Edgar Everman might tell you a joke if you ask him about the secret to living a long and healthy life.
Before that, however, he might prescribe clean living, hard work, a good breakfast and faith in the Lord.
Childhood Memories
As a young boy, he built sleds to ride during winter, "but mostly I chopped Johnson grass in the corn. I started doing that as soon as I could handle a hoe," he said.
Grinning, he recalled a time when he and brother Arthur chose an unusual way to get to school.
"We were in Fourth of Fifth Grade and me and my brother Arthur rode oxen to school at Rock Springs," he said. "My dad had a farm and rented them from Judge Wolfford, who was George Wolfford's grandfather."
Everman was born December 6, 1924 and grew up with five brothers and three sisters. One of his sisters is still living, he said, adding "She's a little younger than me."
He says he was never a person with grand plans for life.
"I never wanted anything other than a comfortable living. I never had no big ambitions."
Duty Calls
Everman said he enjoyed life on the family farm until it was time to serve his country during World War II.
"I volunteered for the draft. I could've stayed out. I had two brothers in the Navy and I was the last one at home. We had 200 hens and eight cows milking so I had a deferment. I was delayed for six months. My friends had already gone, so I just didn't feel like staying out."
The family could've used him at home, "but they didn't complain about it," he said.
Off To War
In the Navy, Everman was initially studying to be a signalman, but had difficulty with aspects of relaying Morse code. Instead, he worked to become a quartermaster on an LCS-42 ship which had been converted into a gun ship.
Along with Australian forces, his crew participated in an invasion at Borneo and otherwise followed mine sweepers to explode enemy ordinance.
Thankfully, the war soon came to an end for Everman.
"We were practicing for a major invasion up until they dropped the bomb. We thought we would invade either Formosa or Japan. The 'A Bomb' might have saved my life."
Faith
"I was saved during World War II while I was aboard a ship on the way to Hawaii and I was baptized in Hawaii," he recalled, explaining he has always tried to reflect Christian values in his life.
"People thought I was a Christian before I was a Christian. I don't drink and I don't swear. I was brought up in a Christian family."
Read Edgar Everman's memories of coming home after World War II, establishing businesses, learning to operate a backhoe, breakfast routine and the punchline to a joke about the secret to living longer than everyone around you, in Part II of this story in an upcoming feature at Carter County Post(.com).