What's a Country Boy Like Me Doing in a Place Like This?

Book excerpt: Quotes from "Country Boy" Chapter 1 "There are no insignificant events in our lives; it's just that we can't often perceive the significance. It's difficult to detect the pattern when you are just one thread in the tapestry." Chapter 2 "I think children today have too much social pressure on them, and too many organized activities. If every kid could occasionally lie on pine needles and watch the clouds go by, there might be less need for psychiatrists and drugs." Chapter 3 "I will never forget the first time I entered a GI mess hall. It was breakfast time and the cooks were preparing scrambled eggs from powdered eggs or something of that nature. The griddle was about a half-acre in area, in plain view, and was covered with large green bubbles. I have often wondered if Dr. Seuss book, Green Eggs and Ham was inspired by a GI mess hall." Chapter 4 "One of my roommates gave me a ride as far as Stephenville. I spent the night with him and his family, which was something of a revelation. His mother actually believed that the world was flat, and that the sun revolved around the Earth " Chapter 5 "A few minutes earlier John F.Kennedy had been a liberal, tax-and-spend Democrat, but we were Americans and he was our president and we were mad as hell, and I think a little bit scared, about what had happened." Chapter 6 "In Families Anonymous we learned about tough love and letting go.We learned that we were not in control of our children's lives, shouldn't try to be, and shouldn't feel bad because we weren't." "It would be interesting to observe the results of a president who had Carter's moral values and Nixon's political acumen, but perhaps the two attributes are mutually exclusive." "In the midst of all this madness one day I remembered something I had heard years earlier while watching Saturday morning cartoons with my son. Yogi Bear said, 'Boo Boo, as you grow older you will learn that the deeper in the woods you get, the more nuts you will find.' In the 70's the energy industry was pretty deep in the woods." Chapter 7 "Everything considered, I believe that I am in the top 1 percent of all the people who have ever lived. I state this not as a matter of pride, but as a matter of gratitude. My meager contribution is described in this book. It is obvious that most of my good fortune is the result of something greater than me." Eugene E. "Duke" Ellington is a 75 year-old retired natural gas engineer who resides in Kerrville, Texas. Duke was born in Iowa in 1933, and raised in Moultrie, Georgia, where he graduated high school in 1950. He spent almost four years in the Air Force during the Korean War, and was honorably discharged in 1954. He attended Texas College of Arts and Industries in Kingsville, Texas, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering in 1958. After graduation, he worked as an engineer for Conoco for 15 years, then as a consultant at Purvin & Gertz, Inc. in Dallas for almost 24 years. In this book, the author describes the incredible changes that have taken place during his life. The book is a rich fabric of the interwoven threads of his personal life, social and economic changes, race relations, political events and technological advances. Young people will be amazed, older people will reminisce, and all will laugh and cry, and think.