Just returned from Sister`s Date to New Braunfels and Gruene Texas. It was settled by German immigrants thus the history is rich in German influence. The towns are abounding with entertainment from parks, to water rafting, museums, a hardware store that only sells American made products(many are similar to things found in Cracker Barrel shops), a huge many acre water park.etc. etc. etc. In Gruene we visited the dance hall George Strait began in and John Travolta danced in and several antique shops.
Our gracious hosts were Uncle Ernie and Aunt Mary Ellen Balk and their daughter Louise and husband Brian. Her name is Ernellen Louise but after going by that in younger years she now prefers Louise. Ernie always lived in California then Utah and Nevada so I really never knew them well. We tried to catch him up because he said he regrets missing so many family things. Since we are orphans and Ernie is our last surviving uncle we adopted them as our parents.
We were greeted with pizza and sangrias(delicious). Our other dinners included an authentic German restaurant that sold German clothing and a Texas BarBQ place. The German Restaurant was run by lady who came over as a serviceman`s wife. She hoped to go back in May to visit and Mary Ellen invited herself along.ha At the end of the meal Mary Ellen ordered 3 different desserts and told us to take a bite and pass it on. We sampled a cherry, an apple, and a chocolate dessert there and buttermilk pie at the BarBQ place.
Ernie entertained us with stories of when his dad died he was 13 and became Oklahoma`s youngest licensed driver. They lived on a farm and Grandma couldn`t drive. He sat up on pillows. He helped on the farm until he graduated High School then headed to California with his mother and cousin to join the Navy. Mary Ellen was traveling with her mother to a job in a hospital. They flirted back and forth along the way and passed notes on an umbrella stuck out the window. They married after his 4 year hitch. Grandma visited for a time with former renters from Vance Air Force Base. She had set up an apartment during the depression in her farmhouse to help money wise that she rented to airman from the local base. She returned to Oklahoma by train.
One of his Navy memories was of when a paratrooper died jumping they just moved the food on ship to one side and carried the deceased in the fridge. After Navy he worked for a company that built things for NASA. Duce filled us in that Ernie had been promoted 3 times to his bosses job in his career. One was after they were working on rocket fins that would not work. Ernie took them home and worked on it with bungee cords until it worked. When he could not be promoted anymore because of lack of an engineer degree he scimmed engineer books from the library and took tests. He received his engineering degree at age 54. All this from a small Oklahoma High School grad.
Ernie shared a picture of a lake in Germany and a tale his Dad told of walking along the shore as a child with his Mom and Dad. He like many children would do ran ahead of his parents and fell in step with a woman. After visiting with her a bit he ran back to ask parents if they knew the woman. Parents replied," what woman we saw no woman." She was according to the tale the ghost of a woman who had drowned there years before. Guess Grandpa Joe Balk was a bit of a psychic.
A modern story was of when they visited there before they moved they turned onto a street called Klein. That was Mary Ellen`s maiden name and she took it a a sign that is where they should move.
Another was when he and his sons visited a brewery they asked for directions to a good lunch spot and if they sold beer. The brewery person hesitated so they decided to check it out before going in. One of the sons came back to the car with good news and bad news. The bad news was they didn`t have a beer license. The good news was beer was served but not charged for.
We were allowed to purchase lunch but dinner tickets were paid by Ernie and Mary Ellen. Said they were paying back for all Mother`s hospitality. Thank you Mother-what goes around comes around.
