TexasEscapes.comHistoric Texas: The Past As It Is Today
Columns: Historical, Humor and Opinion
Over 1000 Texas Towns & Ghost Towns
NEW : : RESERVATIONS : : TEXAS TOWNS A-Z : : FEATURES : : COLUMNS : : ARCHITECTURE : : IMAGES : : SITE MAP
HOME
SEARCH SITE
FORUM
RESERVATIONS
Hotels
Cars
Air
USA
World
Cruises
TEXAS TRAVEL
TOWNS A to Z
Towns by Region
GHOST TOWNS
TRIPS :
State Parks
Rivers
Lakes
Drives
Maps
LODGING
TEXAS
COLUMNS
FEATURES :
Ghosts
People
Historic Trees
Cemeteries
ARCHITECTURE :
Courthouses
Jails
Bridges
Theaters
Churches
Gas Stations
Water Towers
Monuments
Statues

Schoolhouses
Post Offices
Depots
IMAGES :
Old Neon
Murals
Signs
BOOKS
Links
TE
Site Information
Recommend Us
Newsletter
About Us
Contact TE
Recommended Books on the Texas Panhandle
 
 Texas : Features : Columns : History by George
QUITE AN EXPERIENCE
by Louise George
Louise George
Ola Covey moved to Pampa, Texas, in 1928 when she was twenty-one and worked in the County Clerk’s Office and as County Treasurer for a total of forty-two years. She grew up in Arkansas and spoke fondly of her childhood home and her family - except maybe not too fondly of her step-father, Mr. Norton.

“Mr. Norton was so strict he would say, ‘There’s no jesting around here.’ He thought it was sinful to joke and have a good time. On Sunday, I couldn’t even swing a rope or bounce a ball or anything like that. All we were allowed to do was, we could read the Sunday school paper or you could always read the Bible. It was always ‘you can’t do this and you can’t do that.’ I didn’t go to a movie until I was about fifteen, I guess, except I went to one movie when I was in grade school. The school recommended it, so mother insisted on it. But, Mr. Norton thought movies were sinful and dancing was sinful and everything was sinful. He was just a religious fanatic.

“When I was about thirteen and a half, it was pretty hard to stay around where Mr. Norton was. It was unpleasant at home and there was a family there that had two children and I had sat with those children, so this woman wanted me to come and stay with them. Her husband worked on the railroad and he was gone quite a bit. She was afraid to stay by herself. She was the biggest coward there ever was and I wasn’t afraid of anything in those days. I lived with them about two years.

“While I was living with them, I got to go to the second movie I ever went to. It was the Sheik of Araby, and I’ll tell you that was quite an experience. My girl friend’s mother was selling tickets at the theater and so I had heard about this show and I wanted to see it so bad. Miss Jess, we called her Miss Jess, she was Mrs. Jess E. Hall, she and her daughter and I were real good friends, she knew I wanted to go. The tickets were hard to come by because people were filling that theater to see the show. It was very popular, and Mena was a small town. You couldn’t get the shows for a small town as fast as you can now. I don’t know how old the show was by then. But anyhow she got me the tickets and I got to go to the show. There wasn’t anybody with me, I was by myself.

“It hadn’t any more than started when someone came to the door and said, ‘There’s been a little trouble up in the control room. There’s a little fire up there. Nothing to be concerned about, but as a matter of precaution we’d like for the people to file out of the theater until it’s completely extinguished.’ The theater was crowded, I mean every available seat, it was very, very crowded. We filed out in an orderly fashion and when we came out the flames were leaping from the top of the building!

“From that little fire in the control room, the theater burned down and several buildings adjacent to it. It burned almost a whole city block there at Mena. It was an experience. And I didn’t even get to see the movie. It had just barely started. I saw Rudolph Valentino and just a few scenes in the movie.

“I guess Mr. Norton would have thought that was fair punishment for me going to a movie like that.”
© Louise George
History by George
- August 8, 2005

Author: Ola Covey is featured in a book entitled Some of My Heroes Are Ladies, Women Ages 85 to 101 Tell About Life in the Texas Panhandle by Louise George. She can be reached at (806) 935-5286, by mail at Box 252, Dumas, TX, 79029, or by e-mail at lgeorge@nts-online.net
Search:
Keywords:
Shop Amazon.com
HOME
Privacy Statement | Disclaimer
Website Content Copyright ©1998-2005. Texas Escapes - Blueprints For Travel, LLC. All Rights Reserved
This page last modified: August 8, 2005