VOICES
J
J AY N E G A L L O
of the trans-pecos
ayne Gallo is a resident
of Marathon, Texas, and
part owner of The Main
Street Shop. Gallo and her
partners, Danielle Gallo and Ric
Pavese, opened their little
indoor/outdoor
shop
of
handcrafted wares in the spring
of 2019. They all make different
things and also have items on
consignment
from
local
Marathon residents. Jayne
makes decorative items like
baskets and wreaths, as well as
notecards. Her daughter makes
things out of plarn (plastic yarn),
jewelry and art from old books.
Pavese is a weaver and makes
belts, keychains, dog collars and
wall
hangings.
Their
consignment
items
include
photographic items by Janet
Groth – prints on metal,
magnets, calendars and puzzles
– mostly of the Dimple Hills
Ranch. Handcrafted flutes, sotol
walking sticks, cholla crosses
(finally, a good use for cholla!),
and hand painted-vintage purses
fill the shelves, among other
things. For a tiny shop, they have
a lot of items.
Retired from North Carolina
State University, Gallo moved to
Marathon in 2015 but has been
visiting since 2005.
She started coming to West
Texas to visit her daughter and
later, her granddaughters. She
now lives next door to her
daughter in what started out as
a small house for visiting and
later became a larger home for
living. “It’s an absolute joy to be
a hundred feet from those girls
knocking on the door saying,
‘Nana, Nana!’”
Gallo grew up far from Texas in
an apartment in Manhattan with
five siblings. One of her earliest
memories is having chicken pox
and the mumps at the same
16
Cenizo
Winter 2020
time. Her mother set up the fire
escape so that Gallo could be
outside in the fresh air – it was
summer – and still be able to see
and talk to her friends while she
was in ‘ quarantine.’
Her parents were hard
workers, Gallo said. Her father
was quiet and her mother was
very intentional about letting her
children know that nobody was
better than anybody else and
they could all be or do whatever
they wanted. “Growing up in
New York in the 50s and 60s was
the best place in the world to
grow up,” Gallo said. “Everyone
knew
everyone
in
the
neighborhood and you could
safely take the subway to a
museum or go ice skating in
Central Park.”
An historical event that Gallo
says influenced her and made a
big impact was John F.
Kennedy’s assassination. She
was a junior in high school, and
they were in the gym having
choral practice when the
principal ran into the gym in full
habit. This was a nun who would
never run, and was always the
standard of decorum. Shocking
enough that she would run was
the news she delivered: the
president had been shot and it
was unknown if he would live or
die. Gallo remembers walking to
the subway that day and how
everyone in the city just stood,
stunned, in front of the
storefronts with televisions
watching news reports.
Besides her granddaughters,
Gallo’s favorite thing about life in
the Big Bend is the peaceful,
unhurried (“for the most part”)
lifestyle. Her shop is next to the
post office and since everyone
comes to the post office for their
mail, she gets to talk to everyone,
“and I like talking,” she said. Her
least favorite things are the lack
of medical care and no HEB.
One of Gallo’s favorite movies
is To Kill a Mockingbird, and her
favorite book, one that she’s read
multiple times, is Archbishop
Fulton J. Sheen’s Life is Worth
Living. Sheen was very popular
with his radio and TV show in
the 50s, not just with Catholics,
but people in all walks of life who
tuned in weekly to hear him talk.
“The book talks about what is life
and why we’re here,” Gallo said.
“To me, there are so many
similarities between this book
and To Kill a Mockingbird.
They’re both about how to live.”
One
of
her
main
life
philosophies is “Be who you’re
intended to be. Or rather who
God intends you to be.” Pay
attention and see where you’re
being led. What are people and
circumstances telling us? She
didn’t start thinking of this until
she was in her 40s but now she
says, “It happens. If we pay
attention.”
Gallo seems to be very happy in
the niche she’s carved out for
herself in the tiny town in the
desert. She recently bought a
package of 240 gel pens to use in
crafts at her shop. “I get to sit
here and color, “she said. “What’s
better than that?”