Kesley Colbert

People ask me how did we have the energy to do all the things I write about in those black and white bygone years of the 1950's. The answer here is simple.

I remember August 14, 1965, very well. The problem was, I hadn’t prepared a lick for it. I clearly didn’t understand the significance of the entire situation until I got out of the car…and watched Mom drive away.

I remember August 14, 1965, very well. The problem was, I hadn’t prepared a lick for it. I clearly didn’t understand the significance of the entire situati

I had to write a report in Miss Belle Alexander’s history class in the third grade. I asked Dad for some direction. He deadpanned, “Son, don’t tell them everything you know in the first paragraph.”

Hunker Down With Kes I had to write a report in Miss Belle Alexander's history class in the third grade. I asked Dad for some direction.

People look at me like I’m kinda weird when they learn that I don’t own a cell phone. Most just roll their eyes in disbelief. Some think I am kidding. A few try to explain the absolute necessity of having a cell phone. Some want to know how I order food. One asked, “Who do you talk to?”

But she would say it each week with the most genuine smile I have ever witnessed. I couldn’t think of anything to say. She was a rising country music star. I was just hanging around backstage because Mr. Bud Wendell, the manager of the world-famous Grand Ole Opry, had taken a liking to me.

Hunker Down With Kes But she would say it each week with the most genuine smile I have ever witnessed. I couldn't think of anything to say.

For some, it might be the long-gone City Café. Or the Polar Bar. Or Freemen’s Menswear. Or maybe you remember buying some chocolate-covered peanuts at the Ben Franklin 5 & 10 Cent Store. Or a spiral notebook for going back to school from the Golden Rule. Or shopping for a Christmas toy in the basement of J. A. Abernathy’s Hardware…

Football season is upon us. It reminds me that I was not a very good player way back yonder. And it always brings questions from around town about the years I spent coaching football at Port St. Joe High School.