By Susan Stevenson
As you sit in your pew on Sundays, you will most likely see David Hoban because he is a proud member of the Arborlawn United Methodist Choir. Although he loves to sing, he was a little late getting started in the choir. He thought that being a member of the choir was an "elite" thing. David's wife, Clinta, urged him to join in 1992. Immediately he realized that you do not have to be elite to be a member of the choir, you just need to love to sing.
"The day I was born, it was warm, sunny and beautiful. And I remember every minute of it!" With this statement, David began his story. He was born at home in 1921 in Saint Paul, Indiana. It cost $5.00 for the doctor to deliver him. For many of his early years, they had no address because it was so rural. Everyone knew where they lived. About once a day someone would drive down the road.
Things were quite different in 1921. Warren G. Harding was the United States President. The first transcontinental mail flight arrived in New York City from San Francisco. The Yankees purchased 20 acres in the Bronx for Yankee Stadium, and Babe Ruth had 120 home runs. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated in Washington. Betty Crocker and Wheaties cereal were created that year.
Life was normal as a boy in rural Indiana. He attended a very small church, Pleasant Hill Methodist Episcopal Church. Today it would fit in our Gathering Area. His school had four rooms. Two were upstairs and two were downstairs. There were two grades in each room. He rode the bus because he lived two miles from school.
Like everyone who lived on a farm, David had daily chores. Most days he had to milk three cows before he left for school. He said, "I ate more chickens than I like to think about." You had to kill the chicken in order to have the meat. It was necessary so they could have food for dinner. They butchered a hog once a year in the fall so they would have bacon and ham during the year. Because they did not have running water, David had to pump water from the well for all of the livestock. That chore could take all day during the summer. He also had to cut wood for the kitchen stove. They had coal and wood fires to keep the house warm. During the growing season, he had to weed the garden. He soon realized that he did not want to be a farmer. There was a popular song at the time called "When the Work's All Done in the Fall." Whoever wrote the song knew nothing about life on a farm. The work was never done. So he studied hard. However, he loved driving the tractor.
Because the Hobans did not have electricity until he was sixteen, it took an effort to do things. They had radios from time to time that operated on rechargeable batteries. To keep the family from getting bored while milking, they even had a radio in the barn! David studied and read by lantern light. The first book he read was "The Circular Staircase" by Mary Roberts Rhineheart. They did receive a daily paper - The Indianapolis Daily News. It was thrown into a field where it was retrieved by one of their dogs.
Doing laundry was a chore. For a great deal of his childhood, laundry was done in a large washtub and then hung out to dry. You had to pump the water and also heat it. Later they got a washing machine that had a gas motor.
To help give variety to their meals, they would hunt rabbits. One day, David had a chance to try a method of hunting. He saw a rabbit in the distance. He had read that you need to shoot a little ahead to where the rabbit might go. By accident, he actually hit the mark. They had rabbit for supper that night. They frequently had to shoot crows to keep them from bothering the crops.
In those days, most people did not have eye exams. David did not know that he needed glasses until he was 19. At first he did not like them because it made the movie stars look different when he was at a movie. Before glasses, all the beautiful stars looked soft. After glasses, they looked a little too hard and sharp.
When he was a young man, he had a summer job delivering ice. If you wanted ice, you put a sign in your window that said 25, 50, 75, or 100 pounds. That is the amount of ice you requested. There were notches in the ice so that you knew how much to cut. Although most people thought the job was great, it was actually hot. You had to keep the ice in the back of the truck covered and the windows closed so the ice would not melt.
World War II interrupted his college education. It was ten years from the time he finished high school until he graduated from Purdue in 1949. David spent most of the war in the Pacific on a freighter converted to a troop carrier, the SS Sea Devil. The ship was at sea for three months at a time and carried 2,000 men each trip. He was in Leyte Gulf when General MacArthur returned to the Philippines. Although he never had sea sickness, most of the troops did. The ship tossed so much that there were special covers on the hatches to provide traction. They were fed quite well. He ordered from a menu at every meal. Every Wednesday and Saturday they had steak.
At one point a friend from Indiana joined the ship as a radar operator. He was much better at deciphering the radar than the previous man had been. Before Leroy Rutledge took the job, they were only told about something after it had occurred. It was a relief to get information in a timely manner.
When the war ended, David's commanding officer asked him to help him get his car home. The officer had left his car in Seattle and it needed to be in his hometown of Cincinnati. The ship was sailing through the Panama Canal before it headed to its final destination. So David was delighted to do this since he would arrive 100 miles from his hometown. There were only two lane roads and the speed limit was 50 mph.
On his return to Purdue, housing was in short supply. David received money from the GI Bill that allowed him to pay for his room and board with some left over. However, at first he had to live in a converted factory. He only had a curtain around his bed. There was not a door. Thanks to some friends he found out about a fraternity - Acacia - that was part of the Masons. He could stay there and have good meals as well as a place to study. You had to have a family member who was a Mason or a reference from two people. At 21 years old, young men were too young to join the Masons.
David met his first wife, Grace, in college. They moved to Fort Worth in 1956, where he worked for General Dynamics. He retired after 30 years. Grace died after 40 years of marriage.
He met his current wife Clinta at Westcliff United Methodist Church in the Co-Workers Class. In fact, it was Clinta who thought of the name for our merged churches - Arborlawn. They have been married since April 26, 1991.
David and Clinta have an unusual pet that they adore. Chloe is a Blue Conure Parrot. They are small parrots that live around 25 years. David and Clinta drove from Fort Worth all the way to Rockport to get her when she was a baby. She almost runs their household! Chloe has a perch but loves to spend time on their shoulders. When David is working on the computer, Chloe will nibble his ears to let him know she needs something. She also tells them when she wants to go to bed. They have made arrangements for her care when they die. Chloe will grieve after their passing. Knowing that Chloe has a long life keeps David determined to live longer!
David loves keeping up with the world. He calls his new friends at the Vantage at Cityview Retirement Community, "fellow inmates." An avid game player, he has won 5700 consecutive games of Solitaire on the computer. Some of the games have taken two or three days. He also loves the new cell phones and is already contemplating his next one!
David has two sons who live in Fort Worth. His daughter died several years ago. One son works for Lockheed. The other is the Assistant Treasurer at Texas Christian University. His daughter-in-law is the Alumni Director at TCU. David is very proud to be a great-grandfather to a newborn girl - Alana Beth Pennybaker. Although his wife Clinta is in failing health, David is very upbeat about life. He is ready for the next adventure.
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