First: If you were to survive the harshness of the Red River valley during and after the Great Depression you had to have the ability to create your own existence. Some did and some failed … dad excelled! You had to have survival value, or in terms past to be a Jack-of-all-trades. Some were better than others at fitting into various roles and situations and seemed to actually enjoy the challenge. Dad excelled! You had to make do with what you had. "Making do," as dad called it was a thing he took a lot of pride in and yes, he excelled at that too.
More than anything else dad was a dreamer and when he latched onto a worthy dream he never let go. That is a quality that I might say is the one that I am most proud to have inherited. Dad's dream early on — possibly before he and mother married — was to own a rich bottom land farm on Red River, with a fishing hole. I remember sitting around the sheet iron heater many a winter night playing the "Dreamin' Big Game," as dad called it. We would dream about getting rich farming ourRed River farm; or how to catch a big male mink, that was tracking down on Red River; or ways to catch more big catfish out of Red River. Above getting rich farming and those other frivolous dreams, the Prices’ favorite subject to dream about was making a float trip down Red River to the Mississippi River. The final word on that dream always came from dad; “As soon as you graduate from High School!” It was much later, before I learned that dad's dream was that my favorite dream would get me through high school!
The last of a breed, you say, of country folks with survival value exhibited by them, in their struggle for existence. I think not. I am my dad’s son and I have three sons — survival value is present in each of us. Scientists would say, “It’s a trait … it’s in the genes.” My dad and I through our examples and words, I would like to think, had something to do with teaching survival value and not just spreading the genes around.