My sympathy and prayers go to the families of Tracy Caplinger, Carl McBride and Virgie Ervin Grissom who recently passed away.

I remember watching Tracy play Little League Baseball when my grandson, Randy Vaughn, also played. While they played against each other during the regular season, the boys were on the DeKalb County All Star team that played in tournaments.

Tracy’s daddy, Donnie Caplinger, helped my son, Ralph, broadcast Little League Baseball and DeKalb County High School basketball games over WJLE.

Virgie grew up in the New Home community. She and I both worked at the Smithville Shirt Factory. Like me, she rode to work with Carl and Frances McBride.

I have known Carl and his wife, Frances, for many years going back to the time they lived in the New Home community. I would listen to Carl’s daddy, Bud McBride, preach on WJLE.

While thinking about Carl and Frances today, I remembered a funny story that I shared several years ago with readers of the Review.

In the early 1950s, I worked at the Smithville Shirt Factory and rode with Carl and Frances. One Christmas, the Shirt Factory boss gave each of us a turkey. I mean a live turkey; not a frozen one.

While riding from Smithville back to New Home, you can imagine how it was. There were six of us in that car holding a live turkey. The birds were not calm, but made noises and tried to get loose. We held on tight while laughing all the way home about getting a live turkey for Christmas.