Little Red Wagons and a World on Fire

Summer of ’67: Cake, Red Wagons, and a World on Fire

Reflections about Route 2, Box 824—Through the Eyes of an Old Man Who Still Feels Like That Kid

As I finish another trip around the sun, it is my 61st birthday, and I’ve been reflecting on the summers that shaped me. Birthdays in June always meant outdoor fun, warm days, and fun times back in my hometown of Concord, North Carolina. In the summer of 1967, at Route 2, Box 824(now known as Davidson Hwy. or State Rd. Hwy 73) in Concord, North Carolina, life was all about cake, my parents, aunts, uncles and cousins coming to the house and the simple joys of childhood, while the world spun in a whirlwind beyond my reach.

I was unaware of war, crime, politics, or grown-up worries at three years old. It wasn't perfect then, as now, or anytime in history. I sometimes think people try to candy-coat what life was like in the old days or their younger years. It was no different than what it is now. People had the same problems, joys, sorrows, and happy times as always. An understanding that all people are sinful and fallible, and there are no great men, is key to grasping this. This was emphasized by our 2nd President, John Adams, and his friend Benjamin Rush, who discussed it as much when they exchanged letters about 30 years after the American Revolution. Adams was worried historians were venerating men too much. Adams knew all men had faults, and that greatness is always exaggerated, and there was always turmoil. It was no different here in America that summer I turned three years old.

But to a kid, life is different from those adult worries. My world revolved around a basketball, a football, a whiffle ball, my “doody tar” (what I called my little guitar), and my trusty red wagon. It was a small, safe universe with so much possibility ahead.

Meanwhile, the grown-up world—full of headlines, tragedy, and triumph—churned on. Life unfolded in ways I didn't understand until I had the fortune of hindsight from there, but I was in my own orbit, wrapped up in the freedom of childhood.

A World in Motion

In 1967, the news worldwide and in Cabarrus and Rowan counties was heavy. American forces were battling in South Vietnam’s northern provinces. Too many soldiers were dying in an unpopular war, and for what reason? We would later learn that the war should never have happened. In 1995, when he released his memoir, the former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara (who was in charge in 1967)said this: " The Vietnam War was a mistake and I knew it all along. We should have gotten out in 1963, when fewer than 100 Americans had been killed." When McNamara and other US policymakers took us to war, they “had not truly investigated what was at stake. It was sad. We lost over 50,000 lives in that war before President Richard Nixon pulled us out in the 70s. Essentially for nothing. Makes me cry still to this day. But that three-year-old knew none of that.

In nearby Kannapolis that week, E.G. Edmiston resigned as Athletics Director at A.L. Brown High School for a better-paying job at Cannon Mills. There just wasn't enough money in school administration to support his family. In Washington, Congress delayed a railroad strike bill with a vote. Charlotte’s murder rate had surged, with thirteen killings reported in the first three months of 1967 compared to four the previous year, according to an FBI report. Rowan County logged 19 traffic accidents, thefts, and break-ins that week. Across the globe, Israel and Arab nations were locked in conflict, with Israel beginning to annex the Old City of Jerusalem.

Locally, on Thursday, June 15, Clyde Adams of Kannapolis reported four hubcaps stolen from his car. The Fortner family held a reunion at the Cabarrus County YMCA the same day as my birthday, Saturday, June 17, 1967. And life went on, marked by the mundane and the momentous.

Life, Death, and Faith

Tragedy struck close to home for the Taylor family when Bobby Andrew Taylor of Rogers Lake Road passed away at just 41 years old that week. Yet there was joy, too. North Kannapolis Baptist Church wrapped up its Vacation Bible School with a picnic and a record crowd of parents and kids, where Reverend Coy C. Privette delivered a sermon titled “Fathers: The Difference Between Being Wise and Foolish,” in honor of Father's Day.

At the Gem Theatre in Kannapolis, Tony Curtis’s comedy Don’t Make Waves lit up the screen, with its cheeky tagline: “Turn on, stay loose, make out. But when you’ve got it made, don’t make waves—make love.” It captured the surfing craze of the era. The Beach Boys had been all over the radio with surfing tunes for the previous five years, but I wasn't listening yet.

At Beasley Cross Chevrolet on Hwy. 29, a 1964 Ford Falcon was a steal at $1,095—if you had the cash and were old enough to drive. (I wasn’t.) Holbrook’s Radio and TV offered color TVs for $329, heavy enough to feel like they weighed a ton. In the County, 59 couples tied the knot that month, while Belk’s in Concord and Kannapolis sold suits for $75.

The Games We Played

I didn't know it then, but eventually I would become obsessed with sports. I wasn't watching much of them yet. We only had a little 9-inch black and white TV with rabbit ears. But life went on. The Charlotte Hornets minor league baseball team defeated Evansville 3–1 in Southern League play that week. On the PGA Tour, several days before that third birthday, over 150 players threatened a boycott over demands for better pay and terms. This tension is eerily similar to today’s disputes over money between the PGA and the LIV tour.

At the U.S. Open at Baltusrol Golf Club, 23-year-old amateur Marty Fleckman stunned legends like Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus with a first-round 67. After a 73 in the second round, he said in his post-round press conference, “I suspect my dad is going to ask me when I’m going to start shooting my regular scores and post an 80.” Sure enough, Fleckman’s final-round 80 left him tied for 18th, while Nicklaus claimed victory with a 65.

Looking Back, Moving Forward

And so it was, on June 17, 1967, that little redheaded boy celebrated his third birthday on a quiet country road in Cabarrus County, unaware of the world’s complexities. Looking back, I could claim life is all wine and roses, but it isn’t. And I look at life through the lens of truth, whether it's pretty or not. That’s the message I want to share. The world is marred by sin, yet it holds goodness and beauty. Don’t let the bad overshadow the good, deter you from having children, or encourage your children to do the same. Our responsibility is to love and use the life God gives us and sustains. Despite its flaws, this world is ours, entrusted to us by God to steward and care for. We must do our best to nurture it, support one another, and live accordingly.

As a three-year-old, I knew nothing of good and evil or the endless repetition of history’s mistakes. I couldn’t have imagined the places I’d visit, the people I’d meet, or the life I’d build—a wonderful wife, seven children, a daughter-in-law, a grandson, and more grandchildren to come. I didn’t foresee finding my calling, though I dream now and always of pursuing it on a grander scale.

Back then, I only knew I was three, with a vast, vibrant life ahead. I didn’t know God would guide me, lead me to my soulmate, and bless me with family and purpose. I’m grateful for those years that have flown by since then, for my wife, my children, my daughter-in-law, her family, and my grandson, Levi Thomas Reese, and for the generations to come. I pray they find joy and faith amid life’s challenges, seeking justice and redemption in a fallen world. I pray for a better path for humanity, where all can pursue life, liberty, and happiness.

Above all, I thank God for His grace in letting me get this far and for the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, which offers us eternal life through faith, repentance, and redemption.

As I celebrate my 61st birthday today, how do I feel? Beyond the aches in my back, knee, shoulder, hip, and fingers (from years of playing guitar), it’s still like that summer—family, cake, and memories of red wagons. And that’s enough.

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Dallas Reese

June 17, 2025

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina