James R. Roberson was raised on his grandmother’s farm and worked mules “for real.” That farm was officially a “honest-to-goodness” United States Federal Government “Homestead.” His grandmother was a central defining figure in his life there. His primary purpose in writing this book is to help tell her story and ensure that not only does he remember her more clearly but to extend her legend for many generations to come.
He was in one of the first batches of “Baby Boomers” that were conceived at the end of World War II. His mother and father both were an integral part of the War Effort. More detail about his relationship to the famed, or infamous, Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee will be addressed in one of his next books.
He related very differently to different people. His mother, brothers, sisters, grandmother, and grandfather all called him “James.” That often got extended to “James Roy!” for serious moments. Some of his aunts called him “Jimmy.” Some of his uncles and a sports reporter called him “Jim.” One of his football coaches called him “Robby.” He was called “Sergeant Robby” when he was in Electronic Warfare & Electronic Countermeasures in the USAF. Some newspaper reporters and some co-workers called him “Jim” when he was an Urban Planner. He was “JR” when he was in Nuclear Power Plant Operations during the years of the “Dallas” TV series. His name became “James” again as he finished out his working years as an Environmental Scientist and Environmental Program Administrator. His two “growed up” sons still call him “Daddy.” His second wife calls him “Turkey Baby” just to aggravate him and some of their great-grandchildren. A great-grandmother does a lot of things to have fun with the children, even at her husband’s expense.
Although he had a very technical and many-sided work history and enjoyed it all, what he really wanted to do most was to be a farmer. That helped motivate him to write this book about his grandmother, his life with her, and the everlasting mark that she placed on him and how she affected every aspect of his life. He has embarked on the task of organizing material about the rest of his personal family history, for a sequel about his grandfather.