Back Where I Come From

I always enjoy listening to this Kenny Chesney song, which he has regularly done in his live shows.  It does strike a chord as everyone has a place in their hearts where they are from.  That never really goes away, even if some try to get away.

I like to say that I have 2 hometowns, Houston and Austin.  But when I hear this song, I do think of "Where I Come From" which leads me to Austin.  We moved there when I was 14 and I went to Austin High all 4 years.  Back then, Austin was a third the size of what it is today.  The city itself has started growing at the sides but was still pretty compact.  Interstate 35 had served one of its redline purposes by separating the city West from East and de facto segregation ensued.

The big political issues of my day was forced busing to desegregate the Austin ISD.  When I questioned my father about "what would happen?" if I had to be bused, he said "We'll just move you to a private school".  Other that threatening periodically to send me to military school, that was the only time we ever discussed private school.  It was generally assumed then that the public schools were better than the alternative.

In the end Austin High was considered diverse enough, as we were 60% Anglo, 30% Hispanic and 10% black due to drawing from 3 different parts of town, West, Central and South.  No busing for the Maroons.

The school board had previously desegregated the junior highs by creating new 6th grade centers, and making the junior highs only 7th and 8th grades.  Baker Middle School was the result for our side of town.   My classmate Scott McClellan wrote of it nicely in his book.

As to the high schools, the answer was simply to bus from one All-Minority school, Johnston H.S. on the east side, to one All-White school, Anderson H.S. on the northwest side.  It was generally agreed to be a failure on both sides.  The IDEA schools in Austin are still picking up the pieces from the Anderson/Johnston busing.

Interesting, Anderson High School was the original name of the segregated high school in Austin pre Brown v. Board of Education.  We loved to trumpet that Austin High was the "only high school" and the "oldest high school" but no one ever discussed the forced segregation that allowed that to develop.

55th Anniversary of Ed and Kate

Happy anniversary to my parents Ed and Kate Turley, who were married in Houston, TX on February 4, 1961.

They were married at St. John the Divine Episcopal Church in Houston, TX.  My mother's home church.  The officiant was the Rev. Tom Summers, who was a good friend of my grandparents who were Vernon and Pearl Elledge.  My grandfather was able to dance at his daughter's wedding, but regretably died less than a year later in January 1962.

The Best Man was Ralph DeShong, who introduced my parents along with Janet DeShong.  I think that some of the other groomsmen were some of my dad's friends from the UT Golf Team - Ray, Teddy?   My Uncle Vernon (Jr.) must have been in there.  He was my mother's older brother who was already married to my mother's sorority sister Sharon.

 My father was working as an accountant for Price Waterhouse and only later thought of going to law school.  My mother was one of the secretaries in the Office of the Mayor of Houston, who at that time was Lewis Cutrer.

Members of the bridal party were my mother's good friends who all lived on the same street growing up:  Fay, Betsy, Marianne, Francia.  They are all still good friends all these years later.  And of course my aunt Sharon.  There was no flower girl or boy as families were smaller and more closely spaced.

My mother actually borrowed a dress from her friend.  The reception was at...could it have been the Houston Country Club?  Perhaps that's when my dad thought, "Someday I'll be a member here".  All these years later, yes, he is.

They spent their honeymoon in New Orleans.  That's where Susan and I went on our honeymoon in 1990.