As part of an assignment for her Literature class, Sarah had to conduct an interview with someone over 50 years old. She chose her grandfather (my dad) to be her "giver" of details about his life. Sarah is blessed to have four living grandparents, and an extra cool thing is that they all live here in Louisville so she gets to see them on a regular basis. I'm posting this interview she did with my dad because I love what she wrote about him. My mom and dad used to watch Sarah once a week from when she was a baby until she was three years old, and below is one of my favorite pictures of them together, filling up the bird feeders at my parent's house.
The Giver Interview
Louis Jordan Antle
Sarah Young 2/3. Language Arts & Literature
The person who acted as my “Giver” for this assignment was my grandfather Louis Jordan Antle. Louis was born in Jamestown, KY in the year of 1943. He lived in Jamestown with his father Thruston, his mother Dorthy, and his two sisters Gloria - Jean and Nancy. Louis grew up to be a very successful FBI agent with a wonderful wife, Meda Antle, and his two daughters Jill and Shannon. Louis opened up to me about the memories he had as a child. I have picked out a few of my personal favorites to share with you.
One of my favorite memories of Louis’ was the way children in his school were disciplined. Louis told me his story like this: When you did something wrong you knew you had done it. The teacher would give you a glare and ask you to step outside. Now when this happened you would leave your classroom and wait outside its door. “Now what really scared you was you knew what was coming, and it wasn’t going to be pretty,” Louis told me. There were some huge glass windows at the very end of the hallway. The principal would start at that end of the hall. All you could see was the figure of him tapping a yardstick in his hand coming toward you. He would throw the yardstick toward you and you would have to go pick it up and bring it back to him. When he finally got to your classroom, you had to bend over and he would give you a smack on the butt! Louis told me he really didn’t enjoy being disciplined in school and once he was in this position his worst nightmare was being in it again!
Another one of Louis’ memories was the games he and his friends played at school. Louis says they played all sorts of stuff. It varied from basketball to baseball to a whole lot of foot races. But my absolute favorite was Mumbly - Peg. Mumbly Peg is a game they had to play with their pocket knives. (That’s a way you can tell how things have changed between generations! We would be suspended for even having a pocket knife around!!! J) There would be two people (normally guys) standing across from each other with their feet shoulder width apart. One would throw their pocket knife to make it “stick” as far away from the opponents foot as possible. The other player must move their foot to the knife and repeat the process. Whoever loses balance first, loses the game. Louis and his friends must have been very skilled at knife throwing!
My last thing Louis told me was if he could go back and redo his life all over again he would most likely change his job. Louis is a very skilled “handyman,” and can fix just about anything anyone needs him to. He finds real joy in helping other people and would love to change his job to being a doctor. Louis told me how he feels God made his calling in life to be able to help other people. Louis still has found a way to do this by helping other people with what they need to be fixed. But if he could do it over again he would most definitely be a doctor.
Louis is a WONDERFUL grandfather. He always is there for me when I need him and somehow always seems to show up at every game or meet I have. He is a strong believer in Christ and I love him very much. Louis gave me a lot of cool memories he had as a child and I was very happy and proud to share them with you.
