continued from page 11
One of five children of
Roy and Ophie Bloys, whose
maiden name was Parker,
Vivian remembers her early
years in Fort Davis as “open
pastures, games of hide and
seek, family picnics,” a free
life for a spirited young girl
playing with other local kids.
This early attachment to
the land made the transition
to the work of ranching later
in her life simple. Ranching
and teaching were her twin
careers.
High school at Fort Davis
was followed by enrollment at
Cisco Junior College until
homesickness changed her
continued from page 13
It was at my Tía Chita’s
house next to the Madrid
Store on that long dusty high-
way leading into the Big
Bend, that remote parallel
other country, a Texas that
was more than Texas, that I
came to value books and the
worlds they spoke of, faraway
Dostoyevskian Chekhovian
Shakespearian
worlds,
removed from my own small,
still unrealized trajectory.
mind. She started at Sul Ross
State University in Alpine
studying education but left in
her senior year, 1939, to
marry George Grubb, whom
she had known since child-
hood. She went back to com-
plete her degree at Sul Ross
in 1945.
George, also a teacher, was
a successful high school coach
at Fort Hancock and then
relocated to teach and coach
in Fort Davis High School.
Vivian taught elementary
level then second grade, an
age she loved.
Combining ranching for
landowners in the area and
teaching locally provided a
successful alternative for a
couple rooted in the values of the area.
George died in 1991, but
three of their children contin-
ue to live in Fort Davis:
daughters Obea and Karen
are married to Gus Billings
and Glen Rinehart respec-
tively, while son George Jr. is
the county judge. The middle
daughter Lee Ehrig lives in
Houston.
Vivian shows a recent
photograph, taken on her
90th birthday, of almost all
of her family: four children,
nine grandchildren and 21
great grandchildren. “And to
think
I’m
responsible,”
she won-
ders aloud.
The world was simple then: a
good freshly made hot tortilla
held whatever you wanted
and it was good. Inside or
out, in the hot sun or in the
coolness of the summer
night, near that long winding
almost endless road that led to my mother’s dreams, we
knew what nourishment was:
family, a good book, a hot
tortilla – buttered, salted,
cold, hot, jammed, cheesed,
frijole’ed or just plain. ¡Ay,
esas tortillas! ¡Ay, esos tacos!
Good Texas Tacos.
Mike Green , AIA
Texas Licensed Architect #10917
Phone/Fax: (432) 729-3984 Cell: 646 256-8112
Email: greentone@earthlink.net
Mail: P.O. Box 97
Deliveries: 904 W. San Antonio Street
Marfa,TX 79843
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