Quebe Sisters Story a Thrill
It was thrilling to see the cover photo and article on the Quebe sisters in your June 2009 issue. They are doing a fine job of preserving a part of Texas’ music culture. We need more articles on such wholesome, family-oriented influences. I have had the opportunity to hear them perform at social and cultural meetings. They have always done a fine job and are deserving of the publicity you have given them.
Jeffrey Murrah, Pedernales Electric Cooperative
Quebe Sisters’ Teacher Deserves More Credit
That was a great article about the fiddlin’ Quebe Sisters Band, but the story didn’t give near enough credit to Sherry McKenzie (she is married to band member Joey McKenzie and helped teach the sisters how to play fiddle). It couldn’t happen without her. She has an ear for music you wouldn’t believe. She stays behind the scenes mostly. When she and Joey got married they went to a fiddle contest at Athens that day. You have to do what is important to you on your wedding day.
Bob Park, Sam Houston Electric Cooperative
In Defense of Public Schools
As a longtime supporter of public schools, I must question the author and editor who decided to include the flippant remark made by one of the Quebe sisters in your June 2009 issue disparaging a rural-area school system. The comment was that the sisters were home-schooled to “get us away from the bad influences of public school.”
Most folks who receive your magazine send their children to public schools. The public schools are a cornerstone of our country, but sadly, some folks feel free to verbally trash them at will. Public-school students not only learn in the classroom, but they learn to work with and understand people with different beliefs, ideas, cultures and ethnicities other than their own.
Roy Mitchell, Bryan
Petrified Wood in Luling
I really enjoyed the article on Glen Rose’s petrified wood in the June 2009 issue (“Irreplaceable Works of Art”). There was a man in Luling who had such a love for petrified wood, he went all over the state collecting it. He used the wood to build a retainer wall and fence running down the sides of his home in the 1000 block of South Laurel Avenue. If you are ever that way and are interested, you might take a look.
Rodney and Shirley Decou, Pedernales Electric Cooperative
Duck for Ninepins
As a former pin boy for ninepin bowling at the Marion Bowling Club, your article about the sport in the May 2009 issue (“Still Standing After All These Years”) brought back a lot of memories of flying pins from both alleys when farmers from the area came up to bowl. In 1953, there were no partitions between alleys to keep pins from flying from one alley to the other—or even out the open windows that allowed some air circulation to cool off the bowling alley. Ninepins are farther apart, and that made for flying pins instead of them being stopped by another pin. Pin boys knew which bowler had the most power and would crawl as far forward in the alley as they could to avoid being hit by a pin.
Harold Huth, Pedernales Electric Cooperative
