Wakeland Dr Mort 2 2016 Morton's Mom


The Early Years Pre ORHS (1963-1966)



How did I come to be? The story Mom tells may be of interest for I am, as many of you, an Oak Ridge baby. Mom was a lab tech at the plants in Oak Ridge during WW II. I still have her badge (right), boy does she look young back then. Anyway, the doctors told her she would never have children working around all that radiation with little or no protection. Surprise,

October 19, 1947, Mort comes into the world at Oak Ridge Hospital. No, I still do not glow in the dark as she always joked to me about! I came home to 109 Locus Lane, Oak Ridge, Tennessee to a “flat top� as those track homes were called back then – remember?



Mom settled into being a “homemaker,� as they called it back then, and a Mom of course, and Dad was a carpenter. Back then Oak Ridge was still run by the government. I think I went to Linden Elementary for kindergarten. I see there is a place for it still in Google. Is it the same school?



Memories are fading with age; they use to be vivid. I remember moving to Iona Circle in Oak Ridge and walking to Willowbrook Elementary School, through the woods alone! God, you can’t do that now! There was a pine tree stranding in which I built a “make-shift� treehouse. I drove my there some years back and the ole pine was still there with remnants of that old tree house. Fond and wonderful memories flowed into my head. Sadly, just Googling, the ole homestead has faded into Oak Ridge History, as well as the ole pine which brought me hours of pleasure playing in. Wonders I did not fall out of that tree and break my neck!!



Dad wanted land so in 5th grade we moved just out of Oak Ridge where Dad built, from scratch, a home on 60 acres of land. A number of years ago I drove by there and oh my, has it changed, but the ole house is still there. For the life of me I cannot remember the address, perhaps because it was the loneliest time of my life. Neighbors were far and few between, and children to play with even more scarce. Neither can I find on Google as hard as I try, but I know I can drive there.



Perhaps then is when I development my fondness for being a loner. Spent many a day roaming the hills with my .22, fondly looking up at “the ridge� where I knew, just behind, playmates abound in Oak Ridge. I did not like that place at all,

but can a kid do? I was lonely for friends, but maintained.



From there Dad tried his luck at running a country store near Greenville, Tennessee. I had jumped from the frying pan into the fire. We had no home but lived in the side of the store and had to use an “outhouse� and bathe in a galvanized tub. When Dad & Mom sold that store and said we were moving back to Oak Ridge, I think me wittle heart about leaped out of my chest. I was ecstatic! Now I fully know how ET felt – laugh!! Home, Home!!



We moved into an old longish Oak Ridge track condo(?) with small units on each end and bigger two story units in the middle. Cannot remember what those types of units were called, but I think they are still around. I think Dad help build some? We occupied the smaller unit on the north side. Cannot recall the name of the grade school, but I know it was close, just across the street. I cannot find it.



We then moved to my final destination in Oak Ridge, 102 Oxford Circle. Just Googled and my God, the old homestead is still there, although quite changed. Smallest street in Oak Ridge, at the time, only two homes there.
Posted By: NS Administrator - 05-13-2016
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