Living on the farm was difficult. Winters were cold and the farmhouse was drafty. One cold night, Billy and Charles were in the farmhouse alone while Lester and Eunice were in the barn gathering eggs from the hens, feeding the pigs, and taking care of the other livestock. To get warm, Billy and Charles wore multiple layers of overalls. Unfortunately, Billy backed up too close to the potbelly stove, where the seat of his pants caught fire and burned down to the skin. The boys were little and didn’t know what to do, so they ran through the house screaming. Eunice and Lester came to see what was causing the commotion, and found Billy on fire with his bottom singed. Farm etiquette dictated treatment with a layer of Vaseline for several weeks, requiring Billy to sleep on his stomach with special covers and blankets. Billy retained the scars of this fiery ordeal throughout his life, saying “boy it’s tough when you can’t sit down!”