John Apple

' Autobiography of John Peyton Alexander, 11 October, 1993, A.D.

Spring 1954

This is the beginning of the life story of John Peyton Alexander, 11, when God began to form me in the depths of my Mother's womb. I was made in secret, and curiously wrought, and fearfully and wonderfully made. I was given my name, after my Paternal Grandfather, before I was a gleam in my Father's eye.

December 30, 1954

I was delivered in the Mississippi Baptist Hospital, in Jackson, Mississippi. I was born feet-first (not breach) and my delivery was so unusual that the Obstetrician wrote an account of my delivery and published this account in

a medical journal. On this day, I also became a citizen of the United States of America.

1955 - 1959

I don't remember much about my first four or five years of life. I do remember being in a nursery with animals on the walls, colored in soft blues and pinks. I also remember sneaking in the bushes outside our house with one of the girls in the neighborhood and playing "I'll show you mine if you'll show me yours". I also remembermy mother making me a Patrol Belt, a yellow harness contraption that was an imitation of

the belts worn by the sixth graders who served as crossing guards. I remember my older sister walking-home from first grade, and I would meet her at the top of the hill where our driveway was located and escort her from the driveway to the carport, proudly wearing my patrol belt. My older sister and I were very close as toddlers all the way up through grade school. I also have vivid memories of my two younger sisters, (who are identical twins), being brought home from the hospital. 0 what a joyous day that was for my parents, and although I was only three years old, I remember feeling good too.

December 1959 - September 1966

My Dad built my mother and us children a luxury home. My Dada made a living as a real estate entrepreneur, developing land into subdivisions and building houses in the subdivisions. He chose to build our house on the edge of what were then the city limits of Jackson, Mississippi. After thinking about building a home in.the exclusive neighborhoods which symbolized status, Dad opted to build our house in one of his new subdivisions, where he could write his own restrictive covenants. The house was built on a two acre lot, with lots of pine trees (and bushes). We had a concrete driveway and a circular driveway, (in the front of the yard), made with gravel. (I was later to get my first taste manual labor shoveling gravel to fill in the places in the driveway which had eroded with time and use).

Copyright © 2008 John P. Alexander, II and John Apple.  All rights reserved worldwide.