By Stephen D. Bowling

It was always a party.  Friends and occasionally family members would stop by to have a piece of cake celebrating the birthday of a man nearly everyone in Jackson knew.  Bill Back, the owner of the Family Diner, made certain to celebrate the birthday of his “Number One Employee” every year on June the 9th, and, usually, the whole town celebrated along with him.

Everyone knew Sonny.

Lewis Daniel Haddix was born on June 9, 1941, to Troy L. and Lillie Mae (Thorpe) Haddix.  Troy, a Haddix native, had moved with his wife to Bulan in Perry County, where he found work at the Ajax Coal Company.  Lewis’ first years of life was in the Ajax Coal Camp while his father worked as a miner despite a crippled right arm. 

The parents were descendants of some of Breathitt County’s first inhabitants who had lived in the Haddix Community for generations.  The Tharps (sometimes spelled Thorpe) came from Virginia and settled on Lost Creek in the early 1800s.  The Haddix family had come years earlier and had a legitimate claim (often disputed with the Miller and Nobles) to the title of the first family to permanently settle in what is now Breathitt County.

As a young boy, he acquired the name “Sonny Boy” but was better known around Jackson simply as “Sonny.” From birth, Sonny had a mild stutter and was slightly delayed in his communication development.  He attended grade school at Haddix and progressed through the first six grades. He had difficulty focusing and had little interest in school.

He regularly attended the First Church of God with his mother and father, who were members.  In July 1957, sixteen-year-old Sonny Haddix went with his father and several other churchmen to help set up a large tent.  The tent, part of the traveling ministry of the Rev. Wallace Hager of Bluefield, West Virginia, would shelter attendees from the sun and rain for a planned revival during the second week of July. 

The volunteer tent crew spread the large tent on the ground near the L&N Railroad Bridge at Haddix.  As they raised the large poles to erect the tent, one of the poles fell, striking Sonny in the head and shoulder.  The heavy blow knocked him unconscious, and many thought that the hit had killed the teenager.  He was transported to Jackson in the back of a neighbor’s car and was treated for his injuries.  He did recover, but doctors could not correct “an increased turn” in Sonny’s left eye and the headaches that he would continue to experience throughout his life.

As the coal-based mountain economy continued to decline in the years following World War II and on into the 1960s, Troy Haddix moved to Ohio in search of a better life for his family.  He found a job in Lorrain, Ohio, where he made “good money” working on the manufacturing line for the National Tube Company.  Troy was soon sending money back home in preparation to move his entire family to Ohio. 

Still dealing with his injuries, Sonny Haddix, then 20, experienced a tragedy that would forever change him and his life.  News arrived a little after noon by way of a telephone call on September 8, informing the family that Troy Haddix had been killed in an auto accident in Ohio. 

According to news reports, Troy Haddix and Fred Everidge of Littcarr, Kentucky, were traveling on Route 62 just south of Hillsboro in Highland County, Ohio.  Speed may have played a factor, but Everidge, a coworker of Haddix, drove the vehicle off the roadway. Both men were seriously injured.  Medical officials reported that Haddix was “dead upon arrival” at the Highland Community Hospital from injuries including a “skull fracture, crushed chest, broken neck, broken arm, and broken jaw.” Everidge received a broken jaw.  Troy Haddix was 53.

Undertakers from the Jackson Funeral Home (later Bob Gabbard Funeral Home) drove to Ohio and returned the body to Breathitt County.  Rev. Beech Barnett conducted funeral services on Monday, September 11, 1961, and Haddix was buried in the Haddix Cemetery.

According to family members, Sonny, who revered his father, had a “sort of total mental breakdown” in the days and weeks that followed.  Relatives said that he never really ever recovered from the shock of his father’s death.  His mother, Lille Mae Haddix Spicer, struggled with Troy’s death too and moved the family from Haddix to a house in Turner’s Subdivision at Quicksand. After a few years of widowhood, Lillie married McKinley Spicer, creating some tension in the household.

Sonny started staying with other family and relatives occasionally, but he continued to call Haddix his home although he lived at Quicksand. During this period in Sonny’s life, he perfected his other greatest enjoyment- hitchhiking.  From the mid-1960s through the end of his life, Sonny Haddix loved to ride in a vehicle.  It did not make a difference what kind or where it was going- Sonny just wanted to go.  He was a common sight on the side of the roadway with his thumb sticking out to flag down a passerby.

As a “professional hitcher,” Sonny would often get a ride to town, turn around, and go straight back home or to Quicksand.  Drivers who gave Sonny rides were often amazed at his ability to get a ride to town and beat them back home.  It was not an uncommon sight for the driver who had just dropped Sonny off in Jackson to find him again standing beside the road on their return trip.

He divided his time between Haddix, Quicksand, and Jackson.  He was just as likely to be found at the White Flash, Cope’s Store, or Hudson’s Dairy Bar and Store.  Sonny was a fixture and a friend to everyone.  He loved to talk about the weather and was apt to tear into song (without stuttering) with his version of “Send Down the Rain” whenever a shower or storm passed.

Sonny’s mother, Lillie Mae Haddix Spicer, died on June 3, 1994, and Sonny moved in with his sister Jessie Fay Watkins in Turner’s Subdivision behind Hudson’s Dairy Bar. He continued his daily trips to Jackson and back. 

How the tradition started is unknown.  No one knows when they first met, but William “Bill” Back became Sonny’s greatest supporter and friend.  A former magistrate, Bill Back, owned the popular Family Diner on Highway 15 in the North Jackson area.  Bill and Sonny became best friends, and Bill often referred to Sonny as his “Number One Employee.” Bill would frequently feed Sonny as he visited the Diner and Food Fair, and he would let Sonny sweep up the parking area to earn his keep.

No one remembers the first year Bill started Sonny’s annual birthday tradition, but he continued it.  On June 9th, each year, Bill and the Family Diner staff prepared Sonny a meal and baked him a birthday cake.  Family and friends from around the community would gather and throw Sonny a birthday to remember.  Sonny always made a great production when he blew out his candles, usually after singing a verse of “Happy Birthday” to himself.  Bill was a true friend to Sonny and never missed the chance to celebrate his birthday.     

Following his sister Jessie’s death in 1995, Sonny moved out of town to live with his niece, Kay Gross, on War Creek.  Getting to town was then much harder.  Age also took its toll on the once prolific speed-walker.  In his later years, health issues slowed Sonny, and he hitched less and did not visit around Jackson as much.  He still attended church every chance he had.

On the morning of July 8, 2007, his niece, Kay Gross, went in to wake Sonny for breakfast, but he did not respond.  During the night, a heart attack had claimed Lewis “Sonny” Haddix.  He was 66.

Three days later, on July 11, 2007, Rev. Dennis Henson preached Sonny’s funeral to a large crowd of friends and neighbors who loved Sonny for who he was. Bill Back and many of Sonny’s friends served as pallbearers. He was buried in the Haddix Cemetery near his father and mother- reunited again.

Sonny was one of Jackson’s most memorable characters and perhaps the best-known man in Jackson.  His stutter and the constant repetition of the phrases he heard made him loved by all he encountered.  Sonny never lost that child-like innocence and the gentle demeanor that endeared him to everyone he met.  Always happy, his demeanor never really changed, whether standing outside Food Fair, sitting at the counter at the Family Diner, or perched on an RC crate at Hudson’s Grocery. 

He always smiled and waved, whether a driver picked him up or just drove on by.  Many locals can remember him- a short, slightly overweight man with a tight haircut with some grey showing on the sides, just standing on Quicksand Road smiling with his thumb out. 

Sonny was Sonny, and we all loved him.

Happy Birthday, Sonny!

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A very special “Thank You” to Thelma Gross and Kay Gross for sharing their photos and memories of Sonny Haddix.

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© 2024 Stephen D. Bowling