Category: The Early Days

Amazing Things, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings5 Comments

An Amazing Seamstress

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I always knew my Grandmother, Leona Purcell Lewis (Nonie or Aunt Nonie to many) was a great seamstress, but I guess I didn’t know how early in her life she had that talent. In 1933 she made this wedding dress for her little sister Amanda “Mandy” Purcell Lewis. Leona was but 22 years old at the time she sewed this wedding dress. She was raised on a farm in the community of High Grove, Bastrop County, Texas and had no formal training. It was surely a gift of God and being raised up in a hard working family. I’ve been … Continue reading An Amazing Seamstress

Crazy Times, The Early Days, The Jollyville YearsLeave a comment

Building Campfires

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When we were kids we played outside all year round. In those years we lived down in the Bull Creek area, just out of Jollyville. We grew up getting most of our heat from wood, be it in indoors with a fireplace or outdoors by a fire. Weather didn’t seem to be that big of a deal. We played outside regardless of how cold or hot it was. When it was real cold we just carried more wood and built our campfires bigger. In the summertime a small fire was built so it wouldn’t give off much heat. On those … Continue reading Building Campfires

The Early Days, The Jollyville Years, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

What’s In The Name ?

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The reason I took to the name – The Angora Chronicles – Angora goats were mine and my brother Kenny’s first business venture.The year was 1960. Shelton Kennedy (one of my Dads very best friends) was a goat man.When it came time to sell off his years kid crop, he sold 20 freshly weaned goats to us each. We had no money so he let us pay him after we had sheared them and collected the money. He sold the goats to us for $2 each.We lived on 65 acres of the hilliest, rockiest pasture land in all of central … Continue reading What’s In The Name ?

Amazing Things, The Early Days, The Jollyville Years3 Comments

Capital Plaza And Greasy The Pig

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When I was 9 years old, in November 1961, Austin was a very different place. It got it’s first shopping mall. It was called Capital Plaza Shopping Center. It wasn’t anything like some of the ones that would follow. Hancock Mall, Highland Mall, & Barton Creek Mall were a decade or so later. The center piece of Capital Plaza was a Montgomery Wards Department Store. There were about two dozen other stores located within the center. The first McDonalds in Austin was built there. Prior to this time there there were small little strip centers, like Delwood and of course … Continue reading Capital Plaza And Greasy The Pig

Aging, Amazing Things, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Old Man Cardwell

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When we were young, I would have been a preteen, we went all over Smithwick horseback. Mostly it was Kenny, Jimmy Palmer, Glenn Lewis and me, but sometimes other boys in the community joined in. I guess it had more to do with whether a youngster had access to a horse. Everett and Maude Jackson had the little store beside the road just below the cemetery, back towards the church house. The store had really limited fare. Mostly snacks and soda pops. Maybe some soda crackers and Vienna Sausages or potted meat. I don’t remember there being many perishables. Seems … Continue reading Old Man Cardwell

Amazing Things, The Construction Biz, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

Borrowing Money

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Gaston Kenna was his given names, but he always went by the initials G.K. I first got to know G.K. in 1973 when Dink (from another of my stories – okay a few of my stories) and I were teamed up doing projects together. GK was hired by my cousin Nelson, whom I already had a long working history with. G.K. had worked for a wealthy businessman in Rockdale for many years. A drinking problem had been the cause of him needing to seek employment with Nelson. A few years later G.K. became my traveling accountant / sidekick / office … Continue reading Borrowing Money

Crazy Times, The Construction Biz, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

More About G.K.

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I wrote about my drunken accountant a while back. “GK, My Accountant With A Drinking Problem”. GK may have been an old drunk, but I had a real fondness for him. Following is a story about the evening goings on for the crew when we were up building a 24” water line in Stephens County. Our office for the Stephens County project was in a small town of Ivan. Actually Ivan wasn’t a town. It was a beer joint and then our little office building. We were on a party line with the Kate’s Place.Ms. Kate was like our answering … Continue reading More About G.K.

Construction, Crazy Times, In and Around Austin, The Construction Biz, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

GK, My Accountant With A Drinking Problem

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Gk was my accountant for several years. I’ve mentioned him in a couple of my previous stories. I mostly called him Worley, his last name. GK was so fast on a desk calculator, you’d think the keys were going to fly off. By the time I got to know him, he was pretty much an old drunk. He would shake a lot. But when he would sit down and had a pen in his hand that man had the nicest handwriting of any person I’ve ever known. He had gone to a business school when he was young. He could … Continue reading GK, My Accountant With A Drinking Problem

The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings2 Comments

The Little Maverick

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My wife’s car when we were seniors in high school was a reddish copper colored Maverick. Her mother bought it for her from Tiger Penny. Madeline said he brought it up to Johnson City football game. It was a surprise for her. That little car served her well. After we married I took it down David Fishers Car Lot, along the creek between 8th and 9th Streets and US 281 and traded it for a Ford Pickup. If memory serves me correctly, that car was just under $2000 brand new off the lot. History Of The Ford Maverick (from Wikipedia) … Continue reading The Little Maverick

Crazy Times, My Family, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and Musings5 Comments

The Battle Of The Smithwick Lewis Family

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This story dates back to the late 1950s. I will be telling it from my perspective, which is the side I was born on. FP and Florence Lewis had a bunch of kids. There were two girls and seven boys (couple more died young) and they raised them in Smithwick. Best I know they had several pieces of property but our old home place was originally Stinnett land that they bought from Grandmother Florence’s family or inherited it. It was comprised of 450 acres that stretched from FM 1431 down to the Colorado River. It was approximately 1/2 mile of … Continue reading The Battle Of The Smithwick Lewis Family