When you think about James Dean, you probably think about the troubled persona, the race car driving risk taker who still epitomizes cool.
You probably don't think about him out in nature, working on a farm, playing with animals. In fact, you probably don't think about him as a kid at all.
He arrived by train at the age of nine, sent by his dad to stay with relatives after his mom died of cancer. Those relatives were Ortense and Marcus Winslow, an aunt and uncle who are said to have sores on their nephew. They raised Jimmy alongside their young son Marcus in a Quaker household.
Here, he tried his hand at sports including baseball and basketball. If you go to the town museum, you'll find his basketball uniform and team picture. He also became involved in the school's drama program and studied public speaking. He had a stable family life that seemed reasonably happy.
This is the place he called home.
If he had lived, Jimmy would be 92 years old. That makes his little cousin Marcus an elderly man now. Marcus still lives on the family farm and the local museum says he has kept the farm looking as it did firing his own childhood.
He understands the legacy of his famous cousin and the importance Jimmy will always have to the town. In addition to maintaining the farm, he has donated many of Jimmy's possessions to the local museum.
Marcus invites visitors to stop and take pictures and to look around a bit as long as they don't approach the house.
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