A few weeks ago, Pat and I visited friends in Mission, Tx. This town is at the west end of a long line of towns along the Rio Grande River, all of which are popular destinations for upper-midwesterners. There are lots of Iowa and Minnesota license plates there. Several folks from Lime Springs have spent winters there.
I picked up a copy of a weekly newspaper called Original Winter Texan. Within the January 18th issue was an article announcing the performance schedule of the RGV Concert Band.
With permission of the publisher, I’ll quote from the article:
Organized in November, 1997 with approximately twelve members, it has grown to 65 members in 2012. None of the original group still play with the band.
Our senior charter member is 90-year-old Warren Jones, from Fenton, Iowa. Warren started playing the trumpet in sixth grade, played in band and orchestra in high school and college, graduating from Upper Iowa University. For twenty-seven years he was a band director in the public school system. He also has been a member of the Magic Valley Men of A-Chord and the Magic Valley Four barbershop quartet. The RGV Concert band appreciates Warren and his love of music.
I remember Warren as a player of taps on Memorial Day. Either he or someone else would play the passage, then Warren would go several yards away and play the echo. He’d duck down behind a monument and drape a cape over the stone, himself, and the horn as I recall. This was probably to mute the sound and make it more echo-like. I also seem to remember that it might have been misting that particular day.
This remembrance comes from at least 65 years ago, I would guess, so the facts might not be true but it is what I remember.
I remember his brother, Carrol, much better. He used to deliver gas to our farm for Schacht Oil. And their father, Tom, I believe, was manager or clerk in the oil company office. He was small of stature, as I recall.
I’d be willing to bet that there aren’t many in LS who remember Warren. Kenneth Jones and Adell Jones are probably two who do. And Phyllis Stevenson, being a “town kid” would no doubt remember him.
I thought it interesting and noteworthy that one of our own is still having a positive affect on not only a few people but crowds of people, and not only in Lime Springs or Fenton but over a thousand miles away in a Texas are with thousands of people.