THROUGH
MOUNTAIN MISTS
Early Settlers of
Their
Descendants...Their Stories...Their Achievements
Lifting the
Mists of History on Their Way of Life
By: Ethelene Dyer Jones
Margaret
Harkins Patterson (on left), author of Driving: A
Right of Passage,
with
her first cousin, Roma Sue Turner Collins at the
I
wish I had owned a copy of the book back when my husband Grover and I
(together
with help from their high school driving instruction coaches then) were
teaching our own children, Keith and Cynthia, how to be safe,
responsible
teen-age drivers. It would have helped
tremendously to have handed them Margaret’s helpful book and said to
them: “Read this.
And when you know what she teaches you through this book, and
when we
think you can drive safely, we will take you to get your driver’s
license.” But
the book wasn’t available then. It was
published only in 2008, a gift of Margaret to her five children, her
ten
grandchildren and her (then) two great-grandchildren (and any more to
come!).
Now that such a book is available, may
I suggest that, if you who read this and are training teen-age drivers,
you
should go to Amazon.com and/or maybe the Book Nook bookstore in
Blairsville,
and preview a copy of this book and think about purchasing it for your
own
teenage driver. Better still, consider
it as a gift to your grandchild who may be about to launch upon
“Driving: A Right of Passage.”
First, something about the author
herself. She is a descendant of John
Grancer Nix, born about 1761 in
But, closer in Margaret Harkins
Patterson’s Nix line, she was a daughter of Maver Nix Harkins and
General Pat
Harkins. Her grandparents in the Nix
line were John Washington Nix and Catherine Clarinda Dyer Nix who had
children
Harvey; Dora Lou (who married Franklin
Hedden Dyer); Nola (Magnola, who married John Jarrett Turner); Mary Elizabeth and Martha L., twins, who died
as infants; Joseph Spencer (who married
Doris E. Nix and Cathryn Clark Birgel); Roy Walter (who married Idell
Nelson);
Maver Clarenda (Margaret’s mother, who married General Pat Harkins and
second,
Edward Collins); Howard Benson (who married Ellen Erwin); Florida Lee
(who
married Carlos Turner); and Cleo Inez (who married Rouse King). Margaret Harkins Patterson is justifiably
proud of her ancestors who number among teachers, housewives, farmers,
businessmen, and patriotic citizens, as well as those who have served
(and many
who are still serving) admirably in various walks of life.
And now, to get to a brief review of
her wonderful book, “Driving: A Right of
Passage (c2008 Xlibris
Corporation), Margaret gives this reason for writing the book:
“My goal is to keep you out of
the ditch,
out of the tree, the river…and the
morgue. Get the picture?
I will teach you to drive safely and
successfully and you will enjoy the process” (from “Prologue”, p. 9).
Margaret remembers great times with
her father, Pat Harkins, who taught her much about cars and driving. From him she learned how an automobile works
and how to make minor repairs, how to be a safe and sane driver, and
how to
respect “the right of passage” from being merely a passenger to being
the
responsible person behind the wheel. She
pays tribute to Pat Harkins, her father:
“My father taught me to drive. I
began at the tender age of six when the speed limit was 50 or under…We
lived in
the country—dirt roads—quarter-mile driveway—perfect.
I sat on my father’s lap in our ’38 Ford
sedan. My job was to steer.
He handled the gas, clutch, gears and
brake. He never touched the wheel, but
would stop the car if I screamed loudly enough.
I learned a lot about steering the car.
I was driving a tractor at age twelve and I never plowed up a
row of
corn!...The key word here is ‘practice.’
Practice is essential to ‘knowing your car’ ” (p. 20).
Giving a humorous and very readable
account of how a teenager reaches and goes through driving, “the right
of
passage,” author Margaret Harkins Patterson gives in very personable
terms how
important driver education is to the teenage driver, a brief history of
the
automobile, how important it is to know a car—inside and out—under the
hood and
what to expect from the mechanical operation of a car, driving
etiquette, how
to handle hazardous driving situations, how to get the best insurance,
and how
to follow the rules of the road. This is
a common-sense manual on driving. She
gives her account in such a warm and interesting manner that reading
the 90
pages and having the handy index for reference is like having a
personal
driving manual at your fingertips.
To make her book more appealing,
Margaret illustrated it herself with her own art work, complemented
with
computer images to highlight and emphasize certain vital points of
driving and
knowing an automobile.
I highly recommend Margaret’s book for
those beginning to drive as well as “old pros” who may have driven for
half a
century or more. She reminds us that
automobile accidents are the number one killer of teenagers. We as adults have a responsibility to teach
youth how to be safe on the roads, how to maintain a vehicle, and how
we can
contribute to safety and to the egosystem by knowing how to drive well
and keep
a vehicle road-worthy and environmentally-safe.
I am glad I know Margaret Harkins
Patterson. I am glad that back in our
plethora of ancestors our family lines converge, and we can claim some
bit of
kinship in family, principles and purposes for living.
Why don’t you examine Margaret’s book and get
a copy for your favorite teenage driver?
You’ll be glad you did.
c2010 by
Ethelene Dyer
Jones; published Mar. 4, 2010 in The Union Sentinel,
[Ethelene Dyer
Jones is a retired educator,
freelance writer, poet, and historian. She may be reached at
e-mail [email protected];
phone 478-453-8751; or mail 1708 Cedarwood Road, Milledgeville, GA
31061-2411.]
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