MEACHAM LANE MEMOIRS/My First Book

                 


L-R: My brother Ken Ragan, father Bob Ragan, and me with my book.
Meacham Lane, McCracken County, KY.

Sometime between 1955-1956 I requested my first book that wasn’t affiliated with Disney, Marvel or Action comics with the sole intent of seeking information and not entertainment.

Comic books had been a huge part of my entertainment in my early years.  I loved all the Disney comics and characters, all the action heroes, and even the Archie and Jugheads.  Mother seemed to encourage my passion and my collection was sizable and no doubt contributed to my early mastery of reading.  I wasn’t the only kid on Meacham Lane with a collection and "swaps" were often and negotiations were intense but amicable.

But somewhere along the way I had a spontaneous love affair with the plastic recreations of the Mesozoic and Jurassic at the "dime store", more correctly the Kresge’s 5&10 on Broadway in Paducah, KY.  I collected the little creatures fervently.  They had their names and body lengths on each and every one.  The Tyrannosaurus Rex, Allosaurus, Dimetrodon, Triceratops, Ankylosaurus, Brontosaurus, and several more among those I kept in a box in my room or displayed on the dresser my brother Ken and I shared. And, I just had to know more about these incredible, improbable, fascinating abominations of nature.

And, so, the day came when browsing through the comics at Readmore Bookstore and making for my exit, along one of the aisles my eye was drawn to the cover of a book with the objects of my fascination in bright beautiful color.  I had never thought of them before as having different colors and hues, patterns even.  My rubber creations were chunks of solid color, products spewed from injection molds in monochrome blobs.  Opening the book was a revelation. Some of my fiercest replicas were actually plant eaters!!  And I was totally hooked.  I wanted to know everything in that book.  The book was written by Roy Chapman Andrews and was titled " All About Dinosaurs".

My classmates at Farley Elementary School love to recall me shocking teachers with my recitals of the names of "all" the dinosaurs.  Of course, it wasn’t really all the dinosaurs. but assuredly the list was impressive and must have seemed extensive and complete to those present on those occasions.

It came to pass on my next birthday, that book was the thing I most coveted and was fortunate to receive.  And it began a love for not only dinosaurs, but knowledge in general. In some measure that first book led to the makeup of who I would become as a person advancing my way through the frailties and challenges of this life to seek knowledge, reason, and understanding.

But I cannot close these recollections without giving credit to my mother.  She preferred to see her sons reading during their formative years regardless of others' perceptions of whether comic books were an appropriate source of content for children.  It was she who drew from her meager source of monetary allotment intended to run the household to make the purchases for me of that first Tyrannosaurus Rex, and all of those of its ilk that were to follow.  It was she who saw the light in my eyes that day in Readmore upon opening the crisp pages of Roy Chapman Andrews discoveries in the Gobi Desert.

And it was my mother who made sure that upon my birthday a few short weeks away I would receive my first real book, for no other reason than to see the light in my eyes again and the smile on my face.

My mother, Dee Wilson Ragan

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