work and Don slipped around to the passenger side that morning and held onto the truck bed all the way to Dad's work site without falling off. I believe he was 7 years old when he took his thrill ride.

Our house was literally built into the side of a large hill called “The Round Top”. I came to discover that a fort had existed on the top of the hill at some point. There were several mounds of dirt on the side of the hill which Dad described as Indian burial mounds.

Also, at the bottom of the hill we found a small military cemetery with headstones from the mid-1800s.

We were at this home for a few years and it was here that I learned that my mother had been married once before. I also learned I had a half-brother (James Allen Lane) who lived with Mom's mother and father on a small farm inside the town of Medora.

Jim would come and visit occasionally, but he and my mom could only tolerate each other for a few days at a time and this remained the case throughout their lifetimes.

Year 1958

Memorable events this year. I was in the driveway behind our house when I picked up a small rock and threw it at our rooster about 50 ft away. I hit him in the head and he collapsed where he stood.

I too, almost collapsed as well, thinking of the beating I would get for killing our only rooster. I quickly rushed to where he lay, all the while trying to think of a way to cover up my crime.

Should I bury him in the woods or maybe toss him on the highway in front of the house as a Roadkill. As I picked him up I noticed he was still breathing. I gently lifted him up and after a few seconds he regained consciousness and staggered off.

Did I learn my lesson, of course not, as later that summer I tossed a rock at a Turtle Dove which had landed in a nearby tree. Yes, I killed it deader than a door nail. This time I was really scared, as it was illegal to kill a dove in Indiana and I had visions of being arrested and taken to jail.

Year 1959

I began the last year of elementary school and we had a new principal (Mr. Potter), a new teacher (Mrs. Potter) and a new classmate (Neil Potter).

This was the year I learned to play marbles. There were games being played all over the school grounds and I almost always brought more home than I left the house with. When not playing marbles, we would often get a game of kickball going.

As we were finishing sixth grade I learned that the 7th graders would like to play us in a game of basketball. Being the tallest in our class, I was asked to play the center position for our team. I had never played in a game and had more than a little anxiety, but my classmates told me all I had to do was play under the basket and stay between Robert and Marvin as they were our forwards.

Once the game began, I was doing okay staying between Robert and Marvin until they decided to move to different parts of the court and I wore myself out chasing after them as they ran all over the court.

Year 1960

My most memorable events in 7th grade were our milk breaks and wrestling.. We would go down to the gym and purchase containers of chocolate milk for $0.02. At recess,

Mike Allman and I would wrestle a large group of Six grade boys all at once. I don't remember us ever losing a session to them.

It was in PE class that I developed my basketball skills to a point that my schoolmates were asking why I wasn't playing on the school team. I told them that I thought if the coaches thought I was good enough they would ask me to play.

I learned to drive, using Dad's old farm crank start tractor. A classmate's family in the area were caring for a group of ponies that we were allowed to ride on occasion. This same classmate (Melvin Ray) was killed in a tractor accident in the fall of this year.

We had a motorcyclist, who had joined the Hells Angels that would pass by the house standing up on the seat of his bike.

Year 1961

In the Eighth Grade now. I am starting to notice girls much more.

In PE we played a lot of Dodgeball with boys from both the Seventh and Eighth grade. I found myself winning most of the games that were played.

I tried out for the Eighth Grade Basketball team and ended up being the starting Center.

My Mom accepted an offer to move our family into my Papa Beaver's house in Medora to care for Harve. In return, we would own his house and farm when he passed.

It was here that Dad kept a large horse that he purchased. I would ride the horse on occasion and used her to plow up a large garden.

My Grandpa Brock decided they were going to sell their farm and move into town. Dad purchased their farm. He now had three pieces of real estate he was responsible for.

Fortunately, an older cousin (Babe Dean) purchased our first home.

Year 1962

I find myself as a Freshman in Medora high school. On my first day of school I was welcomed by upperclassmen carrying scissors and tubes of lipstick who proceeded to give me a haircut and apply lipstick with reckless abandon.

This was the year I got my first job. My Uncle (George Brock) had a service station in Medora and was in need of someone to help clean the station and pump gas. While I had some concerns, as I did not know a radiator cap from a gas cap or anything else about servicing an automobile.

Mom told him that I was a quick learner, hard worker and dependable, so he offered me the job. And how could I pass up a starting wage of $0.75 an hour. Soon, I was doing tire repairs and oil changes. Next came replacement/repairs of vehicle components.

I got my first car, a great 1957 Ford Fairlane that dad found for $500. I now had a car, money in my pocket and gas at $0.20 a gallon. I was set to start cruising and meeting people of the opposite sex.

My favorite hangouts were the Medora restaurant/pool hall, root beer stands north of Medora and in Brownstown and the drive-in theater at Bedford.

It was on one of my trips to the drive-in that I received my only traffic citation in 55 years of driving.

I was running late for a date there and decided to see how fast my Ford would go. I was at 102 miles per hour for a few miles and as I was slowing down to turn into the drive-in, red lights appeared in my rearview mirror.

After a difficult conversation/negotiation the officer wrote me a ticket for going 80 mph on a 55 mph highway. As if that's not bad enough I had to go to traffic court with my Mom.

Most interesting cruising event occurred one Saturday afternoon when a friend and I were cruising at a remote county bridge and we saw two ladies in swimsuits sunbathing in the creek below.

Being a shy person by nature, I surprised myself by going back to the bridge for another look. I saw the ladies leaving in a cool convertible. I followed them to a nearby home and saw it was a young lady with her mom. I stopped in front of their house and the mom smiled at me and the young lady walked down to my car.

She told me her name was Becky and we chatted for several minutes and made plans to meet again.

However, it was quite embarrassing when my car engine caught on fire. My friend jumped out of the car and as soon as I opened the hood he began throwing dirt on the carburetor. Becky's dad came to the rescue with a fire extinguisher - probably not a good first good impression.

I met back up one more time with Becky and her family at a state park. I got along quite well with her mother and father but upon learning she was only fourteen years old I decided it best not to pursue a relationship.

However, some 40 years later I got to meet with her again on multiple occasions when she was our Lieutenant Governor. She had aged very well and was still a beautiful lady.

I met several girls this summer and one afternoon while working in my uncle's garage a friend of mine came by and said there were three different girls driving around town looking for me.

I quickly realized this was the day I would have to choose who I was going to have as my steady girlfriend. One was a very tall beautiful redhead who had been introduced to me by a mutual friend, next was an adventurous brunette with a cool car and the third was a very nice girl who I had met on a blind date arranged by a former girlfriend. I chose the nice girl (Sally) who would become my wife of 45 years.

Year 1963

Activities for this year included drag racing with my 1957 Ford Fairlane until It sounded like the engine blew up when I tried to see how fast it could go in low gear. Thankfully, Uncle George was able to get it running again by replacing an ignition part at a total cost of $0.75 to me.

I spent a lot of time playing pool and supporting the pinball industry. This was the first summer that uncle George's son (Steve) hung around the garage and there were many days that I and my co-workers considered how we might have him “Go Away” without us serving jail time.

Thank goodness, He outgrew this stage and evolved into a pleasant young man.

I did some serious squirrel hunting this year with a lot of success. My whole family loved the squirrel meals that mom would prepare. However, before you could enjoy a meal you had to skin and clean them.

It was best to have two people cleaning the squirrels. Many times my mom would help me with this and on some occasions my papa would also help me with the chore of preparing a squirrel for the next meal. Papa always made me skin the head of a squirrel, which required more time, as his favorite part of a squirrel was the brains.

I was still working for my uncle George at his gas station in Medora. I was becoming quite a competent mechanic and uncle George agreed to increase my hourly rate to $1.00 per hour. I was doing well in school, but often I would find myself doing just enough homework to ensure a strong “B” in most of my classes.

In the Spring, it was time for baseball. We had an excellent baseball team that year and won our conference. I was a very good outfielder but wasn't a consistent hitter.

This was highlighted when we played Henryville and beat them by double-digits in a game that I struck out in my first 4 at bats. But, on my fifth and final at bat I made great contact to hit a grand slam home run into the trees at the end of their left field boundary. One of my teammates told me that a Henryville player told him that he had never seen a ball hit that far.

One of the reasons we had such a good team was that our coach played semi-pro Baseball. He raised the skill level for the whole team as he pitched to us in batting practice and many of us hit the ground when he threw us a wicked curveball.

He also used his pitching skills in the classroom, as if a kid fell asleep or was not paying attention you would soon see a chalk eraser landing on the kid's head.

However, while he was a great skills coach, he had very little personal integrity. I believe he committed the biggest violation in school history when we played Bedford in a non-conference game.

I'm not sure how we were able to even get Bedford on our schedule as they were ten times the size of our small school. I'm sure they viewed our game as an easy win for them. It was an away game for us and I believe there were not more than a dozen fans or so who made the trip.

Most people are aware of the term “an Ace in the Hole”, well we had one that night as our starting pitcher was a young man who had graduated a couple of years earlier. Our coach used a fictitious name on the line up card and this outstanding pitcher tossed a no-hitter with ease.

We were able to score two or three runs to walk away with a tainted win over a very embarrassed Bedford team.

After baseball it was on to Basketball. This year we had one of the best teams in many years, we won the Monon conference, the Brownstown Invitational and lost by only one point to Brownstown who also had one of their best teams ever in the Seymour sectional.

Year 1964

This was the last year that I would enjoy my 1957 Ford Fairlane, as one day I allowed my half-brother to borrow it to make a trip to Seymour. Upon his return he told me that he had to stop and add water to my cars’ radiator as the engine had overheated.

I found that it had a blown head gasket and he left town shortly after this, not to be seen again for two to three years. I began my repairs, removing the heads and other appropriate components. However, I was not motivated enough to begin the reassembly in a timely manner.

Imagine my surprise when I came home one evening to find my mother reassembling the engine. I'm sure she was tired of seeing it parked by the house. And while I had to correct a few things, I was amazed that while she had a few parts positioned wrong, it was great work on her part and I very much appreciated her efforts.

Once again, we had a great basketball team and were invited to play in the Brookville Invitational tournament. That year, Brookville was undefeated and ranked number 10 in the state. It was a great effort by our team as we kept the game very close until the final few minutes of play.

The mother of one of the Brookville team members approached me after the game and let me know that she did not appreciate my defense in shutting her son down. LOL

We played North Dearborn in the consultation game who was also a very good team. With another great effort, we won a close game to show we could compete with the big schools that year. We stayed in a motel overnight and that was my first experience being on the road with a team.

Also, one of the most famous games in Medora history was at the end of the season when we played Needmore who was undefeated in their season and was expected to go deep into the state tournament.

We had an outstanding game and beat them by 2 points. It was my understanding that there was a lot of money won and lost on this game. The game was described as the biggest Basketball upset in Southern Indiana.

On a side note, our school trustee had the starting five ride home with him versus taking the team bus home after our last game before playing Needmore.

I was very surprised when he stopped at a liquor store and purchased a six pack of beer that he shared with us. After the Needmore win, I heard him say “Darn, I should have purchased beer after every game.

Year 1965

I am now a Senior at Medora high school and am enjoying top upperclassmen perks. Our class sponsor took us on numerous field trips. He was wanting to get away from school as much as we were. This included trips to Spring Mill State Park and the Louisville Farm & Machinery show among several other trips.

I was pretty much getting A's on my report card as I had focused more on studying as I had hopes of pursuing a teaching career.

My favorite subjects in school were History and Physical Science. Our senior prom was a very nice event.

This year, I did have some unpleasant experiences, in that I got called to the principal's office after I knocked down one of my classmates in chemistry class who was trying to steal one of our utensils.

I again visited with the principal when I threw a justified paper “Spitball” at the kid in front of me who was throwing them at me all during algebra class.

I was very fortunate to avoid Law enforcement probation, when several of my classmates took a drive one evening. This evening, we had beers provided by a classmate.

A short time later, we had law enforcement come to the school wanting to know who all was involved in drinking the beer. It wasn’t that all of us were underage, rather, it came to light that our classmate had broken into the local liquor store to obtain beer.

My classmates failed to mention that I was with them that night. I believe this was because I had them drop me off at home very early and they just forget about me.

We had a good basketball team this year and we were fortunate enough to win the Crothersville Invitational Tournament. I had one of my finest back-to-back games, scoring 25 points and pulling down 35 rebounds.

Our coach, who had agreed to buy a steak dinner for anyone who had 20 rebounds in a game, told me I missed out on a steak dinner by only one rebound. Our team statistician overheard this and quietly told me that he had me down for 22 rebounds in the game.

These were my last games for Medora, as I had incurred a severe back injury.

I felt my injury was caused while putting in used railroad cross tie fence posts for dad at his farm. I was a very strong young man, but several of the cross ties weighed over 200 pounds and to move these I would position myself parallel to the tie and carry them on my back. My younger brother told me that dad could carry two at a time. Of course dad was 6 foot four and 260 pounds of pure muscle.

We used these because they were free. It seems dad and my uncle had approached a railroad employee overseeing the removal of the used ties and was told “I can’t give them to you or sell them, But, I wish you would steal every damn one of them”.

The highlight of the year was our Senior trip to New York, Washington DC and Gettysburg. The class from Brownstown were also on the same trip and we took buses to Seymour and then rode a train to the East coast. This was a wild group and the drinking age was 18 in New York.

It was difficult to avoid all temptations and to our surprise, one of our sponsors was a Playboy Key Club member and he took us to the local Playboy Club in New York.

Our art teacher convinced a friend and me to attend her college in Richmond Kentucky in the fall.