My Harvey Penick Story

This really isn’t about Harvey Penick per se, instead involves his daughter. I used his name because it will grab ahold of just about anyone that has ever played the game of golf or has connection to The University of Texas. Mr. Penick owed a ranch down the road from us when Kenny and I were growing up down on the creek out of Jollyville. I think it was his weekend get away, but at the time of this happening his daughter was living there. She had a German Sheppard Dog and a Collie. Us being goat people, we had … Continue reading My Harvey Penick Story

Eating Foods You Hate

When I was about 13 years old, on a hot summer day Cec took me to a John Deere Front End Loader on the top of Taylor Mountain, as we always called it. From up there you could see Marble Falls, because you were up there looking down across the town. It was far into the distance. I was clearing off brush on several lots and then leveling them up for future house site. It was early in the morning when he dropped me and I didn’t think about taking a jug of water. When noon rolled around I had … Continue reading Eating Foods You Hate

Cec And The CB Radio Craze

Back in the early 1970s CB Radios were the biggest thing going. No one got into CB’s more than Cecil Lewis. It didn’t matter what it took in the way of equipment to have the latest and greatest he would buy it. He was on a buying frenzy like I had never seen Cec go on before. He was a mostly a very frugal person. Not stingy at all. He would give a stranger anything he had and a friend, well the sky was the limit. But the CB Age saw him putting up a tall tower at his house. … Continue reading Cec And The CB Radio Craze

Cec And His Home Brew Recipe (As Told By Kenny Lewis)

Cec was one of the men in the fifties that was plagued with stomach ulcers, which seemed to be fairly common in those days or at least much more than now. His diet consisted of raw eggs, raw oysters, milk and crackers and certainly no alcohol. Even with his best attempt at the home remedy cure, the situation worsened until finally in the middle of the night he had to be rushed to the hospital and emergency surgery to remove a portion of his stomach. It was the cure he had needed for a long time. Thankfully he was back … Continue reading Cec And His Home Brew Recipe (As Told By Kenny Lewis)

Four Wrecks All Happened Within Minutes

It was the Friday afternoon of opening weekend of deer season, in 1968. The calamities started when Kenny, in a Ford Falcon, pulled out from the Gulf Station in Marble Falls. He and his squeeze at the time, Karen, were going to head northbound. I think Kenny was paying more attention to the redhead sitting next to him than he was to the heavy traffic, as he got t-boned by a Houston attorney that was up to go hunting. The attorneys car was a brand new Oldmobile 98 with 250 miles on it. No one was hurt seriously, but both … Continue reading Four Wrecks All Happened Within Minutes

Cec And The Spare Tire Rack

Back in 1968 Cec bought a new 1/2 Ford Pickup down at Truck City Ford on Ben White Blvd in Austin. Back in those days pickups hardly ever came with a rear bumper from the factory. They were all installed by the dealer and most of the time in this area they were supplied by D&D Bumper in Seguin, Tx. The dealership name would be imprinted in it, so when you bought a bumper you paid for the privilege of advertising where you bought your truck everywhere you went. There was a brand new thing that he couldn’t do without. … Continue reading Cec And The Spare Tire Rack

Lackey vs. Lewis (As told by Kenny Lewis)

Our parents made us aware of danger by telling us the consequences of what would happen if we got to close to something that might hurt us. One was that if you got too close to a Snapping Turtle, it would bite you and not turn loose until lightning struck. That was the case with Cec, when he got in a fight. Ronnie found that out when he embattled Cec and literally pulled his top front two teeth out trying to get his thumb out of his mouth. Dad operated a fishing camp on the family land he had inherited … Continue reading Lackey vs. Lewis (As told by Kenny Lewis)

Cecil Lewis Was Always Resourceful And He Taught Us

In the early days of our roadbuilding careers, there was a need to haul heavy pieces of equipment, mostly a D-7 Caterpillar Bulldozer, from Smithwick to Jonestown. We didn’t always have trucks that had the horsepower and the gears to get us over all the hills. We knew from experience which ones were going to give us fits, so I’d go along in a pickup and before we’d get to one of those such hills we’d pull over and hook a chain to the front of the truck and I could give just enough of a tug with the pickup … Continue reading Cecil Lewis Was Always Resourceful And He Taught Us

Momma May to many, but Grandma May to me. (she was my Paternal Great Grandmother) 1879-1981

She was Judy Maybelle Clark Linebarger. She was a product of the Clark Family, of Pleasant Valley, I guess you could say a suburb of Marble Falls. When I was a kid she lived with her daughters moving from one to the other. It seems like she kind of moved with the seasons. It wasn’t because she wasn’t happy one place, but rather because she enjoyed all of her girls (all four) and choose to spend her later years with each. At least that’s the way it seemed. The time I remember her the most was when she was staying … Continue reading Momma May to many, but Grandma May to me. (she was my Paternal Great Grandmother) 1879-1981

The Young Detectives

Our dad was working for an old time contractor by the name of Holland Page, installing a new wastewater system all around the town of Gatesville. The year was probably 1963. That summer we went there part of the time to spend with him. He had an apartment rented. They had a guy working previously that was trying to make an insurance claim for a back injury that supposedly happened on the job. Cec, my dad, knew that wasn’t possible because “the guy had been too lazy to pickup anything“. After talking to various people around town, this fellow had … Continue reading The Young Detectives