Summers in Industry, TX

In the late 70s, 1977-79, one of my vacation highlights was spending a week in Industry, TX (then pop. 1,001) with my good friend Reed at his grandmother Lillian's home.  A real throwback of a time in retrospect.  Lillian lived in a small frame 2 (maybe 3?) bedroom house in town, just off a main road.  The house was not air conditioned, althought I think she had a window unit in her bedroom.   So when we were inside, it was quite warm.  We would therefore be outside most all day long.  I used to joke that we would go outside to cool off.

What did we do?  She had a large backyard, with a canning shed, so there was some room to run.  We could walk everywhere in town, so sometimes we'd go to the library, or to a local general store.  The town must have had some pull because it had a bank, a library, a car dealership.  Some quick research says it was the first permanent German settlement in Texas.

On Saturday nights, there was a dance at the Industry Fireman's Hall, and that was a big social event.  We got to go but just hung out in the corners.

Reed's mother and father both were from the area, so we would go visit family here and there.  His parents would usually take us one weekend and pick us up the next so they were around a lot.

One fun memory is we would ride our bikes down the large hill near her house - fly down.  Then we had to pedal back uphill.  I guess we walked or biked around town our fair share as well.

Lillian cooked all the meals for us and I recall some big breakfasts as well as eating at a small kitchen table.  She must have been a very calm person, because nothing we ever did seemed to rattle her.

I think she had a TV but she watched what she wanted and we rarely watched any TV.

Part of me has always dreamed of buying that house and fixing it up.  But I'm afraid that the best times for me were back then in the 1970s.  You can't go back to 13 years old again.  And spending the whole week with your best buddy.