Duval Mining Company in Pecos.
There followed 20 years as mine geol-
ogist for this extremely successful mining
company, which produced 46 million
tons of sulphur before closing in 2000.
Joe headed a team responsible for
drilling over 2,000 production wells.
In 1976 he met an attractive local
teacher, Joyce Croft, in the Pecos apart-
ment complex they both lived in, and
they married in December of that year.
Joyce’s career prospered equally, and
she moved into the primary school prin-
cipal’s office in Pecos and later Fort
Davis.
Having enjoyed “the greatest job a
person can ever have,” Joe retired in
1993. He built a house in Fort Davis for
Joyce and himself. Thoroughly familiar
with the numerous minerals beneath the
ground in West Texas, Joe set himself up
as mining consultant. When the chance
rose to install a mining exhibit at the
Chihuahuan Desert Nature Center near
Fort Davis, Joe, together with Jack
Burgess, did so. Thirty-nine of his for-
mer student colleagues from Texas
Western contributed with labor and
donations to launch the project.
Sitting outside the completed exhibit,
“Happy Jack Mine,” Joe talked about
introducing local kids to the rich mining
history of the region. Whether giving
talks at the CDRI or acting as advisor to
mining ventures, Joe is still very much a
mining man.
A
s Ronnie Patillo, sitting comfort-
ably in a rocking chair in her
home on Gallego Street in
Alpine, tells me about her life, the places
she describes where she spent 39 years in
the restaurant business are both within
sight of her house. The Alamo Cafe, on
Gallego Street, has long been closed,
and her second restaurant, Casa Blanca,
on Hwy. 118, is also shuttered.
It was the experience in her teen
years of working at Indian Lodge near
Fort Davis which led her to a career of
food preparation and restaurant man-
agement. Born in Fort Davis on March
22, 1930 to Eduardo and Julia Harnett
and named Esperanza, she was the sec-
ond child and only girl among four off-
spring. Two younger brothers survive,
one in Fort Davis and the other in
California.
It was at Fort Davis High School,
where she played volleyball, the only
team game open for girls, that she was
given the name “Ronnie,” which was
easier to shout than Esperanza. She
remembers “only good things” of these
teen years in Fort Davis, and she gradu-
ated in 1948, the last of her formal edu-
cation. Having worked part-time at
Indian Lodge, she was offered a full-time
job there after graduation.
In 1950, she married Al Sanchez,
and the couple opened the Alamo Cafe
in Alpine, first renting and later buying
the building. In those days, she recalls,
there were only a few restaurants in
Alpine, compared with today, and the
Alamo Cafe shared the Mexican restau-
rant market with the Green Cafe.
The compensating factor for long
hours and hard work six days a week
was being with people and making them
happy with a good meal. Knowing
many of her regulars also added to the
satisfaction. Having students who
patronized the Alamo come back in
later years gave Ronnie particular pleas-
ure.
A son, Knobby, was born in 1951
and a daughter, Pamela, in 1957. Both
attended the catholic school before mov-
ing to Centennial School. When Al died
in a car accident in 1969 Knobby chose
to stay in Alpine and be with the family
and attend SRSU instead of going to
college elsewhere. Married with two
children, he now works in Midland as a
counselor at Texas Rehabilitation.
Pamela, also married and with three
children, teaches in San Angelo.
While running the Casa Blanca
restaurant, Ronnie married Red Patillo
in 1974. Previously a service station
owner, Red then switched to working
out front at Casa Blanca, a job he was
well suited to. “Great years and a won-
derful life” is how Ronnie describes her
marriage with Red, a popular Brewster
County commissioner for 20 years, who
died three years ago.
Today, involved with her children and
grandchildren and with Red’s six chil-
dren by an earlier marriage, helping at
the church and visiting friends, Ronnie
exudes a quiet sense of purpose after a
long life in business. “I couldn’t live any-
where else,” she says, speaking of a place
where she worked hard for many years
and which in turn has been good to her.
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First Quarter 2010
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