October
12, 2006
1950s Reunions
By Jack D. McNamara
What
do you want to do when you are old?
Long ago I discovered that was a simple question for me to answer. I
wanted, said I, to sit in my backyard and contemplate the glorious
vault of the nighttime West Texas sky, a sky free of smog, light
pollution, and noise. A sky free of the lights of the frenzied and
pointless bustle of the modern world, a sky just like it was in the
1950s.
While that may seem a lonely pastime, here in the Big Bend it is often
a group activity, as we well know from the outdoor dances which have
been a feature of our history. One is never surprised to find a fellow
dancer for the moment-seated supine, leaning back and looking at the
sky. Whether conscious or catatonic, it is a part of the culture
deserving of all respect that Texans in contemplation of the sky should
be respectfully left alone to their private reveries.
It is appropriate that we convened a reunion of the 1950s classes last
Friday night on the outdoor patio of the Reata restaurant under the sky
with the guitar music of Bake Turner (AHS ’58). These are our frequent
class reunions and they are organized with considerable energy and
organizational competence by some of our friends. This year Carol
Templicek Lewis and her class of 1956 again led the effort.
Those were small classes in those years and the passage of time means
they are smaller yet.
We graduated into the welcoming world of the 1950s seven-year drought.
This West Texas country has never recovered from that event and others
should understand us if we seem at times a pessimistic bunch. We were
born into the Great Depression, we remember World War II when we were
children and as we became adults we were greeted by the Cold War and a
very hot Korean War.
These reunions stimulate recollections of memories of that time and all
that has passed in between. There is a lot to talk about and this
year there was a great deal of discussion of knee replacements.
Some come every year, some come rarely and some come not at all. This
year, for the first time in 50 years I saw my friend and neighbor, John
Prestridge and his wife Kay. They married in 1958.
We lived in the 1000 block of North 9th Street in those years.
There are four houses still standing and occupied there. They were
built under the generous loan provisions of the Veterans’
Administration and our parents were the first occupants. From the
south to the north the families were - Sherman and Fran Newsom at 1002;
J.W. and Jo Prestridge at 1004: Gene and Lucille Hendryx at 1006; and
Jack and Mary D. McNamara at 1008. There were about 10 children
distributed among the four families, of whom John and I were the oldest.
Our parents on 9th Street were all veterans from World War II.
Sherman Newsom served in the European theater in the Army Air Corps.
J.W. Prestridge served with U.S. Navy Beachmasters who cleared and
managed the beaches for the landing of Marines in the Pacific Islands
campaign. Gene Hendryx was a Marine who enlisted when he was 17
in 1943. Jack McNamara was an enlistee in the Seabees at age 32 in 1943
(along with the also elderly Jack Dumas and Don Carlton of Ft. Davis).
It is possible that Hendryx, Prestridge and McNamara fought alongside
each other at Iwo Jima though they did not know each other at the time.
We walked to high school every day. Along our route we passed the home
of Joyce Lockhart on 9th Street. We turned west on Avenue B and passed
the homes of Janice Parker and Jimmy Matlock. Then we turned south
again on 11th and met Norman Miller before we passed the home of Jack
Burgess and Vicky Miller only
a block from the high school which is now the school administration
building.
We had frequent neighborhood parties and frequent disputes but our
parents were friends all their lives. Only Fran Newsom survives among
those 1950s homeowners. Sherman “Sleepy “ Newsom died only a few months
ago. The children mostly scattered across the world except for Ray
Hendryx who went into the Navy and then returned to Alpine to operate
KVLF radio.
Aging under the western sky is an easy thing but should not be
overdone. It is purely a matter of choice and offends no one. Any
pretentiousness is deflated by the presence all around us of mysterious
rock art from thousands of years ago. Newspaper reminiscences should
therefore be modest.
After a weekend with old friends however I am always struck with the
continuity and resolve of our lives. Home from a real war our fathers
were not in a constant state of consternation. Along with our teachers
in Alpine High School they were determined and unafraid in the face of
recurrent disaster. The words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt–“The only
thing we have to fear is fear itself”—seemed to be the spirit of that
time.
We
need reminding
sometimes. My class (AHS’55), graduated in the summer
that the movie “Giant” was filmed here. We were curious about the
moviemakers but not obsessed as I remember. There were more important
things to consider and the Texas highway Department’s gravel piles were
an excellent location from which to consider while looking at the night
sky.
Oooops! Last week we cited one of our favorite sayings from
popular culture- “What a revolting development this is.” We attributed
it to Jackie Gleason from the sitcom “The Honeymooners.” Alas, we
erred. Bob Miles of Ft. Davis immediately corrected us. The quote is
from “The Life of Riley” sitcom and the actor who delivered the line
was William Bendix. Thanks, Bob. •
(Also
published by the Big Bend
Sentinel of Marfa, Texas October 12, 2006.)
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