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LOOKING BACK WITH THE HANSONS by Carol Hanson  The Texas Folklore Society has a rich history, with some largerthan -life folks birthing the Society into existence and guiding its earliest years of infancy and beyond. There have also been those who contributed monumental amounts of time, sweat, ink, and tears before they left us. There have been many who have “been there” to nurture and encourage, and to provide smiles and laughter . And there have been many who have coordinated all the endless details of the meetings, banquets, publications, communications, finances, and everything else that needs to be done to keep the Society running from day to day. And then, there are those of us who participate just by being in attendance at the meetings—from Thursday’s Hoot to Saturday’s Business Session and check-out at noon. We soak up the annual camaraderie, the familiar faces and stimulating culture, and welcome opportunities to buy more books (or at least consider buying them), sometimes bringing new folks along and helping the TFS wherever we can, perhaps by creating our own smaller traditions within the larger group. This article is an account of how our family became involved with the Texas Folklore Society and what it has meant to us. It began with me. I’m a native Texan, born in the 1950s to a very blue-collar family in Dallas County that, while appreciating the need for education, never expected me or my siblings to go much further than getting a high school diploma. No doubt it surprised my parents that I persisted in efforts towards a college degree. After finally completing a master’s degree in Library Science, I began working at Dallas Public Library in 1979, in the Texas/Dallas History Division. In the early 1980s, I joined the Dallas Westerners’ Corral because of encouragement from our division’s manager at Dallas Public Library. After my involvement in that organization for a couple of 355 years, several members who were also members of the Texas Folklore Society began “educating” me about the TFS. They included Dean and Olivia Nichols, Milton and Deurelle McAffee, Charles and Ernestine Linck, and my boss, Ruth Lambert, who had become a good friend. I finally succumbed to their urgings and agreed to accompany Ruth to my first TFS meeting in 1985. So, in April of 1985, I drove Ruth and myself to Abilene to the Kiva Inn, which was a very nice hotel—but it was the people involved in that TFS meeting who created the welcoming atmosphere. It didn’t take long to be hooked. What wasn’t to like? There were interesting, friendly people with Texas roots, and with an appealing open-mindedness about the cultures that co-exist in Texas, as well as a sincere, healthy curiosity about almost everything in our society. Like many others, I suspect, the Hootenanny (Hoot) was instantly my favorite part of the TFS experience— because of the music, fun, and relaxed vibes, I suppose. At that meeting, I met some very interesting folks, including Martha Emmons and John O. West, who sang a duet of their “Rum” song, which I later learned had been an annual event for many years. (I know the song has another name, but I don’t recall it.) Well, I kept returning to TFS meetings: in 1986 at Jefferson, in 1987 at Galveston , in 1988 at Lubbock, and in 1989 at Uvalde. Each one seemed to be better than the one before. Pete and I had begun dating at the end of 1987, and by March of 1989 we were engaged—so he came with me for the first time to the Uvalde meeting. And then he was hooked as well! We were married in June 1989. Unfortunately, we missed the 1990 meeting because a very good friend was getting married that same weekend . However, by then I was pregnant, and in 1991 it was the Hanson family attending, with four-month old Erik in tow to the TFS meeting in San Marcos. And so, our family has come to anticipate attending Texas Folklore Society meetings as a springtime tradition; because of them, we have managed to see places in Texas we would never have visited otherwise: San Angelo, Victoria, Midland, Uvalde, Nacog356 Meetings, Memories, and More doches and, of course, El Paso—we definitely would have never made it there if not for the Texas Folklore Society! By the time he was four or five, Erik’s...

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