memories #21

                                       Clayton Alexander                                          
                                                AWOL
                                      absent without leave                    


        Everet Clayton Alexander and I became good friends in junior high and during the summers playing baseball.   Clayton was about my height with broad shoulders.  We spent many days at my house or his, playing and having fun.  Some times we would have

Mick and Clayton

contests.  These contests turned out to be about even between the two of us except when throwing a ball.  Clayton could throw the ball farther than anyone I had ever seen.  Ward Lee, the old-timers coach, tried to make a pitcher out of Clayton because he threw so hard.  Unfortunately, Clayton was wild and never could get control of the strike zone.

water gun fights.  What fun

     As the summer passed we continue to spend time with each other.  Clayton and his mother lived in a very small house across the street from our house.  My family, watching Clayton in the snow, began to see the artistic side of Clayton.  Clayton made the winter wonderland his art studio with the snow as his medium.   We watched in awe as Clayton maneuvered round balls of  snow on top of each other.  Then, using mostly his hands,  created creatures in his yard.  These sculptures varied in size and shape with the smaller ones using the last of the snow.  Clayton not only had this wonderful imagination, but had the talent to show it off.  I am reminded of a comic strip character named "Calvin".  Calvin's snow sculptures were a bit more macabre than Clayton's but equally as interesting.

     He ruled in snowball fights as well.  Because he threw so hard, everyone wanted him on their side.  With a stockpile of snowballs not many could get close to him without receiving non stop snowballs that hurt if you were hit at close range. He was also the only one I had ever seen that could throw a snow ball from the girl's hall at Fort Lewis College and hit the old student union building on the fly. 

     Clayton's ability to find jobs every summer amazed me.  The summer before our senior year in high school Clayton became the projectionist at the Kiva theater.  It was at this time that Clayton and I helped Jim Jonas out of a jam.  Clayton held that job all summer.  Because he had access to the projection booth   I saw many picture shows the night before it would be open to the public.  

     Clayton's good nature gave way to a more serious side during our senior year.  During our sophomore and junior years, Clayton participated in football, basketball and baseball.  At the beginning of our senior year, I sensed there were problems at his home.  He had been living with his mother as long as I had known him.  I don't know about his father other then he wasn't part of Clayton's family.  

     Clayton let me know that he was joining the Navy on his 18th birthday.  He would turn 18 before the end of the first quarter and, as he said he would, he joined the Navy.

Clayton in Japan

     I would see Clayton again in Japan.  I had joined the Navy after graduation and a year later ran into Clayton.  What a pleasant surprise!  We were on different ships moored at the same dock.  I only got to see him for that brief encounter as his ship set sail later that day.  He did tell me he would eventually get his GED.  

     We met again at Fort Louis college.  Clayton was very active in the theater group at Fort Louis.  And as usual Clayton showed more of his  incredible talent.  I was amazed watching him act.  He teamed up with another Durango graduate, Sonny Smith, putting on several plays to the delight of us who knew them both.

     We kept track of each other for some time after college.  Clayton eventually married and moved to Texas.  The last known address I had for Clayton was in Austin Texas.  He had suddenly disappeared.  I heard rumors of his death but I was never able to substantiate that rumor.  Clayton was now AWOL to the class of 62.