Dad's Autobiography

Mom came across a three page typed story in my dad's belongings while going through some of his stuff after his death. Unfortunately, there is no date on it and we don't know exactly why he wrote it, but it is definitely interesting.

Here it is:

"I was born February 29, 1929, in the Pickle Capital of the South, Mount Olive, N.C., the second son and third child of N.K. and Eva Stith Hatch.

I was named Donald Louis Hatch after an ancestor.

A rural mail carrier, my father was a man of modest but reasonably adequate financial means.

My early childhood probably was not unlike the childhood of any other youngster born in a neighborhood where playmates were plentiful and where stray dogs and cats always found a welcome.

Family life in the Hatch household, however, probably offered something more than was found in many homes. Three children born only 15 months apart and parents who maintained understanding, but strict moral discipline lent itself to family ties which possibly were stronger than found in many homes.

A man not blessed with the privilege of a college education, my father began, as far back as any of the children can remember, stressing the importance and advantages of higher learning.

That probably more than anything else prompted my decision to seek employment as an ambitious eight-year-old at the local Ford agency. I figured that by working Tuesdays and Saturdays as the Ford Company errand boy I might, by the time I was ready for college, have enough money for that higher education my father always taught was so necessary.

Probably, even today, it would be difficult to convince him that a degree is not a ticket to utopia, but merely a good starting point for a march into the future.

As an elementary student, I no doubt was considered no more than average. What I gained in history and geography, I probably lost in deportment. I was very interested in Scouts and attained the rank of Life Scout.

I was, however, somewhat of a politician as a grammar school student, being twice elected as captain of the school safety patrol which was to me at that time second only to the Presidency of the United States----a position I had no doubt that someday I would fill at the insistance of my fellow countrymen.

Meanwhile, work at the Ford Agency continued. By the time I was in high school I was graduated from the push broom to the parts counter. (Though I was certain at the time that promotion came only through recognition of my ability, I must admit that the drafting of most of the company's regular help probably had some bearing on the subject.)

To be continued.