Loose Strings From The Past

Author: Charlcyann

  • C. M. Williams, WW11 Veteran

    War clouds were rumbling in Europe before my brother, Carroll Williams, graduated from High school.  Some of his friends were joining the Texas National Guard and wanted him to join also.   He was not old enough to join without parental permission.  My Dad would not grant that permission.  The friends plead, but my Dad would…

  • The Day The Dogs Were Shot

    (written in 1972) I can’t sleep.  I keep trying to think of answers to the questions that came today and that will come again tomorrow. The man shot their dog.  She is gone.  Nothing will bring her back.  They have accepted that fact.  But the whys will come again tomorrow as they try to reconcile…

  • Halloween Thief

    We were late getting home. Halloween was a big event on our street.  There were already trick or treaters at the end of the block. As we pulled into the driveway, we noticed that Butch the brindle wiener dog was out and guarding the front door.  He was an escape artist and did not like…

  • School Policies

    I was not concerned with school policies in the 1940’s, but I was vaguely aware that there was a discussion about a relative. She married after her junior year of high school and was not allowed to register for her senior year.  The policy was “You marry, you quit school.”  After discussions (more likely arguments)…

  • Guardian Angels

    My cousin posted this on Facebook: “Have you ever experienced a time when you just knew that God had protected you?  I was driving down the highway tonight when all of a sudden I had a mattress in front of me!  I couldn’t change lanes because there was traffic on either side.  I thought to…

  • CLIMBING THE LEARNING CURVE

    I smiled as I sat on the school bus watching the children around me. Inwardly I was laughing at my situation. I, the careful decision maker, could not believe that I was teaching kindergarten.  I was a high school teacher.  Yet here I was, on a school bus surrounded by my little charges on the…

  • THE REST OF THE STORY: The Small Desk in the Borger News Herald Back Shop

    Thanks to Dottie Irwin Melko,  Harlingen Texas We all have stories. Here is one from Dottie. THE REST OF THE STORY OF THE SMALL DESK IN THE BORGER NEWS HERALD BACK SHOP I don’t have a photo but you have my desk in the back shop, I was told. This is the rest of the…

  • PORTRAIT OF A CHILD selective mutism

    Kindergarten programs in Texas began with economically disadvantaged non-English speaking children.  It was never my intent to teach kindergarten, but circumstances resulted my being there one day enrolling little boys and girls.  The children who came to my door were the children of migrant farm workers. One little girl seemed angry.  She did not cry…

  • HEROIN

    The media says heroin is making a comeback.  In front of me on my computer screen is yet another article about it. I think back to Tucson in the sixties. Palo Verde High School had what we teachers called a heroin ring. Timothy Leary was out in California telling our students the wonders of LSD. …

  • BOISTEROUS BOYS

    My mother-in-law was a nervous woman.  It was no wonder.  She gave birth to six children in an eleven year period.  Her second son, Gene, and my husband, Ken, who was born four years later, did their share of mischief to cause her anxiety.  To say they were creative in finding things to do is…