1
MEMORIES OF REDDICK FL.
My Grandfather Top was a conductor for the seaboard coastline railroad, better known as S.C.L... He retired to Reddick, FL after His career and became a small town farmer. I can recall many happy times growing up there as a kid. I guess Reddick FL would still be considered a small town by today’s standards. It’s between Ocala and Gainesville on old 441. Parts of it are very picturesque. Large trees create a canopy over some of the neighborhoods which make it feel peaceful and shady. This is what I can remember from my 7 year old child hood memories growing up. The best way to describe it I think would be an episode from the Walton’s TV. series from the 70’s. At least during the good times this is what it felt like. My grandfather died when I was about a year old and still in diapers. All I have to remember him by is a big picture of him up on my wall and some old family photos. I’ve told you about some of my family in past stories, the good times and the bad. Some of the pictures you will see of Reddick are from our family churches web page, Reddick United Methodist Church or RUMC. Some are old pictures of my grandparents, my cousins the Hooker kids, and the house we built my grandmother after my Aunt retired from teaching in St. Petersburg. They moved into the cottage together and my aunt took care of my grandmother with the help of my Aunt Joe who lived next door. They both helped care for grandma until her death in 1984. I can remember as a child picking things off my cousin’s fig tree in their mother’s back yard. However, I think more things went into our mouths rather than the pot we were using. Also I can remember waking up during the holidays with my mom and dad drinking hot coco while they had their morning coffee. When I got older I was allowed to have coffee too. Also during the administration of JFK, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, when everyone in Florida would have to escape to a safer place if we were ever showered with explosive ordinance fired at us from Cuba, it was decided that my mother would leave from work and come get me and we would head for Reddick. On the way my brother and sister were in school and some of the buses were told to follow the railroad tracks out of town. My mother and I would follow the buses and pick up my brother and sister at the first available stopping point. Then we would all head for Reddick. My father would meet us whenever he got through with work but at that time he was a traveling salesman. So whenever he got through he would meet us at grandmas if it had to be that way.