family lived. The family later
moved to the Southside Place,
a small community within the
Loop, and Kate began high
school at Lamar High School
but later transferred to San
Jacinto High School down-
town. She was smart enough to
get by, she says, but quit in
1964.
She first met Mel Baker in a
bowling alley in 1965, and they
married a year later. They lived
above a shop in Westbury
Square, then a global-village
shopping center. Mel worked
with computers. Their son
Noble was born in 1969. Kate
worked in an art-photography
studio and helped start a recy-
cling center and build a down-
town park for Earth Day. Mel
got a better job in Livermore,
Calif., and they lived there for
five years. The marriage ended
in divorce in 1972, and Kate
and Noble returned to
Houston.
Working as a sales clerk at
Foley’s was boring and poorly
paid, Kate says, but communal
living in the Montrose district
from 1973 to 1977 kept down
living costs. Kate worked for
seven years, from 1979 to 1986,
at the Baytown Steel Mill –
work that was much better paid
but demanding. Hard manual
work in the summer heat of
Houston was one thing, but the
level of sexual harassment was
worse. Notwithstanding, she
survived and took a buy out in
1986.
Remarried in Houston in
1987, Kate had a comfortable
life in the Houston suburbs and
learned to cook, took art class-
es and traveled. She was
unhappy in the marriage, how-
ever, and it ended in divorce 12
years later. For 10 years, she
had been visiting Big Bend,
where her brother Ted resided,
so she now took the opportuni-
ty to move there. In 1999, she
bought a small 1905 house in
Marathon.
Clyde Curry was building a
straw-bale house in Marathon
and had had bed and breakfast
experience previously. The
couple decided to start a new
bed and breakfast, called Eve’s
Garden, which opened in
2001. Kate and Clyde married
a year later. The building, still
being worked on, combines art,
architecture and ecology. Few
who enter for the first time are
not impressed by the vibrant
colors in the domed bedrooms,
the wild garden which supplies
vegetables for meals, the pool
and the artworks hanging in
the main house. And when the
breakfast arrives with an edible
nasturtium petal, the experi-
ence is complete.
ZOEY SEXTON
A transition from the
Canadian border to the border
with Mexico is about as far as
one can travel domestically. In
the case of Zoey Sexton, it has
been a long trip but a successful
one. She was born, the third of
four children, on April 21,
1950 to Sid and Charlotte
Nelson in Bemidji, Minn., 100
miles from the Canadian bor-
der. Childhood was a happy
memory of outdoor life on the
200 acres her dad farmed. “It
was a rich life,” Zoey recalls,
“not monetarily, but the family
never lacked.”
She was a shy country
youngster and moving from
nearby Carlake grade school
(14 kids total) to Bemidji High
School in 1968 (class of 250)
was difficult, and she didn’t eas-
ily fit in. Her interest was in
English, and a teacher intro-
duced her to Beowulf and
Shakespeare. “A great basic
education,” she recalls.
At Bemidji High she met
Kevin Sexton, through a
cousin, and they fell in love.
They were married in 1971,
and their son Chad Mathew
was born in December of that
year. They moved to St. Paul,
where Kevin became a systems
analyst for a software company
and in 1991 started his own
business. Zoe worked for
Security
Life
Insurance
Company for 16 years, rising to
assistant vice president (tech-
nology).
In 1995 she fell ill, with
Lyme disease. With hindsight,
she now sees this as a blessing
in disguise. Zoey and Kevin
quit business life, sold their
house and bought a truck, with
few plans except to head south.
They had heard about the Big
Bend area of Texas and, when
they arrived, fell in love with it.
A chance meeting with Angie
Dean, proprietor of the
Starlight Theater in Terlingua
Ghost Town, led to a job offer.
This was fun, and she worked
there from 1997 to 1999 and
subsequently at Lajitas Stables.
Kevin meanwhile worked for
Far Flung Adventures as a river
guide.
Zoe was kicked by a horse in
2004 and took almost three
years to heal, but redirected her
thoughts to a different lifestyle.
After living in an RV, Kevin
announced he wanted to build.
They bought land in a valley
on Terlingua Ranch and with
little experience started to
build. The result was a rock
house with porches all round, a
pitched roof and tile floor.
Huge rainwater tanks and sta-
bling for their horses are adja-
cent. They are close to nature.
A Scott’s oriole sang a sweet
song just outside the house as
we spoke.
“We destroy the earth that
feeds us; we must learn to take
care of ourselves ecologically,”
Zoe believes. In 2008 she got
involved in the Terlingua
Community Garden and then
attached to it a farmers’ market
which grew. Next came the
“Terlingua Green Scene,” an
event now in its third year,
which she organizes with
Shannon Carter. The Green
Scene features a demonstration
of building techniques and
water conservation, sales of
produce, ever-present music
and in the evening theater and
film events – a timely and pop-
ular event for today’s
Terlingua.
Radio for a Wide Range
Serving Far West Texas at 93.5 FM
Become a member at www.marfapublicradio.org or 1-800-903-KRTS
NECTAR
COMPUTERS
Servicing West Texas with comprehensive
and experienced support since 2003
202 N 11th & Ave E, Alpine Texas • www.nectarcomputers.com
432 837 3021 • Support Cell: 432 386 7811 • Mark Hannan, Owner
Alice’s Cafe
Mexican food & more
Open Mon - Sat • 6 a.m. - 2 p.m. and 5 - 8 p.m.
432.729.4188
906 W San Antonio St • Marfa
Cenizo
Third Quarter 2011
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