Growing Up in Bandera
It’s a fact that things are changing rapidly around here but some things will remain beyond my years. Yes, we have traffic jams on our main drag through town which never happened back in earlier times except during The Stompede Days. The look of the storefronts has changed over the years with new ones still being added. Some good and others not so much in the eyes of this oldtimer.
One thing that hasn’t changed over all these years is going to a local business and running into a number of people connected to my many years of living in Bandera. Just this morning I was in True Value and was first greeted by Johnny Boyle who is the owner and a schoolmate from back in the St. Joseph’s Catholic School days. Before I left the store I had conversations with Bubba Quarles, Robert Skinner, Roy Dugosh and Andy Wilkerson all in a matter of fifteen minutes. Now that’s reminiscent of old time Bandera.
I saw Butch Bradford across the store too but decided against engaging him since I saw a picture of him on social media a few days back holding up a nice catfish. I had a dental appointment I had to make and if you know Butch you are aware that his fish stories are never short. File that under something that also will never change.
When making a trip to the OST or the post office it always involves meet and greets with old friends. Sadly some of the regular visits I enjoyed in the past with older friends are becoming more scarce. I miss the chance meetings with Telvy Robbins and my uncle Tommy Kindla at the post office which were almost daily not so long ago. Newer folks to the area won’t understand how special it was to be greeted by Tag Knibbe or Joe Short from behind the counter as they delivered the mail. To label that one as a change in attitude would be a huge understatement.
I remember getting the mail handed to me by Mr. Knibbe when the post office was where the Bander Bank parking lot is now located. I was too short to reach the mailbox even if I had known the combination. I’m not sure the postal service of today would approve of the way things were done back then in Bandera. Can you imagine what would transpire if one of my grandkids went in today and asked for the mail out of my box?
The subject matter and faces have changed over the years at the table of knowledge in the OST but I’m happy to report that the tradition lives on. There were similar daily happenings at the Best Yet and Ranch House Cafe back when I was a kid but sadly both have disappeared. Long live the O.S.T. Bandera tradition!!!