The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 92, July 1988 - April, 1989 Page: 121
682 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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J. Frank Dobie and Walter Prescott Webb
Frontier," which deals with humanity and causes and is also picturesque with
details.'
Two years before my call on behalf of Newsweek, I had visited Dobie
at his home, accompanied by our daughter, Judy, who wanted some
books autographed.
"How old are you, young lady?" he asked genially.
"Sixteen," she replied.
"Sixteen! Why that's a terrible age!" he exclaimed with a big smile.
I recalled this incident years later in a birthday letter to a grand-
daughter, Laura, who was approaching the age her mother was when
Judy visited the famous writer.
"Our friend on Waller Creek knew about teenagers," I wrote-"be-
tween childhood and grownup... One leans in both directions, which
isn't easy."
In 1964 Dobie was scheduled to receive the Presidential Medal of
Freedom from Lyndon B. Johnson. The Dallas Morning News asked me
to write a feature on Dobie and his life. I believe this was the last real
interview that Dobie gave, for he was quite ill at home.
With trepidation, I called Mrs. Dobie.
"He's not supposed to have visitors," she replied, "but I'll ask him."
"You can stay fifteen minutes," she then told me.
When I reached their house, she pointed upstairs to his workplace.
As always, he greeted me warmly and started showing mementos of
his career. I tried to get in my questions, with occasional success. We
barely got started in fifteen minutes. I told him I had to go. "Your wife
told me I could stay only fifteen minutes."
He kept talking and showing me his office. Every time I tried to leave
he had something important to show or tell. More than an hour had
elapsed when I finally got downstairs, laden with autographed and in-
scribed Dobie material, including his famous Christmas cards, written
with western tales.
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Dobie. He wouldn't let me go," I apologized.
"Oh, I know how he is," she sighed.
When I examined my notes, the story of a man never too old to
change emerged.
Dobie attributed the change to his mother, who chided him when he
was sixty years old for "getting to be like an old man."
"I was interested only in the pageant of the past, not the problems of
the world," he said.
His mother's admonition, plus the loss of old friends like Roy Bedi-
chek and Walter Prescott Webb, caused Dobie to refocus his sights.
From a copy of Dobie's manuscript in the author's possession121
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 92, July 1988 - April, 1989, periodical, 1989; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101212/m1/148/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.