1956 Mexico, San Antonio and Medina (newlywed summer)

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In June 1956,

On June 5, 1956, Clovis and I were married.

New York, Manhasset, Saint Mary’s Church, June 5, 1956, Clovis and I were married by Father O’Brien
New York, Manhasset, Saint Mary’s Church, June 5, 1956, Clovis and I were married by Father O’Brien, who had been instructing Clovis in the Catholic faith even before we met. From left – Jack Pancoast, Buddy Barrakette, Leda, Fr. O’Brien, Chuck, Clovis, me, Nancy, my father, and my cousin Pat Trimble. Blanche was her mother. Her younger brother Danny was in a very serious auto accident.

 

 

Following our wedding, we borrowed Clovis’s parents’ car and we left San Antonio for our honeymoon vacation in Mexico.

Photos of Mexico Honeymoon go here

 

Following our honeymoon, Clovis and I returned to San Antonio for a few months. We lived at Belknap Street in the house belonging to Clovis’s parents while they were vacationing in Europe for the summer.

The small garden had white iron chairs and table, a small lawn edged by flowering shrubs and shade trees.

"Maryann
Maryann and Clovis in Belknap Street garden

 

The pictures below are of gatherings at Belknap Street at later period, when we back to San Antonio to visit Clovis’s parents.

The Belknap Street house was a one-story cottage on the corner of Belknap and West French Place, surrounded by tall hedges.

Clovis’s parents were away in Europe and left everything set up for us, including their dog “Lucky” a large collie who had to had to be walked, and Renee who cleaned the house.

Belknap Street cocktail party (Jan 1963) From Left to Right: Kendall, Clovis’s Father, his Mother, Chuck, Sherman, Clovis, me, and Jack Pancoast Belknap Street cocktail party (Jan 1963) From Left to Right: Kendall, Clovis’s Father, his Mother, Chuck, Sherman, Clovis, me, and Jack Pancoast. I am wearing a dress made with an Indian printed fabric, that I bought in Austin from a little shop that was on a residential street, they had all kinds of dresses that were selected. This was a great dress because you did not need to wear anything else, you just slipped it over your head and it was very comfortable, and it was lined. It was beige, red, green, different colors. All the decoration was stitched onto the fabric. It was probably wool, and you didn’t wash it, it was dry cleaned. Of course I did not keep it — I kept it for many many years, and finally gave it away. You’ll see me wearing it in other pictures.[/caption]

Clovis had many friends from the University of Texas or the Kappa fraternity. They invited us to their parties — that’s how I met people and got to know about San Antonio. The best parties were in the back yards of homes — especially when there was a bar in the back and mariachi music.

Clovis worked for O’Neil Ford while I settled into San Antonio. At that time I met Lynn Ford, O’Neil’s brother, who carved the doors for O’Neil’s houses and he also showed me how to carve pieces of wood. He gave me a set of chisels and I would go over and work with him. You might see the hot plate I put Dishes on and that is one of the pieces I carved that summer. I gave the chisels to Virginia and I think she still has them.

PICTURE GOES HERE.

 

In addition to the carved hot plate, I made hot plates with the Mexican tile we brought back from San Antonio.

“Mexican
I made these two Mexican tile hotplates with the tile we brought back to San Antonio from our honeymoon in Mexico. We drove Clovis’s parents’ car and we went all over Mexico — we went to the beach, we went to Mexico City and stopped along the way in small towns. I still have a box of the tiles that I didn’t use (yet) to make hot plates. The box is in my studio on the second floor of the Casita. (add picture of box here). These tiles were bought in Mexico, and the wood strips and grout I got in San Antonio. I just figured out how to make these. You glued the tiles in the pattern onto a piece of plywood, then you the frame of wood strips to hold the grout, then you spread the grout and let it cure. If you do anything architecturally with tile, you put grout around the tile. I did not look it up in a book, I just figured it out.

At one of these parties we met Bill Hobby’s sister, who insisted we meet Bill and his wife Diana in Houston, since we were going to Houston. In the next few years Bill and Diana became very good friends, and visited us at the ranch in Medina.

On many weekends, Clovis and I drove out to the ranch in Medina, and would attend Sunday services at St. Christopher’s, the church founded by Clovis’s father. The ranch was located a few miles outside the town of Medina, in Bandera County. The property went from hills where the house was built on a terrace, down to the Medina River, where there was a swimming hole with large rocks you could sit on.

(Picture of River with all of us sitting on the big rocks and the dog was there, too)

 

At the end of the summer, Clovis’s parents returned to their home on Belknap Street. After our two months in San Antonio as newlyweds, Cloivs and I moved back to New Haven to continue our studies at Yale. Clovis was continuing to complete his architecture degree, and I was working on my Master’s in biology.

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