I was born April 20, 1949 in Springfield, Tennessee. I jokingly called it "Butcher Hollar, the home of the Red Neck Hulsey family". We were literally dirt poor. The house we lived in had dirt floors which my mom swept diligently. I was the oldest of ten children. One, a girl, died at birth.

Growing up was fun for me. I can describe myself as adventurous, strong-willed, determined, funny, troublesome for my Mom, and a nightmare for my dad. I loved to laugh and make others laugh. I loved fishing and by the time I was three I could put a worm on a hook. I fished to my heart's content. Meals at home were mostly fish that we caught and chicken from the chickens my Mom raised, as well as rabbit, squirrel, and turtle that we trapped. We had our own vegetable garden and fruit trees, so there was no need to go shopping at the big stores in town. We never had the money to shop there anyway.

When I was about eleven, my mother sent me to the chicken coop to kill an old hen for supper, but told me to make sure it was a certain one. I took a .22 rifle from my Dad's room and set off for the chicken coop. By the time I got the hen Mom wanted, twelve chickens lay dead in the coop. To this day, Mom laughs about this incident, saying there was enough chicken for the entire town of Cedar Hill, but it wasn't very funny that day.

I hated school, but learning wasn't the problem. I actually was good in Science and Social Studies and they were my favorites. We walked into town to Cedar Hill Elementary School, which most of the wealthy kids from Springfield attended also, the offspring of professionals. I learned at an early age to be prejudiced against the "haves" and to regard the "have nots" with love and compassion. We were treated differently at school. Whether or not anyone would admit it, it's true. The "have nots" were laughed at and teased because of the way we dressed. It appeared to amuse the "haves" that we would dress so strangely and poorly. Back in those days we had holes in our jeans, but that wasn't the "in" look or style back then, just a sign that you were poor. All the hurtful remarks about how we dressed produced in me a defiant attitude from an early age. Being adventurous gave me the chance to have fun and to get my mind off of our circumstances at home.

My dad was a sharecropper and worked from dawn to dusk. We worked side by side with him in the summer time as kids. I remember the pay was a few pennies, but to us it seemed like so much. Life was hard for my Mom, yet she never complained.

I got my share of "whippings" as a kid, many of which I deserved. I hardly ever obeyed when told what to do as I had my own agenda. Once my brother Carl and I jumped off a bridge (forty feet) into the water below just to go swimming. Some kids went and told my parents and both Carl and I got the "whipping" of our life! It scared my dad to death as he came running down to the bridge to find us. They recently had rebuilt the bridge and underneath were concrete remains and pilings which we were unaware of, that could have caused our death. So the "whipping" was deserved and remembered to this day. First good lesson I learned and remembered as a kid: Don't jump off of bridges!

One birthday I received a Superman cape. What a treasure that was. My Mom made it for me. I was really into Superman as a kid. I put it on and jumped off the shed in the back of the house thinking I could fly! Since I wasn't Superman at all, I broke my arm. My Mom wanted to break my neck! Still, it was fun growing up in the hills.

I dreamed of living in the big city and by the time I was 14, I had run away to discover how other people lived. My grandfather lived in Dayton and one day I just packed up a small bag and took off hitchhiking to go live with him. I hadn't even considered whether he would want me to live with him or if my parents would wonder where I was! It was ok with Granddad, as I called him.

I never finished my freshman year at Joe Burns. I got a job in Dayton and thought I was a big man, only to find later that my defiant spirit and attitude would eventually get me into big time trouble. I wasn't raised in a Christian home so I had no guidelines as to how I should live my life. I wanted it my way, like the Frank Sinatra song.