REFLECTIONS OF MY GRANDFATHER by grandson, Charles Williamson:
As a child, I sometimes would watch my grandfather construct his models. That's right, at 75 years young my grandfather scratch-built replicas of famous fishing lures. He would sit all day with his knife, an old Barlow, carving out intricate details in a piece of basswood or balsa. That knife must have been as old as he was, because the only blade it had was worn very thin, almost to a pin-point on the end.
I was always amazed to see this aged man work with such diligence and patience as he manipulated the blade of that knife with the skill of a master craftsman. Each plug was somehow different, and took him nearly two hours to complete. Often his concentration was broken by a passing butterfly or bee. He retaliated against them by spitting a wad of tobacco, often hitting them to the ground.
I could tell when he was nearly finished with each plug as the corners of his tobbaco-crusted mouth would turn upwards into a little-boy grin and his eyes would sparkle as they got wide with joy. It gave me as much pleasure as it did him as he would hold it up in the light and say, "reckon it'll catch any fish"?
Before he attached the hooks and leader eye, the plug had to be painted. I never knew where the paint came from, but he kept the paint in little tins about the size of half-dollars, all 20 of them. His brush was crude, but it was a true horse-tail hair bristle brush. The handle was cut down from a toliet plunger and the horse hair was tied on with coarse black thread. However unrefined this sounds, the end of the bristle tapered to a pinpoint that allowed him to paint delicate details on those lures.
My grandfather died of old age (92) in 1970 and I am sure that one of his sons came and got those lures he had made. Though I have nothing but the memory of this, I also recall that it was the same grandfather that probably kept me interested in building models in my teen years. As I wheeled out a newly finished model to show it to my grandfather, I knew he approved when his eyes and he grinned with that boyish grin.
*******************************
Sikeston - Robert Norphlet Jones, 90 years old, of Sikeston, died Thursday morning at a Mt. Vernon hospital.
He was born on Nov. 15, 1879, in Bloomfield and had spent most of his life in the Sikeston area.
Survivors include two sons, Leo Jones and Glenn Jones; three daughters, Mrs. Sid Williamson, Mrs. Claude Crowley and Mrs. Thomas Thurlkill; a step-daughter, Mrs. Tom Taylor; a brother, Crittenden Jones; three sisters, Mrs. Pearl Elmore, Mrs. Edna Tiller and Mrs. Irma Anderson; 25 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held Saturday at the Welsh Funeral Home in Sikeston. Burial will be in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Sikeston.
Southeast Missourian
******************
Robert was the father of Arthur, Geneva, Mildred, Glenn, Leo, Ruth Jeanette and Anita.
As a child, I sometimes would watch my grandfather construct his models. That's right, at 75 years young my grandfather scratch-built replicas of famous fishing lures. He would sit all day with his knife, an old Barlow, carving out intricate details in a piece of basswood or balsa. That knife must have been as old as he was, because the only blade it had was worn very thin, almost to a pin-point on the end.
I was always amazed to see this aged man work with such diligence and patience as he manipulated the blade of that knife with the skill of a master craftsman. Each plug was somehow different, and took him nearly two hours to complete. Often his concentration was broken by a passing butterfly or bee. He retaliated against them by spitting a wad of tobacco, often hitting them to the ground.
I could tell when he was nearly finished with each plug as the corners of his tobbaco-crusted mouth would turn upwards into a little-boy grin and his eyes would sparkle as they got wide with joy. It gave me as much pleasure as it did him as he would hold it up in the light and say, "reckon it'll catch any fish"?
Before he attached the hooks and leader eye, the plug had to be painted. I never knew where the paint came from, but he kept the paint in little tins about the size of half-dollars, all 20 of them. His brush was crude, but it was a true horse-tail hair bristle brush. The handle was cut down from a toliet plunger and the horse hair was tied on with coarse black thread. However unrefined this sounds, the end of the bristle tapered to a pinpoint that allowed him to paint delicate details on those lures.
My grandfather died of old age (92) in 1970 and I am sure that one of his sons came and got those lures he had made. Though I have nothing but the memory of this, I also recall that it was the same grandfather that probably kept me interested in building models in my teen years. As I wheeled out a newly finished model to show it to my grandfather, I knew he approved when his eyes and he grinned with that boyish grin.
*******************************
Sikeston - Robert Norphlet Jones, 90 years old, of Sikeston, died Thursday morning at a Mt. Vernon hospital.
He was born on Nov. 15, 1879, in Bloomfield and had spent most of his life in the Sikeston area.
Survivors include two sons, Leo Jones and Glenn Jones; three daughters, Mrs. Sid Williamson, Mrs. Claude Crowley and Mrs. Thomas Thurlkill; a step-daughter, Mrs. Tom Taylor; a brother, Crittenden Jones; three sisters, Mrs. Pearl Elmore, Mrs. Edna Tiller and Mrs. Irma Anderson; 25 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held Saturday at the Welsh Funeral Home in Sikeston. Burial will be in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Sikeston.
Southeast Missourian
******************
Robert was the father of Arthur, Geneva, Mildred, Glenn, Leo, Ruth Jeanette and Anita.
REFLECTIONS OF MY GRANDFATHER by grandson, Charles Williamson:
As a child, I sometimes would watch my grandfather construct his models. That's right, at 75 years young my grandfather scratch-built replicas of famous fishing lures. He would sit all day with his knife, an old Barlow, carving out intricate details in a piece of basswood or balsa. That knife must have been as old as he was, because the only blade it had was worn very thin, almost to a pin-point on the end.
I was always amazed to see this aged man work with such diligence and patience as he manipulated the blade of that knife with the skill of a master craftsman. Each plug was somehow different, and took him nearly two hours to complete. Often his concentration was broken by a passing butterfly or bee. He retaliated against them by spitting a wad of tobacco, often hitting them to the ground.
I could tell when he was nearly finished with each plug as the corners of his tobbaco-crusted mouth would turn upwards into a little-boy grin and his eyes would sparkle as they got wide with joy. It gave me as much pleasure as it did him as he would hold it up in the light and say, "reckon it'll catch any fish"?
Before he attached the hooks and leader eye, the plug had to be painted. I never knew where the paint came from, but he kept the paint in little tins about the size of half-dollars, all 20 of them. His brush was crude, but it was a true horse-tail hair bristle brush. The handle was cut down from a toliet plunger and the horse hair was tied on with coarse black thread. However unrefined this sounds, the end of the bristle tapered to a pinpoint that allowed him to paint delicate details on those lures.
My grandfather died of old age (92) in 1970 and I am sure that one of his sons came and got those lures he had made. Though I have nothing but the memory of this, I also recall that it was the same grandfather that probably kept me interested in building models in my teen years. As I wheeled out a newly finished model to show it to my grandfather, I knew he approved when his eyes and he grinned with that boyish grin.
*******************************
Sikeston - Robert Norphlet Jones, 90 years old, of Sikeston, died Thursday morning at a Mt. Vernon hospital.
He was born on Nov. 15, 1879, in Bloomfield and had spent most of his life in the Sikeston area.
Survivors include two sons, Leo Jones and Glenn Jones; three daughters, Mrs. Sid Williamson, Mrs. Claude Crowley and Mrs. Thomas Thurlkill; a step-daughter, Mrs. Tom Taylor; a brother, Crittenden Jones; three sisters, Mrs. Pearl Elmore, Mrs. Edna Tiller and Mrs. Irma Anderson; 25 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held Saturday at the Welsh Funeral Home in Sikeston. Burial will be in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Sikeston.
Southeast Missourian
******************
Robert was the father of Arthur, Geneva, Mildred, Glenn, Leo, Ruth Jeanette and Anita.
As a child, I sometimes would watch my grandfather construct his models. That's right, at 75 years young my grandfather scratch-built replicas of famous fishing lures. He would sit all day with his knife, an old Barlow, carving out intricate details in a piece of basswood or balsa. That knife must have been as old as he was, because the only blade it had was worn very thin, almost to a pin-point on the end.
I was always amazed to see this aged man work with such diligence and patience as he manipulated the blade of that knife with the skill of a master craftsman. Each plug was somehow different, and took him nearly two hours to complete. Often his concentration was broken by a passing butterfly or bee. He retaliated against them by spitting a wad of tobacco, often hitting them to the ground.
I could tell when he was nearly finished with each plug as the corners of his tobbaco-crusted mouth would turn upwards into a little-boy grin and his eyes would sparkle as they got wide with joy. It gave me as much pleasure as it did him as he would hold it up in the light and say, "reckon it'll catch any fish"?
Before he attached the hooks and leader eye, the plug had to be painted. I never knew where the paint came from, but he kept the paint in little tins about the size of half-dollars, all 20 of them. His brush was crude, but it was a true horse-tail hair bristle brush. The handle was cut down from a toliet plunger and the horse hair was tied on with coarse black thread. However unrefined this sounds, the end of the bristle tapered to a pinpoint that allowed him to paint delicate details on those lures.
My grandfather died of old age (92) in 1970 and I am sure that one of his sons came and got those lures he had made. Though I have nothing but the memory of this, I also recall that it was the same grandfather that probably kept me interested in building models in my teen years. As I wheeled out a newly finished model to show it to my grandfather, I knew he approved when his eyes and he grinned with that boyish grin.
*******************************
Sikeston - Robert Norphlet Jones, 90 years old, of Sikeston, died Thursday morning at a Mt. Vernon hospital.
He was born on Nov. 15, 1879, in Bloomfield and had spent most of his life in the Sikeston area.
Survivors include two sons, Leo Jones and Glenn Jones; three daughters, Mrs. Sid Williamson, Mrs. Claude Crowley and Mrs. Thomas Thurlkill; a step-daughter, Mrs. Tom Taylor; a brother, Crittenden Jones; three sisters, Mrs. Pearl Elmore, Mrs. Edna Tiller and Mrs. Irma Anderson; 25 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
Funeral services will be held Saturday at the Welsh Funeral Home in Sikeston. Burial will be in the Garden of Memories Cemetery in Sikeston.
Southeast Missourian
******************
Robert was the father of Arthur, Geneva, Mildred, Glenn, Leo, Ruth Jeanette and Anita.
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