Tossed and tumbled last night … but woke up thinking about Dick Hilburn … I looked back and realized I wrote about Dick in 2016…
Dick died in 1971 … at the age of 53 … He was born with only one arm and no legs, traveled mostly on a skateboard … He lived just north of Bladenboro on NC 410/131 at the NC 242 intersection. He was a tattoo artist, first one I ever heard of. He painted letters on commercial trucks. He married and he and his bride followed carnivals/roadshows for many years. When Dick wanted to go to town, maybe a 100 yards from his house, he mounted a skate, and pushed with his only arm and hand … While traveling, they met a young African-American with the same disabilities or near the same and he traveled with them … Carl Norwood was his name and at the fairs he was ‘The Frog Boy.”
If you lived in the Bladenboro area, you knew Dick, his bride and The Frog Boy … I say all that to share a headline in the local paper … “Local legless, one armed man escapes from 14 law enforcement officers”, he did and either had pre-arranged a ride back to Bladenboro or caught a ride…
Everyone in the Bladenboro area knew Dick Hilburn … He was born on January 15, 1918 and died in 1971. Richard Daniel (Dick) Hilburn … and as I wrote in April 2016 … he was, according to those who knew him, “the best, a strong-willed, hard working man with an unusual handicap.” Think you can still Google, and read the story…
I remember Dick, his bride and Frog Boy, not personal friends, but I walked that road as a youngster…
Don’t know why I thought of Dick Hilburn today … but I did…
Weather forecast for today … H-O-T, high near 92. Partly cloudy tonight with a low around 73. Wednesday, mostly sunny with a high near 92, heat index value as high as 102 and a 20% chance or rain.
“Start by doing what’s necessary, then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” Francis of Assisi
“Disability is a matter of perception. If you can do just one thing well, you’re needed by someone.” Martina Navratilova
“Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn’t know that so it goes on flying anyway.” Mary Kay Ash
robert g hester
rgh4612@gmail.com
910-876-2322
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