THE COLD TURKEY PATCH

Walker Jackson/All Rights Reserved

Voted least likely to succeed and most likely to die young!

Clyde was 29 when he croaked!

Are you tired of your home, clothes and car smelling like tobacco road? Are you tired of burning holes in the family room sofa, the car seats, your clothes and other things? Are you tired of burning up money that could be used more wisely? Are you tired of coughing your guts out every time you light one of those filthy things? Are you exasperated with your many failed attempts to quit smoking? Sure you are. Cheer up. Walker Joe has a success story that's going to give you the inspiration to quit forever.

This message could not have come at a better time. Shortly, cigarettes will cost $4.00 a pack in light of the recent judgments against the tobacco companies. For a pack-and-a-half-a-day smoker, that's $180 each month. Think of all the goodies that will buy.

Walker Joe suggests ‘The Cold Turkey Patch’. It works and it's affordable. All you have to do is say no! with conviction. Each time you deny the nicotine demon the easier it gets. Jackson knows because he's done it four times. During the first week, stay away from the pitfalls like drinking and other smokers. Tell everyone you're quitting and ask them not to give you a cigarette, even if you beg. Chew gum. Pretend to smoke. Start riding a bike or walking. Fresh air is an excellent deterrent. As the days go by, keep reminding yourself of the reasons why you are quitting - positive reinforcement - and the immense rewards to be gained. Feel the pride and confidence build as denial becomes easier and easier. And, never put another stinking cigarette between your lips.

Walker Joe, now 73, kicked the habit 36 years ago. He went through hell four times> No one knows any better than him how tough quitting is. However, it was the kindest gift he ever gave to himself. He is certain he would be dead by now, if he hadn't succeeded. Instead, he’s playing single’s tennis at a 4.0 level when he's in the zone. Readers give that some thought.

Walker Joe started killing himself at the tender age of twelve. His brand was Camels. Remember! "I'd walk a mile for a Camel." He only had to walk to his Father's room where several cartons were stashed. If he'd had to walk a mile, he would have never started in the first place. He's a trifle lazy. That’s despicable, but it won’t kill you. His dad's cigarettes were free for the taking. If he'd had to buy them, he probably would have never started in the first place. He's also a skinflint.

So round, so firm, so fully packed, so free and easy on the draw? If you guessed Mae West you're dead wrong. Lucky Strike is the answer. And there were Old Golds, Phillip Morris and Chesterfields. Do you remember, "Call-for-Phillip-Mor-risss?"

When money was scarce, he rolled 'em. That was often. Prince Albert made a very tasty smoke, but he found rolling a Bull Durham nearly impossible. Marijuana was not available around his high school in 1943.

Filter cigarettes? . . no way . . everyone was fat, dumb and happy. Cancer was almost not invented in 1943. However, often during World War II the only brand available at the A&P was Viceroys, a filter cigarette costing sixteen cents a pack. They smelled and tasted like a burning rope. The named brands went overseas to our brave GIs. If they escaped the enemy, the cigarettes were sure to get them in the end. So during World War II, you smoked anything you could get. "You just got to have another cigarette."

In June 1944, a chest x-ray showed shadows on his lungs. His mother convinced him the shadows could be tuberculosis, and he might die. This frightened Walker Joe and he kicked the habit . . cold turkey. He always had a truer perspective of mortality than his peers. Incidentally, smoking stunted Walker Joe's growth and he acquired the nickname of Junior. The summer he quit he grew five inches and gained fifty pounds. The next school year he made the first string football team. And they quit calling him Junior.

He didn't smoke again until September 1948, when he went to Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia. The big city offered many temptation to this adventurous country boy, and he adopted several new bad habits and started smoking again. His tenure at Tech was short, and he joined the U. S. Air Force on March 10, 1949.

The nasty habit hung around until the air force sent him to England in the summer of 1950. A carton of cigarettes, at the Post Exchange (PX), was one dollar a carton, and his allotment was six cartons a month. The English would pay $4.20 for a carton of Pall Malls. They loved them. The profit on six cartons was enormous ($20 was a lot of money in England in 1950) and afforded him a weekend in paradise, London. The lure of London overwhelmed his desire to smoke, and he quit a second time. . cold turkey. He knows what you are thinking. Selling cigarettes to the English at inflated prices was illegal. You are absolutely correct, but every nonsmoking GI was doing it, including members of the Air Police. Hopefully, the statue-of-limitations have expired.

Walker Joe's tour of duty in England ended in October '52, and he was flown from Preswick Scotland to Westover Field, Mass. Flying home had been fortunate in a way. He became infected with infectious hepatitis and spent nearly three months in the hospital. Thank God, he was given high priority, since he was nearly four months over his rotation date. Flying was a vast improvement over another voyage on a troopship.

He had served about seven months of a contract extension called Harry Truman's year. Uncle Sugar decided not to reassign Walker Joe, and he was set free. Does anyone remember the 'Korean Situation?' That's a funny name for a war, isn't it? He mostly remembers Public Law 550, the Korean GI Bill, which helped pay for his college. If he had been in 'Charlie' land it could have been something entirely differently ... or nothing at all.

He returned to Georgia Tech in January '53 with healthy lungs, having refrained from smoking for slightly more than two years. Soon, he was working forty hours a week and going to night school four nights a week, and the pressure got to him. Yes, he started smoking again, and he continued smoking until he graduated in April '57.

Walker Joe accepted an engineering position with the Bendix Corporation in Hamilton, Ohio, and he continued puffing away a pack-and-a-half-a-day. One night, at a restaurant in Middletown, Ohio, he met the love of his life, and on May 6, 1959, they got hitched. Marjorie Lee, his bride, talked him into quitting shortly after the wedding. His life had new meaning and love provided the motivation for him to quit smoking a third time . . cold turkey.

He stayed clean for about seven months, until Marjorie's uncle Herman came over for a barbecue smoking Springs, a new brand of menthol cigarettes. Walker Joe thought, I'll just try one. I've got it licked now. He went for one, and the next day, he was smoking over a pack a day. Yes, he was hooked again.

Shortly after he started smoking again, they moved to Florida for four years. Then they spent two years in Connecticut. In May 1966, they moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, Marjorie's hometown. He had acquired an engineering job with General Electric. Now, he had been smoking again for about seven years, his longest stretch. Smoking was starting to adversely effect his health. Wrong! They were killing him, and on January 1, 1967, Walker Joe made good on a New Year's resolution to quit smoking forever. Life's too precious to shorten it smoking cigarettes, and this reasoning help rally the courage to quit a fourth and last time. Sure, he quit cold turkey, and since, he has never put one of those turkeys in his mouth.

There are many reasons to quit a filthy, useless, and expensive habit that steals a little bit of your life every time you light-up. Living a long, healthy life is a very good one. Then, there's a caring mother, a loving wife or husband and the grandchildren, a sweetheart, weekends to somewhere, and fresh smelling surroundings, to consider. You could simply be selfish and do it for yourself. And it's never too late.

When you quit, never put another cigarette between your lips. If you do, you'll be smoking your usual number of cigarettes a day, and all will have been for naught. N.e.v.e.r! This is the trap smokers who have quit fall into.

If, after reading this somewhat corny, but sincere personal confession, you are not motivated to quit, make it a game. You win big if you quit. You lose big if you don't.

The life you save will be your own!

PS: One pitfall lies a head. Food will taste so good. Your appetite will improve. If you start eating like a horse you'll add weight. This will demoralize you and you could use the weight gain as a excuse to start smoking again. So, watch your food intake and start an outside exercise routine like biking or walking or ballroom dancing, etc.  You may want to faze in the weight problem after you're confident you have the cigarette devil at bay. That's what I did. I started playing tennis and loss 53 pounds in six months.