WALKER: A is for apple

As I age, I have slightly more difficulty remembering names, but Janice and I know a trick: Go through the alphabet in your mind and you will usually remember. "A, B, C, D ... D — that's it, Duke Lane!"

Today, I'm going through the alphabet and putting on paper the first thing that comes to mind.

A is for Atlanta. How it has changed since I started going there, with regularity, over 40 years ago. It has truly become an international city.

B is for Billy Bledsoe. A double B. Billy was my fishing buddy. A good man. I miss him very much.

C is for Cotton. What an effect cotton has had on the history of our country. It made lots of folks rich, and it put lots of folks in shackles. A war with 550,000 deaths was fought, in part, over issues surrounding cotton.

D is for Duke Lane. I went through the alphabet and remembered. Really how could anyone who ever knew him forget him? Most everyone in Middle Georgia knows Duke.

E is for Elvis. Elvis, Jesus, Caesar, Coca-Cola and Hitler. Very few "one names" are known all over the world. Elvis.

F is for Fat. Gross obesity is a national disgrace. Look at a picture taken during the depression. No fat folks. They didn't have excess food and they did lots of physical labor.

G is for Georgia. Now a great state. One of the country's great states. Great Georgia.

H is for Houston County. What a fine place to live.

I is for Ink. Well, it's the first word I thought of. Does anyone use an ink pen, today?

J is for Janice. Janice Walker. A good woman. A good wife!

K is for the Ku Klux Klan. I never knew anyone that had been in the Klan. I'm glad I didn't know anyone.

L is for "Lally Boy." That's what my Grandmother Walker ("Grandma") used to call me.

M is for Mother. Actually, Mama, except when I'm talking to Yankees.

N is for the New Perry Hotel. Lots of people are pulling for a revival of this old Perry treasure. I am one of them.

O is for Olive Oyl. You know, Popeye's girlfriend. This double O was the first thing that came to my mind.

P is for Perry. See H above.

Q is for Scrabble. Well, it's a good letter to get if you have a U. Like you might make "quinquennium," but you would need two Qs and three U's, but you'd probably get 93 points!

R is for Red Ryder. He was one of my early heroes. And, I had a Red Ryder BB gun. Also, R is for Roy Rogers, another hero.

S is for Santa Claus. My year used to revolve around when he was coming. Wish I could call back some of those feelings.

T is for Texas and T is for Tennessee. T is for Thelma, made a fool out of me. Do you remember that song?

U is for Underwear. I have some Hanes and some Jockeys. I like the Hanes better.

V is for Victory. In Jesus. In football. In life.

W is for Wonderful. Just enough "downs" to make the "ups" good. It's been a wonderful life.

X is for Xerox. I miss their salesmen. Also X-rays. You know, what your dentist likes to do.

Y is for Y'all. One of my favorite words for y'all, my readers.

Z is for "Zizzy Zylaphone Z. Zerxes." That's what Jerry Wilson used to say his name might as well have been when they "paid off" in alphabetical order at Blue Bird on Friday afternoons. He used to say that most workers were already home eating supper by the time he got his check. Jerry was really funny! I miss him.

That's it, my list. I'll bet Miss Frances Couey, my first-grade teacher, would be proud that I remember the alphabet so well, that she taught me in 1947.

Larry Walker is a practicing attorney in Perry. He served 32 years in the Georgia General Assembly and presently serves on the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. Email: lwalker@whgmlaw.com.

This story was originally published October 24, 2015 at 9:01 PM with the headline "WALKER: A is for apple ."