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MY wife Marlene and I first met Western swing Band Leader
Bill and his lovely wife Naomi when we first attended the
Legends Of Western Swing Festival, Wichita Falls in June
2001. We were on our honeymoon and welcomed with open arms
by Miss Gloria and the many people attending, including
Bill and Nay. We made many long standing friends and Bill
taught Marlene how to do the  Texas
Two Step. I interviewed Bill at the festival and this can
be accessed from the Articles Page on my website.
Marlene’s thoughts are… “Bill gave me a small silver
spur trinket. I look at it and think of Bill. I think of
all the things he introduced me to. The first Two Step I
did was with him. The elegant tall man in his white Stetson
and boots just glided me round the floor with ease. The
love and care he took to greet people, he had so many qualities
he was a people’s man. I just loved his version of “Faded
Love” when I heard him sing it to Miss Gloria at the Legends
Festival. We had the best time with Bill and Nay when we
stayed at their home and met all their lovely friends. Bill
and Nay told me about the Nodding Donkeys in the oil fields.”
In September that year the devastating tragedy of 9/11
took place. That afternoon I emailed a message of condolence
for the tragedy that had happened to the American people.
Bill took a copy of my message to his local newspaper The
Nocona News and it was published on Thursday 20th September.
Bill sent me a copy of the newspaper, which I still have
today.
We became good friends with Bill and Nay, keeping in
touch through email and we met again in 2003 when Marlene
and I travelled to Fort Worth for Red Steagall’s Cowboy
Gathering. We all watched the Ranch Rodeo in the Coliseum
with Nay and Bill explaining some of the aspects of the
cutting horses. One of the competitions we enjoyed; Nay
explained that the cowboys had to rope a cow  and
extract a sample of milk into a bottle….very entertaining!!!
Bill and Nay offered us the hospitality of their home
in Nocona and introduced us to many people, particularly
at the local Dairy Queen on the Tuesday when the entire
town got together for the evening and burgers were on sale
for just 1 single dollar. Bill also arranged for us to tour
the local Nocona Boot Factory and the Nokona Ballglove factory
that have designed and handcrafted baseball gloves since
1934. A Few days later Bill and Nay took us to a monthly
dance for seniors that Bill and his band played for. People
travelled a hundred miles or more for this dance and if
one of the regulars didn’t turn up without any notice phone
calls were made to find out why!!! They had a Jacob’s Table
Supper and the fun filled Chair Dance! A chair placed at
each side of the room when the ladies formed a line and
as the dancers came round the lady dropped out and joined
the line and the gentleman took the lady sitting on the
chair as his next partner. This way all the ladies got a
dance even if they come without a partner.
All good stuff!!! Memories for ever and now Bill has
joined his good friend Bobby Boatright and other fantastic
musicians to play their music to the stars!
Graham Lees Jan 2013 |
