"Circumstance and Opportunity" and "Crisis and Circumstance"

"CIRCUMSTANCE AND OPPORTUNITY"

"Clarence states that this story would not have taken place had he not been robust for his age.  His Uncle Ralph had borrowed stan's Model-T Ford pickup truck to transport a piece of equipment to the ranch.  Stan and his brother, Ralph, owned a ranch some 20 miles south of town.  In town, their residences were two miles apart.  Clarence, age 10, accompanied his Uncle on this day's jaunt.  Enroute home, as they approached city limits, Uncle Ralph inquired of Clarence, "Do you know how to drive this truck?"  Clarence's agile mind answered in the affirmative and in anticipation.  Uncle Ralph explained that if Clarence could drive the car home from where he, Ralph, lived, it would save him a two mile walk.  This conversation set in motion the events that were to follow." 

"Upon their arrival at Uncle Ralph's place, Ralph disembarked and turned the vehicle over to Clarence.  And Clarence when ensconced behind the steering wheel, adjusted the spark and gas levers, released the emergency brake and pressed his foot against the clutch pedal...the one to the right on the floor.  (The Model-T Ford of 1921 vintage had 3 pedals on the floor to manage.)  As soon as the car was in motion at the tremendous speed of 10 miles per hour, Clarence adjusted the spark lever again, so that the vehicle ran smoothly in a chug-a-chug way.  He steered the truck right down Central Avenue and around the dummy at the intersection with Main Street and headed for home.  The thought entered his mind that he should have selected another route, but he was anxious to test the new piece of pavement that had just been laid down Main Street." 

"Now things were progressing nicely until he passed in front of his Dad's Drug Store.  Stan happened to be looking toward the street at that moment and recognized Clarence behind the steering wheel of his truck.  Aghast, he quickly nudged Monroe Claridge who was standing next to him, and told him to "run after that kid and take over the car."  This Monroe did.  He put his pedal extremities in motion and caught up with Clarence just another block away.  He shoved Clarence aside and took over the wheel.  Now in the dismayed vernacular of a 10 year old boy, whose ego had just been devastated, Clarence exclaimed that he was doing okay and would have had the truck at home in another two minutes.  And in the absence of any untoward circumstance, conjecture has it that he could have done just that.  Of course there was that matter of making three more turns of the steering wheel and bringing that vehicle to a halt once he entered the backyard.  There was also that little matter of managing the left foot pedal to stop it.  But those who conjectured, assumed in the final analysis that Clarence knew what a Model-T Ford was all about.  Three years later, he drove the family car all the way to Phoenix and back.  And that is another story."


"CRISIS AND CIRCUMSTANCE"

"At age 13, Clarence took over the steering wheel of his folk's Dodge sedan and drove his mother from Safford to Phoenix...a distance of 200 miles in those days.  There was no paved highway until they reached the Mesa-Phoenix area.  Stan, his Dad, had been removed from Safford to St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix.  He was seriously ill.  Clarence's mother, Elizabeth, had just given birth to Joy, the last child of the family.  Joy was only 12 days old when they undertook this trip.  Naturally, Elizabeth was anxious to check up on Stan.  This was her first opportunity.  Clarence recalls that he was still in knee pants at the time.  But at 50 miles per hour on good dirt roads, he maneuvered the Dodge sedan to its destination by the middle of the afternoon.  when they returned home the next day, Clarence did the driving again.  He and his mother and two close friends operated the Drug store until Stan could recover his health and return."  (An excerpt from Clarence Crandall's Personal History)

AN EXCERPT FROM ELIZABETH'S PERSONAL HISTORY

"[Stan] had the flu with the First World War epidemic.  It almost cost him his life.  He was in the hospital for 5 months.  Joy was born while he was in the St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoenix.  I let Clarence drive me and my baby down there when he was in knee pants and 13 years old.  Joy was only 12 days old but Stan wasn't expected to live.  I moved him to an apartment and Ralph and Hattie Crandall came over and took care of us both.  I took care of Stan..."