Cars For Us

Douglas' love of automobiles followed him all of his life. These two pages show photos of more of the cars we owned throughout the years. My favorite of all time, of course, was the Corvette. I did like that black Cougar that he found for his daughter when she got her driver's license, too. I think he had the most fun, though, with that rusty old Ford Falcon pick-up that he called "The One-Owner". He could well afford to drive what ever kind of car he wanted to have, but also liked being a bit eccentric and giving people something to talk about !!

Man of Many Cars

Douglas loved cars - not just the racing cars. The '54 Ford he bought from his Dad when he turned 16 was sold when he joined the Navy. So, here he was, home from boot camp, and we were getting married. We needed a car. His sister and brother-in-law had a '46 Ford coupe they were willing to sell to us. It was a good automobile, but after towing an 8' x 27' mobile home from Iowa to Rhode Island later that year, the block was cracked and it was more or less "done in". He found the old truck, I think it was a '36 Ford amd it was our transportation for a short while. When orders came for him to be stationed at Oceana, Virginia and go "out to sea" for a few months, my uncle moved our mobile home to Ohio to my grandparent's mobile home park where Tammy and I stayed for those months. When he was back on land, he purchased a '55 Chevy from a friend of my uncle's. Well, the story of buying, selling and trading autos through his lifetime was just off to a good start !! The '65 Plymouth pictured was the first of only three BRAND NEW cars we ever owned. In his young years, Douglas loved having something different to drive down the road !!! He also liked for me to have something sporty to drive, too !!

Days in the Life of Speed

Douglas always wore his black felt hat to the race tracks. An ardent female fan with Indian heritage, crafted and presented the beaded band to him. I am not sure where the pheasant feather came from . Some of the pins were "gifts". Some were added when he was no longer racing, but still wore the hat on occasion. These pages include a photo of him as a child in feather headdress and his grand-daughter, Hilery, in full Indian attire. As a young girl, Hilery came to Las Vegas to visit her grandparents. We always found fun things to do such as a western theme casino had a store where you dressed in costumes and had your photo taken !! Douglas' first track racing experience came with owning and driving a go-kart in the early '60's while stationed at Oceana, Virginia. His daughter liked to "help" work on the kart and grew up liking speed as much as her father. His parents, back in Iowa, maintained a go-kart track for local kids to race on. Other photos on these pages include his racing uniform, an awards jacket, and ceramic car and driver, made and presented to him by another fan. Cars and racing were a huge part of what made Douglas who he was !

Stock Car Racing Days

Throughout the '60's and '70's, Douglas drove a few different stock cars at many different race tracks in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri, and Texas. Racing was in his blood -- he loved driving, he loved working on the cars. He placed in the top ten winners in Tulsa in 1970. Many of the drivers had more sponsors, had more money and won more races, but, few had more fun and enjoyed it any more than he did !! Every driver had their specific fans that cheered for them and crowded around them after a race. There was always a beautiful girl to give a trophy to the winner of a "Trophy Dash". Our daughter, Tamera, was that girl one August Saturday night in Tulsa when Douglas won that race. Tulsa Speedway proved to be the most difficult for Douglas. Most of the many trophies he won came from other tracks he raced.

Fast Cars

I am inclined to believe that Douglas' love of cars and speed was inherited from a grandfather he never knew until he was an adult. C.J. Rose was one of a team of two drivers that took this Hupmobile across the state of Iowa in record time in the year 1915. A newspaper ad and trophy were found amongst Minnie Rose's belongings after she passed away. The ad was decoupaged to create a plaque that hangs in a collage in my entry hall and the trophy sits atop a curio cabinet. These pages show photos of Douglas at an early age with his tricycles, and pretending to drive a tractor and school bus. He was happy when he was behind a wheel of a vehicle, especially when there was no limit to the speed he could run.

From East To West

We spent a little over a year in the state of New Hampshire. Douglas' company had a contract with a private company in Manchester. It was a great year !! We had rented a furnished duplex on an acreage out in the woods. Douglas cleared a path into the woods that led to a pond where he loved to sit and fish. He didn't care if he caught anything -- he just liked being out there. I doubt there is any place more beautiful in the fall of the year than this part of the United States. His parents visited us that autumn - a travel gift for their 50th wedding anniversary from the 3 children. A cousin and family also spent a few days with us. We had Maine lobster cookout parties often. Then, August of 1985, Douglas got transfer orders and we were off to Las Vegas, Nevada. We went from lush green countryside to the desert !!

Around the World We Went

Douglas had sand in his shoes -- always looking for a different job, a different place to be in his life !! He liked changes and it was a good thing I didn't mind, either. The job he retired from was with Beech Aerospace Services, a company that did government contract work. He trained in the Navy and at Spartan School of Aeronautics to be an aircraft mechanic which led him to a few different companies in his lifetime, two of those being McDonnell Douglas and American Airlines there in Tulsa. These pictures show him at work in Okinawa with Beechcraft. While he was attending Spartan School in Tulsa, he had a part time job riding for a motorcycle escort service. This was right up his alley, too, because he got to ride a Harley without buying one !! Always the adventurer !!