Dr. Roy Risner by his students Summer Johnson and Danielle Humphreys

Dr. Roy Risner by his students Summer Johnson and
Danielle Humphreys

My First Memory of Growing Up In a Country Town

I grew up in Altus, Oklahoma a little town, a country town, in Oklahoma. I was born and raised there. Born in a house, not a hospital. Born on the first day of World War II.
When I was about four, I remember having a pet chicken. Not very many people have pet chickens and that pet chicken followed me around wherever I went. I loved my chicken. One of the most traumatic things in my young life was when that chicken disappeared. I’m thinking, “Now what happened to my chicken.”

Well, it was around Thanksgiving and we had chicken for Thanksgiving, baked chicken with dressing and all this other stuff. It was great, you know. And my mother was famous for making chocolate pies, so we had chocolate pie and we had hen.

Since I was only four it took me some time to realize that I had actually eaten my chicken. So I kind of stopped eating chicken after that. I finally figured it out when my sister, who was four years older than I, explained it to me. She said, “Roy, where do you think your chicken went?” “I don’t know.” “Well, we ate him, you goof ball!” So she wasn’t a very kind person. I was really kind of sick about it, having eaten my own pet chicken.

Dr. Roy Risner by his students Summer Johnson and Danielle Humphreys
My First Memory of Growing Up In a Country Town
	I grew up in Altus, Oklahoma a little town, a country town, in Oklahoma. I was born and raised there. Born in a house, not a hospital. Born on the first day of World War II. When I was about four, I remember having a pet chicken. Not very many people have pet chickens and that pet chicken followed me around wherever I went. I loved my chicken. One of the most traumatic things in my young life was when that chicken disappeared. I’m thinking, “Now what happened to my chicken.” Well, it was around Thanksgiving and we had chicken for Thanksgiving, baked chicken with dressing and all this other stuff. It was great, you know. And my mother was famous for making chocolate pies, so we had chocolate pie and we had hen. Since I was only four it took me some time to realize that I had actually eaten my chicken. So I kind of stopped eating chicken after that. I finally figured it out when my sister, who was four years older than I, explained it to me. She said, “Roy, where do you think your chicken went?” “I don’t know.” “Well, we ate him, you goof ball!” So she wasn’t a very kind person. I was really kind of sick about it, having eaten my own pet chicken.