About Traces of Texas

Okay, seriously. My name is Jac. I was raised in Temple, Texas. When I was in seventh grade, my family moved to the small town of Little River-Academy. At first I was a fish out of water, the “worldly” kid from the big city of Temple who thought he was so much more sophisticated than his new classmates. But they tolerated my snootiness and by and by I grew to love them and my life there. I was a Future Farmer of America, a dairy cattle judge, and learned to dance at the SPJST hall. And, because I had grown up with a camera in my hands, I was the school photographer. I spent thousands of hours in the darkroom and am inclined to believe that, were you to look closely, you would still find developing chemicals under my fingernails.

My other passion was history —— Texas history, specifically. I majored in history in college and later, while working for Half Price Books for many years, amassed a vast collection of Texana books. After that came a couple of decades in the world of high tech. But there was never a camera far away and I was always looking at Texas through my mind’s internal lens.

This place, then, is the online manifestation of my twin obsessions. Somebody once said that every man should plant a tree, father a child, and write a book, the idea being that these things offer a measure of immortality. I’ve planted many trees, am probably a little too old to be fathering a child, and plan to “write” this website as my book. I’ve got some cold beer in the ‘fridge and a brisket on the smoker and hope that you’ll join me. So don’t be shy. Take your boots off and jump on in.