Columbus Georgia Archives

Billy Windsor First Memories 1953

Billy Windsor and Tony Windsor lived on Mimosa Street in 1953.
Billy Windsor and Tony Windsor sitting on a curb in 1953.
Billy Windsor and Tony Windsor all decked out in 1953.
Billy Windsor and Tony Windsor in 1953
Billy Windsor and Tony Windsor look very dapper in ties and suspenders in 1953.
Billy Windsor and Tony Windsor drinking in 1953.
Billy Windsor and Tony Windsor posing next to shrubs in 1953.
Billy Windsor and Tony Windsor sitting on front porch in 1953.

My Birth Certificate shows 1948, but Billy Windsor First Memories 1953.

Brother Tony was born 1950 and sister Wendy (aka Woot Woot Wooter) was born 12 days before my fifth birthday in 1953. Billy Windsor First Memories 1953.

windsor bill 1952 Billy and Tony with Walter 1952 big

This is my brother Tony (16 months apart). Our Mom often dressed us alike. I have no idea where she got the money for the clothes as Dad was always underpaid.

I always thought we were rich, but when Dad died and I was the Executor, I learned that he always did without.

I did not have a beard at age 5. LOL. I had a high forehead (like my Dad), so I looked like I had a receding hairline when I didn’t.

I have a small mouth (except when I talk), and Doctors have said I have the ear canals of a six-month old child.

We lived in Columbus, Georgia from 1948 to 1953 where Dad was General Manager of WGBA Radio.

I had been on the radio by age 3. Dad did the play-by-play for the Columbus Cardinals baseball team. I knew all the players, and I would sit with Dad in the Press Box and go on the microphone to comment on plays by my favorites, including second baseman Dom Barczewski. His stats indicate he wasn’t very good, but I liked him for some reason.

I loved to play baseball. I played through high school. I was good on everything but pop files; I couldn’t judge fly balls. It wasn’t until I was in my 50s that I learned I had eye dominance that affected my vision. My eyes told me I was lined up, but I wasn’t. Someone should have told me to close my right eye.

Billy Windsor shows he is 5 years old as he sits by his baby sister.

I loved my baby sister, Wendy. Wendy (aka Woot Woot Wooter) was born 12 days before my fifth birthday in 1953.

I believe I was a very sweet and well-mannered little boy.

I believe I was a good brother and son until junior high school when I know I became too big for my britches.

Dad drove from Long Beach California to Columbus Georgia with Mom nine-months pregnant with me. They hit a cow in Salome Where She Danced, Arizona, but Mom and I hung in there.

Dad checked in at a motel when we arrived. Mom went into labor, and we were taken by ambulance to the City Hospital where I was born at 2:26 a.m. Six pounds, 13 ounces, 10 fingers, and 10 toes.

Dad didn’t want his son to go home from the hospital to a motel, so he rented a house. We lived at 2222 Buena Vistaa Road, 1701 17th Avenue, 1340 17th Street, 4609 Dogwood Drive, and 2834 Mimosa Street.

Dad took a job in television in 1953, and we moved to Duluth, Minnesota to handle the application for the first televison station there. Dad bought a lovely home there at 47th and Robinson. I guess he was planning to stay and manage the station once the license was approved, but a bigger opportunity presented itself.

My first memories are Duluth. SNOW. There was snow everywhere, and Tony and I found a sled in a shed out back. We had a ball in the snow. We built a very solid snowman.

I remember playing in the living room one night when water came down through the ceiling. Someone forgot to turn off the water in the tub when running a bath.

Dad was offered and accepted his second job in television in 1953 as General Manager of KCMC-TV, and we moved to 1700 block of Hickory Street in Texarkana, Arkansas. When Dad went back to Duluth several months later for the closing on the sale of the house, the snowman was still there.

I remember standing on the state line in Texarkana with one foot in Arkansas and the other foot in Texas. Other than that, I don’t remember a thing about Arkansas.

We moved to the Texas side in a rented home, and then we bought 4105 Rio Grande Avenue in Texarkana, Texas.

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=10233434654634860&set=a.3465500322805

Billy Windsor in 1949 – Months 4 to 15

Someone holding Billy Windsor in air
Walter Windsor pulling Billy in little red wagon
Smiling Billy Windsor on pillow - 1949
Billy Windsor smiling but blurry in 1949
Billy Windsor with punch toy in 1949
windsor bill 1949 Portrait of Billy 1949
Billy Windsor held by mother Mary January 1949
Billy Windsor in walker in 1949
Grandpa Johnson holding Billy Windsor with Grandma Johnson
Billy Windsor floating - 1949
Blurry Billy Windsor 1949
Billy Windsor with daddy Walter Windsor in yard in 1949
Billy Windsor strolling in 1949
Billy Windsor propped up as if sitting in 1949
Billy Windsor on his stomach on couch in 1949
Billy Windsor on dark blanket on grass in 1949
Billy Windsor on blanket in 1949
Billy Windsor looking up from stroller in 1949
Billy Windsor in stroller in 1949
Billy Windsor in crib in shade in 1949
Billy Windsor in crib in 1949
Billy Windsor in 1949 with father Walter Windsor at 8-months 18-days
Billy Windsor held up by father Walter Windsor in 1949
Billy Windsor being pushed in stroller by mother Mary Windsor in 1949
Baby Billy Windsor in 1949
Baby Billy Windsor on couch in 1949
Baby Billy Windsor on pillow and blanket in 1949

It was a very good year.

Walter Windsor and Mary Windsor were The Best Parents Ever

Mary Windsor holds smiling Billy in 1948.
Walter Windsor holds baby Billy outside in Columbus in 1948.
Newborn Billy Windsor October 1948
Is this Billy Windsor shooting the finger in 1948
Infant Billy Windsor with giant bottle October 1948.
Infant Billy Windsor on blanket in yard in 1948
Infant Billy Windsor in diapers with blankets 1948
Bill Windsor 1948 birth Front page of New York paper October 1948
Profile of Billy Windsor in October 1948
Billy Windsor Baby Book 1948
Billy Windsor on chair 1948
Billy Windsor in arms of mother Mary Windsor in 1948.
Billy Windsor in hat sleeping in October 1948
Billy Windsor crying in 1948
William Michael Windsor smiling for the camera in 1948
Baby Billy Windsor on pallet on grass in 1948
Baby Billy Windsor in knitted hat in 1948.
windsor bill 1948 Billy in Marys arms 1948
Walter Windsor holds baby Billy Windsor outside in Columbus Georgia in 1948
Mary Johnson Windsor holds smiling Billy in 1948

My Mom was Mary Windsor, and she was the best mom ever! She was a stay-at-home mom.

And my Dad was Walter Windsor. He was the best father ever! Walter Windsor and Mary Windsor were The Best Parents Ever

I was the first-born child. My brother and two sisters followed.

I was a very lucky boy. My siblings and I could not have had a better childhood. My Dad wasn’t paid what he was worth as the manager of television stations while I was a child. I always thought we were “rich.” We weren’t, but we had a very comfortable life.

I, William Michael Windsor, was born in Columbus, Georgia. My Dad and Mom had just driven to Columbus from California with my Mom almost nine months pregnant. Dad became the General Manager of WGBA Radio in Columbus.

We were living in a motel when Mom went into labor. Dad didn’t want his son to come home from the hospital to a motel room, so he raced out and rented this home at 2222 Buena Vista Road, Columbus, Georgia.

Walter Windsor and Mary Windsor were The Best Parents Ever.