Udo Haufler was a trader at heart.

He was born and raised in the Twin Sisters area Blanco County.

He started buying and selling used vehicles after the war and settling in Austin.

This is a car lot he was operating in 1953 in downtown Austin. I’ve never been clear what the actual address was. But I think it was possibly in the 2nd or 3rd block and a few blocks east of Congress Ave.

He traveled far and wide buying the best quality used vehicles he could find. Those travels took him to the Lincoln Mercury Dealership in Conroe Texas. The proprietor and his wife operated it. The husband died in 1952 at the age of 37. The lady continued to operate the business and by 1955 Udo convinced Esther, to sell the business and move to Austin.

They operated his car business, the by the early 1960s they were in the heavy earth moving business, with their base of operation in the Austin area. Haufler Excavating became very successful, with much of their excavation work on buildings at The University of Texas and other difficult project in downtown Austin.

I personally first became acquainted with Mr. Haufler when he was the excavation subcontractor for the downtown I-35 expansion from 11th Street to Manor Road, and later the 26th Street Underpass at I-35, then I-35 from Airport Blvd to US 290. We were doing the pipe on each of those projects.

When 1977 rolled around my wife and I bought a home across the street from the Haufler’s grand estate in far south Austin. Within a year of that time the Haufler’s decided it was time to retire from the construction business.

One thing led to another and I eventually bought the office and yard they had operated out of a number of years at 2801 Montopolis Dr.

As time went along I bought many of the machines and trucks they had used in their business, but not the actual business. It was just closed down.

We lived across from them for almost the next decade. Such a great friendship had been forged that we remained friends until Udo’s untimely death, from a helicopter crash out west of Oak Hill.

I will add a link to a more complete story I wrote some years ago, titled My Friend Udo.

https://angorachronicles.com/2024/09/23/my-friend-udo-2/

I continued to be friends with Esther until her death at 101 years of age. I’ll also add a link to the story of her 100th birthday party.

https://angorachronicles.com/2024/09/25/a-happening-we-seldom-get-to-enjoy-during-a-lifetime/

I was so very honored when her family asked me to conduct her funeral service. I wasn’t sure I had the qualifications to do such a thing for such a wonderful dignified lady. But I think it turned out great.