The five years in Maryland were from a childs point of view the best five years of my life--non stop fun,friendship learning.
We went to a small Baptist church-I was in the choir-till they asked me to leave the choir because I sang so bad--well my voice changed--I was OK till that happened--or maybe I wasn't--and they were just trying to me nice to me---

Dad coached the boys basketball team that was in a church league--great through nepotisim I would get to play a sport--I wasn't the strongest guy on the team--it took all I could do to get the ball to the basket--I didn't get in the game too often and I had 4 points in the season--one time I tried to pass the ball to a team mate and it flew into the basket by accident and another time I actually got a basket---
I was reading the newspaper clipping of one of our games and read the following----tot---als---reading it tottles - 44 points-I said Dad who's tottles--what an idiot--just a little dingy!
We won the church league championship--Dad was a good coach.
Life was a ball--we got to go flying with dad a lot--we ate good cause dad always cooked the seafood--mom could even steam crabs and cook softshell crabs and we went out to eat once and a while and Annapolis had some great places to eat.
I got to see another side of my father when he was Wing Commander of the Civil Air Patrol unit at Lee Field--My dad was really smart-when he organized searches for downed pilots--I used to sit in on the meetings with the other pilots when they were laying out search grids etc--my dad really impressed me with his take charge abilities.
I used to get to ride with dad when he practiced for competition in different small plane flying events. One was the spot landing contest--where you try to land at a line on the field--in other words--touch your aircraft wheels down on a mark drawn across the runway.
Dad was good at the events and we practiced the spot landing---dad would come in slow as he could and do what he called a side slip--that's where he would turn the aircraft partially sideways--drawing the maximum drag--slowing the plane and then snap it back at the last second and drop the wheels in on the mark--it was a strange sensation but very effective.
Dad bailed me out in school more than once.I had to do a science project and hadn't done it and it was due the next day--sputnik--had just gone up and that gave dad an idea--he got a balloon a long one,made a nose cone for it and fins and I had a rocket ship--I got an A for creativity--should say dad got an A--the ironic thing about that little creation of his--less than a year later he went to work for Martin Company-Martin Marietta-now Lockheed Martin---and had a wonderful career of 33 years for them.---He was a highly skilled engineer --working in aerospace. gotta go to work--later yall The Codger