I was raised in the thriving metropolis of Mulberry, Florida which in the early 70's was a dusty little one red light town. Today it's a dusty little 3-4 red light town that now has a McDonalds so it's really moving forward at a rapid pace. Who knows, another one hundred or so years and there will be a Wal-Mart within the city limits.
If you look at the Wikipedia page on Mulberry which is a good 7-8 paragraphs in length you'll learn a couple of interesting facts. First and foremost is that it got it's name because there was a Mulberry tree by the railroad tracks and back in the 1800's they would drop off the mail under the tree. The tree served as a gathering place for the townsfolk to discuss the issues of the day and also as the "hanging tree". Kind of an all occasion tree.
Not too many famous folks have come out of Mulberry but we do claim a fella named John V. Atanassoff who has been declared as the inventor of the digital computer which is a pretty big deal because without the digital computer Al Gore could not have proclaimed himself as the "Father of the Internet". We also claim Bob Murphy who had a good bit of success on both the PGA and Sr. PGA Tour before becoming a golf commentator for CBS for a number of years and Wogan Badcock, Sr. who developed a large chain of furniture stores that can be found across Florida and several other southern states. Mulberry proudly proclaims itself as the "Phosphate Capital of the World". Phosphate is a mineral used in agriculture and various industries. Being the "Phosphate Capital of the World" however had a downside to it because it also meant the production of an extraordinary amount of dust and released a bunch of toxic stuff into the air and water which probably played a big role in my losing my hair at an early age.
http://www.themulberrypress.com
Although Mulberry wasn't exactly the cultural, intellectual or entertainment center of the universe it was a great place to grow up during a simpler day and age. There is one thing that I personally would rank us near the top at back in those days and that was giving each other nicknames. Some of these nicknames were descriptive in nature while others I have no earthly idea how we came up with them but we did. Most have faded into the past as time has marched on but some have endured the test of time and are still in use today. I'm not going to reveal the actual name of the person but rest assured there is a real person from Mulberry behind every one of them. If you're from Mulberry and I left you off the list it wasn't intentional, e-mail me yours or others you remember and I'll add them to the blog.
Kent.Tucker0731@gmail.com
Here we go:
Armadillo Duke
"E" or Big E
Stew Beef
Chick
Worm
Skeeter
Roundman
Tool
Possum
Sputnik
Bo
Crape Myrtle
Pig Turd
Buckwheat
Stymie
Gut
Baldy
Stinky Pete
Stringbean
Tater Rake
Preacher
Rap
and probably the best worst nickname of them all; Ugly.
As I said earlier, some of the nicknames were descriptive but I'm not going to pass judgment. The crazy thing I remember about Ugly was that even some of the teachers called him by his nickname. I don't know what happened to Ugly but I hope he's had a nice life.
Mine, Turtlehead Tucker to Jimmy Motsinger who named my best friend Armadillo Duke but mostly I was known as "Tuck" by most of my buddies. Not terribly creative but with the last name of Tucker it could have been worse!
