A Tale of Three Boots

We are having an alumni luncheon at on April 28. We will sing "On a Hilltop in Missouri" one more time, even though the school is now down in a valley.

When I entered the school system, things were a bit more relaxed or simpler. 
 
I showed up at the old school on Central Avenue and was asked my name. I told them, George. Then I was asked if I had another name. I merely answered, "Boots," so for several days, my official name was "George Boots."
 
Then one afternoon one of my sisters stopped by to pick me up and was told they didn't have a George Weber in the class, and my name was corrected after that. Back in the early '30s, we lived a simpler life.

The present EHS is located on the old Kidd farm, where young Andy was born.  He had a nickname, which was also Boots, and his mother's maiden name was Annie Wallach, the same as my mother's maiden name.
 
About the same time, I was born on the Augustine Farm and was given the nickname Boots. Less than a mile away, Stanley Wallach was born on the same farm, and he became the Boots of that family.
 
In 1944, Stanley and I were drafted and entered the United States Marine Corps at the same time, and were given almost the same serial number. Mine was 981062 and his was 981063. After service, we ended up farming parts of the same farm.
 
Boots Kidd did service later, and I bought his truck when he entered. Then he died. In fact, since election day 2010, I found that 35 of my relatives and friends have died—which I am told by Stanley Boots Wallach that he and I will soon be the last of all World War II veterans from Eureka to still be residents of the city of Eureka.
 
I find that remarkable; Semper Fi to the nth degree. 

Maybe we should establish a Last Man's bottle, but neither of us drink any more.