More Onalaska, Texas

 

 

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I don’t have much recollection of my Onalaska trips,
As I was 1 and 2 years old when we played that script.
But in 1944 and 1945, when we visited our family there,
My mother took lots of old pictures, I will now share.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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More Onalaska, Texas

 

 

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In those days, Dad had an old car that he did drive,
From our Navy post until at Onalaska we would arrive.
I don’t remember just what kind of car we drove then,
But it looks like a kind of cool car to have been riding in.

Dad standing beside that old car that hauled us so far in those days of old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My Dad and Granddad often went fishing in the area lakes,
Proudly displaying many strings of fish they did take.
Granddad Frank always wore a gray Stetson hat of felt,
And a tan khaki shirt and tan khaki pants with a belt.

Granddad Frank and Dad displaying a big string of fish they caught.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dad told a story of seining for minnows one fine day,
To get some fish bait to go fishing on one of their stays,
When they seined up five or six big water moccasins,
And granddads big black bird dog jumped right on in.

That old black birddog of Granddads that hated those snakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dad said the poisonous snakes were flying everywhere,
As they dodged the snakes sailing thorough the air.
They finally got him calmed down after a little while,
And his head swelled to basketball size so very vile.

Another string of fish Dad caught while vacationing there in Onalaska.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Those bird dogs of granddads lived under his own home,
As the house was elevated up on bricks as is shown.
We often heard them bark loud during the dark night,
If some critter came close enough to give them a fright.

You can see where the bird dogs slept under the house there behind my Mom and Dad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Granddad had an old wooden Pierrot type boat,
Dad used to fish in when he felt he needed to float,
To get to the good fishing water in the swampy bayou,
Often bringing home some big fish strings for us to view.

My Dad looks like a hillbilly from way back in the woods with his string of fish.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dad often got granddad to help show the fish string,
When they got back to the homestead after their fling.
As Dad was always proud of his catch and liked to show,
All those fish they caught that day out there on the bayou.

Stretch them way out Dad, let’s make this string of fish look big.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dad loved his Mom and Dad dearly it was plain to see,
From the pictures they took together out in the trees,
With that moss hanging off of them in Onalaska so fair,
I think he just loved to go home to Texas back there.

My Dad on the left with his Mom, Lucy, and his Dad, Frank. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Frank and Lucy grew to love my Mom too in those days,
As Mom helped Lucy with cooking and chores in her way.
We only went to Onalaska two years in summer to play,
As my grandparents moved to Sulphur Springs far away.

Grandmother Lucy and Mom looking so young and perky.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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My aunt Thelma and uncle Robert Walker lived close by,
And we visited them at their home too as we did try,
To see all Dad’s family living down in that area while there,
When we vacationed in Onalaska, a small town so fair.

Aunt Thelma is on the left, then uncle Robert, then Grandmother Lucy, then Granddad Frank, then a neighbor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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By Bill

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thanks for reading More Onalaska, Texas,
Bill