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JFK and me

November 22, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

Momma dumped a clean load of laundry on the couch. She folded towels while watching her favorite soap opera. I played on the floor in front of the television then pulled up onto Daddy’s leather recliner and walked around his foot stool.

When CBS interrupted As The World Turns with the horrendous news, she stopped folding and watched. I was sixteen months old.

This was my first memory.

Ever.

Momma. Laundry. As The World Turns. President Kennedy’s assassination.

Is it possible to remember something at sixteen months of age? Most people say no. Most people say I’ve heard the story often enough I’ve made it my own.

Maybe, maybe not.

Momma says I’m thinking about Martin Luther King’s murder in Memphis five years later, but that couldn’t be the case. King was assassinated at 6:00 p.m. The world always turned just after lunch. And on that day, for a while, it stopped turning.

Dealey Plaza, School Book Depository, Grassy Knoll
Dallas, Texas, November 2013

Things do not happen. Things are made to happen. – President John F. Kennedy

talya

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life

CBS Interruption of As The World Turns

A letter from Junius Peak

September 26, 2013 By Talya Tate Boerner

Throwback Thursday…

The name Peak is likely familiar to East Dallas residents. But even if you aren’t an East Dallasite, the letter below is a fascinating part of American history.

Captain Jefferson Peak, a veteran of the Mexican War, donated much of the land for East Dallas roadways. Many streets within Munger Place and Peak Suburban Historic Districts were named for Captain Peak’s eleven children including Junius, Worth, Carroll, and Victor.

Junius, fought as a Confederate soldier during the Civil War, served as Dallas City Marshall 1874-1876, and as 2nd Lieutenant for the Texas Rangers in 1878.

The following oral history was dictated by Junius Peak to the Frontier Times (Bandera, Tx) on August 6, 1927 (presented without editing)…

I was born at Warsaw, Kentucky, April 5, 1845. Moved with the family in 1855 to Dallas, Texas, which we reached on June 10th of that year. We were soon comfortably located in a good 2-room log house, with a fine well of water, etc.
Shortly after our arrival in Dallas, father bought 229 acres of fine land two miles East of the Dallas County court house, paying $110.00 cash on this land. My father at once began building the first brick house in Dallas County for his house, and in which he died.
The early part of April, 1878, I was commissioned by the Governor as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Texas Frontier Battalion for the purpose of destroying the Sam Bass gang of train robbers, and was promoted to Captain in May following.
By July of that year I had succeeded in disposing of the entire band, excepting Bass, Barnes and Jackson, driving these out of North Texas into the trap arranged by Major John B. Jones at Round Rock. I was immediately ordered to the Frontier where I found the Indians very active, especially in 1879.
A detachment of seven Rangers from my Company, on the 20th day of June and 2nd day of July had the last two engagements with Comanche and Kiowa Indians on the Texas frontier, at the head of the North Concho River and on the Plains 80 miles West, where Ranger Anglin was killed and the two pack mules lost on June 28th recovered.
Please mail me 20 copies of your September issue, with bill for same enclosed.

Sincerely yours,

June Peak
4409 Worth Street, Dallas

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Note: As the unofficial keeper of historical records and photos for Munger Place Historic District, I hope to periodically share information related to Texas history and specifically East Dallas. These photos and glimpses into bygone days are invaluable. As Winston Churchill said, “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”

talya

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.