Jerry Crownover – Memories of a childhood friend

What’s On Your Mind, Ozarks? just athought

Life Is Simple

By Jerry Crownover Life is Simple

By Jerry Crownover

Jerry Crownover is a farmer and former professor of Agriculture Education at Missouri State University. He is a native of Baxter County, Arkansas, and an author and professional speaker. To contact Jerry, go to ozarksfn.com and click on ‘Contact Us.’ L arry lived up on the ridge, about 2 miles from my home, when we were kids. He was a year older and one grade above me in the little, one-room schoolhouse we attended together, but we quickly became the best of friends.

Early on, in our friendship, we would take turns spending the night at each other’s homes pretty often, but after he got his first bicycle, he would make the 2-mile ride almost daily during the summer and every weekend throughout the year. Larry had a black Schwinn that he had assembled from an assortment of parts from the scrapyard. Mine was an old, blue RollFast that a neighbor had refurbished for me. Larry made fun of my bike every day, because it was a girl’s bike, but we still ended up riding hundreds of miles together over the years.

The 2 miles of dirt road between our homes was all downhill for Larry and he had no fear of letting his bike go all-out down the steep hill, never even thinking of using the brake. How he kept from crashing and burning still mystifies me, as I was never that brave. The only concrete surface around was the low-water bridge across ‘Possum Walk Creek, and Larry would spend hours sliding his back tire, in order to leave black marks all over the bridge. He went through a lot of tires and the bridge was covered with black marks for years.

As we became early teens, we each managed to acquire motorcycles. Mine was a 50cc monstrosity from Montgomery Ward. Larry’s was a 49cc behemoth from Sears, Roebuck & Co., that was actually a moped, which allowed me to get back at him, for making fun of my girl’s bike. By this time, the state had paved our little, dirt road

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Contributors

Klaire Howerton, Nikki Newton, Britni Rexwinkle, Terry Ropp and Laura L. Valenti

About the Cover

Lila Jane, the 6-year-old granddaughter of Sean Wright, spends a lot of time helping her grandfather on his farm. See more on page 14.

Submitted photo

Ozarks Farm & Neighbor accepts story suggestions from readers. Story information appears as gathered from interviewees. Ozarks Farm & Neighbor assumes no responsibility for the credibility of statements made by interviewees. © Copyright Ozarks Farm & Neighbor, Inc., 2020. All rights reserved. Printed in USA.

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