Our Dougie

Siblings are our first friends in life, and ideally are our friends for life. I believe God designed it that way and that siblings are gifts from God. As the 5th of 6 children in our family, life was not always perfect but more importantly I learned that God was. I’m thankful for the gift of family and for each of my siblings.

My sister, Joyce, who is 12 years older than me, got married when I was around 7 years old. She started her own typesetting business in the mid 1960’s, as a young single mom of two young children. She successfully operated that business for many years. She held a private pilot’s license with an instrument rating for many years, and is also a self taught custom interior carpenter. Now a widow in her early 80’s she’s an avid golfer and enjoys music and dancing with friends regularly.

My brother, Eldon lived a short but meaningful life. He was blessed with a lot of friends and was just beginning his life as a young adult a few months after his high school graduation, when he was killed in an automobile accident in September of 1963. The car he was driving was struck by a drunk driver who ran the red light that was less than a mile from our home. I was only 9 years old at the time of his death. The night he died it was reported in the newspaper that approximately 20 of his friends went to the local Baptist church to rededicate their lives. While his death devastated and forever changed the landscape of our family, I came to the understanding later in life that God is sovereign and that “….all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28)

My brother, Ron loved playing basketball in school, and some time after his high school graduation in 1968, he joined the U.S. Navy and served our country for 4 years. He was also an accomplished artist for several years. As a father and grandfather, he worked two jobs simultaneously for many years. Today he’s fully retired and uses a wheelchair to get around after having had a leg amputation a few years ago.

My brother Dennis also loved playing basketball in school, and was my only sibling to graduate from college. He became a teacher, a basketball coach, and a middle school principal. He’s a father and grandfather, who enjoys keeping physically fit by running regularly and various other physical activities. His wife and he are currently enjoying travel and full time retirement together.

Our little brother Doug, who is the main subject of this writing, and who I affectionately still call “Dougie” was born 3 months premature in 1957. He was diagnosed early on as being mentally retarded. Nowadays it’s called mentally “disabled” as the word, “retarded” has since became a popular slang word meant to degrade people.

Dougie has a mind that is “forever young” and is probably the sweetest, most sincere person I have ever known. He will always hold a special place in my heart. One day, in the 1980’s I think, he came to me upset with himself because he had told a lie and knew it was wrong. His lips were quivering and he was near tears. I told him that God knows when we do wrong things and that it was good that he was sorry for what he did. His humility was so precious and sweet. I hugged him and helped him pray out loud in Jesus’ name.

I remember when we were little I was his personal interpreter. He also has a speech impediment and it was hard for most people to understand what he was saying. Being the closest in age to him, I naturally spent a lot of time with him so it was easy for me to understand what he was saying.

When he and I played outside I felt responsible to watch him and to help him. Whether it was playing in the neighborhood or on the swing sets at the drive-in movies across the street on Highway 31, I was his protector.

Just like any little boy, he wanted to attend the same school that all the neighborhood kids went to but he was sent to Lincoln Elementary and then over to MacArthur Elementary as they had Special Education classes. The same was true in his middle school years. He wanted to attend Meridian Middle School like the neighborhood kids but was sent to Keystone Middle School as they were the designated school at that time for Special Education kids.

He was initially held back one year of elementary school in the very beginning and then again held back another year later on. It was at MacArthur Elementary that he had two of his favorite teachers, Mr Carter who was his Special Education teacher and his Boy Scout leader, and Mr French who was his art teacher. It was here that he also had an unnamed worst teacher. I knew about his favorite teachers as he spoke of them often over the years but I didn’t know about the unnamed worst teacher until recently. He told me she replaced Mr Carter and said that, “She put her hands on me and hurt me!” After talking with him about this a little more, I learned that she grabbed his shoulders and shook him abusively one day for reasons unknown which made him very upset. If I had known about this back then I would have been in the principals office the next day.

Actually, not too long after I had gotten my drivers license and first car, Dougie came to me very upset one day after school. He said some kids at school were making fun of him at lunch time. They were taking his food away from him and putting things in it, basically bullying him and making him cry. When he told me about this and also that it wasn’t the first time, I was livid. I drove over to the school the first thing the next morning and sat down in the principal’s office and told him what was happening to my little brother. I also told him that someone needed to do a better job of protecting my little brother. I barely got those words out before I began to cry. (I was immature and emotional.) The principal was kind but seemed indifferent and offered zero solutions. I left unsure if the principal was going to do anything to help Dougie. I realized that day that Dougie was likely going to have to deal with people like those kids and that principal the rest of his life.

While in high school he had a crush on a girl with blonde hair who rode the school bus with him. Her name was Karen Taylor. He thought she was so cute but he was too shy to talk to her. If you ask him about her today he says that he was, “in love with her” and he becomes emotional. He remembers writing her a note and putting it in her mailbox one day, but she never responded to his note. Dougie graduated from high school in 1976.

He continued living at home with mom for several years as a young adult, and worked for Noble Industries in Indianapolis. They had two locations at this time, one on the west side of town and one on the east side of town. He first worked at their west location in their greenhouse. He enjoyed working in the greenhouse but for some reason he was moved over to the other location to work in a school kitchen. His job there was taking lunch trays off the conveyer belt and loading them unto a commercial dishwasher. It was here he made $1.50 an hour and where he started singing to himself while working. He remembers singing a phrase “Wagon Ho” while he unloaded and loaded the trays. It was also during this time he picked up some “ticks.” He began blurting out a “moo” sound like a cow, and also an “ooga” sound like that of an old car horn. He doesn’t know why he started repeating these sounds although I suspect it was some type of work related stress.

Interestingly Dougie had a natural talent for tinkering with electronics. I remember I had an alarm clock radio that broke and I gave it to him to tinker with. He took it all apart and laid the parts out on a TV tray. I assumed that he’d never get it back together again. Within two or three weeks he put it back together and it worked! I was amazed. This was back when he was in his mid 20’s.

He also had a unique talent of impersonating TV personalities. His favorite was Sammy Terry, a local 1960’s-1970’s late night TV show host. The show was a Friday late night phenomenon in Indianapolis called Nightmare Theater. Sammy would open the show emerging out of a coffin and proceed to introduce the scary old movie that was being shown that night. Dougie, had fun imitating Sammy Terry’s introduction: “Good evening. Welcome to Nightmare Theater. I’m your host Sammy Terry.” (Moo-ha-ha!”) He would then go on to announce the movie, like “Tonight we have Frankenstein Meets the Werewolf” (“Moo-ha-ha!”) followed by the dangling emergence of George, his sidekick giant spider, and Sammy’s trademark laughter.

In the mid 1990’s our mother was suffering from the effects of Alzheimer’s and was transitioned to an assisted living center in St Louis, to be near my sister, Joyce. At this same time, Dougie went to live in St Louis in a small nearby apartment.

While Dougie enjoyed the apartment, It didn’t work out well for him. He really needed more structure and guidance, plus he got bit by an unknown dog in the neighborhood and had to undergo a painful series of rabies shots. So after about a year of living on his own, my niece, Debbie invited Dougie to come live with her in the Central West End area of St Louis. While in St. Louis Dougie really enjoyed playing basketball and softball with a special education group. He also had the love and support of my other niece, Marlene, who lived in St Louis too.

In the late 1990’s or early 2000’s Debbie decided to move to the Seattle Washington area and so Dougie moved too. My niece, Marlene moved there a few months later as well. They settled in a small town called Burien, where Debbie was instrumental in creating a program, called Clean Sweep. It was specifically designed for employing disabled people to help pick up trash around downtown Burien. Dougie worked part time for Clean Sweep and enjoyed everything about it. He enjoyed his job, enjoyed working along side his fellow disabled workers, and enjoyed getting to know the local store owners and their frequent customers. He also enjoyed the independence and freedom of using an inexpensive transportation program available in Burien.

However, a downside to his independence and freedom occurred when a stranger took advantage of Dougie one day. He was out by himself after work and a pregnant lady with two kids approached Dougie and told him that she and her kids were hungry. They went inside the Arby’s together and he bought them food with money he had in his wallet. She must have seen that he had a bank card in his wallet and then coerced him to go to the bank and withdraw as much money as he could from the bank machine. He gave her the money (I think it was $200 or $300, or whatever the maximum bank card withdrawal was at that time) and then she left. He also lost his phone that same day. It was a sad day in his life. A police report was filed but of course the lady was never found. I was livid about this and so sad for Dougie that this happened to him.

And while he really enjoyed working, he unfortunately was hit by a car on two different occasions while working. After spending some time in the hospital with a broken hip (hairline fracture) from the second car incident, his job duties were changed to working inside only.

Besides working part-time for several years in Burien, Dougie enjoyed going to some local activities specially designed for the disabled. His favorites activities were going to a Thursday morning art class, and Friday nights to “The Club” to hang out with his friends.

Unfortunately he’s had some recurring staph infections over the past several years, some requiring hospitalizations. He actually had to have his middle toe removed from his right foot in January of 2023 due to another staph infection. He was hospitalized for a month, and then spent another month in a rehab center, Hallmark Manor. His only complaint was that he couldn’t get his favorite TV shows at either place although he did like some of the new TV channels he watched at the rehab center. He also enjoyed playing board games and winning Bingo there at Hallmark Manor. He won .50 cents playing two Bingo games there!

Since then he’s developed a wound on the bottom of his right foot and is currently going to a wound care doctor weekly.

Because of his foot issues he hasn’t worked or been able to go to the art class or to “The Club” for well over a year now. He talks often about how much he wishes he could go back to his art class and “The Club.”

So, at the present time his life evolves primarily around watching TV at home.

His favorite cartoons are Popeye, Mighty Mouse, Tom and Jerry, and Scooby Doo.

His favorite game shows are Let’s Make a Deal, The Match Game, and of course, The Price is Right!

His favorite TV show’s are mostly old re-runs like Bewitched, The Love Boat, The Time Tunnel, The Partridge Family, The Wild, Wild West, Star-trek, the original series, and The Next Generation. He actually has a “Star Trek Enterprise” model in his room. He also likes The Andy Griffith Show, and is proud of a light up “Mayberry Village” that he has. He tells me it includes Andy, Opie, Aunt Bee, Barney, Gomer, Andy’s home, and the gas station. He likes it so much he has several photos of his “Mayberry Village” on his phone.

His chief complaint currently is that the H & I (Heros and Icons) TV channel is no longer available in his viewing area. This was one of his favorite TV channels. It had Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, etc. So, he’s been working hard figuring out which other shows he should watch.

He looks forward to going to the foot doctor on Tuesdays, as that’s also the day he gets to have breakfast to-go at the Jack in the Box. The rest of his meals are generally at home. He’s allowed to microwave food but is not allowed to use the stovetop or oven, due to safety concerns. His favorite breakfast cereals are Captain Crunch, Fruit Loops, and Lucky Charms. His favorite lunches are Hot Pockets and Smucker’s Uncrustables Peanut Butter and Grape Jelly Sandwiches. Some of his other favorite foods include Pop Tarts, chips, and corn dogs with catsup. His favorite to-go restaurants are Panda Express, Jack in the Box, Subway, and a little place called The Chicken Burger Place. His favorite sodas are Sprite, Diet Coke, and Root Beer. His favorite desserts are oatmeal raisin cookies, vanilla ice cream, strawberry popsicles, and homemade puff wheat balls. On Sunday’s he looks forward to having breakfast prepared for him: eggs and sausage or pancakes with peanut butter, a Query family favorite.

So currently he spends the bulk of his days watching TV, eating his favorite foods, and enjoying the company of Debbie’s dogs, Bella and Honey. They keep him company and make him laugh. Honey likes to sit in his favorite chair whenever he gets up! Bella likes to sit on his bed when he’s not in it! He gives them treats in order to get them to move. I can imagine the smile on his face while he does this.

I remember when Dougie was young, the doctor told my mom that Dougie’s life expectancy would be short, which was such an upsetting thing for him to say and for us to hear. That doctor is long passed away and Dougie is still here today. God had a plan and a purpose for Dougie’s life and he is doing very well considering all of the challenges that life has sent his way. He’s looking forward to his upcoming 67th birthday this April, has a happy and positive disposition, is loved by many, and is a blessing to many more.

Nowadays I talk to him on the phone almost daily. We talk about his TV shows, how he’s feeling, things he remembers from the past, or really about anything he wants to talk about. I end each call by telling him to call me back tomorrow and by telling him, “I love you.”