Fiddle and Guitar Camp

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Copied from Wichita Falls Times Record News-Goree pictures in link above.

GOREE — In fiddling circles, the late Bobby Boatright (1939-2008) could fiddle circles around most fiddlers. In his other life, he was a mathematician and physicist. It was a fine art, juggling two careers. His younger brother, Johnny Boatright, remembers it all. He reminisced about his brother this week at the Bobby Boatright Western Swing Music Camp in Goree.

Bobby Boatright’s fiddling career took off in Wichita Falls when he was just 14, the younger Boatright said. The family had just moved to the Faith Village neighborhood from Denison.
“He started playing with Bill Mack,” Boatright said. “It was a live TV show.”

Johnny Boatright smiled when he said his brother was introduced as “the 14-year-old fiddle player” for about three years.

The music camp opened Sunday night with a visual presentation on Bobby Boatright narrated by Johnny Boatright.

Bobby Boatright helped found the camp, previously held near Crowell, and was the chief curriculum organizer and fiddle instructor until his death.

Johnny Boatright himself traveled from Houston to Goree to take advanced guitar lessons at this year’s camp, the first time for instruction sessions to be held in Goree. The Knox Prairie Events Center, the old Goree School complex, furnished a place for classes, dining and lodging.
At the drop of a hat — and plenty of students were wearing them — Johnny Boatright would talk about his famous brother.

“He never made a B after the eighth grade,” Johnny Boatright said. “That includes his first master’s degree, which was in math, a very difficult master’s to acquire.”

Bobby Boatright was a student at both Midwestern State University and East Texas State in Commerce, where he earned a master’s in physics.

He continued to study.

“He had over 100 hours past his second master’s,” Johnny Boatright said.

A question often asked is why Bobby Boatright never pursued a doctorate.

“I’ll tell you what he told me one day,” Boatright said. “He did not go and write his doctoral thesis because he wanted to teach at a junior college, where he could teach Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. The reason for that’s pretty obvious. That left him a three-day weekend where he could play fiddle.”

And fiddle he did, all over the country, earning a name for himself in western swing.

“Western swing is jazz played with country instruments,” Johnny Boatright said, showing his own bent for teaching. “It’s a different flavor. It’s Big Band music. It definitely swings. It’s definitely not country music. It’s much more complex, where harmony means something. The chord progressions — excuse the pun — they’re off the charts.”

Johnny Boatright talks easily about western swing, but it’s a little harder for him to talk about his late brother. Tears come.

“J.W. (Sollis, camp director), asked me to come last year,” Boatright said, talking about the camp. “It was just too soon after Bobby passed away. This year had its trepidations. Once here, all that was like a wisp of smoke. It takes me back to my own childhood when I was learning. It seems like Daddy was always teaching kids.”

This year’s camp drew mostly youngsters, ages 10 and older. Adults also enrolled, including Jack Drury, 87. Camp director Sollis is only a few years his junior.

The music spans the generations. Many songs aren’t familiar to young ears.

Guitar student Ashley Wheeler, 17, is learning the words to “I’m Confessin’,” a 1930s song popular in the Big Band Era.

“I love the old songs,” she said. “A lot of them I’ve never heard before.”
Agewise, Johnny Boatright found himself somewhere in the middle of it all. When other responsibilities forced him to leave the camp a day early, he directed his farewell speech mainly to the younger set.

“You represent everything his ideal was about,” he told the students, referring to his brother’s standards. “It’s an honor to be part of this. Good luck with your fiddle playing, your guitar picking. Play with your heart. It’s a no-miss situation.”

The camp ends today with a 1 p.m. concert at the old bank in downtown Goree.

Another Coffman in the house (bank, actually)...

Very cool...cannot wait to tell you guys about this visit. But, I have to go to the music camp for the evening. Supper, Swing Dance Lessons, Hayride-aka-Cornbread Carolin', Campfire Choir and Smores...see ya later alligator.

What goes around, comes back around, eventually...

Well, this might have been one of the most nostalgic visits for me, since the Latham Kids came to town and went above the 'City Cafe' (City Hall) into the hallways and rooms where they once played as children.

The Coffman Kids once again treaded across the tiles of the bank/drugstore. Their parents were Walter (Cut) and Kate Coffman who had an insurance company. They lived in the upstairs and unbeknownst to them, they walked all over those newspapers nestled under the rugs and linoleum. So, for the first time they laid eyes on a secret of their home place as they gazed upon the tables.

I'm a little confused on the 'timing' of it all. Remember how we found Dr. Taylor's 1940's secret newspapers under the carpet upstairs? How and when did they get there? And then there is Mr. Rogers who ran the drugstore? Was that at the same time these folks lived there or after they moved? These Coffmans remember the white carved scrolls in the carpet that kept the neswspapers a hidden mystery. Sooo, I don't know the time frame as well as I'd like to know. And I forgot to ask.

They recall going to Mr. Nix and paying him nine cents for a movie in the theater next door. If they were return customers and had already seen that particular show, then it was on the house. Skating was another pastime fondly filed in their memories. After school, if you ventured into the drugstore you might trip over a pile of school books littering the floor tiles. It was 'the hang out' spot for kids.

Joel (Joey) Lynn Coffman was bestman in Doug Moore's wedding, or at least that's what I think I overheard him telling Kent while I eavesdropped from the other side of the room. It may have been the other way around, not sure. Gail, Joey's wife, has done extensive research on the family ancestry. She found them as far back as Switzerland.

Alpha Ann Coffman was among the bunch. (Hope I spelled that right) She pointed to a scar that began at her forhead and went down through and under her eye. She would've lost it, had her dad not done an amazing thing. They had a car accident in the snow out by the turn before Hefner. None of the cars would start and Cut, her dad, scooped her up and ran with her all the way back to town. Dr. Heard stitched her up and saved her eyesight.

They peered at the poster announcing the Western Swing Street Dance on the 10th of July, and that jogged their memory, too. If memory serves them right, there was a city ordinance forbidding dancing after Lois had one at her house. And they recall having one in the upstairs living quarters of the bank during their lifetime. So, Caroline you better dig deep in those city annals and see if we are lawbreakers. There is a bingo ordinance, so surely we can get us a street dance ordinance overturned. They may decide to reopen them 'ole jail cells.

So now, some of their stories are carved here on this blog and in my heart. The past and the present for a moment were stitched together in time. There are some fuzzy puzzle pieces still to be found, but there's always the future.

Guess Who...

...walked into the Goree Bank/Drug Store today? Keith Chamberlain...and this is what he said on facebook, of all places:

I asked Tammie for a withdrawal and then, a milk shake. The answer to both was a firm 'nope' and I was handed a red plastic cup of ice water. Can you believe that, a Bank with three safes and a Drug Store??? She did inform me that I could make a deposit. A short time ago, only fifty-five years, I drank one of the best ever milk shakes in that very room.

Now, if you do visit the Goree Bank/Drug Store, one thing you do get is excellent hospitality and interesting conversation. Nancy and I really enjoyed visiting with Tammie and the pretty young lady, Caroline Garcia, working with her today. Also they have done a fantastic job restoring the old building. You really need to see it to appreciate the work that has been done.

Now to let you in on something that I figured out after a tour around the building and seeing all the improvements and reconditioning. Money has to come from somewhere. If you are in Goree and need to make a withdrawal, go to the old Trainham Grocery building, now an ice plant, and look up Kent. I doubt you can get a loaf of bread, can of beans or package of potato chips, but Tammie has to be making 'withdrawals' somewhere, so ask Kent.

History of Goree, Part 11 (First Natl Bank)

The Bank

by John H. Bates

1906, Goree also saw the organization of the First National Bank. The new bank was in the first brick building built.

Mr. Dan Allen, Mr. W.W. Coffman, and Mr. Ernest Allen were officers of the bank.

Mr. Dan Allen told the story about the U.S. Government sending two men to Goree to make a report on the vicinity. They stayed around a few days and during this time they and Mr. Allen had become much good friends that the agents let him read the report they were sending to Washington.

In this report they had remarked that there was no reason why it would ever rain in the vicinity. For Goree was too far from the ocean and too far from the mountains, and according to all known factors those were the causes for rain, the Goree country had none of them, so they just didn’t expect it would ever rain there.

Neat happening...

Here is an interesting email that I received this morning. Just have to share....awhile ago I joined the Diva's and apparently Ms. Cornell is a member, as well. Thus our common interest sparked a conversation about her connection to our hometown.

...my reply to her email:

How cool! Yes, all of those names and stories are familiar to me. My husband is the one that is actually from Goree. I hear such wonderful stories about Doc Taylor, as they call him. My mother-in-law was a Coffman and I’ve been really interested in their heritage lately and how it fits into the historic aspect of our town. I’m trying to get several landmarks on the historical registry. We just bought the bank building where the drug store and office spaces once called home and plan on renovating it into an office space and hunting lodge. As a matter of fact, the structure got a new roof last week. I’d love to hear your remembrances. Do you have any pictures? I’m interested in the theatre and skating rink, etc. I would like to share our conversation on the Goree blog, as there are many who may be able to fill in the blanks for you.

Sincerely,
Tammie

...her email:

I saw your address as Goree in Knox County . My aunt and uncle lived there from 1906 forward. He was Dr. William Taylor and she was Bettie Madole Taylor and taught 6th grade. His office was behind the drug store. Doris (a man) was the pharmacist. Jack Hampton lived across the street from Uncle Willie and Aunt Bettie. I can't remember the next door neighbor's name, or Clarence's last name who leased the farm. I'll think of more later or maybe their full names will float up.

Best regards,
Becky Madole Cornell