In the autumn of 1968, Mrs Kooken drove her son, me, and five other seventh graders to Herington, Kansas, for a football game between the Herington Tigers and the Abilene Cowboys with her brand-new beautiful Ford Thunderbird. We crammed ourselves in the car shoulder to shoulder. I even had one of the guys on my lap in the middle of the back seat. Of course, in those days, no one worried about safety, let alone putting on their seat belts. It was on our way back to Abilene that misty night when things went awry. Mrs Kooken wasn't that familiar with the route, and the dark of night made navigating even more difficult. She became disoriented and made a wrong turn onto a paved county road with a sudden sharp curve and a drop-off of several feet on the right side. She was surprised to see the sudden appearance of the curve in front of us. The car went straight off, sending us airborne over the drop-off, only to be stopped by a hedge tree. Mrs Kooken suffered multiple broken bones. Upon impact, the kid on my lap absorbed all the force of me plowing into his back. Essentially, he became my airbag, which unfortunately resulted in a severe back injury. One boy sustained a broken leg, and another a fractured arm. Fortunately, I lucked out with only a sprained ankle and some bruises.

“ Several years

later, I would have

another run-in with

a hedge tree! ”

STAY TUNED!