Stories from the Slow Lane
Morris Gibson – My “Doctor in the West”
On a summer evening long ago, my young life dangled by a proverbial thread. I remember fragments of the episode: excruciating pain, fear in my parents’ eyes, Mom desperately attempting to comfort me, Dad hunched over the steering wheel, the soothing voice of a...
Color These Stories Green
If only I had more willpower, I’d identify and commit to memory the correct common names of my favorite plants. Then whenever I’m asked, “What is that?” I could answer in a heartbeat, rather than hesitating and sheepishly grinning because I don’t have a clue. ...
Texas Airman, Age 99, Recalls V-E Day
Etched in Glenn Lacy’s memory is May 8, 1945. That’s the day World War II in Europe ended following Germany’s surrender. At the time, the 24-year-old native Texan was stationed at Lavenham Air Base in England with the U.S. Army Air Corps. Glenn recalls a huge...
When Two Wartime Worlds Once Touched
By chance, I found myself the link between a Canadian prisoner of war and a young German nurse whose lives fleetingly intersected during World War II. A shiver runs down my spine every time I retell this story. The minute I pulled into Renate’s driveway near...
It’s Springtime in Tillie and Mason’s Garden
Grandma Tillie tenderly passes on her passion for gardening to her young grandson in a plot across from the railroad tracks in Smithville, Texas. She wears an old-fashioned sunbonnet and a dress with a long skirt. An apron is tied around her waist. Mason is clad in a...
What’s a miniature donkey to do?
Back in 2006, Hansl was in big trouble. The miniature donkey had broken out of his Fayette County, Texas, pasture once too often. His owner, who already had given the scallywag several second chances, was out of patience. Hansl had to go. ‘Go where?’ Hansl must...
Texas Newspaperman Leon Hale Lives Up to His Legend
Leon Hale wandered South and Central Texas writing about his adventures for Houston newspapers for 60 years.
Be My (Vintage) Valentine
I’m glad I’m not the only one who is sentimental about old valentines. Here are four sweet samples! 1. Denise Woodyard of La Grange, Texas, prizes the elaborate over-sized valentine her 19-year-old dad, Jack, sent his mother from Fort Knox, Kentucky, in 1944, years...
Canadian World War II Prisoner of War Recalls Stalag VIIIB
World War II veteran Winston Parker was shot down over Germany in 1942. The aviator then spent three years as a prisoner of war in Stalag VIIIB near Lamsdorf, Germany. Born in Calgary, Canada, in 1918, Parker had grown up on a farm. After England declared war on...
Other Stories I've Saved
