The Summer of ’62 — I Can’t Stop Loving You

I suppose every young man can remember a special summer in his life.

Mine was the summer of 1962 when I visited my “Aunt and Uncle” – Sister and Heavy in Louisville, Ky. They were not actually relatives but in the South we tend to adopt aunties and uncles and they were always at the top of my extended family list.

Ray Charles was singing I Can’t Stop Loving You on WAKY-AM, Louisville’s Number One radio station that bright and sunny Saturday morning June 15^th when “Spike”, Sister and Heavy’s 30-pound cat jumped onto his kitchen stool to join me for breakfast.

Sister, who was already enjoying her first glass of iced tea and unfiltered Kool cigarette, laid down a couple of eggs, some buttered toast and crisp bacon for me and a saucer of milk for the old man of the house.

That Saturday would prove to be a day of memories that have lasted my 64-years. You see, I was 12 years old and just beginning to understand that young girls, music and the thrill of being free to have fun was acceptable.

Sister, who was aptly named having dropped out of a convent to marry her high school sweetheart Heavy, was one of the dearest people I have ever known. Fair-skinned with truly red-hair, as she said Lucy had nothing on her head of redness, Sister and Heavy were born to be literally together for more than 50-years.

When Heavy had gone off to WWII, Sister never expecting to see him again had joined a convent. She was but 18-years old, as was the new young private first-class Marine who would survive the Battle of Iowa Jima receive a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts and yet never tell anyone about it. I read of his bravery in his obituary.

Six long years would pass before they would reunite and at the old age of 24, they would finally decide that love overcomes the devotion to religion.

Waverly Hills Sanatorium

During the early years of marriage, Sister would be confined to Waverly Hills Sanatorium fighting the often deadly disease tuberculosis. She would lose a lung yet she would not lose the devotion and dedication of her beloved Heavy. She lost the ability to have a child yet the childless couple could not have been better parents to those of us in need.

Now in their 40s, Sister and Heavy relished the opportunity to visit with youngsters and enjoy the spirit of youth. Heavy, who in all the years I knew him was never fat or heavy in weight, loved to bowl, listen to baseball and dance. Sister, well she was always ready for any adventure.

4206 Laura Avenue

When I arrived that summer at 4206 Laura Avenue, housed in a tree-lined 1950s style subdivision of Shivley, the next door neighbors much to my surprise, and I must say delight, had two daughters waiting to welcome me to the big city.

Joan was 14-years old and Nancy, 16 and although Joan technically had a boyfriend she was for that summer my constant companion. She had beautiful dark brown eyes, sandy-streaked blonde hair and boobs.

The Next Lane Over Bowling Alley, the Fountain Roller Rink and the Fontaine Ferry Park became our places of fun and entertainment for those two weeks of unadulterated exploration of the young country boy visiting the city.

The “Barrel of Fun”

Yet, what I remember the most even to this day was this was the summer of my first “French Kiss,” well, actually my first kiss period.

For those of you who may have forgotten what that is – a French Kiss is an open-mouthed kiss with tongue action!

And in a 12-year old young boy, the hormones exploded and I had my first case of “puppy love.” And for those of you who may have forgotten what puppy love is – it is the “love or lust” between a young couple within a few days of getting together. Not really true love, more blind affection – immature, young love. Puppy love typically occurs before one person becomes a bitch.

Heckle and Jeckle

That kiss was on Saturday morning right after we had watched the latest Heckle and Jeckle cartoon on the Zenith black and white TV. It occurred with both of us having two feet on the ground while sitting on the twin guest room bed with Spike as a voyeur. You see, we believe in the South that if you keep both feet on the floor you always remain a virgin, irrespective of what sexually you may do otherwise. I never got past first base that summer but hey at 12 what do you expect?

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with this classic ‘toon allow me to explain. Heckle and Jeckle are postwar animated cartoon characters created by Paul Terry. The characters are a pair of identical anthropomorphic magpies who calmly outwit their foes in the manner of Bugs Bunny, while maintaining an aggressively mischievous streak reminiscent of the early Woody Woodpecker or Screwy Squirrel.

But, unlike Bugs Bunny, who retaliates against a foe only after repeated provocation, their comic aggression is often unprovoked, and in a number of Heckle and Jeckle cartoons (Moose on the Loose, Free Enterprise, The Power of Thought, Hula Hula Land) their foes win in the end.

Yet, I digress.

How does one some 52-years later still remember the feelings associated with such an event? How can I recall the details so clearly after all these years?

I never saw Joan after that two week vacay in the City of Shivley yet I always wondered if that kiss meant as much to her as it did to me. Probably not but even now as the romantic I am I hope so.

If there was ever any doubt of my heterosexuality, I am pleased to say that Joan promptly and forever put it to rest.

And yes, for two weeks I Can’t Stop Loving You seemed to be a fitting song.