Part two of Tubby Clark’s story, continued from the March 29, 2023 issue of the Brown County Democrat.
School days were definitely over for Tubby. He had been graduated from common school at Brown and intended to finish high school. He realized even then the value of “higher” education. Tubby says, algebra did him in.
He went to Nashville just four days before he quit.
“I didn’t know what the algebra teacher was talking about,” he says, “and he began to give me a rough time from the start. I went to the principal — I think it was Goble – and asked if I could drop that algebra and go through school even without graduating. He said ‘no’ but promised to work something out about the algebra. But I didn’t wait. I wasn’t about to suffer with that algebra. So, I went home and told my parents I was through with school.
“They wouldn’t hear of it. I wasn’t yet 16 and the law said I had to be in school. So I went back to common school, from where I’d already graduated, and I guess I was a nuisance. After a month or two I just quit going. I think Louie Snyder was truant officer then, and he understood the situation. Anyhow he didn’t cause me any trouble.
“I’m for a high school education or as much education as anybody can get if he/she wants it. But it seems to me that the country is getting filled up with too many mechanical engineers and not enough mechanics.
“People say, ‘I’ve got an education and I’m entitled to a good job or to this or that.’ Well, to make this old world click, there’s got to be somebody to do the regular day-to-day work, too. One thing I think we could still use, and that we truly need, is the old-fashioned blacksmith shop. Do you realize how hard it is these days to get something repaired or made, that you need to use at home or in your work?
“Anyhow, I kept on trucking and in 1941 I bought my first semi. For a time, I just wildcatted around, then I hooked up with globe Carriage for a few years, out of Indianapolis. I sold that first outfit when I thought I’d be going into the army. But I didn’t pass the physical: I weighed nearly 300 pounds. In those days it was impossible to buy another truck. I drove for other people until the war was over and I could get a truck.
“I worked 26 years for Ellis Trucking Company out of Indianapolis making runs as far as Memphis and northward through all of Michigan until I retired in 1970.”
In June of 1950, Tubby was a nationwide “Driver of the month” honor for heroism, awarded by the publication industry publications “Fifth Wheel.”
Tubby was hauling castings loaded on a tarp-covered low-sided trailer. He was northbound at 40 miles per hour close to the junction of roads 37 and 38 near Elwood. It was a date he will never forget — March 20 of that year. One of the witnesses to what happened was police chief Dixon of Elwood, who used his police radio to call an ambulance for Tubby.
It was 6:30 p.m. and Tubby came upon two boys on bicycles who were cavorting in the roadway during heavy traffic. They weaved their bikes in front of the truck and Tubby couldn’t swerve to miss them without hitting oncoming traffic head-on.
So, he ditched his rig and did a three-quarter rollover along with all those castings, which came off the trailer on the first quarter of the roll.
Tubby, who had a badly injured shoulder, refused to lie down in the ambulance. He insisted on sitting up with the driver as it hurried off to a hospital with red lights flashing and sirens screaming.
“I wasn’t to hurt to be almost scared to death at that crazy driving,” Tubby remembers.
After surgery he awakened in a hospital bed surrounded by men with long black whiskers. There wasn’t a clean shaven face in sight. The patient was almost convinced that he’d somehow wound up in the midst of House of David members until it was explained that the whole population was celebrating the city’s Centennial, and beards were practically a “must” for adult males.
Tubby was later transferred to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. It was a long time before he could use the injured shoulder with any degree of comfort.
He said he sold truck, what was left of it, and bought a half interest in the Pine Room at Nashville, which he operated for 18 months with Herb Hammond. Then he sold out to Hammond and went trucking again. The Elwood incident was the only wreck he ever had.
To be continued.
Submitted by Pauline Hoover, Brown County Historical Society, Inc
