Son Of a Rutmachine

I am the oldest son of Mr. Wayne P. Rutledge, and I am proud of that fact. Dad was a fascinating person and I think he was a great Dad. He was a hard-working tire builder, second generation. By today’s standards he would not be considered “PC”, which I also admire. He married my mom in 1959 and stayed married until he passed in 2012. He worked at General Tire Rubber Company from 1961 until they shut the plant down around 1986 and moved all the jobs to the southern U.S. and eventually offshore. He was a union man (reluctantly). He bought a house in Ellet on Stevenson Avenue in 1959 and never moved. He wasn’t crazy about change and didn’t do it very often. What you saw was what you got.

In my youth, he was a lot like the dads of my friends growing up. Men who got up early every day and went into a hot and dirty tire plant and worked their shifts and came home to a family of 3.2 children. He bowled, played softball, loved to fish, enjoyed cars and going to the drag races, did a lot of camping, went to church on Sunday, mowed the yard on Saturday and loved going to the numerous drive-ins around town for hamburgs and onion rings. He loved music and had a diverse taste in music which he passed on to me and my siblings. We got pizza from Fiesta and wore out the local Lawson’s convenient store for chip chop ham, potato chips and R.C. cola in glass bottles. He liked building car models and hated going to the grocery store or shopping mall. We all had to eat dinner together and we didn’t start until he sat down. Dad was a good-sized fella with strong forearms and hands. Once he grabbed me, I was not going anywhere.

He was very funny with a great sense of humor combined with little to no patience and a short temper. He knew everybody! Everywhere we went he would know someone and chat them up and exchange horrible dad jokes. He always went into the bank so he could flirt with the tellers. If he didn’t get to see the doctor at an appointment within 15 minutes he was out of there and they would chase him down in the parking lot. He actually had a note in his files that said he was a “flight risk.”

He was tough on me when I was growing up and he was a totally different person with my kids. Deep down he was a softie, but I would not recommend that you tell him that to his face. Before technology made its way into home electronics, I was his remote control. He would call me downstairs and then tell me to turn the channel and laugh as I grumbled and walked back upstairs.

Like many in my community, he was not someone you would want to mess with but as a young lad I had to try him. In fact, I tried him A LOT! Between my brother and I, we worked him over pretty good sometimes. I would always be doing a cost / benefit analysis mentally if I was thinking about doing something stupid or risky. Was it worth it? Usually, I rolled the dice and went for it. I also spent a lot of time looking at the four walls of my room (or running for cover!).

There are SO MANY stories to share about me and the Big Guy. I called him “Old Man” once……..ONCE. He didn’t care for that and let me know in no uncertain terms. But in a house of a dad and two sons, the alpha male stuff started in my teen years. He won, of course, but I have some funny stories to share of when I won a few. Since he is passed now, I feel safe in sharing them!

But First…A Joke:

A little girl notices some strands of her mother’s hair are turning white. “Mom, “ she asks, “Why is your hair turning white?”

Annoyed, her mother responds, “Because I have a little girl who is constantly making trouble and causing me to worry.”

The little girl thinks about it for a few minutes and says, “So why is Grandma’s hair all white?”

A Verse to Contemplate:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Romans 8:35

Have I Told You This One?

My brother Allen and I used to fight all the time and my dad got tired of breaking it up. Since I was older, bigger, stronger he would warn me to knock it off and leave Allen alone. My brother used this to his advantage and would start stuff with me thinking I would not retaliate. He thought wrong! One time I had Allen pinned to the floor in the living room and was working him over pretty good and all of the sudden I could hear dad charging up from the basement. I’m sure it sounded like we were coming through the floor. He looks at me and says “You can fight me if you want to fight someone!” I didn’t think it was strategically a good time to backfill on the reason I was over top of my brother and instead rolled off and got behind a chair that had a high back. Dad was trying to grab me, and I kept dodging him and eventually rolled out and ran out the front door and up the street. He is standing in the front yard and yells “I know where you live!” He had a point. I stayed out a few hours until he calmed down and snuck back in the house later that day. I got the message.

The next story is somewhat similar. It starts out with my brother and I fighting in the living room but ends with us working as a team. Dad had this stylish chair back in the 70’s. It was low to the ground and shaped like a horizontal “s.” When he came home from work he would pick the paper up and drop into it and read the paper and relax some before dinner. Well, when Allen and I were going at it, I picked him up and body slammed him into the chair and the frame and springs broke into multiple pieces. Allen and I instantly became best friends and tried to figure out our next move. I held up the chair and told Allen to put everything back under the chair and I would place the chair back on top and when the next person sat in it, well you know. Dad comes home like clockwork, picks up the paper and drops into the chair and the pieces go everywhere and he rolls out into the middle of floor and has a very surprised look on his face. Allen and I look totally surprised and say to him, “What did you do to the chair Dad?” and then we went outside only to hear him telling mom what a lousy chair it was. Sorry Dad. It was pretty funny though.

Dad made most of my baseball and football games but I didn’t always know he was there. He didn’t make himself stand out during the games. He told me when I started playing sports that he was not going to do any butt kissing of the coaches and if I was going to make it, I would have to make it on my own. I was good with that. One summer in high school, I was playing on a travel team and we were playing on the high school field which was a big deal to me. I was pretty cocky back in those days and I was on first after a single. The next batter up got a hit and I tried to go first to third and was thrown out at third, but I thought I had beat the tag. I got up and was kicking dirt and threw my helmet and reluctantly went into the dugout. My teammates didn’t say much because they knew I was mad. All of the sudden I hear dad’s booming voice from the other end of the dugout, “Mark! Get over here now!” So now I have to walk past my teammates and this time they have plenty to say. “Hey Rut, looks like your dad’s here, tell him I said hi! and “I wonder what your dad wants.” I get to the other end and dad lights me up and let’s me know if I do anything like that again, he was going to pull me out himself. “Yes sir” was all I could come up with. Then I got to walk past my teammates again. “How was the talk with your dad?” and “Your dad looks good in jeans”. I mumbled “shut up” and took my place on the bench. Dad won that round.

We used to wrestle a lot when I was growing up. I had started to play football and lift weights and I was getting stronger so I thought I would try my luck with Wayne P. For the first time ever in one of our matches I got leverage on him as he was laying in his bed. The bed was up against the wall and I had him pinned against the bed and wall and started stuffing him in the ever widening crack. He was trying so hard and I was just laughing at him. Mom heard us and came running in and says, “Don’t hurt your dad, Mark” This did not sit well with dad and I said “Okay, dad I guess I have to stop kicking your butt, your wife wants me to stop!” I laughed as mom dug him out of the crack. That one goes to me!

I always knew dad loved me and was proud of me but once when he was getting pretty close to death I was talking with my mom, and I asked her “Does dad like me?” My question was one of curiosity. My personality and his were not the same and as an adult I was just curious if dad liked spending time together. He’s a quiet guy and I’m not, that kind of thing. Of course, mom freaks out and assures me that he does, and I told her that it’s okay. I know a little of me can go a long way sometimes. I was curious, not mad or sad. Next thing I know, dad is calling me on the phone. I can count on one hand the number of times dad called me “just to talk.” Guys of that generation usually didn’t say things like “I love you” and that sort of thing to their kids, especially the guys. He did say something that day that I will always remember. He told me that as a parent you know you aren’t going to get everything right and you just hope that you don’t screw your kids up too bad. He told me he was proud of me and then gave the phone to mom.

One last funny story about him for now. My family and I were up visiting at the house in Akron and as we were getting ready to leave, as usual, we were all out hugging and shaking hands and saying prayers for a safe trip back to Georgia. For reasons I still am not sure of, I told dad goodbye and then……kissed him on the lips and told him I loved him! Everyone just stopped and held their collective breaths. We waited to see what dad would say. I’m dumbfounded and have no idea what just happened. It had never happened before or since. Dad tries to brush it off and I just looked at him and said, “what’s the matter, you never been kissed by a man before?” Then he chased me around the yard.

I really miss my dad but thankfully I have a ton of really good memories. Once someone leaves you tend to focus on the good ones more than the bad ones but I’m glad I had my dad growing up and he still makes me smile just thinking about him.

See you soon Pop, tell mom I said hi!

A Prayer:

Heavenly Father, help me to acknowledge my weaknesses so You can perfect Your power in me.

Book Recommendation:

Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller (2003)

Music Recommendation:

Up Tight by Booker T & The MG’s (1969) Contains dad’s favorite song - “Time Is Tight”