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Mr. Burl's old sled.
It's a Flexible Flyer and about 90 years old. |
This week, Don writes about the sleigh riding stories his father used to tell. We wanted to get this up while the snow is still either on or fresh in our memories, and I would have done it sooner, but I've misplaced a bit of writing that Mr. Burl himself wrote about it. When I do find it, I'll update this post, but for now we'll share what we remember him telling us.
We often heard sleigh riding stories about Daddy and his friends. Even though he and his first cousin,R.W.,* were both hurt badly sledding, they absolutely loved it! The hill to Sharpsburg was in front of their houses and when they were kids it was not paved. It was not only gravel, but also very crooked, and it wasn't until the 80's that the whiplash curve at the bottom was straightened and a new bridge was built over Prickley Ash stream.
Because of the curve at the bottom, the boys would bail out before they got to it if possible. Many were injured because of the bail out and the barbed wire along the road. Daddy’s injuries caused him to miss six weeks of school. In his words, he “peeled the hide" off his shin all the way down to the ankle. A local doctor made a daily house call to check on him and to put Mercurochrome on it and change the bandages.
R.W. had a bad sleigh wreck as well. He was badly injured and would eventually need surgery - surgery which he did not survive. His brother Dr. Owings Kincaid was there with him when he died at St. Joseph Infirmary in Louisville.
Daddy also loved telling about tying the sleds to some old car and being pulled around town. He always bragged that his sled was the only one to survive all the crashes. Our guess on its age is about 90 years old. It was new about 1926 when Daddy was ten or so. We still have the sled and it still goes fast! ~Don
*We'll share some old newspaper clippings about the death/funeral a bit later, including the obituary/memoriam that Henry Ficklin wrote.
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A young R.W. with his father Reuben.
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| R.W.'s grave marker at the Owingsville Cemetery. |
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| Owings Kincaid (back row on the far left) when he was a resident at Vanderbilt. He would go on to have a very successful career at the Mayo Clinic. |
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| Owings and Burl Kincaid, first cousins and life-long friends. Both men (and R.W.) served in WWII. |
Here is a link to Owings Kincaid's obituary. Somewhere we have correspondence between Mr. Burl and Owings (who remained close throughout their lives), and when we get to that we'll share any items that might be of interest.