The Texas Author Series, sponsored by Friends of the Abilene Public Library, has been held in the spring for the past several years. This year they've added a fall series as well.
Noon brown bag programs, free to the public, will be presented on three Mondays – Oct. 19, Nov. 2, and Nov. 16 -- at the Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar. The Nov. 16 program will also be the annual meeting of Friends, when new officers are elected.
Kicking off the series next Monday, Oct. 19, is Joe Nick Patoski, a veteran Texas magazine writer and author whose biography of Willie Nelson: An Epic Life won the TCU Book Award as the best Texas book of the year. Come hear him talk about Willie Nelson, Texas music, and Texas culture.
Sherrie McLeroy of Aledo will tell true Texas tales on Nov. 2 from her new book, Bragging on Texas, a collection of about 50 stories of Texas firsts and bests. Her book is part of the Small Texas Books series from TCU Press. Priced at just $9.95 hardcover, they make good inexpensive birthday or stocking-stuffer gifts.
On Nov. 16 two of the authors of a great new coffee-table book, Historic Texas from the Air, will tell stories and show pictures of historical Texas sites. Author Gerald Saxon, Dean of the Library at the University of Texas at Arlington, and photographer Jack Graves will take us on a historic tour that includes downtown Abilene and Fort Phantom Hill among its 73 selected sites.
As usual, sandwich plates will be available for $4, or you can bring your own lunch. Drinks will be provided by Friends. Authors will sign books after their presentations.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
'Flagatography' book pays tribute to Texas flag
Longtime Houston Chronicle photographer E. Joe Deering noticed a Lone Star flag painted on a building in Cisco in 2002, and then he began seeing the flag on pickups and barns and gates and mailboxes and boats.
He decided there might be a photographic story there, and a few months later the Chronicle published an eight-page spread in its Sunday magazine.
That led to a “Flagatography” exhibit at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the Texas A&M campus in 2005 (Deering even provided handmade frames for the 135 pictures).
Now Texas A&M University Press has published a delightful collection of Deering’s inspired photographs – Lovin’ That Lone Star Flag – an elegant coffee-table book reasonably priced at $29.95. It's one of my favorite Texas books of the year.
Ruth Rendon, a former colleague at the Chronicle, provides an informative introduction and foreword telling about the Lone Star flag itself and about Deering’s obsession with it.
Each picture is accompanied by a caption telling about the flag image portrayed and when and where it was taken.
Photographs show the flag on:
A guitar used by the band Lonestar.
Bruce Lavorgna’s Texas Lone Star balloon, Aerodactyl.
An outhouse outside Schulenburg.
A police car in Palmer.
A muffler in Dayton.
Bowling pins at a bowling alley in Lake Jackson.
A watering trough in Texas City.
A fleet of tanker trucks in Brookland.
Oil drums and cell phones in Kerrville.
An El Campo family’s basketball backboard.
A single-engine airplane in Kingsville.
A bathtub in San Marcos.
One photograph shows a couple decked out in Lone Star flag shirt and skirt for their wedding in front of the San Jacinto Monument, “where Texas won its independence,” the wife points out, “and (husband) Kenny lost his.”
There are pictures of flags on boots, spurs, caps, shirts, running shorts, arrows, golf balls, windmills, buckets, birdhouses, and steakhouses, among other uses.
Deering, not a native Texan himself, said he understands why so many people like to paint and display the Lone Star flag in so many creative ways.
“It’s just because they like being in Texas and being a Texan,” he says. “It’s that Texas pride.”
He decided there might be a photographic story there, and a few months later the Chronicle published an eight-page spread in its Sunday magazine.
That led to a “Flagatography” exhibit at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the Texas A&M campus in 2005 (Deering even provided handmade frames for the 135 pictures).
Now Texas A&M University Press has published a delightful collection of Deering’s inspired photographs – Lovin’ That Lone Star Flag – an elegant coffee-table book reasonably priced at $29.95. It's one of my favorite Texas books of the year.
Ruth Rendon, a former colleague at the Chronicle, provides an informative introduction and foreword telling about the Lone Star flag itself and about Deering’s obsession with it.
Each picture is accompanied by a caption telling about the flag image portrayed and when and where it was taken.
Photographs show the flag on:
A guitar used by the band Lonestar.
Bruce Lavorgna’s Texas Lone Star balloon, Aerodactyl.
An outhouse outside Schulenburg.
A police car in Palmer.
A muffler in Dayton.
Bowling pins at a bowling alley in Lake Jackson.
A watering trough in Texas City.
A fleet of tanker trucks in Brookland.
Oil drums and cell phones in Kerrville.
An El Campo family’s basketball backboard.
A single-engine airplane in Kingsville.
A bathtub in San Marcos.
One photograph shows a couple decked out in Lone Star flag shirt and skirt for their wedding in front of the San Jacinto Monument, “where Texas won its independence,” the wife points out, “and (husband) Kenny lost his.”
There are pictures of flags on boots, spurs, caps, shirts, running shorts, arrows, golf balls, windmills, buckets, birdhouses, and steakhouses, among other uses.
Deering, not a native Texan himself, said he understands why so many people like to paint and display the Lone Star flag in so many creative ways.
“It’s just because they like being in Texas and being a Texan,” he says. “It’s that Texas pride.”
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
25 Good Reasons to Attend the West Texas Book and Music Festival
The West Texas Book & Music Festival is going on all this week in Abilene. This is the festival’s ninth year, and it is now recognized as one of the best in Texas.
Here are 25 good reasons (there are more) why you should try to take in some of the events, most of which are free thanks to the festival’s generous sponsors.
1. You will be amazed, maybe also amused, at the variety of Texas authors in the Hall of Texas Authors at the Abilene Civic Center from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
2. If you haven’t met Abilene author Bill Neal, come hear him tell some tales about justice on the Texas frontier. He speaks at noon Wednesday. His latest book is “Sex, Murder and the Unwritten Law.” If you can’t make his Wednesday program, he will also be in the Hall of Authors on Saturday.
3. It’s hard to describe the Grammy-winning “nuclear polka” band Brave Combo, but suffice it to say that the band plays upbeat world music that is always fun to listen to. Catch Brave Combo and the Texas Swing Kings in a concert at the Paramount Theatre at 8 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $15 and $25.
4. Kathi Appelt is one of the best children’s authors anywhere, not just in Texas. She will be part of a 9 a.m. session Saturday on Writing for Children (it’s free) and will be presented the A.C. Greene Award at the Boots & Books Luncheon at noon Saturday (tickets are $30, 691-1868).
5. One of Abilene’s best known authors is Nancy Robinson Masters. She will be on the Writing for Children panel Saturday and also will speak at the luncheon.
6. Diane Gonzales Bertrand of San Antonio writes bilingual books for children. She also will be on the Writing for Children panel, will speak at the luncheon, and will read at a story time session at the new Mockingbird Branch Library at 3:30 Saturday afternoon.
7. Bryan Burrough is the author of one of the best-selling books about Texas this year – “The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes.” He speaks at 10 a.m. Saturday and also at the luncheon.
8-9. Two other authors who have written about Texas icons – LBJ and Shiner Beer – are speaking at 10 a.m. and at the luncheon – retired General James Cross and Dallas author Mike Renfro.
10. If you like to cook, or even eat, you ought to come hear cookbook authors Terry Thompson-Anderson, Tricia Henry and Betsy Nozick at noon Thursday at the main library.
11. If you want to get more out of your computer – for fun or profit -- let Leland Harden tell you how to do it. Noon Monday at the library. He’s the author of “Digital Engagement,” a book on Internet marketing.
12-14. Bob Favor spent his career in law enforcement, most of it as a Texas Ranger, and he has written a book about his experiences. Bob and two other storytellers, Carol Walt of Cross Plains and Murray Edwards of Clyde, speak at noon Tuesday at the library.
15. McMurry history professor Don Frazier makes history come alive, and he will talk about his newest book, “Fire in the Cane Field,” at noon Wednesday.
16. Gary Hartman is a music historian and also a musician, and he will talk and sing about Texas music history at noon Friday at the library. He also will perform at the Friday night concert.
17-20. Stop by Minter Park at noon Monday through Thursday for some free “Pickin’ in the Park” music by local musicians you will enjoy – JamisonPriest, Happy Fat, Slim Chance, and Catclaw Creek.
21. If you like to belt out the good old gospel hymns, come to the fourth annual West Texas Gospel Hymnfest at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Civic Center. Free songbooks.
22. Have you been to the exhibit for the West Texas Music Hall of Fame? The festival’s opening reception will be there at 6 p.m. Monday, Rose Park Shopping Center, 2510 S. 7th St.
23. How many Abilenians wrote a book in the past year? If you guessed 30, you’re close. See the fruits of their labor at a reception at the library, 6 p.m. Tuesday.
24. Enjoy the World-Famous Hardin-Simmons University Cowboy Band at theBoots & Books Luncheon on Saturday.
25. Read a book by a Texas author. If you need help finding one, well that’s what this week is all about.
Here are 25 good reasons (there are more) why you should try to take in some of the events, most of which are free thanks to the festival’s generous sponsors.
1. You will be amazed, maybe also amused, at the variety of Texas authors in the Hall of Texas Authors at the Abilene Civic Center from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
2. If you haven’t met Abilene author Bill Neal, come hear him tell some tales about justice on the Texas frontier. He speaks at noon Wednesday. His latest book is “Sex, Murder and the Unwritten Law.” If you can’t make his Wednesday program, he will also be in the Hall of Authors on Saturday.
3. It’s hard to describe the Grammy-winning “nuclear polka” band Brave Combo, but suffice it to say that the band plays upbeat world music that is always fun to listen to. Catch Brave Combo and the Texas Swing Kings in a concert at the Paramount Theatre at 8 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $15 and $25.
4. Kathi Appelt is one of the best children’s authors anywhere, not just in Texas. She will be part of a 9 a.m. session Saturday on Writing for Children (it’s free) and will be presented the A.C. Greene Award at the Boots & Books Luncheon at noon Saturday (tickets are $30, 691-1868).
5. One of Abilene’s best known authors is Nancy Robinson Masters. She will be on the Writing for Children panel Saturday and also will speak at the luncheon.
6. Diane Gonzales Bertrand of San Antonio writes bilingual books for children. She also will be on the Writing for Children panel, will speak at the luncheon, and will read at a story time session at the new Mockingbird Branch Library at 3:30 Saturday afternoon.
7. Bryan Burrough is the author of one of the best-selling books about Texas this year – “The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes.” He speaks at 10 a.m. Saturday and also at the luncheon.
8-9. Two other authors who have written about Texas icons – LBJ and Shiner Beer – are speaking at 10 a.m. and at the luncheon – retired General James Cross and Dallas author Mike Renfro.
10. If you like to cook, or even eat, you ought to come hear cookbook authors Terry Thompson-Anderson, Tricia Henry and Betsy Nozick at noon Thursday at the main library.
11. If you want to get more out of your computer – for fun or profit -- let Leland Harden tell you how to do it. Noon Monday at the library. He’s the author of “Digital Engagement,” a book on Internet marketing.
12-14. Bob Favor spent his career in law enforcement, most of it as a Texas Ranger, and he has written a book about his experiences. Bob and two other storytellers, Carol Walt of Cross Plains and Murray Edwards of Clyde, speak at noon Tuesday at the library.
15. McMurry history professor Don Frazier makes history come alive, and he will talk about his newest book, “Fire in the Cane Field,” at noon Wednesday.
16. Gary Hartman is a music historian and also a musician, and he will talk and sing about Texas music history at noon Friday at the library. He also will perform at the Friday night concert.
17-20. Stop by Minter Park at noon Monday through Thursday for some free “Pickin’ in the Park” music by local musicians you will enjoy – JamisonPriest, Happy Fat, Slim Chance, and Catclaw Creek.
21. If you like to belt out the good old gospel hymns, come to the fourth annual West Texas Gospel Hymnfest at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Civic Center. Free songbooks.
22. Have you been to the exhibit for the West Texas Music Hall of Fame? The festival’s opening reception will be there at 6 p.m. Monday, Rose Park Shopping Center, 2510 S. 7th St.
23. How many Abilenians wrote a book in the past year? If you guessed 30, you’re close. See the fruits of their labor at a reception at the library, 6 p.m. Tuesday.
24. Enjoy the World-Famous Hardin-Simmons University Cowboy Band at theBoots & Books Luncheon on Saturday.
25. Read a book by a Texas author. If you need help finding one, well that’s what this week is all about.
West Texas Book & Music Festival Schedule
West Texas Book & Music Festival Schedule
September 21-26, 2009
Monday, Sept. 21
Brown Bag Program, noon, Main Library - Online Networking for Fun and Profit featuring Leland Harden - Bring your lunch or purchase a sandwich plate for $4. Drinks provided.
Pickin' in the Park, noon, Minter Park, featuring JamisonPriest.
Opening Reception, 6 P.M., West Texas Music Hall of Fame Exhibit, Rose Park Shopping Center, 2510 S. 7th Street - Reception honoring local musicians.
Tuesday, Sept. 22
Brown Bag Program, noon, Main Library – Texas storytellers Carol Walt of Cross Plains, Murray Edwards of Clyde/Abilene, Bob Favor of Clyde. Bring your lunch or purchase a sandwich plate for $4. Drinks provided.
Pickin' in the Park, noon, Minter Park, featuring Happy Fat.
Local Author Reception, 6 P.M., Main Library - Reception honoring local authors who have had a book published in the past year.
Wednesday, Sept. 23
Brown Bag Program, noon, Main Library – Texas history, Don Frazier and Bill Neal. Bring your lunch or purchase a sandwich plate for $4. Drinks provided.
Pickin' in the Park, noon, Minter Park, featuring Slim Chance and the Survivors.
Thursday, Sept. 24
Brown Bag Program, noon, Main Library – Texas cookbooks featuring Tricia Henry, Betsy Nozik, and Terry Thompson-Anderson - Bring your lunch or purchase a sandwich plate for $4. Drinks provided.
Pickin' in the Park, noon, Minter Park, featuring Catclaw Creek.
Texas Cookbook Gala, 6 P.M., Abilene Country Club - $150 Reserved tickets. Sold Out!
Friday, Sept. 25
Authors in Schools - Featured children’s authors will visit Abilene and Wylie schools throughout the day.
Brown Bag Program, noon, Main Library - History of Texas Music, Gary Hartman speaking and singing. Bring your lunch or purchase a sandwich plate for $4. Drinks provided.
Concert, 8 P.M., Paramount Theatre - Featuring Brave Combo and Texas Swing Kings. Tickets $15 and $25, available at all library locations and the Paramount Theatre.
Saturday, Sept. 26
All activities at the Abilene Civic Center
9 A.M. to 3 P.M., Hall of Texas Authors - Authors, publishers and booksellers displaying, selling, and signing books.
9 A.M., Red Carpet Area - Writing for Children Workshop, presented by Kathi Appelt,
Diane Gonzales Bertrand, and Nancy Robinson Masters
10 A.M., Conference Center - The Texas Experience – Politics, Beer, and Oil – with authors Gen. James Cross, Mike Renfro, and Bryan Burrough.
Noon, Conference Center - Boots & Books Luncheon, music by Hardin-Simmons Cowboy Band; barbecue by Harold’s. Remarks by featured authors. Presentation of the A.C. Greene Award to Kathi Appelt. Tickets $30, 691-1868.
3 P.M., Conference Center - West Texas Gospel Hymnfest, congregational singing led by Judge Lee Hamilton and pianist Sharon Leyerle. Free songbooks.
At the Mockingbird Branch Library, 1214 N. Mockingbird
3:30 P.M., Story time featuring San Antonio children’s author Diane Gonzales Bertrand.
September 21-26, 2009
Monday, Sept. 21
Brown Bag Program, noon, Main Library - Online Networking for Fun and Profit featuring Leland Harden - Bring your lunch or purchase a sandwich plate for $4. Drinks provided.
Pickin' in the Park, noon, Minter Park, featuring JamisonPriest.
Opening Reception, 6 P.M., West Texas Music Hall of Fame Exhibit, Rose Park Shopping Center, 2510 S. 7th Street - Reception honoring local musicians.
Tuesday, Sept. 22
Brown Bag Program, noon, Main Library – Texas storytellers Carol Walt of Cross Plains, Murray Edwards of Clyde/Abilene, Bob Favor of Clyde. Bring your lunch or purchase a sandwich plate for $4. Drinks provided.
Pickin' in the Park, noon, Minter Park, featuring Happy Fat.
Local Author Reception, 6 P.M., Main Library - Reception honoring local authors who have had a book published in the past year.
Wednesday, Sept. 23
Brown Bag Program, noon, Main Library – Texas history, Don Frazier and Bill Neal. Bring your lunch or purchase a sandwich plate for $4. Drinks provided.
Pickin' in the Park, noon, Minter Park, featuring Slim Chance and the Survivors.
Thursday, Sept. 24
Brown Bag Program, noon, Main Library – Texas cookbooks featuring Tricia Henry, Betsy Nozik, and Terry Thompson-Anderson - Bring your lunch or purchase a sandwich plate for $4. Drinks provided.
Pickin' in the Park, noon, Minter Park, featuring Catclaw Creek.
Texas Cookbook Gala, 6 P.M., Abilene Country Club - $150 Reserved tickets. Sold Out!
Friday, Sept. 25
Authors in Schools - Featured children’s authors will visit Abilene and Wylie schools throughout the day.
Brown Bag Program, noon, Main Library - History of Texas Music, Gary Hartman speaking and singing. Bring your lunch or purchase a sandwich plate for $4. Drinks provided.
Concert, 8 P.M., Paramount Theatre - Featuring Brave Combo and Texas Swing Kings. Tickets $15 and $25, available at all library locations and the Paramount Theatre.
Saturday, Sept. 26
All activities at the Abilene Civic Center
9 A.M. to 3 P.M., Hall of Texas Authors - Authors, publishers and booksellers displaying, selling, and signing books.
9 A.M., Red Carpet Area - Writing for Children Workshop, presented by Kathi Appelt,
Diane Gonzales Bertrand, and Nancy Robinson Masters
10 A.M., Conference Center - The Texas Experience – Politics, Beer, and Oil – with authors Gen. James Cross, Mike Renfro, and Bryan Burrough.
Noon, Conference Center - Boots & Books Luncheon, music by Hardin-Simmons Cowboy Band; barbecue by Harold’s. Remarks by featured authors. Presentation of the A.C. Greene Award to Kathi Appelt. Tickets $30, 691-1868.
3 P.M., Conference Center - West Texas Gospel Hymnfest, congregational singing led by Judge Lee Hamilton and pianist Sharon Leyerle. Free songbooks.
At the Mockingbird Branch Library, 1214 N. Mockingbird
3:30 P.M., Story time featuring San Antonio children’s author Diane Gonzales Bertrand.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Eulogy for Elmer Kelton
The following eulogy was delivered at the funeral of Elmer Kelton Thursday afternoon by the Rev. Ricky Burk, senior pastor at First United Methodist Church.
In his autobiography, “Sandhills Boy,” Elmer says he discovered America on April 29, 1926, at Horse Camp on the Five Wells Ranch a few miles east of Andrews, Texas. His mother often told him that it was a wet, stormy day and the first few weeks were equally stormy for Elmer and his parents. Elmer was born prematurely, and his mother kept him in a shoebox and often in the oven in order to keep him warm and help him survive those first perilous weeks.
Although he grew up on a ranch, Elmer and horses never connected. He said it might have begun before he was even able to walk. His father was working half-broken horses and his mom was sitting on the fence holding him and watching her husband. Dad decided it was time for Elmer to have his first ride, so he placed Elmer in front of him in the saddle. The bronc immediately began to pitch while Dad held on to the reigns with one hand and Elmer with the other. He calmly worked the bucking bronc around to where mom was seated on the fence and handed off Elmer like a quarterback handing off a football. Elmer said that from that day forward his relationship with horses went downhill.
The family showed me a picture of the last time Elmer was ever on a horse. He was in the Big Bend area and posed on a big, beautiful palomino for a picture. You can tell by looking at both Elmer and the horse that neither was sure what would happen next. Elmer never mounted a horse again and, years later, when plans were made for the library statue now in progress, he made the artist promise to place him next to a fence, not on a horse!
Growing up in the midst of cowboys and horses, it was always his dream to be a cowboy like his Dad. But, in addition to his lack of confidence in riding, he was seriously nearsighted. It often caused him to mess up the cattle drive by getting lost or turned around. But soon Elmer made two great discoveries: glasses and books. He was a voracious reader, immersing himself in any available print.
He missed most of fifth grade due to a mild form of tuberculosis. Forced to stay in bed most of the time, he read, wrote, and did imaginary radio broadcasts. He even made his own movies by drawing pictures on long strips of paper, then pulling them through slots in a large piece of cardboard, one at a time. From behind the cardboard he would voice the dialogue. His God-given gift was beginning to surface.
As he faced graduation from high school he began to work up the nerve to break the news to his father about his intended career. Elmer finally told him that he wanted to go to the University of Texas, study journalism and become a writer. His dad, a hard-core rancher to the bone, didn’t take it well. Elmer said, “He gave me a look that would kill Johnson grass and said, ‘That’s the problem with you kids these days, you all want to make a living without working for it.’” Elmer was never certain what his father thought about his career.
Soon the drums of war began to beat in Europe and Elmer decided to do his part and enlist in the Navy. They turned him down due to flat feet. That was no problem for the Army and when he turned 18 they accepted him. His basic training was at Fort Bliss, near El Paso. He graduated around Christmas time and was given holiday leave to a base near Gainesville, Texas. It was there he began to attend a Methodist Church. He was given a New Testament which he carried overseas and always kept in his pocket. Shortly before he shipped out he attended a service which concluded with the hymn “Just as I Am.” He said the words burned into his memory and brought him comfort during the many difficult times ahead.
Once as I visited Elmer in the nursing home I felt the need as his pastor to ask about his relationship with God. Had he made peace with God? Did he have the assurance of his salvation? Although he was lying flat on his back, he propped himself up on both elbows, looked me straight in the eye and said, “Oh yes, Preacher. I took care of that a long time ago.” I’ve always wondered if that commitment was made at that Methodist church service as he listened to the words of “Just as I Am.”
During the war Elmer was dispatched to the little Austrian town of Ebensee. There he would meet the love of his life, his wife for 62 years, Anni Lipp. In “Sandhills Boy” he says, “the course of one’s life may hinge on a chance moment, an unanticipated coincidence. It was by pure chance that I happened to be at Ebensee’s boat landing the evening of Oct. 14, 1945, and met Anni Lipp. She had a little boy named Gerhard, then four-going-on-five and without a father. By the time the relationship became serious I was deeply attached to him.” Anni would always lovingly say that Elmer was a like a stray pet: “I fed a soldier apple strudel and he kept coming back.”
But soon the war was over and Elmer was sent back stateside. He promised that he would return for Anni and Gerhard. Every day, for more than a year, he wrote her a letter. Anni said that she could read very little English but it didn’t matter because each letter meant that he would keep his promise and return for them.
Elmer finally fought his way through the red tape of government bureaucracy and brought Anni and little Gerhard home to Texas. They were married in his grandmother’s house in Midland. There was no honeymoon, only work to be done. About a week after her arrival, Elmer took Anni to Pecos to introduce her to the thrill of a rodeo. It was hot, dusty, windy, and a far cry from the beauty of Austria. She’s never been to a Pecos rodeo since.
Little Gerhard adjusted quickly. He picked up English easily from the cowboys. The only problem was that most of them were four-letter words he couldn’t repeat! The cowboys decided that Gerhard was too foreign-sounding, so they began calling him Gary for short, and Gary it still is.
Elmer, Anni and Gary soon moved to San Angelo, and he began working for the San Angelo Standard-Times. That was his day job. At night he would work on his writings, slowly enjoying success. He would eventually write over 60 books (two will come out in the near future) including “The Time It Never Rained,” “The Good Old Boys,” which Tommy Lee Jones turned into a movie, “The Wolf and the Buffalo,” “The Day the Cowboys Quit,” “The Man Who Rode Midnight” and many others I’m sure you would call your favorites.
Through the characters of his writings Elmer taught us a lot about life. His books were about basic human nature, the struggles we all face. In “Sandhills Boy” he wrote “I try to avoid superheroes, for I have never known any. The people I have known have for the most part have been common folks struggling to get along, meeting life’s obstacles with the best that is in them, or in some cases giving up and going down in defeat. Not all stories have a happy ending. Life is not that kind to us.”
In “The Time It Never Rained” he wrote, concerning his characters, “They are not the traditional Western fictional heroes, standing up to a villain for one splendid moment of glory. They are quiet but determined men and women who stand their ground year after year in a fight they can never fully win, against an unforgiving enemy they know will return to challenge them again and again so long as they live. They are the true heroes.”
In “The Good Old Boys” he writes about Hewey Calloway (his favorite character), stating “Hewey, like all of us, faces the necessity of painful choices, knowing that every choice will bring sacrifices. He knows, as we all know, that we cannot have everything we want in this life. To fulfill a wish we often must give up something of equal or nearly equal value. He cannot have it all; nobody can. In this respect, Hewey Calloway is all of us.”
To read Elmer Kelton is to understand the world itself. He recognized the human dilemma as few of us do and articulated its reality with such clarity that anyone could learn from him. He was one of life’s greatest teachers.
Elmer was named the greatest western writer of all time by the Western Writers of America. Seven times he was awarded the Spur Award for the best novel of the year. He received four Western Heritage Wrangler awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, and countless awards and recognitions too numerous to list.
Yet, Elmer always said his proudest moment was when he broke the story about Billie Sol Estes to the national press in the early ’60s. The Estes scandal shook the Pecos area like an earthquake, triggering a rash of bankruptcies, at least a couple of violent deaths, the derailing of political careers and a prison sentence for Estes.
At one point it was rumored that Estes had fled the country. Estes’ attorney wanted to put that rumor to rest and decided to choose two journalists — out of hundreds — to accompany him to his hotel room where Estes was staying. One of the chosen was Elmer Kelton. Elmer wrote repeated articles about the Estes scandal and always felt it was then that he did his best work because both sides were mad at him!
As it has already been stated, history will record that Elmer didn’t write westerns — he wrote western literature. When you opened a Kelton novel you knew it would be clean enough for any member of the family to read, always historically accurate, and inspirational. He was loved by his readers; a gentle, unassuming, humble man always willing to talk to anyone, sign a stack of books, or offer advice to want-to-be writers.
And, I believe that history will also record that even though he was a great writer, he was even greater in character. To rub shoulders with Elmer Kelton made you want to be a better person and leave this world better than you found it. I will never cease to be amazed how he could achieve such fame, popularity, and, no doubt, the wealth that came with it, yet never let it change him. In a world where success is harder to handle than failure, Elmer remained untouched.
Elmer Kelton. Today we say goodbye to one of the giants in literature. He has changed our lives and made our world better. Although he has left us, we are left with the treasures of his writings.
In his autobiography, “Sandhills Boy,” Elmer says he discovered America on April 29, 1926, at Horse Camp on the Five Wells Ranch a few miles east of Andrews, Texas. His mother often told him that it was a wet, stormy day and the first few weeks were equally stormy for Elmer and his parents. Elmer was born prematurely, and his mother kept him in a shoebox and often in the oven in order to keep him warm and help him survive those first perilous weeks.
Although he grew up on a ranch, Elmer and horses never connected. He said it might have begun before he was even able to walk. His father was working half-broken horses and his mom was sitting on the fence holding him and watching her husband. Dad decided it was time for Elmer to have his first ride, so he placed Elmer in front of him in the saddle. The bronc immediately began to pitch while Dad held on to the reigns with one hand and Elmer with the other. He calmly worked the bucking bronc around to where mom was seated on the fence and handed off Elmer like a quarterback handing off a football. Elmer said that from that day forward his relationship with horses went downhill.
The family showed me a picture of the last time Elmer was ever on a horse. He was in the Big Bend area and posed on a big, beautiful palomino for a picture. You can tell by looking at both Elmer and the horse that neither was sure what would happen next. Elmer never mounted a horse again and, years later, when plans were made for the library statue now in progress, he made the artist promise to place him next to a fence, not on a horse!
Growing up in the midst of cowboys and horses, it was always his dream to be a cowboy like his Dad. But, in addition to his lack of confidence in riding, he was seriously nearsighted. It often caused him to mess up the cattle drive by getting lost or turned around. But soon Elmer made two great discoveries: glasses and books. He was a voracious reader, immersing himself in any available print.
He missed most of fifth grade due to a mild form of tuberculosis. Forced to stay in bed most of the time, he read, wrote, and did imaginary radio broadcasts. He even made his own movies by drawing pictures on long strips of paper, then pulling them through slots in a large piece of cardboard, one at a time. From behind the cardboard he would voice the dialogue. His God-given gift was beginning to surface.
As he faced graduation from high school he began to work up the nerve to break the news to his father about his intended career. Elmer finally told him that he wanted to go to the University of Texas, study journalism and become a writer. His dad, a hard-core rancher to the bone, didn’t take it well. Elmer said, “He gave me a look that would kill Johnson grass and said, ‘That’s the problem with you kids these days, you all want to make a living without working for it.’” Elmer was never certain what his father thought about his career.
Soon the drums of war began to beat in Europe and Elmer decided to do his part and enlist in the Navy. They turned him down due to flat feet. That was no problem for the Army and when he turned 18 they accepted him. His basic training was at Fort Bliss, near El Paso. He graduated around Christmas time and was given holiday leave to a base near Gainesville, Texas. It was there he began to attend a Methodist Church. He was given a New Testament which he carried overseas and always kept in his pocket. Shortly before he shipped out he attended a service which concluded with the hymn “Just as I Am.” He said the words burned into his memory and brought him comfort during the many difficult times ahead.
Once as I visited Elmer in the nursing home I felt the need as his pastor to ask about his relationship with God. Had he made peace with God? Did he have the assurance of his salvation? Although he was lying flat on his back, he propped himself up on both elbows, looked me straight in the eye and said, “Oh yes, Preacher. I took care of that a long time ago.” I’ve always wondered if that commitment was made at that Methodist church service as he listened to the words of “Just as I Am.”
During the war Elmer was dispatched to the little Austrian town of Ebensee. There he would meet the love of his life, his wife for 62 years, Anni Lipp. In “Sandhills Boy” he says, “the course of one’s life may hinge on a chance moment, an unanticipated coincidence. It was by pure chance that I happened to be at Ebensee’s boat landing the evening of Oct. 14, 1945, and met Anni Lipp. She had a little boy named Gerhard, then four-going-on-five and without a father. By the time the relationship became serious I was deeply attached to him.” Anni would always lovingly say that Elmer was a like a stray pet: “I fed a soldier apple strudel and he kept coming back.”
But soon the war was over and Elmer was sent back stateside. He promised that he would return for Anni and Gerhard. Every day, for more than a year, he wrote her a letter. Anni said that she could read very little English but it didn’t matter because each letter meant that he would keep his promise and return for them.
Elmer finally fought his way through the red tape of government bureaucracy and brought Anni and little Gerhard home to Texas. They were married in his grandmother’s house in Midland. There was no honeymoon, only work to be done. About a week after her arrival, Elmer took Anni to Pecos to introduce her to the thrill of a rodeo. It was hot, dusty, windy, and a far cry from the beauty of Austria. She’s never been to a Pecos rodeo since.
Little Gerhard adjusted quickly. He picked up English easily from the cowboys. The only problem was that most of them were four-letter words he couldn’t repeat! The cowboys decided that Gerhard was too foreign-sounding, so they began calling him Gary for short, and Gary it still is.
Elmer, Anni and Gary soon moved to San Angelo, and he began working for the San Angelo Standard-Times. That was his day job. At night he would work on his writings, slowly enjoying success. He would eventually write over 60 books (two will come out in the near future) including “The Time It Never Rained,” “The Good Old Boys,” which Tommy Lee Jones turned into a movie, “The Wolf and the Buffalo,” “The Day the Cowboys Quit,” “The Man Who Rode Midnight” and many others I’m sure you would call your favorites.
Through the characters of his writings Elmer taught us a lot about life. His books were about basic human nature, the struggles we all face. In “Sandhills Boy” he wrote “I try to avoid superheroes, for I have never known any. The people I have known have for the most part have been common folks struggling to get along, meeting life’s obstacles with the best that is in them, or in some cases giving up and going down in defeat. Not all stories have a happy ending. Life is not that kind to us.”
In “The Time It Never Rained” he wrote, concerning his characters, “They are not the traditional Western fictional heroes, standing up to a villain for one splendid moment of glory. They are quiet but determined men and women who stand their ground year after year in a fight they can never fully win, against an unforgiving enemy they know will return to challenge them again and again so long as they live. They are the true heroes.”
In “The Good Old Boys” he writes about Hewey Calloway (his favorite character), stating “Hewey, like all of us, faces the necessity of painful choices, knowing that every choice will bring sacrifices. He knows, as we all know, that we cannot have everything we want in this life. To fulfill a wish we often must give up something of equal or nearly equal value. He cannot have it all; nobody can. In this respect, Hewey Calloway is all of us.”
To read Elmer Kelton is to understand the world itself. He recognized the human dilemma as few of us do and articulated its reality with such clarity that anyone could learn from him. He was one of life’s greatest teachers.
Elmer was named the greatest western writer of all time by the Western Writers of America. Seven times he was awarded the Spur Award for the best novel of the year. He received four Western Heritage Wrangler awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, and countless awards and recognitions too numerous to list.
Yet, Elmer always said his proudest moment was when he broke the story about Billie Sol Estes to the national press in the early ’60s. The Estes scandal shook the Pecos area like an earthquake, triggering a rash of bankruptcies, at least a couple of violent deaths, the derailing of political careers and a prison sentence for Estes.
At one point it was rumored that Estes had fled the country. Estes’ attorney wanted to put that rumor to rest and decided to choose two journalists — out of hundreds — to accompany him to his hotel room where Estes was staying. One of the chosen was Elmer Kelton. Elmer wrote repeated articles about the Estes scandal and always felt it was then that he did his best work because both sides were mad at him!
As it has already been stated, history will record that Elmer didn’t write westerns — he wrote western literature. When you opened a Kelton novel you knew it would be clean enough for any member of the family to read, always historically accurate, and inspirational. He was loved by his readers; a gentle, unassuming, humble man always willing to talk to anyone, sign a stack of books, or offer advice to want-to-be writers.
And, I believe that history will also record that even though he was a great writer, he was even greater in character. To rub shoulders with Elmer Kelton made you want to be a better person and leave this world better than you found it. I will never cease to be amazed how he could achieve such fame, popularity, and, no doubt, the wealth that came with it, yet never let it change him. In a world where success is harder to handle than failure, Elmer remained untouched.
Elmer Kelton. Today we say goodbye to one of the giants in literature. He has changed our lives and made our world better. Although he has left us, we are left with the treasures of his writings.
Elmer Kelton: A Kind and Gracious Person
I received this message from an author who was befriended by Elmer Kelton:
A friend sent me an e-mail with your article on Elmer Kelton.
In 2005, several friends talked me into writing a biography of my uncle, Juan Light Salinas, a Mexican-American cowboy who roped with the best in the 1930s and 1940s. After some coaxing, I spent most of 2006 writing the book, after which Texas A&M Press agreed to publish it. In early 2007, buying a new pair of boots at a store in Cotulla, Texas, the owner encouraged me to contact Elmer and see if he would read my manuscript and provide a blurb for the cover of the book.
I drove home that day and called information in San Angelo, got his number and called him. I was pleased when he answered the phone. I explained that I wanted him to read my manuscript and if he felt proper to provide a blurb for the cover of the book. We talked for a couple of minutes, during which he graciously agreed to read the manuscript, and he felt sure provide a blurb. He went on to talk about my subject, said he had seen him rope on several occaisions. We hung up, I mailed him the manuscript, and he provided a very nice blurb. I looked forward to meeting him someday. I did not know he was ill. I contributed to the statue project, then suddenly I hear that he has passed away.
I did not know him well, but what little I did know of him, I can describe as being a very kind and gracious person, one that I regret not meeting face to face.
Ricardo Palacios
Author, Tio Cowboy
A friend sent me an e-mail with your article on Elmer Kelton.
In 2005, several friends talked me into writing a biography of my uncle, Juan Light Salinas, a Mexican-American cowboy who roped with the best in the 1930s and 1940s. After some coaxing, I spent most of 2006 writing the book, after which Texas A&M Press agreed to publish it. In early 2007, buying a new pair of boots at a store in Cotulla, Texas, the owner encouraged me to contact Elmer and see if he would read my manuscript and provide a blurb for the cover of the book.
I drove home that day and called information in San Angelo, got his number and called him. I was pleased when he answered the phone. I explained that I wanted him to read my manuscript and if he felt proper to provide a blurb for the cover of the book. We talked for a couple of minutes, during which he graciously agreed to read the manuscript, and he felt sure provide a blurb. He went on to talk about my subject, said he had seen him rope on several occaisions. We hung up, I mailed him the manuscript, and he provided a very nice blurb. I looked forward to meeting him someday. I did not know he was ill. I contributed to the statue project, then suddenly I hear that he has passed away.
I did not know him well, but what little I did know of him, I can describe as being a very kind and gracious person, one that I regret not meeting face to face.
Ricardo Palacios
Author, Tio Cowboy
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Geronimo, Texas
We were passing through the town of Geronimo, Texas, the other day, and I wish we had stopped to get a T-shirt saying "Where the Heck is Geronimo, Texas?" that I saw a sign for.
I, like probably most people passing through the town, figured it was named for the famous Indian chief. I was wrong.
Geronimo is a small unincorporated town on Highway 123 between San Marcos and Seguin. It is named for nearby Geronimo Creek, which was in turn named to honor St. Jerome, [Mexican nickname: Geronimo, born Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius about 340 A. D.] a Christian monk and scholar.
The home of the Navarro High School Panthers, Geronimo grew from about 250 population in 1990 to 619 in 2000, according to census figures.
Learn more about Geronimo, Texas, from the website, www.geronimotexas.com. And Carolyn Bading has written a book -- The History of Geronimo, Guadalupe County, Texas 78115 -- which sells for $26.95 plus 6.75% Texas State Tax (no tax out of the State of Texas) plus $5.00 for shipping and handling. Contact her at P.O. Box 82, Geronimo, TX 78115.
I, like probably most people passing through the town, figured it was named for the famous Indian chief. I was wrong.
Geronimo is a small unincorporated town on Highway 123 between San Marcos and Seguin. It is named for nearby Geronimo Creek, which was in turn named to honor St. Jerome, [Mexican nickname: Geronimo, born Eusebius Hieronymus Sophronius about 340 A. D.] a Christian monk and scholar.
The home of the Navarro High School Panthers, Geronimo grew from about 250 population in 1990 to 619 in 2000, according to census figures.
Learn more about Geronimo, Texas, from the website, www.geronimotexas.com. And Carolyn Bading has written a book -- The History of Geronimo, Guadalupe County, Texas 78115 -- which sells for $26.95 plus 6.75% Texas State Tax (no tax out of the State of Texas) plus $5.00 for shipping and handling. Contact her at P.O. Box 82, Geronimo, TX 78115.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
A Tribute to Elmer Kelton
Elmer Kelton, a giant in Texas literature and a truly decent human being and a good friend, has died at age 83.
He died peacefully in his sleep early Saturday morning, Aug. 22, 2009. He had struggled with health problems all summer.
Elmer had won so many awards he hardly had room for them in his spacious home office in San Angelo. Yet, it wasn’t the awards that drew people to him and his books. It was his writing, his humility, and his graciousness.
I got to know Elmer in December 2002. I was driving to work one morning at McWhiney Foundation Press at McMurry University, and the thought popped into my head: “I wonder if Elmer Kelton has written a Christmas book.” I Googled “Elmer Kelton, Christmas” and two stories popped up. I looked them up in the McMurry library, and of course they were excellent stories – one about Christmas at the ranch as a young boy and one about Christmas before going off to fight in World War II.
So, I took the next step. I called Elmer, who didn’t know me from Adam. It would be the beginning of a deep friendship.
I introduced myself and told him we were interested in publishing a book of his Christmas stories.
“I’ve only written two Christmas stories,” Elmer replied.
“Well, that’s all I had been able to find. If you could write one more, I think we could make a small book out of them.”
I suggested that the third story might be the Christmas he took his beloved Ann back to her home country of Austria. He had referred to that in another piece.
A few days later he wrote the third story and we had a small book, just 64 pages but with a gorgeous cover painting by H. C. Zachry and a foreword by the Texas poet laureate, Walt McDonald.
Christmas at the Ranch sold well the next Christmas, 2003, and Elmer and Ann and my wife Carol and I became friends. Ann smiled and told me it was the first book of Elmer’s she had read.
The next year Carol and I opened a Texas book and gift store – Texas Star Trading Company – in downtown Abilene. Of course, one of the first book signings we had was with Elmer Kelton. We had many more over the years, and we became good friends with Elmer and Ann. Ann baked a special Austrian dessert for us the past two Christmases.
One thing we quickly noticed at these book signings was how reverently his readers felt about him. A common occurrence: An older man and woman would get in line to have a book signed. When they would get to the front, the man would hand Elmer the book to sign and his wife would ask if they could have their picture taken together. The man would stand by Elmer and the wife would snap their picture. It was like the couple had finally had a chance to meet their hero – not a sports star or an astronaut or a politician, but a writer. A writer who touched something in their common experience.
Elmer would stay as long as people wanted him to sign books. We usually scheduled his signings from 1-3 p.m. on Saturdays, but rarely did he finish before 3:30 or 4. One reason his signings ran long was because so many people would want to tell him that his book, The Time It Never Rained, must have been written about their father or uncle or grandfather.
I heard Elmer say on several occasions that The Time It Never Rained was his favorite of all the books he wrote. And it was the favorite of most of his fans as well. Several years ago I included it in my list of “10 Great Books for Your Texas Library.” You can see the full list at www.texasstartrading.com.
A funny story: The first Saturday of December in 2007 Elmer and Ann were at Texas Star for a book signing. It was a huge day. People not only bought his books but other things in the store as well. By mid-afternoon, it was clear that this would be the biggest sales day in the history of our store, eclipsing the sales record set by the iconoclastic Kinky Friedman, who had run for governor on the ticket, “Why the hell not?”
“Elmer,” I said, “you have just set a record for sales in our store, even more than Kinky Friedman. Maybe you ought to consider running for governor.”
Elmer immediately deadpanned, “Why the hell not?” and everyone broke up.
Elmer’s writing, his wonderful stories, will live on for years to come. But, oh, how we will miss his wry wit, his smile, his humility, his character, his great spirit. He was truly one of a kind, a Sandhills boy from West Texas who touched many, many lives.
He died peacefully in his sleep early Saturday morning, Aug. 22, 2009. He had struggled with health problems all summer.
Elmer had won so many awards he hardly had room for them in his spacious home office in San Angelo. Yet, it wasn’t the awards that drew people to him and his books. It was his writing, his humility, and his graciousness.
I got to know Elmer in December 2002. I was driving to work one morning at McWhiney Foundation Press at McMurry University, and the thought popped into my head: “I wonder if Elmer Kelton has written a Christmas book.” I Googled “Elmer Kelton, Christmas” and two stories popped up. I looked them up in the McMurry library, and of course they were excellent stories – one about Christmas at the ranch as a young boy and one about Christmas before going off to fight in World War II.
So, I took the next step. I called Elmer, who didn’t know me from Adam. It would be the beginning of a deep friendship.
I introduced myself and told him we were interested in publishing a book of his Christmas stories.
“I’ve only written two Christmas stories,” Elmer replied.
“Well, that’s all I had been able to find. If you could write one more, I think we could make a small book out of them.”
I suggested that the third story might be the Christmas he took his beloved Ann back to her home country of Austria. He had referred to that in another piece.
A few days later he wrote the third story and we had a small book, just 64 pages but with a gorgeous cover painting by H. C. Zachry and a foreword by the Texas poet laureate, Walt McDonald.
Christmas at the Ranch sold well the next Christmas, 2003, and Elmer and Ann and my wife Carol and I became friends. Ann smiled and told me it was the first book of Elmer’s she had read.
The next year Carol and I opened a Texas book and gift store – Texas Star Trading Company – in downtown Abilene. Of course, one of the first book signings we had was with Elmer Kelton. We had many more over the years, and we became good friends with Elmer and Ann. Ann baked a special Austrian dessert for us the past two Christmases.
One thing we quickly noticed at these book signings was how reverently his readers felt about him. A common occurrence: An older man and woman would get in line to have a book signed. When they would get to the front, the man would hand Elmer the book to sign and his wife would ask if they could have their picture taken together. The man would stand by Elmer and the wife would snap their picture. It was like the couple had finally had a chance to meet their hero – not a sports star or an astronaut or a politician, but a writer. A writer who touched something in their common experience.
Elmer would stay as long as people wanted him to sign books. We usually scheduled his signings from 1-3 p.m. on Saturdays, but rarely did he finish before 3:30 or 4. One reason his signings ran long was because so many people would want to tell him that his book, The Time It Never Rained, must have been written about their father or uncle or grandfather.
I heard Elmer say on several occasions that The Time It Never Rained was his favorite of all the books he wrote. And it was the favorite of most of his fans as well. Several years ago I included it in my list of “10 Great Books for Your Texas Library.” You can see the full list at www.texasstartrading.com.
A funny story: The first Saturday of December in 2007 Elmer and Ann were at Texas Star for a book signing. It was a huge day. People not only bought his books but other things in the store as well. By mid-afternoon, it was clear that this would be the biggest sales day in the history of our store, eclipsing the sales record set by the iconoclastic Kinky Friedman, who had run for governor on the ticket, “Why the hell not?”
“Elmer,” I said, “you have just set a record for sales in our store, even more than Kinky Friedman. Maybe you ought to consider running for governor.”
Elmer immediately deadpanned, “Why the hell not?” and everyone broke up.
Elmer’s writing, his wonderful stories, will live on for years to come. But, oh, how we will miss his wry wit, his smile, his humility, his character, his great spirit. He was truly one of a kind, a Sandhills boy from West Texas who touched many, many lives.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Gertrude Beasley: The Rest of the Story
A Texas literary mystery – “Whatever Happened to Gertrude Beasley?” -- has been solved. Sort of.
Edna Gertrude Beasley -- who graduated from Simmons College in Abilene in 1914, taught school in West Texas and Chicago, and traveled the world as a journalist -- wrote a provocative autobiography published in Paris in 1925, My First Thirty Years.
The graphic language and content of the book resulted in it being banned in England despite a positive review by one of America’s best-known critics, H. L. Mencken, who called it “the first genuinely realistic picture of the Southern poor white trash.”
“Thirty years ago,” the book began, “I lay in the womb of a woman, conceived in a sexual act of rape, being carried during the prenatal period by an unwilling and rebellious mother, finally bursting from the womb only to be tormented in a family whose members I despised or pitied…”
She went on to tell how one of her first memories was her 16-year-old brother pressing down on top of her trying to rape her when she was 4, among other gruesome, explicit and lurid details.
In early 1928, at age 35, Gertrude Beasley vanished, as far as anyone knew. No one had been able to trace her whereabouts since.
And many have tried, including novelist Larry McMurtry, Texas literature authority Don Graham, and author Bert Almon, all of whom have written about Beasley over the years. Actress Veronica Russell performed a 90-minute one-woman off-Broadway show in New York four years ago based on Beasley’s book.
Among those who have developed a keen interest in Beasley is Alice Specht, dean of libraries at Hardin-Simmons University. Over the years Specht has acquired an impressive collection of information about Beasley and has corresponded with family members and others seeking details about the writer’s life after 1928.
On Jan. 7, 1928, while aboard the ship the S.S. Republic, Beasley wrote a long letter to the U.S. Secretary of State claiming that the British government owed her $25,000 for arresting her, trying to deport her and conspiring against her as a writer.
And that was the last anyone heard of Gertrude Beasley.
Until a couple of years ago when researcher John Cummings wrote Specht that he had found evidence from the 1930 U.S. census that Beasley may have been residing in a Suffolk County, New York, mental facility.
However, Cummings and Specht were unable to confirm that she was the same Gertrude Beasley they were looking for. Specht tried to get more information from the institution but couldn’t because she had no family standing.
Earlier this year, Specht received an e-mail out of the blue from a Fort Worth relative of Beasley’s – Juanita Jones – granddaughter of one of Beasley’s brothers. Jones said she had just learned of the Beasley book and asked Specht’s help in locating a copy.
Specht told Jones about the 1930 census, and Jones inquired to Suffolk County as a family member.
Last month, Specht received an e-mail from Jones which included a copy of the Suffolk County death certificate for “Edna Beasley,” a single, white, female writer born in Texas on Edna Gertrude Beasley’s known birthday, June 20. It listed her father as William Beasley, which was Gertrude’s father’s name.
The certificate showed that Beasley died at the Central Islip State Hospital in New York on July 27, 1955. Further, it noted that she had lived at the mental facility for 27 years, six months, and eight days, or since early 1928.
Additionally, Jones said she had discovered information written by one of Gertrude’s brothers in 1967 that said she was sent to a mental institution, but “she was no more crazy than you or I” and even ran the facility’s bookkeeping department. He implied that publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, who owned several of the publications Beasley wrote for as a journalist, had her committed.
The death certificate said Beasley died of pancreatic cancer and that she had also suffered from dementia and paranoia.
So was Gertrude Beasley crazy, or was she put away because she was too outspoken? That part of the mystery still remains.
Edna Gertrude Beasley -- who graduated from Simmons College in Abilene in 1914, taught school in West Texas and Chicago, and traveled the world as a journalist -- wrote a provocative autobiography published in Paris in 1925, My First Thirty Years.
The graphic language and content of the book resulted in it being banned in England despite a positive review by one of America’s best-known critics, H. L. Mencken, who called it “the first genuinely realistic picture of the Southern poor white trash.”
“Thirty years ago,” the book began, “I lay in the womb of a woman, conceived in a sexual act of rape, being carried during the prenatal period by an unwilling and rebellious mother, finally bursting from the womb only to be tormented in a family whose members I despised or pitied…”
She went on to tell how one of her first memories was her 16-year-old brother pressing down on top of her trying to rape her when she was 4, among other gruesome, explicit and lurid details.
In early 1928, at age 35, Gertrude Beasley vanished, as far as anyone knew. No one had been able to trace her whereabouts since.
And many have tried, including novelist Larry McMurtry, Texas literature authority Don Graham, and author Bert Almon, all of whom have written about Beasley over the years. Actress Veronica Russell performed a 90-minute one-woman off-Broadway show in New York four years ago based on Beasley’s book.
Among those who have developed a keen interest in Beasley is Alice Specht, dean of libraries at Hardin-Simmons University. Over the years Specht has acquired an impressive collection of information about Beasley and has corresponded with family members and others seeking details about the writer’s life after 1928.
On Jan. 7, 1928, while aboard the ship the S.S. Republic, Beasley wrote a long letter to the U.S. Secretary of State claiming that the British government owed her $25,000 for arresting her, trying to deport her and conspiring against her as a writer.
And that was the last anyone heard of Gertrude Beasley.
Until a couple of years ago when researcher John Cummings wrote Specht that he had found evidence from the 1930 U.S. census that Beasley may have been residing in a Suffolk County, New York, mental facility.
However, Cummings and Specht were unable to confirm that she was the same Gertrude Beasley they were looking for. Specht tried to get more information from the institution but couldn’t because she had no family standing.
Earlier this year, Specht received an e-mail out of the blue from a Fort Worth relative of Beasley’s – Juanita Jones – granddaughter of one of Beasley’s brothers. Jones said she had just learned of the Beasley book and asked Specht’s help in locating a copy.
Specht told Jones about the 1930 census, and Jones inquired to Suffolk County as a family member.
Last month, Specht received an e-mail from Jones which included a copy of the Suffolk County death certificate for “Edna Beasley,” a single, white, female writer born in Texas on Edna Gertrude Beasley’s known birthday, June 20. It listed her father as William Beasley, which was Gertrude’s father’s name.
The certificate showed that Beasley died at the Central Islip State Hospital in New York on July 27, 1955. Further, it noted that she had lived at the mental facility for 27 years, six months, and eight days, or since early 1928.
Additionally, Jones said she had discovered information written by one of Gertrude’s brothers in 1967 that said she was sent to a mental institution, but “she was no more crazy than you or I” and even ran the facility’s bookkeeping department. He implied that publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, who owned several of the publications Beasley wrote for as a journalist, had her committed.
The death certificate said Beasley died of pancreatic cancer and that she had also suffered from dementia and paranoia.
So was Gertrude Beasley crazy, or was she put away because she was too outspoken? That part of the mystery still remains.
More About Gertrude Beasley
H. L. Mencken, reviewing My First Thirty Years: This book, I suspect, comes out with a Paris imprint because no American publisher would risk printing it…. The book is a social document of the utmost interest. It presents the first genuinely realistic picture of the Southern poor white trash ever heard of. The author has emancipated herself from her native wallow, but she does not view it with superior sniffs. Instead, she frankly takes us back to it, and tells us all she knows about its fauna, simply and honestly. There is frequent indignation in her chronicle, but never any derision. Her story interests her immensely, and she is obviously convinced that it should be interesting to others. I think she is right.
Don Graham, in his book Lone Star Literature, an Anthology: One of the least known of Texas memoirists, Beasley is easily the most shocking and sensational.
Larry McMurtry: (Her book) is one of the finest Texas books of its era; in my view, the finest.
Robert McAlmon, who published My First Thirty Years: In the publishing of some twenty books only two authors got “temperamental” and they were both Gertrudes, Stein and Beasley, and may it be said, both megalomaniacs with an idea that to know them was to serve them without question about their demands.
Article from the London Telegraph, June 27, 1925: London – Police authorities here today failed in their efforts to bring about the deportation of Miss Edna Beasley, an American newspaperwoman whose home is in Texas, on charges that she is writing an indecent book on American life.
Miss Beasley was arrested for failure to comply with a police regulation requiring the registration of all aliens. Urging their disapproval of her book as sufficient grounds, the police sought a deportation order.
The authoress’s attorney declared her book is merely a portrayal of american life and as such in no way offends decency. He said it would be brought out in France by the same firm which published Joyce’s Ulysses.
Miss Beasley was fined $25 for failing to register as an alien, but the request of the police for her deportation was not complied with. As a newspaper writer, she has worked on the Pacific coast, Chicago and New York papers.
From the 1914 Bronco yearbook, Simmons College, Abilene: Gertrude has made her work by attending the spring, summer and fall terms, and teaching during the winter. She is a very successful teacher. Doesn’t believe in sparing the rod... Her work in building up rural communities is very commendable.
Don Graham, in his book Lone Star Literature, an Anthology: One of the least known of Texas memoirists, Beasley is easily the most shocking and sensational.
Larry McMurtry: (Her book) is one of the finest Texas books of its era; in my view, the finest.
Robert McAlmon, who published My First Thirty Years: In the publishing of some twenty books only two authors got “temperamental” and they were both Gertrudes, Stein and Beasley, and may it be said, both megalomaniacs with an idea that to know them was to serve them without question about their demands.
Article from the London Telegraph, June 27, 1925: London – Police authorities here today failed in their efforts to bring about the deportation of Miss Edna Beasley, an American newspaperwoman whose home is in Texas, on charges that she is writing an indecent book on American life.
Miss Beasley was arrested for failure to comply with a police regulation requiring the registration of all aliens. Urging their disapproval of her book as sufficient grounds, the police sought a deportation order.
The authoress’s attorney declared her book is merely a portrayal of american life and as such in no way offends decency. He said it would be brought out in France by the same firm which published Joyce’s Ulysses.
Miss Beasley was fined $25 for failing to register as an alien, but the request of the police for her deportation was not complied with. As a newspaper writer, she has worked on the Pacific coast, Chicago and New York papers.
From the 1914 Bronco yearbook, Simmons College, Abilene: Gertrude has made her work by attending the spring, summer and fall terms, and teaching during the winter. She is a very successful teacher. Doesn’t believe in sparing the rod... Her work in building up rural communities is very commendable.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
We're All on Facebook Now
When it came to writing letters
We had all but forgotten how,
But then we discovered computers,
And we’re all on Facebook now.
Carrie posts pix of her grandkids,
From Ann comes her mama’s chow-chow,
Roy Gene really hates the government,
And we’re all on Facebook now.
Yes, Mary Lou, I still love you,
I want that to come through somehow,
Though I must admit you’ve aged a bit,
And we’re all on Facebook now.
So many good mem’ries to share
If time will us gently allow
To hang on a while and share a smile --
‘Cause we’re all on Facebook now.
Glenn Dromgoole
We had all but forgotten how,
But then we discovered computers,
And we’re all on Facebook now.
Carrie posts pix of her grandkids,
From Ann comes her mama’s chow-chow,
Roy Gene really hates the government,
And we’re all on Facebook now.
Yes, Mary Lou, I still love you,
I want that to come through somehow,
Though I must admit you’ve aged a bit,
And we’re all on Facebook now.
So many good mem’ries to share
If time will us gently allow
To hang on a while and share a smile --
‘Cause we’re all on Facebook now.
Glenn Dromgoole
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Award Honors Lou Rodenberger
Texas Tech University Press is creating the Lou Halsell Robenberger Prize in Texas History and Literature honoring one of Texas’s most beloved literary figures, Dr. Lou Rodenberger, who died on April 9.
Lou taught for many years at McMurry University in Abilene and was an author, editor, and loving literary advocate for books about Texas, and especially West Texas.
The award in her honor will carry a cash prize as well as publication of a manuscript “on or by a woman whose writing illuminates Texas history, culture and letters, especially in West Texas and the Texas Border Region.”
The first deadline for manuscripts (50,000 to 90,000 words) is Sept. 15, 2011, and the winning entry will be published in 2013.
For more information, see the Texas Tech University Press web site – www.ttup.ttu.edu.
Lou taught for many years at McMurry University in Abilene and was an author, editor, and loving literary advocate for books about Texas, and especially West Texas.
The award in her honor will carry a cash prize as well as publication of a manuscript “on or by a woman whose writing illuminates Texas history, culture and letters, especially in West Texas and the Texas Border Region.”
The first deadline for manuscripts (50,000 to 90,000 words) is Sept. 15, 2011, and the winning entry will be published in 2013.
For more information, see the Texas Tech University Press web site – www.ttup.ttu.edu.
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