August 7, 2025 • 32 mins
Authenticity and craftsmanship shine through every moment of our conversation with Daniel "Stubbs" Lucus, whose remarkable journey from rural poverty to HGTV recognition captivates from start to finish.
Stubbs (only his mamma calls him Daniel) takes us back to his childhood, where, at just 10 years old, he started his first business—growing and selling peas with help from his grandfather's mule.
His entrepreneurial spirit defined his unconventional path through life. When traditional education wasn't working, he convinced school officials to let him attend vocational training as an eighth-grader by threatening to quit.
Despite being told that "left-handed men aren't good at nothing [sic]," he discovered his talent for woodworking and began mastering the skills that would define his career.
The storytelling here is masterful as Stubbs recounts his evolution into one of the region's most respected cabinet makers, eventually landing him regular appearances on HGTV's "Hometown" show based in Laurel, Mississippi. Between tales of hunting adventures that led to hosting "Real South Hunting" for a decade and the hilarious accidental marriage proposal to his wife of 28 years ("The only thing I'd change about you would be your address"), we witness the authentic character of a man who built success through determination and skilled hands.
What resonates most is how Stubbs frames each challenge as an opportunity—whether paying for his children's births with watermelon farming proceeds or working 16-hour days to support five kids in his blended family. His story showcases the power of practical wisdom, an unwavering work ethic, and staying true to your roots.
Want to hear more? We do too; we've invited Stubbs back for part two in September. In the meantime, share and rate Stories from Cold Springs to help us delight even more folks with Mississippi's most authentic storytelling podcast.
*Check out Stubbs's craftsmanship on HGTV's Hometown or find his Real South Hunting channel on YouTube.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Hello everybody and welcome to Stories from Cold
Springs.
I'm your host, j Stephen Beam.
This is a podcast where weconcentrate on creativity and
storytelling.
I've got to tell you I'mextremely excited about our
guest today.
Storytelling I've got to tellyou I'm extremely excited about
(00:27):
our guest today.
His name is Daniel Lucas, butif you call him Daniel Lucas,
many people won't know whoyou're talking about, because
his nickname is Stubbs Lucas.
Thanks for dropping by, stubbsLucas.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Man, it's an honor.
First of all, stubbs, tell ushow you got that name?
Oh gosh, that's been a longtime ago.
That was my, my grandpa.
We called him Dutt and his namewas Cicero, but anyway, cicero.
He was a cutter now and, ofcourse, when I was just just a
little boy, I was one of thefirst grandkids actually the
(01:02):
second, but you know the tenlittle fingers, ten little toes,
two brown eyes and a stubbylittle nose.
Well, every time I walked byhim he was going to grab my nose
and say I have a little stubbynose.
Then it went to stubby, thensomewhere along the road it went
to Stubbs.
Now there's all kind of rumorsfloating around about Stubbs,
(01:23):
but that's where it started, Ithink.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I've heard some of them.
I wouldn't doubt it.
You know your life, and allthat you've accomplished
fascinates me, so maybe youcould start with how you grew up
.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Right, very, very poor, very poor.
Four brothers and sisters Livedin a little two-room house.
Great life, I'd do it again,ain't no doubt about it.
By the time I was probably 10years old, I started my first
business and that was a peapatch of my very own.
My grandpa had a little plowmule and me and that little mule
(02:02):
.
What was the mule's name?
Do you remember, gosh?
I think we just called him Red,it's all right.
Yeah, he was a small mule.
I called him a jackass and thatwould make my grandpa so mad.
He did not want his mule calleda jackass and he used a lot
more prime words than that whenI would call his mule a jackass.
(02:23):
But his little mule I had I hadstarted had pea patch.
Daddy helped me get planted anddaddy was sick.
The whole life he had got downwas in the hospital with kidney
stones or his back or something.
I don't recall that.
So I was just a kid and, um, mypeas needed plowing, what we
would call laying by.
(02:43):
They'd been plowed one time andyou understand about laying by,
but it was time to lay the peasby.
Well, daddy wasn't there.
Well, I was a little kid to havea mule in the field.
Well, I went and asked my papamy papa, I did not call him a
jackass when I went to borrowhim.
I asked him, could I borrow hismule, you know?
And he said yeah.
So he went and hooked him up.
Well, I was just a kid With alittle mule when you first
(03:08):
hooked him up, he liked to walkreal fast.
So did I.
So the faster we walked, thequicker we got through.
So after about the second round, the little mule wanted to slow
down and I was putting awhipping on him.
So it would probably have beenan hour.
And you may remember thesetimes Back then, when you was in
(03:28):
the field working, you'd get aquart of ice water and a brown
paper bag and she'd put three of.
My grandma would put two orthree cubes of ice in it, that
brown paper bag.
You'd unscrew that lid on thatjar and it would be so good.
My grandpa come walking up.
I was behind the house, house,bunch of hedges there, and that
little mule was so tired he wasabout to fall down.
(03:50):
I had with him every time heslowed down.
That didn't work out well for me, no, but uh, the mule lived, it
didn't hurt him and, uh, I gotthe peas plowed and that was the
year that I was in business formyself, that was my.
I bought the fertilizer, Ibought the seed, I done the
plowing and I sold the peas andI started, 10, 11 years old, my
(04:13):
first little business rightthere.
Did you make a profit?
I did, I did.
I don't remember, of course,how I had the time.
Uh, I don't remember just whatI bought, but it was probably a
can of Skol and you knowsomething, I don't know what, a
pair of rubber boots, maybe Dogcollar, who knows?
Imported stuff, I'm sure.
Yeah, that was my first run,and I know.
(04:33):
Then, you know it's pretty goodbeing in business for yourself.
You could kind of do as youpleased, anyway, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
So you were in school ?
Oh yeah, Did you do okay inschool?
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Oh, for the most part .
When I went I done really good,yeah.
After I got up, probably aboutthe seventh grade, things
changed.
There was, all of a sudden,there were girls everywhere and
these girls had blossomed.
I remember you know what I'mtalking about.
(05:08):
Oh yeah, and it was so hard forme to, I don't know, I just
couldn't concentrate.
So I did fall back a little bitthen.
But oddly, you should ask andthis is not premeditated, y'all
doc just asked me.
But uh, I made it to the eighthgrade and so I went to the
counselor the first day ofeighth grade and I said I need
(05:31):
to go to Vo-Tech.
He said we don't do eighthgrader in Vo-Tech.
I said oh, okay, I said I'lljust quit.
Then and he said what do youmean?
You'll just quit?
I said I'll quit school.
I mean what do you mean?
You just quit?
I said I won't quit school.
I mean I, I'm not here.
I'm not gonna do very good inthese books.
If I could get down there wherethere wasn't no girls
everywhere, I could learn me atrade, but up here I I'm
(05:55):
occupied.
So he told me, you know, hecouldn't allow that I was too
young.
I said well, I'll see you later.
I'm gone, I won't be back.
Well, that evening of course I'mgonna get home.
But on the bus he called me inhis office.
He said what's your daddy gonnasay, you know, if you go home
and tell him you quit school,when he's gonna say, son, what
took so long?
(06:15):
He really wonders why I'm goinganyway able-bodied to work and
doesn't have a good job.
But anyway, he said, I think Ican get you in vo-tech.
So I did go to vo-tech for fouror five years, however many
years it took.
After that I went to weldingtrade and then auto mechanics
and did graduate high school.
(06:36):
Sure did.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
So you graduated high school.
Do you have any businesses foryourself at that point in your
life, or are you just going toschool?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I did.
I mean, I kept farming.
I farmed what we call truckfarming all the way through the
little hardware store inSummerall, right downtown, Pete
Waite's old store.
You know the one I'm talkingabout well.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I went to work there during the school week.
I could walk to the hardwarestore at school and then catch a
ride home.
I'd catch a ride with somebodycoming through, because we
closed at five and if it'd besomebody coming through town it
would give me a ride.
And it wasn't.
That was when I was 15.
So I got my first truck $150,f-150 Stepside.
(07:23):
I got it and then I had a wayto make money to buy gas and I
had a truck.
So just a few times that I hadto catch a ride home until I got
me a truck.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Let's go back just a moment.
You mentioned truck farming.
Some of our listeners may notknow exactly what you mean by
that.
What is truck farming?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Okay, truck farming, what we call it.
Now, what I've raised is that'sthat'll be when you plant peas,
potatoes, corn.
Uh, you see the old guyssitting side the road with their
truck.
They may have watermelons orcantaloupes or peas.
That's what we always calltruck farming.
So I'm, I grow squash, I grow,I growed.
(08:03):
We'll get to that later, butthe watermelons paid for two of
my kids to be born.
They sure did.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, you bought your truck, mm-hmm.
At that point you're still atVotac.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, okay oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
And so the years passed, mm-hmm, and you
graduated, mm-hmm.
Was everybody happy at yourhouse that they had a high
school graduate, or did they notcare one way or the other?
Speaker 1 (08:32):
I don't know that anybody went to the graduation
and probably Mama did.
Mama was really proud of me,she was, and Daddy was too.
They were proud of me.
I was the first to graduate,but I don't remember them going
to the graduation.
But no, they could have.
That's back when we as a matterof fact, they went back to that
this year at Summer Hall tograduate and on the football
(08:53):
field.
That's where we went tograduate and was on the football
field and we all went to sitdown and there wasn't no seat
for me.
It was not a seat.
So that is when uh, mr ww downs, that was an interesting night
way, how we cried it around Igot a girl to sit in my lap,
(09:13):
which did not bother me, not inthe least, but I told the girl
sitting there next to me I'llnever forget mr marshall lot,
she was a ale lucas and light.
We were sitting side by side.
I said you can, you can justsit on my lap here, won't be a
problem.
And, mr W W Downs, though,everybody knows W W.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
He was the principal.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Assistant principal.
Okay, for years, years andyears.
And he got up and announced heeven said I think he told that
night he'd be retiring becausehe said he would not retire
until he'd seen Stubbs Lucasgraduate.
And he was the one that calledthe name out and he said I
didn't know how many more yearsI was going to have to stay, but
(09:58):
since Stubbs is graduating.
And then he said I presentStubbs Daniel.
I don't think he even said onmy diploma it says Daniel in
parentheses, stubbs Daniel.
I don't even.
I don't think he even said onmy diploma it says Daniel in
parentheses, stubbs Lucas.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Now I've got to ask you were going to Votek, so you
were away from the girls, butdid you have girlfriends in high
school?
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Not particularly, and that's another story.
When I got down there and Ijust saw one of them, you'd
never believe this.
I went to Weldon and when Iwalked in the door there was
three girls taking welding.
I don't know if they'd want meto mention her name or not.
I wouldn't.
I just seen one of themyesterday.
(10:39):
Yesterday we are still friendsto this day.
As pretty as a speckled puppyunder a fig leaf was three of
the prettiest girls you've everseen in Votek.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
So your plan didn't exactly work out, then it really
did.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I wasn't mad about it .
We stayed in Votek together twoor three years.
We took and had the best time,and I did learn a lot about
welding.
When I finished that class Icould have certified anywhere in
the state.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Okay so you graduated .
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I did.
What did you do?
Then Went straight to Cochran.
At that point I had quit thehardware store and moved up to
get more hours at a servicestation, so that was changing
flats all the whole nine yards.
I at a service station, so thatwas a chain and flats all the
whole nine yard.
I had a complete line.
I was the guy just like on theold show Barney Five.
(11:35):
Yeah, oh yeah, I was gooper.
Oh, when you pulled up Iwatched you wind chill, gassed
you up, checked you all.
We had that service stationdowntown.
Some of it's tore down nowWorked there for I don't know,
maybe a couple of years.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
So you worked there?
You mentioned carpentry.
How did you learn that trade?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Simply again backtracking a little.
The summer, when I was 14, Iwent and worked with Jody
Williamson Jody, he's still ahero of mine to this day.
He was I don't know, he was acat, but he was a framer.
And he asked me to, you know,have him have a wounded job.
I said yeah, so that was thefirst year that I worked
(12:18):
carpentering After I gotgraduated.
There's a little story withthat, of course.
Tommy Reed Williamson, my herowas Toot Williamson, and Toot
asked me.
He said you want to go to workwith us?
Well, back in the day TommyReed was the man, he was the
(12:40):
best carpenter around.
I thought, man, if I could goto work with Tommy Reed, I mean
I could get three bucks an hour.
I mean they ain't nothing thatcould stop me.
I went out there and I didn'twork for just a few minutes.
He looked around and he saidson, if I'd have known you were
left-handed yesterday, you'd behome watching cartoons, because
(13:00):
I ain't never seen a left-handedman good at nothing.
So I think that may havemotivated me, just to show him
that a little short left-handedman could be a carpenter.
I think red helped me again.
I still love red this day redstill.
Uh, I still see him and to thisday I still call him paul red
(13:22):
you ever bring up the fact thatyou work for him and he fired
you.
No, he didn't fire me.
He said he wouldn't have neverhired me if he would have known
I was left-handed.
You stayed with him.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Oh, absolutely Okay, I misunderstood.
I quit him.
Yeah, you quit him.
Why did you quit him eventually?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Okay, that's me and Dito, my buddy Dito.
He passed away a couple ofyears ago, uh, fell off a ladder
, uh, still carpentering.
Of course I'm stillcarpentering.
But one day we were working anduh, it started raining.
So we kept our nail aprons inRed's truck and uh, it started
(14:01):
raining.
He said we're going to anotherjob.
It was in the summertime, itwas hot.
It was one of them littlethundershowers.
He said it ain't raining overat Lake Serene, we're going to
go deck that house.
We had two or three housesgoing.
I got thinking, man, I said Idon't want to deck a house today
, I just don't want to.
So I went and got a red truck.
(14:25):
I said I ain't going to deck nohouse.
He said what you going to do?
I said well, there was a fellowcalled me yesterday about
buying my truck.
I'm going to quit, sell mytruck, ride my motorcycle the
rest of the summer and enjoylife.
I was 18, 19.
So he jumped out and got his.
(14:45):
That lake brought out 19.
So he jumped out and got his.
Now, they were not a red truck.
He said I quit too.
We were working in Hattiesburg.
I just talked to Curtis Cornetta week or two ago.
It was his house.
He remembers every bit of this,perfect.
We get out to Hardy Street andRed's turning left.
We pull up beside him and waveat him, turn right.
(15:07):
He told one of the boys ridingwith him.
He said you can tell them twothis evening.
They're fired.
He didn't fire us.
We had done quit that night.
We didn't have a phone.
That night I heard Dito'smotorcycle.
He lived a couple of 300 yardsdown in the woods from us so I
was sitting on the porch and Iheard his motorcycle crank up.
(15:27):
He pulled up to the house.
He said well, that's the sameday.
We quit now.
But that night he said we gotto go back to work.
In the morning I said what inthe world?
And we just quit.
We'd quit like at dinner.
We'd rode our motorcycles allevening.
I sold my truck that evening.
So I had money, I had a goodmotorcycle and I didn't want to
(15:50):
work.
He said no, griffin and KennyRay.
Griffin just called and theyneed us to help them.
I said we ain't got nowheregoing.
He said Griffin bringing us atruck.
I said he's bringing a truck.
He said he'll be here in a fewminutes.
He pulled up in an orange.
I forgot.
(16:10):
We named the truck somethingeventually.
But we didn't even get one dayoff.
We me and Dito went right backto framing the next day we
intended to take the summer off.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Didn't work out for us it didn't work out.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
You were 18.
18 or 19.
I may have been 19 then.
I think I was 19.
We'd done worked about a yearwith Red.
I got out of school 18 andworked the summer, winter, and
it was the next summer, so I wasprobably 19.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Okay, then what happened, oh gosh.
Then I worked with everybody inthe country I worked.
All the Williamson's wereframers.
I worked with all theWilliamson's and the last one I
worked with was Sebring Room.
Sebring was framing andtrimming.
I decided to go in businessmyself.
Randall Russell teamed up.
He called me one night and saidI need help decking a house
(16:59):
Because me and him had workedwith Bud Weidson.
I said who's building it?
He said I am.
I said all right.
The next morning me and himwent and decked a 12-12 house.
I guess me and him stayedtogether a year, maybe a little
over.
When I quit him or when weseparated, I went strictly to
trimming cabinets.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
You learned that on the job.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I did.
I did when we went to work.
You remember I talked aboutKenny Ray and Griffin.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
The second job I had they done cabinets.
Kenny Ray, to this day, is thecabinet man.
You can ask anybody around hereto this day is the cabinet man.
You can ask anybody around here.
The 70s to mid-80s Kenny Raybuilt everybody's cabinets, so
he was one to learn from.
Now, never built a cabinet withhim, just being around it Just
(17:46):
listening to the talk, watchingwhat he's doing.
What little bit of time that Ihad to watch.
I picked up enough until Iknowed how to start.
Then, of course, I had to learnon my own.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Well, if I ask people around here who is the best
cabinetmaker around here, theysay Stubbs Lucas.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Well, I appreciate that we have built I don't know
how many hundreds of sets now,Hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds.
For sure it's been good to me,yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Okay, well, just share with us anything else you
feel, like stories or whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Yeah, well, we're talking about that.
The cabinet business has gotsomething to do with everything
I've ever done in my life, everyconnection I've ever had.
It goes right back around tothe cabinet business.
As you know, I'm on thehometown show HGTV.
(18:42):
It goes right back around tothe cabinets.
I've done the pilot show forBen and Aaron with Ben and Aaron
on the hometown show.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
So they redo houses right.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
They do.
That's right.
That's HGTV, hometown LaurelMississippi.
I imagine it's still number oneshow on HGTV so you can catch
me.
I don't do them all, but youcan catch me.
Usually six to ten houses ayear.
I do the cabinets for them.
Have a good time.
They're good folks Just abouteverything.
Real South Honey.
(19:14):
When I got started with realsouth hunting as a realtor, sold
brook, a house in some row, andthen I was looking for somebody
, a pro staff, on real southhunting.
So back around you know therealtor and the cabinet.
The realtor worked for mebuilding cabinets before he was
a realtor.
(19:34):
So I got tied up with realsouth hunting and had that was
10 good years of my life.
I've just I I'm gonna say quitthem.
I'm still an owner.
I hadn't sold my part but I'vekind of backed away from it just
because you do on that show.
I guess you'd call me the host,yeah, I guess, so I don't know
(19:55):
when we were doing commentary.
If you go to YouTube, you canprobably see that I about, like
today, done a lot of talking.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Now.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
I done a lot of hunting.
I had some really good timesand met some of the most awesome
people in the world.
Did you grow up hunting andfishing?
Absolutely, we eat quail likethree times a day for three
months out of the year.
That's back when.
Well, we'll throw back there aminute.
Basketball Summerall was knownfor its basketball.
(20:26):
They went to state championshipin 1976.
So that era of my life, theturkey tournament, thanksgiving
was big.
I mean, the gym was packedStanding around the floor.
Everybody went to see SummerHall play on the turkey
tournament every year.
Well, quail season openedThanksgiving Day.
(20:48):
You had Thanksgiving Day Fridayand Saturday.
Them three days caught us upfor the year because me and my
brother we cleaned everybody'squail.
Everybody quail hunted but themmen would come in at dark.
They'd stop by and throw thequail out at our house because
they wasn't cleaning quail.
That night they was going tothe ballgame, I can assure you.
(21:11):
Well, mama, to this day Ibelieve we could ask her she's
never froze a quail in her life.
She put them in salt water anddish pan and we eat them for
breakfast, lunch and supper.
Now, if Daddy didn't hunt for aday or two, we'd get ahead.
That Thanksgiving week We'd getway ahead, so she'd have enough
(21:32):
for the next week.
And then daddy hunted everysaturday and every evening that
he could, and then they wasalways the ones that hunted.
They just didn't want toprepare the quail.
Well, they got dropped off atour house.
Because we were poor five kids.
I think people felt sorry forus.
We didn't have much to eat.
No, truthfully, not just sayingthat so people would just come
(21:52):
by and drop off and mama can frya quail oh, my goodness, she
can fry one.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
So you had a lot of experience with hunting and
fishing, I'm sure too, so yougot on this show as a host with
a great background of knowledgeof that sport and, as I recall,
you made a lot of trips to otherareas of the country for, oh
yeah, to film your hunting showand, oh yeah, see a lot of
(22:22):
amazing things and hunt a lot ofamazing animals I really,
really did.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I've got a wall full.
I've got a wall full of turkeysand deer and we mainly hunted
turkey and deer, which, uh, youknow, I've always coon hunted,
rabbit hunted, squirrel hunted.
We'd done it all they was atone time.
At one time I had a dog foreverything.
I had bird dogs, quail dogs,duck dogs, rabbit dog, coon dog,
(22:47):
squirrel dog, you name it.
I had a dog for everything atone time and I always enjoyed
hunting with the dogs.
I enjoyed that Deer huntingwith dogs.
For a few years probably 10, 10, 12 years I deer hunted with
dogs.
We didn't work them winters.
When you get involved with doghunting, work will get in your
(23:07):
way like that.
So I probably went honest togoodness four or five years that
I didn't work, from the timedeer season opened to the time
deer season closed.
I dog hunted every day, exceptSunday.
Mama wouldn't allow that.
No, we went to church and ateSunday dinner at Mama's.
Yeah, couldn't do it.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
So you're in your 20s .
Did you ever decide it may betime to find a woman and settle
down?
Speaker 1 (23:34):
I did I married down.
I did I married young.
I did I married young at 21.
I married a little local Localgirl lived just across the field
, she was 17.
I was 21.
That lasted about 10 years.
Got two wonderful kids thatended Then.
It was, I thought at the time,her fault.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Well, sure yeah, yeah .
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Probably don't feel exactly that way now.
I may have had a little to dowith it.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
As we get older, we get wiser, don't we?
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Well, I've come to learn, you know, I still think
most of it was her I'm joking,it was mostly me, but we parted
ways.
I didn't like being single, doc.
That didn't work out good forme.
Neither did I stay single verylong, well that's one of my
(24:28):
favorite stories.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah, About you.
That you told me one time Madeyou tell it to me a couple of
times.
I just wanted to hear you sayit over and over.
So tell us about your presentwife.
Nan and I was trying to thinkthrough this story and y'all had
a date.
Had you known her before?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
I did.
I did Our kids, kind of got usback together.
I had known Nan through school.
Of course she was four or fiveyears under me, so I noticed she
was a captain of thecheerleaders.
You know, she was a oh, she's alittle doll and still is
Beautiful girl.
And my oldest little girl kepttelling me Daddy, don't worry
about it, I'm going to stay withMiss Nan this weekend.
(25:12):
And then she told me, she saidI want you to meet Miss Nan, and
I really and truly was notinterested in meeting nobody.
And I said I don't really needto meet Miss Nan.
Well, it worked around there amonth or two, a couple or three
months, and so I take Noelle toa little function.
And she said come meet Miss Nan.
(25:32):
Literally.
I said literally.
I said oh god, I'm going tomeet miss nan.
She's divorced too.
I said I really don't need nodrama in my life at this time.
I'm finally free.
And when I seen miss nan, Isaid oh nan little, oh, oh.
So I didn't make a big deal.
But a couple of nights later, acouple of nights later, I was
(25:57):
standing out.
It had got rather late.
I was standing out by my truck.
I'll never forget, never forget.
And it was off the hip.
It wasn't premeditated.
I was just standing there, Idrank my truck and I'd been
sitting in the house and it washot in there to me, it was cold
weather and it was big frost onthe windshield.
It was 1 or 2 o'clock in themorning and I was leaving and I
just you know how you feelsomebody looking at you.
(26:17):
I looked up and I was standingat her door.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
And what were you doing at her house?
Had y'all been on a?
Speaker 1 (26:22):
date.
Oh yeah, oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Okay, was that your first?
Speaker 1 (26:25):
date?
Probably the second or third.
It was right when we Okay, soshe's standing in the door she's
standing in the door Boy.
She is pretty Standing therewith that light.
She's just glowing, oh yeah.
And I look up and see her andshe's looking at me and I pull
up pretty close to her housewhen I park and she said can I
ask you something?
I said, absolutely, ask away.
(26:45):
She said tonight, if there wasone thing you could change about
me, what would it be?
And I mean time she said it.
I said the only thing I canthink of would be your address
and you could just see it, justgo from her head to her throat.
And she eased the door shut anddidn't say another word.
She took it that I asked her tomarry me and it wasn't but a
(27:10):
few days we got married.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah, did you take it that?
Speaker 1 (27:11):
way, I guess, so I was pretty well impressed.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
It was yeah For sure.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And how long ago was that About oh gosh?
That's probably been 27, 28years now, so it's been a good
marriage?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Absolutely, it has.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah, so she had children from before.
You had children from before.
You had children from beforeMm-hmm, did you have any
children?
Speaker 1 (27:37):
together.
We did, we did.
She had two, I had two, we hadone together.
It was like having two sets oftwins.
When we married, she got afour-year-old, eight-year-old, I
had a four-year-old,eight-year-old.
So I got two sets of braces,two, I won't say a dark spot in
my life.
That's when I disappeared.
I disappeared about 10 yearsthere and I worked 12 to 16
(28:00):
hours a day.
I didn't dog hunt, I got rid ofmy dogs.
Dan was born about a year and ahalf after we married.
So I went from two kids withnothing, no bill in this world,
to five kids, and you know, andthe girls growing up.
You know, by the time they got10 years old, I was spending
(28:21):
money on them and then it justelevated as they got older.
But yeah, I had to work about 10years.
Actually it's kind of a.
If I tell this story it'll beabout 10 years.
You'll say, well, how'd you getfrom 31 to 45?
What happened then?
I don't really know.
I just worked, Just worked.
I just worked, and that's thetruth.
(28:41):
I just worked.
I started wearing shoes when meand Nan were married.
She had never seen a man goback with it all the time and it
would embarrass her.
So I got used to wearing shoesand I just it was a changing
point for me all the way aroundI went to work, steady, uh,
before that I worked when Ineeded to yeah because I didn't
(29:04):
never want to, so when I neededto, I worked and I provided.
Now, we were not poor.
I had money all the time, not alot of money, but we was not on
food stamps.
We were not.
We didn't take any benefitsright I was gonna tell you a
while ago my farming paid for mykids to be born.
I'd plant me a watermelon patch.
I know I may be going over ontime, but you know I went.
(29:25):
I went to the doctor and youknow they said, uh yeah, how
much.
It was gonna be, six thousanddollars, something.
I said I'll pay you in in juneand the baby was going to be
born in july.
They said, well, we expectmonthly.
I said I don't have monthly.
I'll pay you a lump sum in june.
The baby's going to be bornjuly.
She'll actually come july 14th.
(29:45):
I said the last of june or thevery first of july, when my
watermelons come in, I'll pay,pay you the six thousand dollars
.
And the doctor, thereceptionist, we don't do that.
So I went and talked to thedoctor.
I didn't know him.
I said, doc, I don't know youand you don't know me, but I
tell you right now I'm a man ofmy word it doesn't matter if I
have to borrow it what I got todo.
I'll pay you by the 10th ofJuly.
(30:08):
You'll be paid in full.
Told the lady whatever he says,do it.
Sure enough, when I soldwatermelons I went and gave them
$6,000 in cash, counted it outin $100 bills.
And that's the way Noelle, myoldest, that's the way I paid
for her and the youngest, I paidboth of them watermelons and I
paid the other one with cabbagecabbage fill.
So truck plumbing paid for mykid to be born.
(30:30):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
That's when you're at the end here.
Do you have any more particularstories you wanted to be sure
you could talk about today?
We could go, I know we could go.
That was a dangerous question.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
That was a dangerous question because I don't want to
give you a bad name for havingtoo long a podcast.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Yeah Well, let me ask you this Again Real South
Hunting can be found on YouTube,yes, sir, and they'll see.
They still can see someepisodes with you on there, oh,
absolutely, oh, yeah, for years.
Look for Daniel Stubbs Lucas onthere.
He's a first-rate carpenter anda first-rate cabinet maker, a
(31:11):
good, good friend and truly aman that you can depend on, and
sometimes there doesn't seem tobe a lot of those in this world
for us sometimes, but he's oneof those.
Thank you, stubbs.
Yes, sir, stopping by andsharing your life story amongst
other stories.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
If you get the feedback, I'm not opposed to
picking up and going again.
If you get the right feedbackand anybody wants to hear any
more about what old Sub is doingor what he's doing me and Doc.
Every time we get together andDoc knows this we talk usually
for hours.
Doc's got good stories too.
I have to one-up him every timethat I can, but Doc's got good
(31:50):
stories.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
We grew up very similarly, but he's had a more
exciting life.
I have to admit that.
Once again, we thank you forjoining us.
Be sure to join us next monthwhen our next podcast will drop.
They drop on the 7th of everymonth and always have
interesting people of variousbackgrounds.
I promise you you won't bebored.
(32:12):
So once again, thanks, and seeyou next time.
Hello everybody and welcome to Stories from Cold
Springs.
I'm your host, j Stephen Beam.
This is a podcast where weconcentrate on creativity and
storytelling.
I've got to tell you I'mextremely excited about our
guest today.
Storytelling I've got to tellyou I'm extremely excited about
(00:27):
our guest today.
His name is Daniel Lucas, butif you call him Daniel Lucas,
many people won't know whoyou're talking about, because
his nickname is Stubbs Lucas.
Thanks for dropping by, stubbsLucas.
Speaker 1 (00:40):
Man, it's an honor.
First of all, stubbs, tell ushow you got that name?
Oh gosh, that's been a longtime ago.
That was my, my grandpa.
We called him Dutt and his namewas Cicero, but anyway, cicero.
He was a cutter now and, ofcourse, when I was just just a
little boy, I was one of thefirst grandkids actually the
(01:02):
second, but you know the tenlittle fingers, ten little toes,
two brown eyes and a stubbylittle nose.
Well, every time I walked byhim he was going to grab my nose
and say I have a little stubbynose.
Then it went to stubby, thensomewhere along the road it went
to Stubbs.
Now there's all kind of rumorsfloating around about Stubbs,
(01:23):
but that's where it started, Ithink.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
I've heard some of them.
I wouldn't doubt it.
You know your life, and allthat you've accomplished
fascinates me, so maybe youcould start with how you grew up
.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Right, very, very poor, very poor.
Four brothers and sisters Livedin a little two-room house.
Great life, I'd do it again,ain't no doubt about it.
By the time I was probably 10years old, I started my first
business and that was a peapatch of my very own.
My grandpa had a little plowmule and me and that little mule
(02:02):
.
What was the mule's name?
Do you remember, gosh?
I think we just called him Red,it's all right.
Yeah, he was a small mule.
I called him a jackass and thatwould make my grandpa so mad.
He did not want his mule calleda jackass and he used a lot
more prime words than that whenI would call his mule a jackass.
(02:23):
But his little mule I had I hadstarted had pea patch.
Daddy helped me get planted anddaddy was sick.
The whole life he had got downwas in the hospital with kidney
stones or his back or something.
I don't recall that.
So I was just a kid and, um, mypeas needed plowing, what we
would call laying by.
(02:43):
They'd been plowed one time andyou understand about laying by,
but it was time to lay the peasby.
Well, daddy wasn't there.
Well, I was a little kid to havea mule in the field.
Well, I went and asked my papamy papa, I did not call him a
jackass when I went to borrowhim.
I asked him, could I borrow hismule, you know?
And he said yeah.
So he went and hooked him up.
Well, I was just a kid With alittle mule when you first
(03:08):
hooked him up, he liked to walkreal fast.
So did I.
So the faster we walked, thequicker we got through.
So after about the second round, the little mule wanted to slow
down and I was putting awhipping on him.
So it would probably have beenan hour.
And you may remember thesetimes Back then, when you was in
(03:28):
the field working, you'd get aquart of ice water and a brown
paper bag and she'd put three of.
My grandma would put two orthree cubes of ice in it, that
brown paper bag.
You'd unscrew that lid on thatjar and it would be so good.
My grandpa come walking up.
I was behind the house, house,bunch of hedges there, and that
little mule was so tired he wasabout to fall down.
(03:50):
I had with him every time heslowed down.
That didn't work out well for me, no, but uh, the mule lived, it
didn't hurt him and, uh, I gotthe peas plowed and that was the
year that I was in business formyself, that was my.
I bought the fertilizer, Ibought the seed, I done the
plowing and I sold the peas andI started, 10, 11 years old, my
(04:13):
first little business rightthere.
Did you make a profit?
I did, I did.
I don't remember, of course,how I had the time.
Uh, I don't remember just whatI bought, but it was probably a
can of Skol and you knowsomething, I don't know what, a
pair of rubber boots, maybe Dogcollar, who knows?
Imported stuff, I'm sure.
Yeah, that was my first run,and I know.
(04:33):
Then, you know it's pretty goodbeing in business for yourself.
You could kind of do as youpleased, anyway, you know.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
So you were in school ?
Oh yeah, Did you do okay inschool?
Speaker 1 (04:46):
Oh, for the most part .
When I went I done really good,yeah.
After I got up, probably aboutthe seventh grade, things
changed.
There was, all of a sudden,there were girls everywhere and
these girls had blossomed.
I remember you know what I'mtalking about.
(05:08):
Oh yeah, and it was so hard forme to, I don't know, I just
couldn't concentrate.
So I did fall back a little bitthen.
But oddly, you should ask andthis is not premeditated, y'all
doc just asked me.
But uh, I made it to the eighthgrade and so I went to the
counselor the first day ofeighth grade and I said I need
(05:31):
to go to Vo-Tech.
He said we don't do eighthgrader in Vo-Tech.
I said oh, okay, I said I'lljust quit.
Then and he said what do youmean?
You'll just quit?
I said I'll quit school.
I mean what do you mean?
You just quit?
I said I won't quit school.
I mean I, I'm not here.
I'm not gonna do very good inthese books.
If I could get down there wherethere wasn't no girls
everywhere, I could learn me atrade, but up here I I'm
(05:55):
occupied.
So he told me, you know, hecouldn't allow that I was too
young.
I said well, I'll see you later.
I'm gone, I won't be back.
Well, that evening of course I'mgonna get home.
But on the bus he called me inhis office.
He said what's your daddy gonnasay, you know, if you go home
and tell him you quit school,when he's gonna say, son, what
took so long?
(06:15):
He really wonders why I'm goinganyway able-bodied to work and
doesn't have a good job.
But anyway, he said, I think Ican get you in vo-tech.
So I did go to vo-tech for fouror five years, however many
years it took.
After that I went to weldingtrade and then auto mechanics
and did graduate high school.
(06:36):
Sure did.
Speaker 2 (06:38):
So you graduated high school.
Do you have any businesses foryourself at that point in your
life, or are you just going toschool?
Speaker 1 (06:46):
I did.
I mean, I kept farming.
I farmed what we call truckfarming all the way through the
little hardware store inSummerall, right downtown, Pete
Waite's old store.
You know the one I'm talkingabout well.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
I went to work there during the school week.
I could walk to the hardwarestore at school and then catch a
ride home.
I'd catch a ride with somebodycoming through, because we
closed at five and if it'd besomebody coming through town it
would give me a ride.
And it wasn't.
That was when I was 15.
So I got my first truck $150,f-150 Stepside.
(07:23):
I got it and then I had a wayto make money to buy gas and I
had a truck.
So just a few times that I hadto catch a ride home until I got
me a truck.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Let's go back just a moment.
You mentioned truck farming.
Some of our listeners may notknow exactly what you mean by
that.
What is truck farming?
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Okay, truck farming, what we call it.
Now, what I've raised is that'sthat'll be when you plant peas,
potatoes, corn.
Uh, you see the old guyssitting side the road with their
truck.
They may have watermelons orcantaloupes or peas.
That's what we always calltruck farming.
So I'm, I grow squash, I grow,I growed.
(08:03):
We'll get to that later, butthe watermelons paid for two of
my kids to be born.
They sure did.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Yeah, you bought your truck, mm-hmm.
At that point you're still atVotac.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Oh yeah, oh yeah, okay oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:18):
And so the years passed, mm-hmm, and you
graduated, mm-hmm.
Was everybody happy at yourhouse that they had a high
school graduate, or did they notcare one way or the other?
Speaker 1 (08:32):
I don't know that anybody went to the graduation
and probably Mama did.
Mama was really proud of me,she was, and Daddy was too.
They were proud of me.
I was the first to graduate,but I don't remember them going
to the graduation.
But no, they could have.
That's back when we as a matterof fact, they went back to that
this year at Summer Hall tograduate and on the football
(08:53):
field.
That's where we went tograduate and was on the football
field and we all went to sitdown and there wasn't no seat
for me.
It was not a seat.
So that is when uh, mr ww downs, that was an interesting night
way, how we cried it around Igot a girl to sit in my lap,
(09:13):
which did not bother me, not inthe least, but I told the girl
sitting there next to me I'llnever forget mr marshall lot,
she was a ale lucas and light.
We were sitting side by side.
I said you can, you can justsit on my lap here, won't be a
problem.
And, mr W W Downs, though,everybody knows W W.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
He was the principal.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Assistant principal.
Okay, for years, years andyears.
And he got up and announced heeven said I think he told that
night he'd be retiring becausehe said he would not retire
until he'd seen Stubbs Lucasgraduate.
And he was the one that calledthe name out and he said I
didn't know how many more yearsI was going to have to stay, but
(09:58):
since Stubbs is graduating.
And then he said I presentStubbs Daniel.
I don't think he even said onmy diploma it says Daniel in
parentheses, stubbs Daniel.
I don't even.
I don't think he even said onmy diploma it says Daniel in
parentheses, stubbs Lucas.
Speaker 2 (10:09):
Now I've got to ask you were going to Votek, so you
were away from the girls, butdid you have girlfriends in high
school?
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Not particularly, and that's another story.
When I got down there and Ijust saw one of them, you'd
never believe this.
I went to Weldon and when Iwalked in the door there was
three girls taking welding.
I don't know if they'd want meto mention her name or not.
I wouldn't.
I just seen one of themyesterday.
(10:39):
Yesterday we are still friendsto this day.
As pretty as a speckled puppyunder a fig leaf was three of
the prettiest girls you've everseen in Votek.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
So your plan didn't exactly work out, then it really
did.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
I wasn't mad about it .
We stayed in Votek together twoor three years.
We took and had the best time,and I did learn a lot about
welding.
When I finished that class Icould have certified anywhere in
the state.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
Okay so you graduated .
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I did.
What did you do?
Then Went straight to Cochran.
At that point I had quit thehardware store and moved up to
get more hours at a servicestation, so that was changing
flats all the whole nine yards.
I at a service station, so thatwas a chain and flats all the
whole nine yard.
I had a complete line.
I was the guy just like on theold show Barney Five.
(11:35):
Yeah, oh yeah, I was gooper.
Oh, when you pulled up Iwatched you wind chill, gassed
you up, checked you all.
We had that service stationdowntown.
Some of it's tore down nowWorked there for I don't know,
maybe a couple of years.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
So you worked there?
You mentioned carpentry.
How did you learn that trade?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
Simply again backtracking a little.
The summer, when I was 14, Iwent and worked with Jody
Williamson Jody, he's still ahero of mine to this day.
He was I don't know, he was acat, but he was a framer.
And he asked me to, you know,have him have a wounded job.
I said yeah, so that was thefirst year that I worked
(12:18):
carpentering After I gotgraduated.
There's a little story withthat, of course.
Tommy Reed Williamson, my herowas Toot Williamson, and Toot
asked me.
He said you want to go to workwith us?
Well, back in the day TommyReed was the man, he was the
(12:40):
best carpenter around.
I thought, man, if I could goto work with Tommy Reed, I mean
I could get three bucks an hour.
I mean they ain't nothing thatcould stop me.
I went out there and I didn'twork for just a few minutes.
He looked around and he saidson, if I'd have known you were
left-handed yesterday, you'd behome watching cartoons, because
(13:00):
I ain't never seen a left-handedman good at nothing.
So I think that may havemotivated me, just to show him
that a little short left-handedman could be a carpenter.
I think red helped me again.
I still love red this day redstill.
Uh, I still see him and to thisday I still call him paul red
(13:22):
you ever bring up the fact thatyou work for him and he fired
you.
No, he didn't fire me.
He said he wouldn't have neverhired me if he would have known
I was left-handed.
You stayed with him.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Oh, absolutely Okay, I misunderstood.
I quit him.
Yeah, you quit him.
Why did you quit him eventually?
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Okay, that's me and Dito, my buddy Dito.
He passed away a couple ofyears ago, uh, fell off a ladder
, uh, still carpentering.
Of course I'm stillcarpentering.
But one day we were working anduh, it started raining.
So we kept our nail aprons inRed's truck and uh, it started
(14:01):
raining.
He said we're going to anotherjob.
It was in the summertime, itwas hot.
It was one of them littlethundershowers.
He said it ain't raining overat Lake Serene, we're going to
go deck that house.
We had two or three housesgoing.
I got thinking, man, I said Idon't want to deck a house today
, I just don't want to.
So I went and got a red truck.
(14:25):
I said I ain't going to deck nohouse.
He said what you going to do?
I said well, there was a fellowcalled me yesterday about
buying my truck.
I'm going to quit, sell mytruck, ride my motorcycle the
rest of the summer and enjoylife.
I was 18, 19.
So he jumped out and got his.
(14:45):
That lake brought out 19.
So he jumped out and got his.
Now, they were not a red truck.
He said I quit too.
We were working in Hattiesburg.
I just talked to Curtis Cornetta week or two ago.
It was his house.
He remembers every bit of this,perfect.
We get out to Hardy Street andRed's turning left.
We pull up beside him and waveat him, turn right.
(15:07):
He told one of the boys ridingwith him.
He said you can tell them twothis evening.
They're fired.
He didn't fire us.
We had done quit that night.
We didn't have a phone.
That night I heard Dito'smotorcycle.
He lived a couple of 300 yardsdown in the woods from us so I
was sitting on the porch and Iheard his motorcycle crank up.
(15:27):
He pulled up to the house.
He said well, that's the sameday.
We quit now.
But that night he said we gotto go back to work.
In the morning I said what inthe world?
And we just quit.
We'd quit like at dinner.
We'd rode our motorcycles allevening.
I sold my truck that evening.
So I had money, I had a goodmotorcycle and I didn't want to
(15:50):
work.
He said no, griffin and KennyRay.
Griffin just called and theyneed us to help them.
I said we ain't got nowheregoing.
He said Griffin bringing us atruck.
I said he's bringing a truck.
He said he'll be here in a fewminutes.
He pulled up in an orange.
I forgot.
(16:10):
We named the truck somethingeventually.
But we didn't even get one dayoff.
We me and Dito went right backto framing the next day we
intended to take the summer off.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Didn't work out for us it didn't work out.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
You were 18.
18 or 19.
I may have been 19 then.
I think I was 19.
We'd done worked about a yearwith Red.
I got out of school 18 andworked the summer, winter, and
it was the next summer, so I wasprobably 19.
Speaker 2 (16:35):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Okay, then what happened, oh gosh.
Then I worked with everybody inthe country I worked.
All the Williamson's wereframers.
I worked with all theWilliamson's and the last one I
worked with was Sebring Room.
Sebring was framing andtrimming.
I decided to go in businessmyself.
Randall Russell teamed up.
He called me one night and saidI need help decking a house
(16:59):
Because me and him had workedwith Bud Weidson.
I said who's building it?
He said I am.
I said all right.
The next morning me and himwent and decked a 12-12 house.
I guess me and him stayedtogether a year, maybe a little
over.
When I quit him or when weseparated, I went strictly to
trimming cabinets.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
You learned that on the job.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
I did.
I did when we went to work.
You remember I talked aboutKenny Ray and Griffin.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
The second job I had they done cabinets.
Kenny Ray, to this day, is thecabinet man.
You can ask anybody around hereto this day is the cabinet man.
You can ask anybody around here.
The 70s to mid-80s Kenny Raybuilt everybody's cabinets, so
he was one to learn from.
Now, never built a cabinet withhim, just being around it Just
(17:46):
listening to the talk, watchingwhat he's doing.
What little bit of time that Ihad to watch.
I picked up enough until Iknowed how to start.
Then, of course, I had to learnon my own.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Well, if I ask people around here who is the best
cabinetmaker around here, theysay Stubbs Lucas.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Well, I appreciate that we have built I don't know
how many hundreds of sets now,Hundreds and hundreds and
hundreds.
For sure it's been good to me,yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Okay, well, just share with us anything else you
feel, like stories or whatever.
Speaker 1 (18:20):
Yeah, well, we're talking about that.
The cabinet business has gotsomething to do with everything
I've ever done in my life, everyconnection I've ever had.
It goes right back around tothe cabinet business.
As you know, I'm on thehometown show HGTV.
(18:42):
It goes right back around tothe cabinets.
I've done the pilot show forBen and Aaron with Ben and Aaron
on the hometown show.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
So they redo houses right.
Speaker 1 (18:53):
They do.
That's right.
That's HGTV, hometown LaurelMississippi.
I imagine it's still number oneshow on HGTV so you can catch
me.
I don't do them all, but youcan catch me.
Usually six to ten houses ayear.
I do the cabinets for them.
Have a good time.
They're good folks Just abouteverything.
Real South Honey.
(19:14):
When I got started with realsouth hunting as a realtor, sold
brook, a house in some row, andthen I was looking for somebody
, a pro staff, on real southhunting.
So back around you know therealtor and the cabinet.
The realtor worked for mebuilding cabinets before he was
a realtor.
(19:34):
So I got tied up with realsouth hunting and had that was
10 good years of my life.
I've just I I'm gonna say quitthem.
I'm still an owner.
I hadn't sold my part but I'vekind of backed away from it just
because you do on that show.
I guess you'd call me the host,yeah, I guess, so I don't know
(19:55):
when we were doing commentary.
If you go to YouTube, you canprobably see that I about, like
today, done a lot of talking.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Now.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
I done a lot of hunting.
I had some really good timesand met some of the most awesome
people in the world.
Did you grow up hunting andfishing?
Absolutely, we eat quail likethree times a day for three
months out of the year.
That's back when.
Well, we'll throw back there aminute.
Basketball Summerall was knownfor its basketball.
(20:26):
They went to state championshipin 1976.
So that era of my life, theturkey tournament, thanksgiving
was big.
I mean, the gym was packedStanding around the floor.
Everybody went to see SummerHall play on the turkey
tournament every year.
Well, quail season openedThanksgiving Day.
(20:48):
You had Thanksgiving Day Fridayand Saturday.
Them three days caught us upfor the year because me and my
brother we cleaned everybody'squail.
Everybody quail hunted but themmen would come in at dark.
They'd stop by and throw thequail out at our house because
they wasn't cleaning quail.
That night they was going tothe ballgame, I can assure you.
(21:11):
Well, mama, to this day Ibelieve we could ask her she's
never froze a quail in her life.
She put them in salt water anddish pan and we eat them for
breakfast, lunch and supper.
Now, if Daddy didn't hunt for aday or two, we'd get ahead.
That Thanksgiving week We'd getway ahead, so she'd have enough
(21:32):
for the next week.
And then daddy hunted everysaturday and every evening that
he could, and then they wasalways the ones that hunted.
They just didn't want toprepare the quail.
Well, they got dropped off atour house.
Because we were poor five kids.
I think people felt sorry forus.
We didn't have much to eat.
No, truthfully, not just sayingthat so people would just come
(21:52):
by and drop off and mama can frya quail oh, my goodness, she
can fry one.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
So you had a lot of experience with hunting and
fishing, I'm sure too, so yougot on this show as a host with
a great background of knowledgeof that sport and, as I recall,
you made a lot of trips to otherareas of the country for, oh
yeah, to film your hunting showand, oh yeah, see a lot of
(22:22):
amazing things and hunt a lot ofamazing animals I really,
really did.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I've got a wall full.
I've got a wall full of turkeysand deer and we mainly hunted
turkey and deer, which, uh, youknow, I've always coon hunted,
rabbit hunted, squirrel hunted.
We'd done it all they was atone time.
At one time I had a dog foreverything.
I had bird dogs, quail dogs,duck dogs, rabbit dog, coon dog,
(22:47):
squirrel dog, you name it.
I had a dog for everything atone time and I always enjoyed
hunting with the dogs.
I enjoyed that Deer huntingwith dogs.
For a few years probably 10, 10, 12 years I deer hunted with
dogs.
We didn't work them winters.
When you get involved with doghunting, work will get in your
(23:07):
way like that.
So I probably went honest togoodness four or five years that
I didn't work, from the timedeer season opened to the time
deer season closed.
I dog hunted every day, exceptSunday.
Mama wouldn't allow that.
No, we went to church and ateSunday dinner at Mama's.
Yeah, couldn't do it.
Speaker 2 (23:27):
So you're in your 20s .
Did you ever decide it may betime to find a woman and settle
down?
Speaker 1 (23:34):
I did I married down.
I did I married young.
I did I married young at 21.
I married a little local Localgirl lived just across the field
, she was 17.
I was 21.
That lasted about 10 years.
Got two wonderful kids thatended Then.
It was, I thought at the time,her fault.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Well, sure yeah, yeah .
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Probably don't feel exactly that way now.
I may have had a little to dowith it.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:05):
As we get older, we get wiser, don't we?
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Well, I've come to learn, you know, I still think
most of it was her I'm joking,it was mostly me, but we parted
ways.
I didn't like being single, doc.
That didn't work out good forme.
Neither did I stay single verylong, well that's one of my
(24:28):
favorite stories.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
Yeah, About you.
That you told me one time Madeyou tell it to me a couple of
times.
I just wanted to hear you sayit over and over.
So tell us about your presentwife.
Nan and I was trying to thinkthrough this story and y'all had
a date.
Had you known her before?
Speaker 1 (24:50):
I did.
I did Our kids, kind of got usback together.
I had known Nan through school.
Of course she was four or fiveyears under me, so I noticed she
was a captain of thecheerleaders.
You know, she was a oh, she's alittle doll and still is
Beautiful girl.
And my oldest little girl kepttelling me Daddy, don't worry
about it, I'm going to stay withMiss Nan this weekend.
(25:12):
And then she told me, she saidI want you to meet Miss Nan, and
I really and truly was notinterested in meeting nobody.
And I said I don't really needto meet Miss Nan.
Well, it worked around there amonth or two, a couple or three
months, and so I take Noelle toa little function.
And she said come meet Miss Nan.
(25:32):
Literally.
I said literally.
I said oh god, I'm going tomeet miss nan.
She's divorced too.
I said I really don't need nodrama in my life at this time.
I'm finally free.
And when I seen miss nan, Isaid oh nan little, oh, oh.
So I didn't make a big deal.
But a couple of nights later, acouple of nights later, I was
(25:57):
standing out.
It had got rather late.
I was standing out by my truck.
I'll never forget, never forget.
And it was off the hip.
It wasn't premeditated.
I was just standing there, Idrank my truck and I'd been
sitting in the house and it washot in there to me, it was cold
weather and it was big frost onthe windshield.
It was 1 or 2 o'clock in themorning and I was leaving and I
just you know how you feelsomebody looking at you.
(26:17):
I looked up and I was standingat her door.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
And what were you doing at her house?
Had y'all been on a?
Speaker 1 (26:22):
date.
Oh yeah, oh yeah yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Okay, was that your first?
Speaker 1 (26:25):
date?
Probably the second or third.
It was right when we Okay, soshe's standing in the door she's
standing in the door Boy.
She is pretty Standing therewith that light.
She's just glowing, oh yeah.
And I look up and see her andshe's looking at me and I pull
up pretty close to her housewhen I park and she said can I
ask you something?
I said, absolutely, ask away.
(26:45):
She said tonight, if there wasone thing you could change about
me, what would it be?
And I mean time she said it.
I said the only thing I canthink of would be your address
and you could just see it, justgo from her head to her throat.
And she eased the door shut anddidn't say another word.
She took it that I asked her tomarry me and it wasn't but a
(27:10):
few days we got married.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
Yeah, did you take it that?
Speaker 1 (27:11):
way, I guess, so I was pretty well impressed.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
It was yeah For sure.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
And how long ago was that About oh gosh?
That's probably been 27, 28years now, so it's been a good
marriage?
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Oh, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (27:28):
Absolutely, it has.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yeah, so she had children from before.
You had children from before.
You had children from beforeMm-hmm, did you have any
children?
Speaker 1 (27:37):
together.
We did, we did.
She had two, I had two, we hadone together.
It was like having two sets oftwins.
When we married, she got afour-year-old, eight-year-old, I
had a four-year-old,eight-year-old.
So I got two sets of braces,two, I won't say a dark spot in
my life.
That's when I disappeared.
I disappeared about 10 yearsthere and I worked 12 to 16
(28:00):
hours a day.
I didn't dog hunt, I got rid ofmy dogs.
Dan was born about a year and ahalf after we married.
So I went from two kids withnothing, no bill in this world,
to five kids, and you know, andthe girls growing up.
You know, by the time they got10 years old, I was spending
(28:21):
money on them and then it justelevated as they got older.
But yeah, I had to work about 10years.
Actually it's kind of a.
If I tell this story it'll beabout 10 years.
You'll say, well, how'd you getfrom 31 to 45?
What happened then?
I don't really know.
I just worked, Just worked.
I just worked, and that's thetruth.
(28:41):
I just worked.
I started wearing shoes when meand Nan were married.
She had never seen a man goback with it all the time and it
would embarrass her.
So I got used to wearing shoesand I just it was a changing
point for me all the way aroundI went to work, steady, uh,
before that I worked when Ineeded to yeah because I didn't
(29:04):
never want to, so when I neededto, I worked and I provided.
Now, we were not poor.
I had money all the time, not alot of money, but we was not on
food stamps.
We were not.
We didn't take any benefitsright I was gonna tell you a
while ago my farming paid for mykids to be born.
I'd plant me a watermelon patch.
I know I may be going over ontime, but you know I went.
(29:25):
I went to the doctor and youknow they said, uh yeah, how
much.
It was gonna be, six thousanddollars, something.
I said I'll pay you in in juneand the baby was going to be
born in july.
They said, well, we expectmonthly.
I said I don't have monthly.
I'll pay you a lump sum in june.
The baby's going to be bornjuly.
She'll actually come july 14th.
(29:45):
I said the last of june or thevery first of july, when my
watermelons come in, I'll pay,pay you the six thousand dollars
.
And the doctor, thereceptionist, we don't do that.
So I went and talked to thedoctor.
I didn't know him.
I said, doc, I don't know youand you don't know me, but I
tell you right now I'm a man ofmy word it doesn't matter if I
have to borrow it what I got todo.
I'll pay you by the 10th ofJuly.
(30:08):
You'll be paid in full.
Told the lady whatever he says,do it.
Sure enough, when I soldwatermelons I went and gave them
$6,000 in cash, counted it outin $100 bills.
And that's the way Noelle, myoldest, that's the way I paid
for her and the youngest, I paidboth of them watermelons and I
paid the other one with cabbagecabbage fill.
So truck plumbing paid for mykid to be born.
(30:30):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
That's when you're at the end here.
Do you have any more particularstories you wanted to be sure
you could talk about today?
We could go, I know we could go.
That was a dangerous question.
Speaker 1 (30:42):
That was a dangerous question because I don't want to
give you a bad name for havingtoo long a podcast.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
Yeah Well, let me ask you this Again Real South
Hunting can be found on YouTube,yes, sir, and they'll see.
They still can see someepisodes with you on there, oh,
absolutely, oh, yeah, for years.
Look for Daniel Stubbs Lucas onthere.
He's a first-rate carpenter anda first-rate cabinet maker, a
(31:11):
good, good friend and truly aman that you can depend on, and
sometimes there doesn't seem tobe a lot of those in this world
for us sometimes, but he's oneof those.
Thank you, stubbs.
Yes, sir, stopping by andsharing your life story amongst
other stories.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
If you get the feedback, I'm not opposed to
picking up and going again.
If you get the right feedbackand anybody wants to hear any
more about what old Sub is doingor what he's doing me and Doc.
Every time we get together andDoc knows this we talk usually
for hours.
Doc's got good stories too.
I have to one-up him every timethat I can, but Doc's got good
(31:50):
stories.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
We grew up very similarly, but he's had a more
exciting life.
I have to admit that.
Once again, we thank you forjoining us.
Be sure to join us next monthwhen our next podcast will drop.
They drop on the 7th of everymonth and always have
interesting people of variousbackgrounds.
I promise you you won't bebored.
(32:12):
So once again, thanks, and seeyou next time.
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