Traveling Murals
I have seen two of these and wondered how they originated [Overpass Easels, May 2024]. Your article answered all my questions, and I now am eager to see the others during my travels.”
Carol Strickland, Tri-County EC | Millsap
You have helped to preserve the memory of the jet pilots who trained at Kingsville Naval Air Station. Those young men were selfless and courageous. We lived on a cotton farm south of the base and watched as they flew overhead.
My sister married Lt. Ralph Foulks, who went missing after he flew off the USS Oriskany in January 1968 during the Vietnam War. His remains were returned from Vietnam and buried in 1993.
Elizabeth Cumberland, Bluebonnet EC | Martindale
Ranch Hand Legacy
My granddad was a hand for the Four Sixes and Triangles ranches, and the Piper tank is named after my great-granddad Jon Piper [Sixes on the Small Screen, May 2024].
Brendan Hill | Via Facebook
Perspective on Bowie
It’s easy to judge 19th-century characters and practices by 20th- and 21st-century standards—and Jim Bowie might not have had a sterling reputation [TCP Talk, April 2024]. But it cannot be denied that he (and the other Alamo defenders) did not have to be there, he didn’t have to join the Texian Army in the first place and he didn’t have to be co-commander.
He did those things because of his sense of duty and died for it. He and the others at the Alamo made a down payment on a free Texas with their blood. There certainly is honor in that.
Carl Crisp, Houston County EC | Elkhart
Stephanie Dalton Cowan
Quilters’ Bond
The timing of The Fabric of Life was perfect [May 2024]. A lot of quilters in the state had just finished participating in the two-month All Texas Shop Hop, including shops that spread from Odessa north to Amarillo, east to Texarkana and south to Alamo in the Rio Grande Valley.
Sherry Reid Carroll, Taylor EC | Flower Mound
Some 50,000 people showed up for the Shamrock’s grand opening.
Courtesy Houston History Research Center | Houston Public Library
Strong Writing
W.F. Strong’s stories and vignettes about Texas history are a terrific part of Texas Co-op Power. From the Shamrock Hotel [The Green Carpet, January 2024] to Jim Bowie—no place but Texas [A Cut Above, February 2024].
James Pritchett, Pedernales EC | Austin
I loved that grand hotel and was so sad when they tore it down [The Green Carpet, January 2024]. For several years in the late 1970s and early ’80s, the Transportation Club of Houston held our monthly luncheons in the main ballroom. I still recall the huge and opulent chandeliers.
Ron Frazier, MidSouth EC | Anderson
The Santa Fe train chartered by Glenn McCarthy made a stop in Sweetwater on the way to Houston [The Green Carpet, January 2024]. I was a high school student at the time, and the only movie star I remembered seeing was Pat O’Brien.
When I was later stationed at Ellington Air Force Base, I saw McCarthy’s four-engine Boeing Stratoliner at Houston’s Hobby Airport with a large shamrock on the tail.
Morris Baxter, Medina EC | Hondo
If by saying Glenn McCarthy was an Aggie, W.F. Strong meant that he got kicked out of Texas A&M University, then he’s right [The Green Carpet, January 2024]. McCarthy had previously dropped out of Tulane after an injury before being expelled as an Aggie.
His name in college football was made at Rice University. He also boxed there. Why can’t the Owls get any love?
Mike Vance, Fayette EC | Fayetteville
David Moore
Gators Galore
You’re virtually assured of great alligator sightings at Cattail Marsh Scenic Wetlands & Boardwalk, in Beaumont [Later, Gators? February 2024].
After spotting two or three of the big reptiles from our perch on the boardwalk, my wife and I decided to meander along one of the nearby paths. After several more sightings, we opted to turn around when our path became blocked by a full-grown “lounge lizard” sunning himself just 20 yards ahead of us on the trail.
Randy Schultz, Pedernales EC | San Marcos
It brought back memories of the time I spent in Titusville, Florida, as a boy. There were plenty of gators in and around our house and bodies of water.
Even though you could not always see a gator, you were assured they were there by the bellowing sounds they make.
Andrew Bloom, J-A-C EC | Windthorst
Reading and Riding
When my family and I set out on our long recreational vehicle adventures, I bring a collection of Texas Co-op Power to read to my family. While my husband drives, I read the magazine out loud—or he does when I drive.
We listen intently to every word and description, creating pictures in our minds of what is being read and what those times must have looked like. Doing this has become our thing, and it’s really one of the highlights of our journey to wherever we’re headed.
M. Anastasi, CoServ | McKinney
