Posted on 09/26/2006 3:53:18 AM PDT by Cagey
SYRINGA, Idaho - It was a ricochet nearly 50 years in the making. At age 8, Terry Jackson gave up his prized .22-caliber Winchester short-barrel rifle to get his grandmother a washer. Recently, the 57-year-old got the gun back through a series of chance encounters and conversations.
"I didn't even have much reaction," said Jackson. "I was so dumbfounded."
As a boy, Jackson felt bad that his grandmother was too poor to have a washer. So he took the rifle he had earned money for by mowing lawns and doing other chores to a pawn shop.
"That was the only thing I had that was worth anything," Jackson told The Lewiston Tribune.
The pawn shop owner agreed to trade a wringer washer for the rifle. When the washer was delivered to his grandmother, Edna Jackson, she refused it until realizing the sacrifice her grandson had made.
"She just couldn't believe it," Jackson said.
The rifle, meanwhile, remained with the pawn shop owner, Bill Jackson. He never sold the rifle, instead giving it to family friend James Grow in the 1980s, recounting the story that accompanied the rifle.
"He told me the story but I never thought anything about it," Grow said. "I didn't even know who Terry Jackson was at the time, although Bill did tell me his name."
Grow said Bill Jackson told him the gun might be worth something someday. He never shot the rifle and kept it in his closet.
Grow become an attorney in Lewiston, and Terry Jackson recently hired Grow to do some legal work. The connection might not have been made about the rifle except for a conversation Becky Brotnov, Terry Jackson's companion, had with Grow during a business lunch.
She told the story of Terry Jackson giving up the rifle to get the washer.
"All of a sudden it dawned on me, I own the gun," Grow said.
After hearing the story, Grow said he knew he wouldn't keep the gun. So he recently drove to Terry Jackson's home to return the rifle.
"That was a really nice thing he did for his grandma," Grow said.
Wow! Awesome. Thanks for posting this.
Nice article! (I checked the link, and they really did put "hawk" in the original title, instead of "hock"!)
Great story. Just imagine the horror in the headlines today - an 8 year old owning a .22
....
LOL -- but you're right, bonyx.
Helluva story to start the day out, C. Thanks for posting it.
I've heard people use the term "hawk" to describe a sale, but I think you're right. He didn't sell his rifle, he effectively traded it.
I was reading American Rifleman the other day and they had a photo of a bunch of kids holding rifles and that picture was taken in 1929. From then until not too many years ago it was normal to see kids with rifles or shotguns. Real or fake.
Can you imagine the horror if the story about an eight year old trading in his rifle for a washing machine were to happen today?
They'd ban the kid from school forever and have his grandma in jail for one reason or another.
Great story PING!
Yeah, but those were the days when we could trust people, because the "gummit" wasn't so involved in lives of families, LOL!
Seventy five years ago, the Ten Commandments were part of a kid's education.
And there was no "Reality television."
And most parents took responsibility for their kids.
And street drugs were not prevalent.
And, the ACLU did not have the clout it does today (it was founded in 1920).
And, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton had not yet corrupted several generations of youngsters.
Ahhhhhhhhhhh -- you get the drift. It would take a book to differentiate 1926 FRom 2006, and I haven't the time to write in now.
Very heartwarming story to have my coffee with, thanks.
And one final point: Citizenship was a most important virtue back in the day.
Kids learned the finer points of good citizenship FRom school, their peers and adults. Examples of good citizenship were there for everyone to see and emulate.
Bad citizenship was punished. Anyone recall the Principal's Paddle? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?
IMHO, the environment kids grow up in today hardly teaches them that being a good citizen in important to their present and their future.
He almost certainly "hocked" the rifle, especially since it went to a pawn shop ("hock" is synonymous with "pawm"). To hawk goods is so sell them in public, typically by calling out; a typical example of a hawker would be the person selling peanuts at a ball game.
Then again, if a computer spell-checker accepts a word, it must be write, rite?
Everybody go do something nice for your Grandma.
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