Posted on July 31, 2009 - by Hubba

Jack Gravatt, Child at Heart

This afternoon in Elm Springs Jack Gravatt will be laid to rest after several years of declining health.  He will be buried in the Elm Springs sod he loved so much.  Although Jack grew up near Ft. Thompson, throughout the rest of his life he called Elm Springs home and hearth.

And my brother Al will help carry Jack to his grave, which is very fitting.

I have written here about my/our first year of home school, which was horrible indeed.  After that first year, Mom could see that she had better find a different course of study of home school would be hell for everyone involved.  And Mom did a much better job of picking the second year’s curriculum.  The course she settled on was a decidedly different approach, and one we kids quickly warmed to.  For instance the first two weeks of school were devoted to the study of camping, complete with a “test” at the end.  Yes, camping for school.

Another rather unorthodox tenet of the program was the suggestion of a mentoring program.  Each student was asked to name a hobby or discipline and find a mentor who would be willing to spend around three hours a week with them helping them learn the hobby.

Nick chose rabbit farming with Mr. Darrel Mickelson (yes it was a very odd choice) I chose leatherwork with Mr. Tom Smith, and Al chose the study of trapping with Mr. Jack Gravatt.

Tom Smith was an amazing person.  He could draw a perfect circle free handed.  He drew the design for the billfold we made in about forty five seconds.  And it was beautiful.  Tom Smith was also a less than ideal mentor for a grade-school child.

I liked Tom a lot, don’t get me wrong.  But he was old school.  He had learned leatherwork at the Duhamel Saddle Company, where he was forced to glean what knowledge he could from a bunch of cranky geezers who jealously guarded their craft.  That was how he learned, so that was how he taught.  So before we touched a piece of leather, I learned Rule Number One, which was “Don’t touch my stuff.”  In addition, the formation of my character was as important to Tom Smith as the formation of a billfold.  It was necessary that I become a clean-cut, respectful Christian gentleman.  It never in a million years would have occurred to Tom to keep things fun for a child so as to keep his interest.  If you were working with Tom, he took it for granted that you were interested and would work on your character and not touch his stuff.  If you weren’t, he didn’t have time to babysit you.  It was very much like having a western Zen master.

Jack Gravatt, on the other hand, was made for a mentoring program.  He was a Boy Scout leader, for crying out loud, very much in touch with his inner child.  An inner child who had a limitless supply of candy bars and a pet raccoon.

Jack explained most of the principles of trapping to Al, but for practice, they mostly trapped

the pet raccoon in the yard.  After a time or two, presumably the pet raccoon was in on the game as well, which made him all the easier to “trap.”  After tramping around the yard or Elk Creek for a while, Jack and Al would go inside to eat candy bars and chew Beech Nut and watch “Austin City Limits.”  One week Al came home with a back scratcher which he and Jack made from a corn cob and a stick.

I bet there’s a pile of kids around South Dakota with a home-made back scratcher who would be honored to take Al’s place on Friday.  That was Jack’s legacy.

Al grew up and forgot everything he learned about trapping.  These days it’s not a terribly necessary skill.  And I can’t tool leather like I wanted to, but that wasn’t Tom’s fault.  I just wasn’t any good at it.

Happy Trails Jack.