Galveston… I lived there back in the day around 1963. I met my first wife, Kathy there. She was 17. I was 21. Our first daughter, Heather, was born there at the University of Texas Medical Center. I bought the guitar I still have today , a Gibson J-50, in Galveston.. I became a regular at the Galveston Public Library where I found the “Complete Library of Congress Recordings of Leadbelly’s Last Sessionsâ€Â. I heard the news of Kennedy’s assasination while I rocked Heather in an old rocking chair and watched the scenario unfold on a black & white TV.
The main artery that divides Galveston island is a boulevard named Broadway that runs all the way to Seawall Boulevard on the Gulf side. Back in ’63, the center of Broadway was lined with tall palm trees and on the left, block after block of cotton warehouses. Everything had the name “Moody†plastered on it. Historically, it was a pirate’s stronghold where John LaFete and his pals hung out spending their ill gotten gains on booze and hookers of the day. There were infamous places in town like Post Office street where the bars catered to merchant seamen, cowboys, roughnecks and gamblers. Being an island it was always humid beyond belief especially in the summer. I never got used to it but learned to live with it.
Kathy & I lived in a huge one bedroom apartment in an old mansion whose second floor had been turned into 2 separtate living spaces. It was the former home of a notable Galvestionian whose name I can’t recall. The home sat right on the corner of Ave O ½. It had beautiful manicured gardens filled with tropical plants and trees. The neighborhood was ultra quiet.
We left Galveston later that year. Kathy would always call Galveston home and later even bought a house there to retire to from her home in Houston. She fixed it up and spent every weekend there until she passed away. Her husband sold it a few years ago. Galveston ran through her soul. Her sister and brother still live there and were among the evacuees who left before Ike hit.
I heard the stories of the 1900 hurricane that killed thousands and destroyed most of the island and how after that they built a seawall so that could never happen again. I thought about that as I watched the news of the hurricane Ike sweeping across the island a few days ago.
Over the years I had been back to Galveston three times and always went by our old home on the corner of Ave O1/2. Most recently just this past Christmas Eve of 2007, my 67th birthday. Heather drove me around to all the old spots. We visited Kathy’s sister and brother. I took pictures of lots of historic restored homes. Not the “yuppified†restorations but real “faithful to the history†kind. We strolled on the Strand and had crabcakes in a hole in the wall bar. I’m afraid it’s all gone now.
My middle daughter, Candice, lives in Houston with her family and has weathered the storm OK. I hear they have power back on now and have not sustained any real damage. The clean up will take a few months in Houston. In Galveston, who knows? I always wondered about those historic homes. If they were built in the 1800’s, who rebuilt them after the 1900 hurricane?? Now that’s a good question….
Tags: Galveston Ike hurricane
Not long ago, a new member here, one oldbiker, dropped me a line to say he was working on the restoration of the NS Savannah in a shipyard down around Norfolk, VA.. He had seen the picture of the ship on my profile.
The NS Savannah was the world's first and only nuclear merchant ship and I was lucky enough to be a part of that whole story. I worked on her when she was built at New York Shipbuilding in Camden, New Jerssey, sailed on her during the sea trials out of Yorktown VA, got hung up in Galveston, TX for a year while they trained a whole new crew during a labor dispute then sailed on her as an officer to all the major Euriopean ports for another year. Even survived a mini-Posiden adventure when the reactor shut down in the middle of a hurricane. By the time it was all over, I was barely 24 and a definite precursor to Forrest Gump.
I started to write a book about all of it back in the 70's and I take it out from time to time and write a little bit more when I can. It never got finished.
A few days ago I got a letter from the head of the NS Savannah Project at the Maritime Adminstration asking me to come to a reunion of all the officers, crew and project people who are still around on National Maritime day in May. The reunion will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the laying of the Savannah's keel in Camden.The ship is being restored to it's former cosmetic glory sans the reactor and will be a floating museum somewhere on the east coast.
I can't believe I'm that old. I strill feel like a wide-eyed kid looking for my next adventure.
So I'll attend the reunion and visit for a day or so with my salty old friends. Share a few stories. Remember those who have already sailed into the sunset. Then pack my old seabag for one last time and head home. Maybe I can finish that book when I get back....
Tags: ship nuclear Savannah Norfolk ocean
