Meeting with Fame
Written in response to my son asking what famous people had I ever met: After my dad and his brother sold Wolf Brand in 1957, he innocently became in some ways victim of many opportunists.…
Category Archives: Family
Stories from a Friend
The world lost one of the great storytellers this week and many of us lost a friend. On one of Liz’s visits to me, I wrote down two of her stories. She said she didn’t…
My Brother Steve
(This story was written by my sister, Joanne) March 28, 1999, my “brother” Steve died. His half-brother René Lawrence, who grew up a self-described fatherless bastard and became a failed rock musician, called to tell…
Neighborhood Safety
My neighbor Elaine told me a story. She and husband Steve lived in a big house across the street built by his grandparents. The large basement held a walk-in, steel-door safe. The safe’s door had…
Scandal
In a small town, gossip is an enthusiastic social activity. Topics surround, naturally enough, religious no-no’s. The forbidden. Whispers about who is having an affair, who is an alcoholic, who has a violent marriage, who…
Honesty
Honesty can be overrated. In the 1950s, our parents sent their daughters to a “fancy” girls camp in Kerrville, Texas, where campers swam in the Guadalupe River, sang songs around a campfire, lounged under the…
A Reminiscence
A story printed in 1920 in the Corsicana Daily Sun satirically recounting a trip made by local Hella Shrine families to Portland, Oregon. (My own great-grandparents, Bige and Molly Tinkle were among them. The photograph…
Greeks Bearing Gifts
A hot summer day spent climbing over ancient Athenian ruins in 1964 became more uncomfortable back in the air-conditioning of our hotel. After the five of us had dragged in, showered, washed the sweat…
Journey
My grandson’s bus is late…or I’m early. He’s six and someone walks to meet the school bus each day; today it’s me. I settle on the low curb in the available shade of a dried-out…
Afterthoughts
A clipboard and pen were poised in the hands of the young man standing in the hotel lobby. He wore khaki shorts above strong, tanned legs, anchored by dusty hiking boots and a whistle on…
Wolf Brand history
This is a brochure I recently created for the Corsicana Main Street Project. Wolf Brand is part of our family history as well as a part of Corsicana history. J. C. West was my grandfather,…
Elephantine Memories
A downtown parade was among the most exciting events of a childhood spent in a small Texas town. In our old family albums are photos taken by my grandfather of the…
Paralyzed Dog Runs For Life
A story by Lois Toone West (1920-1992), my mother, reprinted as written in the 1960s What’s so unbelievable about a dog’s being able to understand the human language? “Nothing,” my family would be quick to…
Adolescent Angst
I still flash on embarrassing memories that make me cringe inside, especially those that happened during the years from 12 to about 18 when we are all most vulnerable to self-criticism. My sister and I,…
Grace at Christmas
It was bone cold, the wind sending chilly gusts around our legs and up loose backs of our jackets. I pushed my muffler up to warm my nose. We were three American visitors steadily working…
Surviving and Arriving Home
This is the third and final part of the memoir of George Olsson Short, whose family love of baseball was a feature of his boyhood in the Texas of the 1920s and 1930s. After earning a…
From Hitting Homers to Hitting the Hun
This is the second in the series of three parts which are a compilation of the writings of George Olsson Short, whose family love of baseball was a feature of his boyhood in the Texas of…
Baseball, Love and a Love of Baseball
This is Part 1 of 3. George Short was my husband’s uncle. This is HIS story. This story was serialized in the online magazine, http://www.texasescapes.com Part 1: http://www.texasescapes.com/GOS/1-My-Father-Zola.htm Part 2: http://www.texasescapes.com/GOS/2-From-Hitting-Homers-to-Hitting-the-Hun.htm Part 3: http://www.texasescapes.com/GOS/3-Surviving-WWII-and-Coming-Home.htm Baseball, Love and a Love…
The Stockholm Question
The small notice in our local evening newspaper was seeking homes for exchange students. I cut out the ad and called the phone number the next morning. They made an appointment to meet us, check…
A G.I. Joe Christmas
Years ago, G. I. Joe and his military buddies were a passion of our oldest son West. He memorized vehicles, accessories, weapons, outfits, uniforms advertised in magazines and on television and carefully collected each branch…
