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April 15, 2025
Growing Up In Bandera
By Glenn Clark
The Bandera Prophet
Sometimes it's like I just woke up one day and everything around me had suddenly changed. Don't even recognize half the folks I see anymore when I venture out to the OST for breakfast. I usually see Butch Bradford out early talking about all the work he has lined up, but I know he's thinking about going fishing instead. He hasn't changed much from our high school days other than showing a few scratches and dents acquired over the last 60 years since our high school days. When I look in the mirror I notice those same type features looking back at me.
The other day I was driving by the little house my family lived in on Pecan Street between 10th and 11th back in the 50s, and I noticed a new house being built on the corner. It was the location of Mrs. Davenport’s house, who was the landlady we rented from back then. It would be a few years later when we moved to the old Kindla homestead further up the street. That area around there still holds lots of fond memories for me, although the old Davenport house was torn down quite a few years ago.
I look at that tiny house now where we had lived and wonder how five kids and two grownups managed the cramped conditions. Little sister Debbie wouldn't arrive until after we moved to the Kindla house. I recall the Friday nights when Granddaddy Kindla would come over to watch wrestling on TV with us. I don't remember how many times I made the block and a half walk to the Country Shopper running an errand for my mom, but there were quite a few.
I remember learning how to ride my bike and watching the new gymnasium building going up around the corner during that time in the 50s. I was attending St. Joseph Catholic School so I didn't attend any classes on that campus until I reached high school. The old gym is gone now, but it did outlast "The Stand,” that was a small building where you could get a burger and coke or ice cream and play the nickel juke box. It was on the corner where the tennis courts are now located in front of the middle school.
When I was a freshman in high school I received a skateboard for Christmas. There were few places to attempt riding it, but the sidewalk in front of the old main high school was available. It was rough with lots of cracks and I spent more time down than up. I lost interest soon after and I have no idea what happened to my board. I just know it disappeared somewhere along the way in my Growing Up In Bandera life. The old sidewalk is gone now too. Good riddance, I say!
GLENN CLARK #428 2025
The other day I was driving by the little house my family lived in on Pecan Street between 10th and 11th back in the 50s, and I noticed a new house being built on the corner. It was the location of Mrs. Davenport’s house, who was the landlady we rented from back then. It would be a few years later when we moved to the old Kindla homestead further up the street. That area around there still holds lots of fond memories for me, although the old Davenport house was torn down quite a few years ago.
I look at that tiny house now where we had lived and wonder how five kids and two grownups managed the cramped conditions. Little sister Debbie wouldn't arrive until after we moved to the Kindla house. I recall the Friday nights when Granddaddy Kindla would come over to watch wrestling on TV with us. I don't remember how many times I made the block and a half walk to the Country Shopper running an errand for my mom, but there were quite a few.
I remember learning how to ride my bike and watching the new gymnasium building going up around the corner during that time in the 50s. I was attending St. Joseph Catholic School so I didn't attend any classes on that campus until I reached high school. The old gym is gone now, but it did outlast "The Stand,” that was a small building where you could get a burger and coke or ice cream and play the nickel juke box. It was on the corner where the tennis courts are now located in front of the middle school.
When I was a freshman in high school I received a skateboard for Christmas. There were few places to attempt riding it, but the sidewalk in front of the old main high school was available. It was rough with lots of cracks and I spent more time down than up. I lost interest soon after and I have no idea what happened to my board. I just know it disappeared somewhere along the way in my Growing Up In Bandera life. The old sidewalk is gone now too. Good riddance, I say!
GLENN CLARK #428 2025