In our senior year, Neil and I ran around together quite a bit with Bob Harrison. Neil and I were fairly close, until we graduated and I moved to Galveston the summer of '60. We occasionally got together around 1962, but I then lost contact with him when I went into the Air Force. I'm grateful for Jane Deats Hayley for letting me know that Neil has gone. It was very upsetting, and I will miss him.
In 1947 I was staying with my aunt & uncle who lived at Humble Camp on the bayshore; there I first met Neil. His daddy and my uncle, Bill Waits, both worked the off-shore drilling rigs. Neil & I enjoyed lots of playtime and – often - getting into trouble. Occasionally the menfolk would rig up a crude boxing ring and us boys would go at it with gloves so bulky with padding that any serious injury was precluded. I boxed Neil twice, winning the first match, but in the rematch a short time later he really ‘cleaned my plow’. I guess we were about 6-yrs. old at the time. Most of y’all – except Linda J. – probably don’t know that Neil had an older brother, Jimmy. He was killed when his car didn’t make the curve at the old Gum Bayou bridge on FM 517 – east of town. At DHS Neil & I were buddies, but didn’t “pal around” together a whole lot. We both had 1951 Fords (almost identical), and we drag raced a few times, always ending in a dead-heat. One night several of us went drinking out on those deserted oil-field roads south of the bayou. I saw Neil chug-a-lug a whole pint of whiskey and remain upright – I was impressed, but he told me later he paid the price with a monstrous headache/hangover. After Neil’s death, I emailed one of his sons, relating some of these recollections; his son thanked me profusely for sharing my fond memories of his father. Rest in peace, old friend.
Darrell Barnett
In our senior year, Neil and I ran around together quite a bit with Bob Harrison. Neil and I were fairly close, until we graduated and I moved to Galveston the summer of '60. We occasionally got together around 1962, but I then lost contact with him when I went into the Air Force. I'm grateful for Jane Deats Hayley for letting me know that Neil has gone. It was very upsetting, and I will miss him.Alfred Ozenne
In 1947 I was staying with my aunt & uncle who lived at Humble Camp on the bayshore; there I first met Neil. His daddy and my uncle, Bill Waits, both worked the off-shore drilling rigs. Neil & I enjoyed lots of playtime and – often - getting into trouble.
Occasionally the menfolk would rig up a crude boxing ring and us boys would go at it with gloves so bulky with padding that any serious injury was precluded. I boxed Neil twice, winning the first match, but in the rematch a short time later he really ‘cleaned my plow’. I guess we were about 6-yrs. old at the time.
Most of y’all – except Linda J. – probably don’t know that Neil had an older brother, Jimmy. He was killed when his car didn’t make the curve at the old Gum Bayou bridge on FM 517 – east of town.
At DHS Neil & I were buddies, but didn’t “pal around” together a whole lot. We both had 1951 Fords (almost identical), and we drag raced a few times, always ending in a dead-heat.
One night several of us went drinking out on those deserted oil-field roads south of the bayou. I saw Neil chug-a-lug a whole pint of whiskey and remain upright – I was impressed, but he told me later he paid the price with a monstrous headache/hangover.
After Neil’s death, I emailed one of his sons, relating some of these recollections; his son thanked me profusely for sharing my fond memories of his father.
Rest in peace, old friend.