Ralph and Shirley I

Women's History Month challenge for March 5 — How did they meet? You’ve documented marriages, now, go back a bit. Do you know the story of how your parents met? Your grandparents?

Shirley Johnson and Ralph Shelton, Ko Shari Dinner Dance, Texas Tech, 1952.

I don't know exactly how my grandparents on either side met each other. My parents, though: that's an easy story. Journalism at Texas Tech.

One reason the Johnson grandparents moved from Altus to Lubbock, Texas, was the presence of a good, new state college. Neither one of them went to college, but the Depression and general hard times made them fiercely determined to send their own children to college, no matter what. I think everyone in my mother's crop of cousins went to college, many of them to Texas Tech.

Shirley was a very bright student who skipped two grades and graduated from high school at 16. That happened in those days. She had (and has) a talent for writing and editing, and majored in journalism at Tech. In those days, that was primarily newspaper writing, photography and publication. By her senior year, she was the editor of La Ventana.

Shirley Johnson, editor, ca. 1953.

Meanwhile, in Dallas, Ralph Shelton Jr. confounded his family's plans and made his way to Texas Tech for college as a (you guessed it) journalism major. He is also a talented writer and editor. His great-aunt Blanche Keese Heaton had just moved with her husband, attorney Nathaniel Heaton, to Slaton, where he was the new judge. This gave Ralph a family connection in the area, and a bit of distance from his parents (he is an only child).

Ralph and Shirley are the same age, but grade-skipping put Shirley a year ahead of Ralph. They worked on the paper together. She was editor first, then he was editor the next year. The rest is history, and saved for tomorrow's post.

Ralph Shelton, editor, ca. 1954. He will kill me for posting this. Snicker.   

Heroes: Mack Johnson and the Silent Wings

This post is dedicated to the memory of Mack Johnson, father, grandfather, draftsman, and family anchor. Today marks 108 years since he was born. These pictures you see above are a bit different from the usual family shots. They date from his work in WWII at the top-secret military glider facility in Lubbock.

Mack moved his family from Altus, Oklahoma, to Lubbock in 1937 to work as an architectural draftsman. He was self-employed in this field for the rest of his life, working literally up to the last week of his life at the age of 85. His astounding work ethic was typical of his region and generation. Mack was grateful for a job after the ravages of the Depression, and loved Lubbock and the opportunities it afforded him. He designed and built the family's house, was a pillar of First Methodist, and doted on his family.

We knew all of that. What we did not know (well, at least the grandchildren did not know) was that he joined the war effort at the outbreak of WWII as a civilian employee of the military. The U. S. Army Air Force set up a training and design facility in Lubbock, and most of the military glider pilots in the service trained there. Mack was too old to join the service at the age of 40, but not too old to help out as an employee.

Not a lot of people know about this operation, and even as a civilian employee he considered it wrong to talk about it, ever. Like many WWII, Korean War and Cold War workers, Mack kept the details of his wartime service to himself. I wish I had known enough to ask questions while he was still here. This generation has been notoriously difficult in the oral history interview department. Their patriotism did not include loose lips.

If you want to know more about the WWII glider program, check out the Silent Wings Museum at this site, housed in the original Lubbock Municipal Airport building.

Many of our heroes are silent. Happy birthday, Pop.

Family recipe Monday: iced tea and other summer drinks

Happy summer solstice! To celebrate this day in style (it's the birthday of one of us at Threads and Traces, and therefore practically a national holiday, right?), take one of these tall cool drinks out to the veranda. It's hard to find good verandas any more, but please do your best. Don't forget to chill the pitcher first. We will be out on the deck once the thunderstorms let up, ourselves.

Mint iced tea

If mint grows for you the way it grows for Shirley, you’ll be giving this to all your guests whether they ask for it or not. And don’t forget that there are all kinds of mint varieties to make this even more interesting (pineapple mint would be terrific). Just stay out of the catnip if the cat got there first.

3 cups boiling water
12 sprigs fresh mint
4 regular tea bags
Juice of 2 lemons
1 cup orange juice
1 cup sugar
6 cups cold water

Combine boiling water, mint and tea, and steep for 8 minutes. Remove tea bags and mint and let tea cool. Combine juices with sugar and water, stirring to dissolve sugar. Strain tea mixture and add to juices. Serve over ice garnished with a sprig of mint.

Vino tè

1 quart boiling water
12 teabags
½ cup sugar
3 cups dry red wine
2/3 cup strained lemon juice
Lemon wedges
Mint sprig 

Pour boiling water over tea bags. Cover and let stand 5 minutes. Remove teabags; and sugar and stir to dissolve. Cool. Add wine and lemon juice. Pour into a tall pitcher; add ice cubes. Garnish with lemon wedges and mint sprig. Makes 10 servings.

Finally, here's a classic for a hot summer evening with guests.

Wine welcomer

1 6-oz can frozen lemonade concentrate
1 6-oz can frozen orange juice concentrate
1 fifth dry white wine (750 ml)
1 cup orange liqueur
1 28-oz bottle carbonated water
Ice
Orange slices (optional)

Place frozen concentrates in large pitcher or punchbowl. Gradually stir in 2 cups cold water, mixing till smooth. Stir in wine and orange liqueur. Add carbonated water and ice. Stir gently. Top with orange slices if desired. Serve at once. Yield 22 4-oz servings.

Happy Monday, y'all.

I continue to search: Heart of Lubbock Neighborhood Association

Mack and Vada Johnson during the Depression, date uncertain

Today's post is a shameless plug for Shirley's project at the Heart of Lubbock Neighborhood Association site. The Johnson family moved to Lubbock in 1937, when Shirley was 4, and she has never left the neighborhood. She is now photographing and documenting the architecture and other history of the area. You can see a number of her photographs, credited to "Mrs. Shelton," on the site gallery.

Here is the current posting under Curbside History.

"In 1935 Lubbock received a large Works Progress Administration grant for work in the city. Much of the workforce was involved in attempting to clear out and renovate the Lubbock Lake, which had gone dry (Carlson, Centennial History of Lubbock). Some of the workers, however, were involved in paving and curbing projects within the city.

"Markers commemorating the work were set into the concrete curbs at various locations. The brass markers note 'Works Progress Administration 1935–1937.' If you spot one, you’ve witnessed a rare artifact of our city’s heritage!

"For a long time I thought there was only one marker surviving within the Heart of Lubbock neighborhood, at the southwestern corner of Avenue V and 26th Street, on the street side. Then, in a single day, I discovered four others. The markers are not placed uniformly, but seemingly at random: one is on the avenue side of an intersection; one is on the southeastern side of an intersection, on the street side; others in the same southwestern corners. Some are in good shape, while some show obvious deterioration over the years since they went embedded in concrete.

"I continue to search."

Shirley Shelton
 

Shirley at Texas Tech, majoring in journalism

You can probably tell that the Plains architecture series posted here is inspired by Shirley's Heart of Lubbock project and philosophy. We lose first what we document least, and sometimes that which is most familiar and immediate to us is what we are most likely to forget to save. Take a moment to celebrate the ordinary and the everyday--they disappear from view when we least expect it, and they are what shape us most.