Part 1. Reflections of my Early Years Growing Up in Darrtown, Ohio
I thank God that I was born in Butler County, raised in Darrtown, and educated in Oxford, Ohio. My sisters, Linda and Cynthia, and I had a wonderful family life growing up with my parents Bette Mahaffey Mee and R. Kirk Mee Junior. My dad was a farmer and my mom a housewife, who at times worked for Miami University. My dad had three farms. One was located on the north edge of Darrtown, one was on the south edge, and a third in a community called Jericho, about four miles north of town. I feel very fortunate to be raised on a farm and being near my mom and dad most of the time. I worked hard and my dad paid me the standard rate of one dollar an hour.
There were approximately 250 to 300 people residing in Darrtown at that time. Our family had a close relationship with about ten families. We rarely left the area, except to attend school in Oxford.
There were two churches in Darrtown, the Methodist and the Lutheran. Since the community was so small, everyone went to the Methodist Church on one Sunday and the Lutheran Church the next Sunday. These churches and our family gatherings were the focal points of our social life, which included picnics, ice cream socials, summer church camps, Halloween, and of course holidays like Christmas and Easter.
During the summer, our parents showed movies on a white sheet hung against the outside wall of the K. of P. Hall. In the winter, we had square dances in the Hall.
One of the big events of the year was Red Huber’s Christmas party at the Hitching Post Tavern, featuring Santa Claus. After a few years, the party attracted so many people from Hamilton and Oxford, that he (Red) was forced to stop hosting it.
There always seemed to be activity going on in Darrtown. We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s home, knocked, and just walked in and visited. I always made sure I dropped by Belle Miller’s house, because she always had cookies. She was the Aunt Bee type on the Andy Griffith TV show, with apron and all.
We would scrap our pennies together and go to Glardon’s Grocery Store and buy penny candy to share. My favorite was Bazooka Bubblegum. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this. We ate pancakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight, because we were always outside playing or working. We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the sun came down. Sometimes, no one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones. Unthinkable! I’m so thankful my mom and dad let me be a kid.
There were plenty of boys in Darrtown. We played football, basketball, and baseball all the time. We would play football and baseball in the Methodist Church yard, basketball at Bob Young’s garage and in the winter, we would play basketball in Fred Lindley’s barn. Fred also had a ball diamond set up in a field on his dad’s farm. We would play there on the weekends. The best ball field was next to the old Darrtown School.
We had a basketball team and baseball team, both named the "Purple Skunks," that was organized and coached by Dale Bufler. We would play against teams from Oxford and other towns in Butler County.
I have had many coaches in my lifetime and Dale Bufler was my first and a good one too. The first year the Talawanda High School opened in 1956, he was my backfield coach in football. We were 8 and 1 and we won the Southwestern League Championship. I missed the extra point kick to keep us from going undefeated. That still bugs me today! Almost all the Darrtown boys had success playing sports at Oxford Stewart, Oxford McGuffey, Seven Mile, and Talawanda schools.
My dad taught me the fundamentals and basics of football, basketball and baseball. At McGuffey High School, my Dad was a good athlete and player in these three sports. It was fun playing ball with my dad and having him coach me.
Because we lived in Darrtown and Butler County, the boys interested in playing sports had great role models. People like Walter “Smokey” Alston, “Hamilton” Joe Nuxhall, and all the outstanding coaches and athletes who were affiliated with Miami University, the “cradle of coaches.”
My dad never pushed me in playing sports. I just had fun and enjoyed the competition. My dad did play baseball at Miami for one year and took some coaching courses, which gave him the background in helping me develop good skills. What my dad did for me I did for my grandson, Brandon McGavran. I have to admit, in helping him develop into an all-around athlete, I did push him. We used to joke about someday when he gets his multimillion dollar contract that he would buy me a nice retirement home in Florida on a golf course. It didn’t happen.
I enjoyed working on the farm with my dad and as I think back, it gave me a strong work ethic that helped me in sports and life in general.
Before my dad could afford a tractor, he farmed with two mules. I remember one day, when I was six or seven years old, he was husking corn by hand in one of his cornfields, at the south edge of Darrtown. The two mules pulled this old wagon between the rows of corn. He would husk the corn with a special knife and throw it into the wagon. Then he would give a command to the mules and they would move forward about 15 feet and he would repeat the process. His hands would get really callused and sometimes bleed.
One time during a hot day, we were thirsty and needed a drink of water. My dad stopped working and took me to the top of a small hill where there was a spring. He took his hands and made a small clay hole in the ground so the water would seep in and collect. We came back about a half hour later, after the muddy water had cleared, and had a nice cool drink. A unique thing happened at that spot. I looked on the ground next to the spring and found this large ancient Indian stone hatchet. I still have it and use it as a paperweight. I saw the same type of stone hatchet in the Greenville, Ohio Museum. They had it dated back 9000 years. Over the years in helping my dad farm, I found numerous flint stone Indian arrowheads. My friend Richard “Butch” Green found a nice, well preserved, Indian stone pipe on his farm two miles west of Darrtown.
We had a pony named "Nancy" that the Mark Nichols family let us keep on our farm. I spent hours in the summer exploring Four Mile Creek with the pony and my dog, "Pal." We would go as far as Oxford and halfway to Hamilton. I used to pack the pony and camp out two or three days at a time, along the creek. As I think back, I’m surprised my parents allowed me to do that. Camping out created a big interest in me to join the Boy Scouts in junior high. One summer, I slept outside in a tent for 45 days.
My mom was not your typical farm wife and mother. She was a classy lady with a lot of outside interests and spunk. She was very involved in the church and played the piano on Sundays. I was amazed how she could play the piano by ear. She also played at weddings and social events. In many ways, my daughter Mindy Mee reminds me a lot of my mom. Mindy was involved in many community, school, and church activities and functions as well.
At one time or another, my mom was President of the Oxford Women’s Club, the Garden Club, and the Music Club. She also was Worthy Matron in the Eastern Star and one year she was selected Oxford’s Woman of the Year. I don’t know how she did it, but she was also very involved in our school activities. My senior year at Talawanda High School, she was President of the PTA. My dad at that time was also President of the Talawanda School Board and handed me my graduation diploma, during commencement ceremonies. He did the same for my sister Linda, two years later. This was quite an honor. My mom was an excellent tennis player and one year she won the Women’s Ohio State Championship in table tennis.
My mom was an excellent cook. She could put together big, delicious country meals; but, as a kid, I had my favorite foods. My dad raised Hereford beef cattle, so we ate steak almost every night. For breakfast she would poach eggs in a cup and I would mix it with broken bits of toast. At lunch, I loved her grilled cheese sandwiches and chocolate milk shakes with two raw eggs mixed in it.
Almost every day, my mom drove my sisters and me to and from school in Oxford until I was old enough to drive. A lot of times I would hitchhike home after ball practice. We were not allowed to take the regular public school bus, because McGuffey was a private school. It was the laboratory school associated with Miami University. Since my dad and Uncle John Mee attended McGuffey, he wanted the same for his children. An interesting note is that I had the same English teacher (Margaret Young) that he had.
For two years, my mom also drove my sisters and me to Hamilton every Saturday to take dancing lessons at Lubbers Dance Studio. After we became pretty good, my mom took my sister Linda and me all over Butler County to perform our dance and singing routine. We performed until I started junior high school and then sports took over my life. Linda told me years later that she always worried that I would drop her on dips. O.k., I did drop her one time. The interest in dancing that my mom instilled in me created a desire to become a competitive dancer, after I retired from the Washington Redskins Football Team in 1995. My partner, Dianne Seay from North Carolina, and I have won the Virginia State Open Championship three times, in the Sophisticated Swing Division. I thank my mom for the inspiration in dance and music and my dad for the motivation in sports that helped me to obtain three World Championship Super Bowl rings.
I was fortunate to have had so many individuals to look up to and look after me in this small community. They set a good example, while instilling moral values and character, on how one should live his/her life. In addition to my parents, some of these people include Opal and Luther McVicker, Virginia and Harry Teckman, Ed Thorne, Dale and Dick Bufler, Belle Miller, Bob Bowman, Marie Schmidt, Raymond Kane, Dwight Miller, Joe Dietrich, Nelle and Maria Davis, Hugh Decker, and the list goes on and on.
In summary, Darrtown laid the foundation for my happiness and any success that I have had in my life. We worked hard and we played hard. Now that I have lived a full life, I can only look back and say that the 50’s and 60’s were the best years of my life because I had the liberty and freedom to pursue my dreams and enjoy my life. I hope when I die and go to heaven, it will be like the Darrtown I grew up in as a kid.
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Part 2: Additional Recollections of My Youth in Darrtown
1. Hanging out with my dad at Luther McVicker’s Garage. In the winter, keeping warm next to his coal stove and in the summer, sitting outside on his bench.
2. Peeking in the front window of the Hitching Post hoping Earl “Red” Huber would see me and give me a candy bar.
3. Shoveling slag behind Harry Teckman’s dump truck with Kenny and Doug Russell patching holes on Milford Township roads. Ed Thorne would lead the way spraying tar on the road from his tar carriage. After work, taking a gasoline bath in our barn to remove the splattered tar. I had to really smell bad.
4. Swimming in my dad’s pond and Four Mile Creek after baling hay.
5. Freedom of riding my bicycle, pony and motor scooter all over town and the countryside, without a care in the world and my parents not worrying about me.
6. Dick Bufler’s cow tied to a stake grazing in the Methodist Church yard.
7. Eavesdropping on the Darrtown telephone party line. Belle Miller was the operator and all calls went through her. I remember our phone number was 701L.
8. Listening to Bob Dees’ war stories and his experience being in the Korean War death march. I was 13 and thinking how lucky I was that I didn’t have to experience that.
9. Helping Jack Hansel trap for muskrats on Darr's run.
10. Rabbit hunting with my dad, Howard Cox, and “Smokey.”
11. Getting a car load of guys together and going to Cincinnati and watch “Smokey” and the Dodgers play the Reds.
12. Digging graves at the Darrtown Cemetery. (Good money)
13. Going frog-gigging with my dad, Warren Hansel and other locals.
14. Having a big frog leg feast at my parent’s house at the end of the summer with all the people who participated in gigging the frogs.
15. Going mushroom hunting with my dad.
16. Riding with my dad, in his truck, to Cleves, Ohio on the Ohio River two or three times a year to pick up coal for our furnace.
17. Practicing extra points and field goals by kicking a football on the roof of my dad’s barn and having the ball roll back to me. Many times, my sister Linda would hold the ball for me.
18. Standing on the gravel lane next to our barn, I would practice batting by hitting stones in the field.
19. Jumping up and down on the roof of an empty hog house and getting stung by several wasps.
20. Running into Constable Owen Kelly, while he was patrolling the street, at midnight; he thought I was up to something. The gun he carried belonged to my father. He took his job seriously and was everywhere.
21. My dad paying me a penny for each ear of corn I picked up that was dropped by the corn picker. I wanted a basketball -- it cost four dollars.
22. Getting into a fight with Jimmy Stephens, in front of Glardon’s Grocery Store.
23. Being part of the program for the dedication of “Smokey” Alston’s Memorial Monument.
24. Playing my trombone at the Methodist Church service and at the Darrtown Cemetery on Memorial Day. It had to sound, bad but the people were nice.
25. Playing an Oxford baseball team in Darrtown and as a catcher, getting in a collision at home plate with Denny Hannah. He drove me into the backstop.
26. Watching my mother pasteurize milk and make butter.
27. Observing my dad and Dwight Miller raising English bulldogs for show.
28. Watching my dad and Dwight Miller capture a big snapping turtle.
29. Going to Dick Bufler’s house and watching the first homemade TV in Darrtown. I was amazed.
30. My parents having Opal and Luther McVicker over to our house on Friday nights to watch wrestling on TV. There would only be two or three TV shows a week. Do you remember Gorgeous George? Special treat---my dad would make popcorn.
31. Moving to the big house from the Schollenbarger road house at age 13 and getting indoor bathroom plumbing. That was one of the highlights of living there.
32. Watching Jim Bowman race his noisy and fast motorcycle up and down Schollenbarger Road.
33. Having a very bad-tempered rooster chase me from the barn to the house. My mom saw what was happening and I yelled to her to open the door as I circled the house—close call.
34. My mom teaching and playing table tennis with me, in our barn.
35. Having ice and milk delivered to our house.
36. My dad sold his hogs to take our family to California on a six-week vacation. The purpose was to attend a Dokey Lodge convention, which is part of the Knights of Pythias. It was very hot driving in the summer with no air conditioning. The motels were unpredictable and twice we slept in the car in the desert and once on the kitchen floor in a farm house in South Dakota. We hung canvass water bags on the front of the car, in case the car heated up. It was a very educational trip and brought real closeness to our family. I am amazed how my sister Cynthia who was six at the time can still remember so many details of the trip.
37. While on the California trip my dog Sandy, who was my best friend, slept the whole time next to my bicycle at my grandparent’s house. She eventually died and my grandparents said it was from sadness and heartbreak. Who said that animals don’t have feelings?
38. Numerous family outings with the Paul and Myrtle Jewell family which included picnics at the State Park south of Darrtown, next to Four Mile Creek. Lots of good food. Also, riding ponies and horses were on both farms.
39. Mowing grass to earn money at one dollar a lawn. (Methodist Church, Red Huber, Glen Ward, my dad, and others). I was in competition with Dick Bufler’s cow that grazed in the Methodist Church yard.
40. Riding with my dad in his truck to Miami University to pick up left-over food, from the dining halls to feed his hogs. These hogs helped to pay for our trip to California.
41. Working with my dad and riding in his truck to the Oxford Farm Service to grind corn and deliver wheat.
42. Capturing tadpoles, crawdads and snakes in the run going through the John Mee/Bob Bowman farm.
43. Celebrating with other Darrtown natives when Smokey’s Brooklyn Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in the 1955 World Series.
44. Doing the final process in attempting to make moonshine, from a recipe I obtained from a mountain man in Athens, Ohio. I did the brewing, in my mom’s kitchen, one night when my parents were out. It really stunk up the entire house. When they came home, my mom started crying and thought I was going to get arrested. My dad had a very long talk with me.
45. Practicing track by running through the Darrtown streets late at night and having every dog in town barking and some chasing me. I always carried a stick.
46. Going to my first Indianapolis 500 race in 1966 with my dad and Luther McVicker. Both loved Indy big car races. Two-time winner Bill Vukovich and my favorite driver were killed in that race.
47. After I graduated from graduate school, I raced stock cars for three summers in Lawrenceburg, Indiana; Florence, Kentucky; and Richmond, Indiana. I didn’t tell my dad, because I knew he would not approve. After he found out, he started attending my races.
48. Around 1950, being part of the Butler County Ground Observer Corps stationed in Darrtown, my dad was the Darrtown post supervisor. Our job was to look for enemy aircraft. (You must remember that this was the 1950’s and we were in the middle of the Cold War.)
49. Billy Collins being killed in Vietnam, after he volunteered for a second tour of duty.
50. Donald McVicker, Opal and Luther McVicker’s son’s aircraft being shot down over Germany during World War II and was missing in action. He was 22.
51. Lee Hunt riding with me to and from basketball and football practice at Talawanda High School. John Trump, football coach, later told me that Lee developed into one of the best athletes ever to attend the school.
52. Lawrence Bowers, who has coached all sports at Stewart High School for 15 years, once told me that Dale Bufler was the best all around athlete that he had ever coached. As a pitcher, he beat Hamilton HIgh School's Big Blue and Cincinnati Reds' pitcher, Joe Nuxhall - after Joe had pitched in the major leagues. (Be sure to read Dale’s Talawanda Athletic Hall of Fame bio.)
53. Attending my sister Cynthia’s wedding and having both my grandparents, Helen and R. Kirk Mee Sr., funerals in the big house at the edge of town.
54. On Sunday afternoons, in Ned and Ester Green’s woods, playing horse tag and hide and seek on horses with several friends. It was wild and lots of fun.
55. Coloring on my dad’s gasoline rationing stamps during World War II and having him really upset with me.
56. In the summer, traveling all over southern Ohio with Richard “Butch” Green playing baseball. “Butch” was an outstanding pitcher in high school and college and I was his catcher.
57. The pipeline covering a mile from the John Mee/Bob Bowman farm to the big house that carried natural gas to heat the house for approximately 50 years.
58. Doctors visiting our house in person, when we were sick.
59. Butchering hogs and steers for food.
60. When I was about seven, Harry Teckman was at our house one morning and looked at me and said I know what you had for breakfast. We were in the barnyard and I knew there was absolutely no way he could know. I said what? He said you had eggs for breakfast and he was right. I was amazed and thought he was a genius. Later, my dad told me that I had egg on my face.
61. In the wintertime, sleeping upstairs in the Schollenbarger Road house, under a stack of blankets to keep warm. The only room in the house that had heat was the kitchen.
62. Picking up inexpensive, damaged canned food from McGonigle and storing them in our basement to eat later.
63. Collecting ancient stone fossils on my Uncle John Mee/Bob Bowman farm for a project in science class.
64. Camping out in my army tent on Darr's run in the middle of the winter, while it was snowing.
65. Going to the annual Darrtown Stock Protection Association meetings held once a year. Through the years, it turned into an oyster dinner. It was founded in 1887 and as of 2013, the organization is 126 years old. My dad was president for 34 years. After he died, Harry Ogle became president.
66. My grandfather, Kirk Mee Senior, having a large collection of clocks in the house. (approx. 50 clocks)
67. My sisters and I missing school for about a month because we had measles, mumps, and chickenpox hitting us all at once.
68. Getting a mild case of polio when I was five or six. I remember never being so sick in my life. I was really lucky.
69. Attending a rooster cockfighting event held in the woods at a local farm.
70. The home- made ice cream socials at the Lutheran Church. (I can still taste it.)
71. The 45-mile an hour speed limit through town.
72. My pony, "Baldy," who had floundered front legs, standing in the cool water of creek to make his legs feel better.
73. Taking baths in the Schollenbarger Road house kitchen in a big metal washtub.
74. My dad telling me that when he was young, he heard about the Ku Klux Klan meetings in the Darrtown area.
75. Looking for Indian mounds, old pioneer church sites, and pioneer cemetery sites around Darrtown.
76. The pool table on the second floor of the K. of P. Lodge Hall.
77. My dad repairing the roof on the K. of P. Hall and almost falling off. He started to slide down the roof and stopped at the edge.
78. When the Dodgers were in Cincinnati and a nonstop stream of cars were coming through Darrtown, you knew they were coming from Anderson, Indiana, to watch Carl Erskine pitch that night.
79. My mom’s favorite saying was “let sleeping dogs lie” and my father used to say “always eat your dessert first—there might be a fire.”
80. My mom wanted me to be a doctor and my dad wanted me to be a veterinarian. My passion was in athletics and sports; so, I became a coach and it turned out to be a good life for me.
81. My dad told me a story that I would like to share. In the late 1920’s he and a friend drove from Darrtown to College Corner, Indiana. When they arrived, my dad discovered a rooster grasping to the front bumper of the car.
82. Now that time has gone by and I look back to the 1940’s and 1950’s, I realize the most memorable years of my life were lived in Darrtown. It was like a story book with the outdoor freshness and the innocence of life and just being carefree and being part of the lives of the people and the events that took place there. I can truly say these were the “good old days.”
Recollections of R. Kirk Mee III
Initially, Kirk submitted Part 1, which is titled "Reflections of my Early Years Growing Up in Darrtown, Ohio."
Later, Kirk submitted Part 2, which is titled "Additional Recollections."
