On to Tankersly

The next year, they learned of a teaching position open in Tankersly, which was another small settlement 15 miles west of San Angelo, and we moved there. Lura also joined us.

Aunt Lura was elected principal of the school and Mother also taught. We lived in a teacherage that was furnished for the principal. One pipe brought in running water, and we used the school outhouse. Aunt Lura built the coal stove fires in the three school rooms before school on cold days.

Just as in Arden, there were only three or four children in each grade in Tankersly, and there was more than one grade in the same room.

We couldn’t receive radio when we lived in Tankersly, because the teacherage was under a huge power line that drowned out any radio reception.

That was a good time for us, though. Mother and Aunt Lura were able to buy a Model A Ford and we could go into San Angelo 15 miles away.

Sometimes when Mother would go to county school teachers meetings at the courthouse in San Angelo [the Tom Green County Courthouse--at right--was built in 1928], I would go to the library in the basement of the building. I remember it as a wonderful place—all those books and children’s magazines, such as “Child Life” [the image at right is the cover of the July 1929 edition of Child Life]. I don’t remember checking out books there, but I could sometimes read all day and that was great.

There was a “Bohemian” family in Tankersly, who spoke German at home. They had a lot of children. When the children began first grade, Mother taught them. They couldn’t speak English at all . Mother tried to inspire the Bohemian mom to learn English and speak it at home so that school would be easier for the children. I don’t know how that turned out.

When we got to Tankersly, we bought a car and a violin, and I began violin lessons every Saturday morning.

I played the violin in the mornings at church on Sundays. The churches in the small towns at that time had different pastors on different weeks. The Baptist minister came one Sunday, the Methodist the next. But down the road the Church of Christ people had their services on Sunday afternoon. In the afternoon, I’d go alone to the Church of Christ for the services. I loved their a cappella singing, beautiful voices in four parts and great rhythm.

From those days on, whenever we visited Uncle Dan, Moselle (who is two years younger than I) and I used to play Uncle Dan’s favorite songs from World War One and he’d sing for hours. She played the piano, and I the violin. “Over There,” “Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning,” [see below] “My Buddy,” and “Juanita.”