Ellison Green remembers growing up in Hillcrest Park

One of the nicest guys in Clovis is Ellison Green, who after all these years wrote about his growing up in a home in Hillcrest Park. Here is his story he told to me.

I wish you could have known the people and the times when I was young. My dad, Ellis Green, was the city of Clovis park superintendent, and died at age 49. I was 19 at the time of his death. He had been baptized in Christ just six months before he died.

My mom, Merle Taylor, died at age 93. She buried two more husbands after my dad, C. J. Doose and Chick Taylor Sr. As I said in previous writings, she was very instrumental in my having Jesus Christ in my life.

I grew up with two sisters, Sonya (Whitehurst) and Sue (Gerzon), as well as a brother, Rodney Green. I can’t say enough about the love we shared with each other as a family.

We knew the times when it was not so important to make sure the doors were locked. There were no drive-by shootings, no drugs, no gang violence, lying and hating one another. You never cursed in front of a girl, and you sure didn’t think of having sex until after marriage. When a girl did get pregnant, it was such an embarrassment that she left town until the child was born. We never had day care in high school. We respected our parents and would never “talk back” to them.

Our house was a haven for everyone, because everyone was a friend. No one felt as though they needed to be invited to the Greens’ house in Hillcrest Park.

I don’t go to the park or zoo much anymore. Matter of fact, I went to the zoo two years ago. This was the first time I had been there in over 30 years. As I walked through the park, I saw my dad everywhere, always smiling, always making sure everything was in “working order” and going out of his way to make children happy.

I saw my mom working the concession stand and cashiering at the swimming pool and planning her water shows at the pool. I saw so many friends I ran with that have passed on.

Why does it make me sad to look at the empty space where that wonderful old house sat? Why does it make me sad to think of the day they tried to move it and it fell apart? Why was it sad when I took my wife to Chilicothe, Texas, right after we got married?

Because when the house fell apart, my childhood was behind me. That’s when I realized it was over. When I took Elaine to Chilicothe, there was one very large void.

My childhood with my best friend was gone, my best friend and brother Rodney.

But to my daughters, Joy and Jill, to my grandchildren, Brody, Danny, Rilee, Sophie and Corbin, and especially to Elaine, the little girl I fell in love with in algebra class in 1959, you all have replaced my childhood with a wonderful adult life.

And after many years I am finally living in the Lord. I have had the honor of baptizing Joy, Jill, Brody, Danny and Dan, my son-in-law. I hope to be able to baptize the rest of my grandchildren, but, I too, have had a massive heart attack in 2000 and my health may not permit me to finish my plan.

My prayer is that all my children follow the Lord Jesus Christ.