Published in 2011, the late John Eddie Vogt’s book, Witches, Bitches, and Other Small Town Folks, brings to life the quirky, unforgettable, and entertaining tales of growing up and living in Kendall County from the 1930s through the 1960s. Thanks to the gracious permission of his family, The Kendall Gentleman is honored to share excerpts from his book for your enjoyment.
I was probably the most spoiled brat that there ever was. Felipe Leal worked for my dad and he could have verified the fact. I would call from home that I wanted to go to my dad’s store (now 152 S. Main) and Daddy would make Felipe come get me.
I remember the time that Felipe picked me up and we were driving down what is now Lohman Street. We were in an old Buick coupe, probably about a 1933 or ’34. It had the throttle lever on the steering wheel and Felipe pulled the lever down and put his feet upon the steering wheel and drove down the road that way. I would have probably never remembered anything about this incident except for the fact that he told me to never tell Daddy what he had done. I never told, but I remember the happening today as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.
Something else I remember is that the road was extremely muddy and we slid all over the roadway. This was when the area between Lohman and Johns Road was only an open field called the Schwarz Field. No schools, no parking lots, no jillion kids.
Mr. Schwarz had an old steam engine tractor. It would move at about two or three miles per hour, if that fast. It was used to drive the belt that drove the thrashing machine which separated the grain fro the chaff. There was a loud whistle, that was driven by the steam, that was sounded to let everyone know that Mr. Schwarz was coming (as if there was any doubt!). If he had already entered the field for the work, it was sounded to call the crew to come work. At the lunch break everyone would take a nap and the whistle would wake them from their slumber.
Mrs. Adolph Schwartz told me that at one time the Cibolo Creek came up and they had a cow tied down on the field in the vicinity of where Middle School North is today on Johns Road. She told me the water jumped over the bluff about where Schleicher and School Streets intersect and ran across the flat area to a depth of the belly of the cow. Of course the educated engineers of today would tell you this impossible because there is not a large enough area for the water to run off. Do you trust the story of an eyewitness or the knowledge of a college graduate?
I remember when the concrete sidewalk was built along the north side of Johns Road from Main Street to the front of the high school (now Middle School North). Ed Kaiser was the janitor and also the athletic coach. Yes that is a correct statement, both. He was cutting down a hackberry tree that was in the way of the sidewalk and the axe slipped and he cut his leg very severely. From that day on he would walk with a limp. This did not keep him from continuing as coach up until the mid to late forties. This was when it was customary for the linemen to chew tobacco and spit into the eyes of the opponents at the snap of the ball. Mr. Kaiser was also the lifeguard at the city swimming pool (at the far west end of the plaza area). I can remember him going to Daddy and talking him into buying me a season ticket for the pool. Dad finally gave in and paid Mr. Kaiser the unbelievable sum of $2.50 so I could swim whenever I wished. This may sound funny to many of you today, but this was during the time when most people were paid the fantastic sum of $1.00 per day for a full day of work.
More from John Eddie Vogt: For another scene from JEV’s childhood, read Mikey the Donkey, where a younger JEV drives a two-wheel cart on his Uncle Willie’s farm. For more of the downtown JEV grew up in, read H.O. Adler and the Boy Scouts, about the biggest store in town.
