A visit with Larkin Hicks

I was able to visit  my Granddaddy's brother, Larkin last week. 

Larkin is the youngest of Robert and Vesta's children, and he is the only sibling living. 

This is Bob and Larkin

Larkin told me a little about his mother Vesta. He said that she went to the Assembly of God in Stockbridge Georgia. She walked there, back and forth and never missed a service. He bragged about her corn bread and green beans. He told me that the reason her corn bread was so good is that she used grease to flavor it and it was "so good!". 

Vesta and the kids would work in the fields gathering cotton. He said that when the kids were in the fields, some friends would walk by and say. "Do you want to go to the creek?" and the kids would throw down their tools before Vesta could protest, and they would go running to the "Short Bridge" creek to go swimming. 

Larkin, Bob "JR", Robert, Vesta

I asked Larkin about the famous myth about Great Granddaddy's hidden jar of money. Larkin told me a story about finding the jar and taking a $20.00 bill out of it. Larkin was working at the service station that is just down the street from the house in Stockbridge GA. He made $1.00 per day. He said that he would see a Mr. Miller ride a bicycle by there. The bicycle had a horn and lights and a basket. Larkin wanted the bicycle real bad. He cashed in his war bonds to buy the bicycle. Later, he and a friend named Luke went to the station to get their parents 6 bottles of coke. Luke was peddling and Larkin was on the handle bars holding the cokes. The bike hit a rut in the dirt road and they all went flying. The bike hit a sign post and the wheel was torn up. Since his bike was messed up, he needed money to fix it. Larkin was walking near the barn and tripped over a oven door laying underneath the mulch and leaves. He lifted up the door and found a mason jar and took a $20.00 out of it. He got in a lot of trouble, and the jar of money was hidden somewhere else on the property. 

Larkin married twice. First to "Emmie". They had 3 children; Sandra, Barry and Angela. 

Larkin, Emmie, Myrl, Ralph

Later he married Betty. He said Betty had a nick name of Ms. Perfect Lips. 

Betty and Larkin had one child, Robin. 

I asked Larkin how he met Betty. He said that he went with Bob to the grocery store, where Betty was working. Bob had to pay his weekly tab. Larkin decided to buy a coke. He said "Now this is a true story, I put the coke on the counter and she leaned over and grabbed my collar, pulled me to her and gave me a kiss on the lips. We were together ever since." 

He said that he felt that Betty's dad was more like a real dad to him than his own. Not because his dad was mean or anything, but that he just didn't show affection or love. Betty's dad was tight with his money, and he always felt real proud when Betty's dad would say "Come on Larkin, lets go get a coke." 

I looked at a lot of pictures with Larkin. He talked about how much he loved his brothers. He talked about getting a jukebox but that Ralph really wanted it, so he gave it to him. He has a fond memory of riding in his Dad's Model A truck with Flo and Marjorie with the top down and their hair blowing, "having a good time." He also said he would go to the sauna with Bob and Stanley and that he enjoyed that a lot.