In the book, "Memories" written by Ethel Walton, published in Feb 1981,she
has a chapter, "My Husband, Don Walton". A few sentences from this
chapter: "Don said he can remember his first day at school. He found out it is not wise to trip little girls. As Don recalls, this little
girl was a happy child, who skipped along the side of Don toward the front of
the room. Temptation took over the second time she skipped to the front of the room. Just as she got beside him, he stuck out his foot and
tripped her. She went flying to the front of the room on her belly. Don was
taken before the class and given a whipping. As Don said, "This was my
introduction to the class." Don jokes a lot, and one of the things he comes up with is, "I never had to worry about passing. They always
passed me to get rid of me." Don also says the teachers used to argue about
him, saying, "You take him, and No, you take him." .....Cars were
something children never even considered owning. It was a luxury for a family to
own a car. Children who grew up in town walked wherever they wanted to go.
Canton had street cars that Don could ride. They did not go far, but he would ride to the end of the rail and back, just for the ride. When
Don was 16 he quit school and went to work to help pay the expenses when his
sister Mable was sick before she died. Don was 15 when he worked for a car
dealer. Don drove a new car back from Detroit for the dealer....... He also worked at a Brick Yard at the age of 15. He was
a busy boy, helping deliver milk, groceries, papers and other odd jobs boys in town
could do."
When Ethel was writing her book, Don told her there were some things he would really rather forget. Ethel of course had to write
this in to her book: "What Don wanted to forget was the time he burnt his
aunt's privy down. Don tells the story like this: "My folks took me to my
aunts and were going to leave me there. I didn't want to stay, so I went out in
the privie, where a lot of newspapers were stacked up. It seemed like the
logical thing to do, and I simply lit a match and the whole privie went up into flames." "I never did understand why Dad got so mad. It was
only a privie.", Don said with a gleem in his eye. "It sure did get hot in
here though, boy did it get hot...... I didn't have to stay at my aunts."
Ethel continues her story: "More than likely, the thing he really doesn't
want talked about would be the time he was sleep walking. His mother never did get over her anger when someone would mention this,
even after many years had passed. As I heard the story told, Don was sleepwalking one night, and must have had a dream about using the chamber
pot, only when he woke, he had already woke his mother up, because it seems it
was her ear he was using instead of the pot. Don says, "I really don't know why she got so mad. After all, I didn't do it on purpose."
Ethel summarized Don's lifetime activities thus, "He has gone from a
factory worker to a sawmill operator a truck driver and then back to the sawmill, a farmer on a small farm in Illinois to a large dairy farm
in Wisconsin, a mobile home park builder in Wisconsin, a builder of houses and owner of an orange grove in Texas, a farm back in Wisconsin
again, which he later subdivided and developed, another mobile park in Savanna,
Illinois, and today our own house and ten acres of land.
ADDED NOTE: Don Walton was a hard working, extremely intelligent and wise,
and completely honest, successful, highly respected business man with strong moral values. Don was witty and fun to be around, always with
a grin and a sparkle in his eyes. He was active and hardworking until nearly 90 years of age. He passed this world, quietly in the night
just before his 94th birthday.
(Sharon Bearce)