Chapter 4

Growing Up

Jimmy’s relationship to his black friends was not the only change that occurred around the time Jimmy entered the eighth grade. His faith changed too. Every Sunday since Jimmy was very young, Mr. Earl fixed breakfast before taking Jimmy and his sisters to church. He sent them to their own classes while he taught a Sunday school class for older boys. When Jimmy was nine, he moved into his father’s class. Jimmy attended Sunday school, memorized Bible verses, and listened to the preacher. For one week each summer, the church held a revival. The revival was a series of church services designed to renew the community’s faith. Each evening, visiting preachers gave powerful sermons. At the end of the sermon, the preacher asked nonmembers to step forward and accept Christ as their Savior. Jimmy was eleven when he stepped forward. The following Sunday, he was baptized along with other new church members.

At first, Jimmy believed everything he was taught in Sunday school and church. But by the time he was thirteen, he began to have doubts. He believed that God created the universe, and that Jesus Christ was God’s son. He believed that Christ had died for his sins. But he had trouble accepting Christ’s promise that all believers would receive eternal life. How could that be possible? Jimmy was afraid that death would separate him from the people he loved most — his mother and father. At the end of every prayer, he silently added the words, “And, God, please help me believe in the resurrection.” Jimmy thought he was the only person with doubts, and he was filled with guilt and loneliness. As he got older, prayer and Bible study eased his doubts, and his faith grew stronger.

Jimmy (bottom right) is shown here with some of his classmates at Plains High School.

Planning for the future

Jimmy worried about his future on earth too. From the time he was six, his goal had been to attend the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. He wanted to serve in the navy, like his uncle, Tom Gordy. “He was my distant hero,” Jimmy later wrote. “Through all the years of my boyhood, he and I wrote letters back and forth, mine giving news about the family and his coming from the far reaches of the Pacific Ocean and filled with information about the exotic places his ships were visiting.” Jimmy taped Uncle Tom’s postcards to his bedroom walls. One of Jimmy’s prized possessions was a three-foot model of a ship. He imagined himself sailing it across the ocean. At the time, he’d never even seen an ocean.

Jimmy wrote to the Naval Academy for a catalog. When it arrived, he studied the entrance requirements. Getting into the Naval Academy was going to be difficult. Jimmy worried that he was not tall enough, that his teeth didn’t meet perfectly, and that his feet were too flat. But Jimmy never lost sight of his goal. He read books about the navy and got excellent grades in school. However, to get into a military academy, he would need a special appointment from a congressman. That might not happen no matter how tall he grew or how many A’s he earned on his report card.

So Jimmy prepared for life as a farmer just in case his dream of going to Annapolis fell through. He joined the Future Farmers of America (FFA). He learned woodworking, blacksmithing, welding, and furniture making. He learned how to care for animals, crops, and farm equipment. The FFA held speaking competitions, as well as animal judging contests. Jimmy excelled. Eventually, he became one of the club’s officers.

Setting goals

Jimmy set difficult goals for himself. He expected to get excellent grades, excel at sports, and develop good mental habits. When he began the eighth grade in Plains, he wrote the following list:

Good Mental Habits

If you think in the right way, you will develop:

1. The habit of accomplishing what you attempt.

2. The habit of expecting to like other people.

3. The habit of deciding quickly what you’d like to do and doing it.

4. The habit of sticking to it.

5. The habit of welcoming cheerfully all wholesome ideas and experiences.

6. A person who wants to build good mental habits should avoid the idle daydream, should give up worry and anger; hatred and envy; should neither fear nor be ashamed of anything that is honest and purposeful.

At the all-white Plains High School, Jimmy applied these “Good Mental Habits.” Miss Coleman, the school superintendent, expected a good deal of all her students, whether they planned to become naval officers, farmers, or secretaries. She expected even more of Jimmy. He memorized Bible verses and poetry, took part in spelling bees and writing contests, listened to the music of world-renowned composers, and studied the paintings of famous artists. Miss Coleman held classroom debates on important issues of the day. Jimmy joined the debating team and competed against other schools.

Sports were a part of Jimmy’s school life too. The school’s baseball season occurred during spring planting. Mr. Earl needed Jimmy on the farm, so he couldn’t join the team, but he played pickup games every chance he got. In winter, Jimmy played basketball. His teammates called him “Peewee” because he was the shortest on the team, but he was also the quickest. Jimmy’s speed led him to victory as a member of the school’s track team too, and during his last two years of high school, he made the varsity basketball team.

Jimmy spent more and more time in Plains. The church held parties for children and teens. At first, Jimmy rode his bike to church events, but by the time he was twelve, his father let him drive to town for Sunday night meetings of the Baptist Young People’s Union (BYPU). Georgia did not require driver’s licenses until 1940, so Jimmy, like many farm boys, had learned to drive trucks and tractors around the farm. When Mr. Earl let Jimmy drive his pickup to town, he told Jimmy to go directly to the event and to return home as soon as it ended.

The church sponsored “pound parties” in private homes throughout Plains. Each person brought a pound of refreshments. That way, there was plenty to eat. Jimmy and his friends danced and visited while parents kept watch. The most popular dance of the day was the jitterbug, a kind of swing dance with lots of turns, spins, and lifts. The boys liked to twirl their partners and create complicated new steps. At “pound parties,” teens were required to switch partners often so that everyone had a chance to dance. Jimmy had lots of girlfriends, but he vowed that he wouldn’t say “I love you” until he met the girl he intended to marry. It was a vow he kept.