Tiger Beat - May 1970 (typed by Carol R.)

My Brother, Bobby (Part 2)
By his sister, Darlene

Another touching story from Bobby's past, told only as his sister can remember it for you.

Our Dad was in the Army and stationed in Texas at the time of Bobby's accident. Shortly after Bobby had his cast removed, Mom, Bobby and I moved to Texas for about six months, then we came back to California.

As Bobby got a little older, he started following me everywhere I went. I didn't mind because when I'd tell him to be quiet or sit down, he would. He was never any trouble.

BOBBY GOT HIT - I remember one day a bunch of kids and I were in the back yard throwing stones in the air, not thinking that anyone would get hurt. Bobby was standing beside me when one of the stones came down and hit him on the head. It cut his head open and he really hollered, but when Mom fixed him up he was fine.

When Bobby was two, I gave him chicken pox and a little while after that he got my mumps. You might say I gave him the best diseases of my life. Between the two of us we really kept Mom moving!

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL - I'll never forget when Bobby started school. On the first day, Mom walked with the two of us. Mom was a little worried that Bobby might not like it. When we arrived, Bobby turned to Mom and gave her a kiss and said, "See you later, Mom," then he told me to wait for him, so we could walk home together. With that, he walked into his class room. Mom had a look of flabbergastion on her face. I think she was a little disappointed that he didn't cry.

Long before Bobby started kindergarten, he and I used to play school and he couldn't wait to go to a real school. When the day was over, I went to his class room to pick him up. As we were walking home, I asked Bobby how he liked his first day at school. He said he didn't, because all they did was play and he wanted to learn how to read and write!

PRIDE AND JOY - One Christmas, Bobby got a jeep pedal car. It was his pride and joy. He had had it for about a month when he told us about his imaginary friend, Frank. One evening, Bobby came up to me and said, "Darlene, I'm mad at you for not saying hello to Frank!" Well, this was the first time I had heard anything about Frank, so I asked, "Where is Frank?" He said, "Right here beside me." Then I asked, "Where does Frank live?" Bobby said, "With us."

Well, no one was beside him and I knew we didn't take in any boarders, so I was a little confused. But as the days passed, Frank and Bobby were inseparable friends. They rode together in Bobby's jeep, held private conversations together and even went on picnics. Frank stayed with us for about three months. I asked Bobby one day where Frank was and he said he had gone to another house to live. That was the last time Frank was ever mentioned.

FAMILY MOVED - When Bobby was about seven, we moved from Los Angeles to San Fernando Valley. Both of us really liked our new house and the new friends we had made. We had lived in our new house a few months when Bobby decided to fill up the entire back yard with a homemade helicopter. He took the chain, pedals and wheels off his fairly new bike to aid his mighty aircraft off the ground, which never happened, much to Bobby's disappointment. Bobby would pedal that thing as hard as he could, and the blades would turn rapidly around, but to no avail. He just couldn't understand why it wouldn't take off. Mom kept telling him that it was a good thing that it didn't because then we would have to go out and get him a pilot's license.

Then Bobby switched to writing his own television scripts. At that time, "Dragnet" was the most popular television show on the air and Bobby's favorite. His scripts were based on this show. He even included the commercials! Bobby would have us all sit down, and he would act out all the parts or he would give us certain characters to do. All of us had a lot of fun with those scripts. They were really funny and very clever. I thought then that Bobby had a very good imagination.

WANTED A TRUMPET - Then one day Bobby went to Dad and Mom and told them he would like to have a trumpet. So, the following Christmas he got it. It was Christmas Eve and we were going out to visit our relatives. Dad told Bobby and I to go ahead outside and get in the car. We did, and what seemed like an hour later, Mom and Dad finally came out. When we got back home, we walked in the house and there was a piece of string with a note on the end of it. Dad told Bobby to read the note. It read, "At the other end of this string, you'll find your dream." Well, the string went in and out every room in the house, and I didn't think Bobby would ever find the other end, which was the trumpet!

Bobby was so excited. That's when we found out that Bobby had a natural talent for music. In no time, Bobby could play anything you wanted to hear. Of course, every night we went to bed listening to taps, and every morning we got up to his reveille!

HIS OWN DRUMS - The following Christmas, Bobby got a set of drums and a telescope. The house was just about knocked off its foundation when the drums were moved in. Our dad plays the guitar and banjo, so between the two of them our neighborhood enjoyed the music that flowed out of the Sherman's house.

Then Bobby decided he was going to make a television camera. He took all the lenses from his new telescope and put them on the T.V. camera. It really looked authentic. When you'd look through the lenses, the object in front of you would be upside down. Bobby even put flood lights on it. It really was neat, but when Dad found out that Bobby had taken the telescope apart, he just about had a fit.

DAD STUDIED ELECTRONICS - I took care of Bobby quite often because my mom worked as well as my dad, plus Dad was going to electronics school at night, which left me in charge until one of them got home. Bobby was easy to take care of because he always told me where he could be found and he'd always be back at the time I'd tell him to be.

We had a lot of fun together. One thing he'd get very annoyed at me about was when we would do the dishes. I'd hit him in the face with the wet dish rag teasingly and he, in turn, would hit me with the dish towel. We'd end up with more water on the floor than what was in the sink! I can't remember any bad fights that Bobby and I ever had. In fact, we never had any major fights, only the little ones that all brothers and sisters have.

When I started dating, Bobby never teased me or said anything about the fellas I was going with until I started going with the man who became my husband, Mac. Bobby liked Mac right from the beginning. Mac taught Bobby how to play chess and a few judo chops. Mac would take Bobby and I up to the Topanga Canyon to shoot tin cans with his guns.

One day Mac came by to pick me up to take a drive. Bobby asked if he could come along, and Mac said sure. Bobby sat in the back seat, and as we were driving along, Bobby leaned over the front seat and asked Mac when he was gong to marry me. I was so embarrassed, I could have clubbed him! Mac just laughed!

RICE EVERYWHERE - It was three months later that Mac and I got married. Bobby was the culprit that put rice in all our luggage and put it in the entire car! We had that car for four years and when we traded it in, it still had rice in it!

When I was expecting my first baby, Debbie, Bobby was so pleased. He wanted to feel her kicking inside me, and he asked a million questions and was very concerned how I felt. He kept telling me how beautiful I was. I certainly didn't think so, but he did.

The day we (Debbie and I) came home from the hospital, Bobby was there waiting for us. He couldn't wait to hold Debbie, but he was a little afraid at first. As he said, "she's so little." But he got to be a pro at it and he'd even give her her bottles. Debbie knew her Uncle Bobby, too. When he'd come in, she would squeal with delight.

Two years later when I was pregnant with Michael, Bobby acted the same way with me as he did when I carried Debbie. He kept telling me I was so beautiful. He's been this way through all my pregnancies, and any women he sees today that's pregnant, he'll say the same thing, that she's so beautiful. The way he feels about it is, it's the one time in a woman's life that she takes on an extra special glow and beauty.