Category: The Early Days

Crazy Times, Smithwick, The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

J.P. and the Tires

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I’ve told a story about the snake victim that was working up in the wrecking yard. The junk yard is what we called it, was a 5 acre abandoned field up the hill and out of sight of our house. It was on our land, but was operated by Hugh Hampton. He would bring wrecked cars in and strip them down for usable car parts then scrap the remaining pieces. One day a “63” or it may have been a “64” Chevy Impala was brought in that had been in a wreck and was pretty much totaled. It had belong … Continue reading J.P. and the Tires

Crazy Times, Kenny Lewis, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

The Rattlesnake Bite Victim

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Cec allowed an old fellow from Marble Falls to establish a wrecking yard on a little patch of ground on our property. Old Man Hugh Hampton was as nice of a fellow as I ever met, and a very hard worker. He was honest as the day was long. (Whatever that saying is suppose to mean) Hugh had a fellow working for him up in the junk yard pulling usable parts off of cars. It was in the summertime, because Kenny and I were both at the house. I’m betting we had stopped by to grab a bite to eat. … Continue reading The Rattlesnake Bite Victim

Cecil Lewis, Marble Falls and the Area Around it., Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Four Wrecks All Happened Within Minutes

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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

Crazy Times, The Early DaysLeave a comment

The Wreck At The South End Of The Marble Falls Bridge

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It was just coming light and as I came down the hill I spun and couple of turns in that ole “63” short wheelbased Chevrolet pickup and smacked the guardrail right on the end of the bridge. I was more than likely going too fast for the conditions. Let me back up there, I was going to fast. Early one Sunday morning with it raining and the road slick, I had taken Kenny out to the Pure Stone Quarry to pick up a dump truck. I would have been 14 or 15 years old. George Becker was standing in the … Continue reading The Wreck At The South End Of The Marble Falls Bridge

Crazy Times, Smithwick, The Early DaysLeave a comment

The Wooden Pallets

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After graduation several of us gathered at the Scott Place down at Doublehorn. Winfield had been out of high school for a year and was home after finishing his first year at LSU. His folks were away, so it was an ideal place for a party. Knowing I had stuff to do the next day I had the presence of mind to leave the party before daylight and head to Smithwick. I was scheduled to go to San Antonio and pick up a load. I was over on the Eastside of San Antonio by mid morning sitting at a huge … Continue reading The Wooden Pallets

Crazy Times, The Early DaysLeave a comment

I Was Just About As Hungry As I Had Ever Been

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I was a 17 year old kid, a growing boy I was. Butch Sayers got me to go with him to Marysville, California to deliver a truck load of Corriente Steers (Mexican Roping Steers). We left Marble Falls in the middle of the afternoon and arrived in Del Rio at the stockyards after dark. The trip had been sprung on me suddenly and I didn’t have a chance to eat before we left. I mentioned to Butch a couple of times that we may want to make a stop and get a bite to eat. All he was thinking about … Continue reading I Was Just About As Hungry As I Had Ever Been

Cecil Lewis, Crazy Times, Kenny Lewis, The Construction Biz, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Cecil Lewis Was Always Resourceful And He Taught Us

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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

The Early Days, Thoughts and MusingsLeave a comment

I Am Very Fortunate That My Mother Kept So Many Of The Little Keepsakes From My Childhood

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I have so many things now to look back on and to help me recall my childhood, all thanks to my mother. This little wallet is an example of the things she held onto, on my behalf. The remote isn’t really old, but is being used to demonstrate the small size of that wallet. This very small kid size wallet, that my mother name and address in, was from Mexico. As you can see I carried it many a mile. How it survived is beyond me. This was bought in the very early 1960s. On the same trip there was … Continue reading I Am Very Fortunate That My Mother Kept So Many Of The Little Keepsakes From My Childhood

Crazy Times, Meeting New People, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Connecting People (it’s like connecting the dots)

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It’s strange how people all around the country are connected and we never realize it. I was reading about the Wolf Family from Georgetown (they owned the land where the Wolf Ranch Shopping Center is located). We did a lot of work around that development and got to know some of that family. Actually I had known Harry Robertson that married into the Wolf family since childhood. His sister had married one of my first cousins, back when I was just a kid, so we would see them every so often. Later Harry operated a Gulf Station at I-35 and … Continue reading Connecting People (it’s like connecting the dots)

Crazy Times, My Friends, The Early DaysLeave a comment

Another Strange Happening

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When we were kids going to school in Jollyville, there were the Reeves boy’s that were the same age as Kenny and me. Donnie was Kenny’s age, while Danny and I were in the same grade. We often visited each other’s house and played together. Then the Reeves’s cousin Elvin Horner came to live with them. He was Kenny and Donnie’s age. The Reeves family moved and we lost touch with them. That was about 1963. By the mid 80’s I was awarded a contract to construct a development project in Round Rock. When we got started building it, I … Continue reading Another Strange Happening