WR Benton grew up in the small town of Vida, Missouri, and actually lived in a house with a dirt floor, no running water or electricity, for a few years in his youth.
"We used to joke about Vida having our enter and leaving Vida signs mounted back to back. Blink and you'd miss it. But, it was a great place for a kid to grow up. There was no crime and I lived about a mile from Vida, back in the woods."
He attended a one-room school house, like in the western movies, and it helped foster his interest in American history. While working on his assignments in class, he often listened to the teacher, who taught all 8 grades, telling the older children their history lessons. He also learned much of history from his great-grandmother, who lived to be a 103 years old.
"This country teacher was very skilled and she had to be to handle 8 grades in one day. Now, keep in mind, the number of students per grade varied from 1 to maybe 5 or six, but she'd give the first graders their work and while they worked, she'd move to the second graders and so on."
Like many children of that era, he walked to school, regardless of the weather, carrying an old empty red and white lard bucket for a lunch box. Lunch usually consisted of a piece of salt pork, wrapped a biscuit, a small jar of buttermilk, and some sort of snack. He still loves "Moon pies" and keeps them handy.
"Missouri, or at least where I grew up, was as Southern as Dixie Land and since I've moved to Mississippi, I see little difference. The language, food, customs and attitudes are the same."
One of the things that greatly assists WR Benton with is writing is the fact he spent over 26 years in the United States Air Force and has traveled all over the world and has all but his thesis completed for his MS in counseling psychology.
"Of all the places I've lived or visited, I had the hardest time in the United Kingdom. I found the English tongue a bit rough for a Southern boy. I think my favorite comment while there was, 'What did you say?' Also, I want to say, education is fine, but it doesn't replace common sense. My grandfather had a very limited formal education, less than 3 years, but he was far the smartest man I've ever met. He was self-educated, except you'd never know it."
