VOICES
SUZANNE & JIM FRANKLIN
of the trans-pecos
by Rani Birchfield
You rock. Stone-faced killer. That
movie starring The Rock. So many
rocks, so little time. Ah but, these
are not the “rocks” we’re looking
for. We’re looking for the buried
treasure, the ancient dirt crushed
into hidden gems formed eons ago
in the earth and crusted over in
dullness. The Big Bend is a special
place for rocks, and the landscape
and raw geology attracts earth
scientists and rock lovers from all
over.
Suzanne Franklin is one of them,
although she may not have known
her destiny lay in rocks. She was
born in Sylvania, Ohio, and moved
to California as a young girl,
probably
giving
no
thought
whatsoever to rocks and stones.
Suzanne & Jim Franklin
ground and grind off the centuries
Somewhere in her mid life, she to make it into a sparkling piece of
headed east to Oklahoma, where When Susanne bought Leon a
became tired of California and
her sister lived. Through a journey
that led Suzanne to Del Rio, Texas,
she met Leon Hughes, a retired,
rock-loving gentleman.
A Texas boy, Leon was born in
Brady, but was no stranger to West
Texas. (At one time he was the
foreman of White House Ranch
before it was parceled out into the
(north
of
ran a second-hand store there.
grinder, she said, “He was like a other, and Suzanne had met Sandy
little kid in a candy store.” Leon
Although Leon and Jim knew each
briefly at the store, Suzanne and
loved the rock grinder and would be Jim had never formally met. Sadly,
snow, grinding away. “It was like Jim a widower. In 2013, Jim came
out there at all times, even in rare
Sandy was killed in 2012, leaving
opening Christmas presents every into the rock shop to learn about
“We came to Balmorhea for the history. Jim and Suzanne got
time he cut.”
rocks,” Suzanne said. “Leon knew
he was going to pass and he always
owned the Deer Creek Fire Agate retirement.” They found a spot
Mine in Arizona. After Suzanne
Texas
jewelry or interesting work of art. Terlingua Ranch of today.) Leon’s
passion was fire agate, and he once
Verhalen,
Balmorhea) and his wife, Sandy
said
he
‘downtown’
was
and
creating my
opened the
rocks, and the rest, as they say, is
married in the Calera Chapel in
Balmorhea six years ago.
Jim Franklin was born in Fort
Worth but lived close to Study
Butte, Terlingua, and Marathon
and Leon married, Leon began to Balmorhea Rock Shop. The area most of the rest of his life. Although
about rocks; how to identify and Leon didn’t want to leave Suzanne uncles, who came to live with them
teach Suzanne everything he knew
what to choose, how to cut, how to
polish.
At
the
time,
Suzanne
still
telecommuted to California, so she
was remote but not too remote;
alone in the middle of nowhere
when he was gone.
Leon did pass away in 2011. A
few years later, Suzanne met Jim,
began to buy equipment: grinders, an avid motorcycle collector. Funny
take a hunk of something from the via other paths. Jim lived in
polishers, everything you’d need to
thing is, Leon knew Jim Franklin
he was an only child, his two
early on, were closer in age to Jim
After Suzanne and Jim got
married, they lived on Jim’s land.
They loved sitting outside and
looking at the stars and enjoying
than his mother, so they just called the nature provided by West Texas,
buying land in Verhalen. At one came.
themselves brothers. Jim ended up
point in time, Jim and a friend used
to joke that they owned almost
everything in Verhalen.
they said. But one day the oil wells
Fracking wells began to pop up
Continued on next page
Cenizo
Spring 2020
15