Growing Up in Bandera

Recently while driving back home on the backstreets of Bandera I felt the urge to stop for a few minutes beside a giant pecan tree that I had walked under many times as a kid. It was huge even back some sixty-five years ago. The memories of my walks to St. Joseph’s Catholic School brought to mind those late fall days when the ground under that tree would be covered with the tiny native pecans it had produced. The shell was so hard that I needed a rock to crack the nut before I could get a sample of the best tasting pecan known to man.

The old oak trees that were located in the center of many streets in Bandera back in the day are few in numbers today. Like many other things they are slowly fading away giving our town a new look while leaving a void. Some of the huge old oaks close to but not in the roadway remain as well. The location of one that was close to the old high school in the vicinity of the stables that were on 11th Street in an earlier Bandera is marked by a big stump still visible to the passing motorist. Being located just across the street from the high school made it a favorite off campus smoking place for some of the upper classmen in days of old.

I will occasionally walk along the river with my rod and reel in the area of the dam in the city park. While casting just below the dam on the town side of the river I’m reminded of the big cypress tree that was situated on the river’s edge and had a trunk that grew horizontally and provided a nice seat for doing some catfishing.

If we had abundant rainfall when the white bass were spawning, the rising water level allowed the fish to come all the way up to the dam from Medina Lake. I have personally watched some scaling the dam when water flow was above normal. If you are like me, a member of the oldtimers group, you have probably heard stories of people catching white bass up near the town of Medina in bygone years.

In the River Loop area below my home some of the big live oaks that have survived some historic flooding are now falling victim to what some people call oak wilt or some other disease. Some of my friends from older generations have shared an opinion that it might just be caused by declining water tables.

I can’t say for sure why some of these trees are disappearing. Maybe they have just grown so old that it’s their time. Everything has it’s limit when it comes to Growing Up In Bandera.