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HomeMy WebLinkAboutEastgate Panel 10Eastgate Home Interview Dr. Mick and Dr. Dorthea Robinson City of College Station Memory Lanes Oral History Project This is . Today is , J9�3 (month) (day) (year) I'm interviewing for the 2 time Miss, Ms., Dr., Etc.) (Mr., Mrs., This interview is taking place in Room /D5' of The at 1300 George Bush Dr. College Station , Texas . This interview is sponsored by the Historic Preservation Committee and the Conference Center Advisory Committee of the City of College Station, Texas. It is part of the Memory Lane Oral History Project. Have each person introduce themselves so their voice is identifiable on the tape recorder. Remarks: City of College Station Memory Lanes Oral History Project Memory Lane: &25f (rode Interview Agreement and tape dispos Given to interviewee on Date Signed Transcription: First typing completed First audit check by Copy editing and second audit chec Final copies: Typed Oral History Stage Sheet Interview No. Name AV c.11 awl DOre-F 11 r,i, l aobi n5nri Interview date 99s Interviewer Eileen Sher Interview length Interview Place C . 15. rvv ro, Ce n -019 ^ /n '7 Special sources of information Date tape received in office /VI l / # of tapes marked / Date /O //" / S Original Photographs Yes 'No / z# of photos Date Recd / Describe Photos Sent to interviewee on C�/ Received from interviewee on Proofread by: Ifor. n e 7 �� / 7 i W�i-e.:LPages (name) ` J Pages 1) Photos out for reproduction: Original photos returned to: Indexed by: Sent to binplery by Received from bindery Deposited in archives by: Received Yes fictions- If yes, see remarks below. Yes Pages n") Pages Where to: Pages Date Pages Date Date: Date: Date Date Date Date No No Date 1- ,b � S Date /i /& 9 Date / 1 1 - 2 - 5 Date /(1/..2C This is Eileen Sather and I'm interviewing Dr. Mick, is it, and Dorthea Robinson in room 107 in the Conference Center. So if you'd introduce yourselves and we'll start talking about this. Mick - All right, this is Mr. Dr. Robinson and I was born in San Diego, California and didn't come to Texas until... Dorthea- I think its '51, when did you get discharged from the military? Mick - And when I first came to Texas, I went to the University of Texas in Austin and that was where I met my wife. And we were both in the Zoology Department in the University of Texas. And then when Dottie graduated, you graduated before we got married, didn't you? And we stayed in Austin for about a year before we came to College Station at which time I applied to get into veterinary school and got turned down. Dorthea- He was turned down because he was not a Texas resident and they, by law, could not admit any student to that school if he was not a Texas resident. Mick- So we had some time to spend for me to establish residency here so I could get into vet school. Eileen- Where did ya'll live at this time? Mick- We lived in a little apartment in Bryan at... Dorthea- Blue Grass. Mick- Blue Grass, a little garage apartment. It was a terrible place. There was no insulation, and in the winter time, that thing would howl. Dottie had to stay home. I was working in the Department of Oceanography at the time so I was gone a lot. Eileen- It served your needs at the time right? Mick- No, it was very stressful and we ended up buying a house we still own on Foster Street. Which is just a block and a half from the clinic. Dorthea- We rented from Mr. and Mrs. Phillip Kennard Trant and I think both of them are now dead. But they have a son who is a public accountant, I can't remember his name. He has a daughter named Gregorie and his wife's name is Dorothy. I'm at the age where I forget names. He is Blocker Trant. Eileen- Yea, we all are. Yes, that's fine but then anyway you did establish? 1 Mick - Then we bought this house on 1016 Foster where we lived all the time we were going to school and after. When I graduated, I finally did get into vet school, obviously. When I graduated Dottie worked for Dr. Luther Bird up in Cotton Genetics Research and after I went through vet school then she through vet school and I worked. When I graduated, I went on to the faculty of the Department of Pathology at the veterinary college. Eileen- What year was this? Mick- In 1962 and I was an assistant professor. At that time I taught pathology and also did graduate work for a masters which I finally got. Then, I got involved with a research project with the Parks and Wildlife Department on diseases of the deer which then expanded to diseases of wildlife and I became a hot shot researcher for thirteen years, During which time she got her D.V.M. and then we had to decide what to do with her and her degree because at the time the vet school would not take a husband and wife. If I worked at the vet school then she couldn't. Eileen -Kind of like at banks and all this kind of stuff, isn't it? Dorthea- The dean at the time was Alvin A. Price and I went and talked to him because he was the head and he said something about the nepotism issue and now -a- days I don't think that is a problem any more. If you have a doctorate you are not being hired because you are related to somebody , you already have the credentials. Eileen - Right. Mick - There are husband and wife teams. Dorthea- Yes, Mike and Mary Herron were there and a lot of others. I've lost track of them. Mick - Millichamps. Dorthea- Millichamps were both doctors. Eileen- So how did you go about starting up the clinic? Then were you... Mick - That's how we ended up in the clinic business because she couldn't get a job at the university. Dorthea- I would much rather have worked from 8 to 5. Eileen - Rather than 24 hours. 2 Dorthea- And get the fringe benefits that A &M gives you, a little pension when you get old and medical. Mick- We got in that shopping center and at the time, what's his name, a contractor, BB Scasta, the guy who built that initially as a bank. Bank of A &M. Dorthea- BB Scasta had a portion about 40 feet by 40 feet next to a relative of his from Hearne where U'totem was for 20 years. The portion that BB Scasta had he built kind of like an all purpose building but it was occupied by Golden Cleaners and the middle was divided into two parts. One half was where they actually did the cleaning and the other half had a little door and a counter, and people would come in and leave their clothes. They even had a drive in window. The cleaning business was in a decline then because they had invented polyester , and nylon, and orlon, and acrylic and all these things that you just wash and wear. Eileen - Right. Dorthea- The cleaners that did dry cleaning were specialists in maintaining wool, linen, and silk, and clothes that are decorated with sequins and stuff. I think there were several cleaners in town then but now the only one I can think of is South Side, Park Cleaners, next to Pruitts. Mick - The bank came in after the cleaners. Dorthea- Yea. Mick - The first site of the Bank of A &M. Eileen - And that was in that little shopping center there on Walton. Dorthea- Not the whole center, just that little piece. Eileen- Just that little strip. Dorthea- That 40x40 building. And in the very beginning the Bank of A &M operated under the title of the A &M Bank of Commerce, maybe just the Bank of Commerce but they quickly realized that A &M was the main attraction. They left. And at the time that we bought the building there was an Armstrong flooring dealer in one -half of the building and some kind of another little cleaner, it was no longer Golden Cleaners. They did a lot of alterations and repairs for students that had uniforms the corps. They had a seamstress there. I cannot remember the name. She was a lady fossil. 3 Eileen- See this is what's so interesting, what's in those different buildings back when a lot of people don't remember. And then you started yours. Dorthea- When I could not get a job with A &M because I really, like my husband was interested in research. I had gotten a masters when I was at Austin. I like the idea of being told of a problem and thinking of how can we go find the answer to this But when A&M said, "Oh, no way were they going to hire me ", I made a tour of local veterinarians and they had no need at the time. The town wasn't growing enough that they needed a veterinarian. So then it was either leave, and at that time we had four children, take the children and leave my husband or leave the children with my husband, some other unpleasant idea. So we said well we'll just open up the clinic. And we went to see about a loan. At the time on University there was a savings and loan called Community Savings and Loan and the man in charge was Herschel Burgess who is now dead. But he was some how related to Dr. Walton, who also is now dead, who practiced between the clinic building and the Mobil Gas Station at the corner. I was on Walton on the access road and as it curves north, it hits Lincoln Street and right there at the corner there's a little Mobil Gas Station. Mr. Burgess said that he couldn't lend money without collateral. Mick- We said what's that. Dorthea- We had bought this house on 1016 Foster. When we arrived, there was a terrible housing shortage. I think the air base was still here and the military swelled the population and at that period of time we couldn't find a place to rent. Which is why, when we came here, we rented a one bedroom over a garage apartment. You know during the war there was this term. If you know something that was built in a hurry, you'd sort of trash it, say it was Jerry built. It was a Jerry built rental apartment. We then bought the house on Foster and we had been living in it and built up what they called an equity. But the law then, maybe the law is still in effect now, said that you could not borrow on your homestead. So we shuffled papers, I sold the house to my mother on paper, but we never left the house, she never gave me a penny, I never gave her a penny. We sold the house to my mother and with this equity got enough money to put down a payment on a building to start the clinic in, and after a couple of years we shuffle papers again and 4 bought the house back from my mother on paper. Mick- Well I tell you there had to be an exchange of ten bucks. Dorthea Yea, something like that. There was a realtor that we had met because when we just came to town we were looking for car insurance. And we didn't know anybody so we just drove around and we saw a sign with Agency of Texas Farmers and at that time George Webb was somewhere in Bryan, kind of by the courthouse. And we already knew him. We came to town in '52 and we've always had car insurance and we still have it today. He fell off a horse and broke his neck and died. So the agency carries his name and he has a son who does the business. But he was a realtor and an appraiser on the side. And I mentioned to him that I was looking for a building and he had been here so long that he knew everybody and he said, well I know for a fact, BB Scasta has used up his depreciation on this building, It is no longer worth his while to keep it, because he depreciated it out it's worthless now. This is one of the things I hold a grudge against the government . We no longer do things because they make sense or because they are right. We do things because some bureaucrat decides, that certain things are true, whether they're true or not. And so George went and talked to BB Scasta and told him if you want to I got the buyer for ya. And we went and looked at it and bought it. And the main thing that attracted me, it was a block from my house. At that time, the telephone company would install phones for free and they'd even give you the phone. And so we had an arrangement whereby if you'd call the clinic and no one was there, it would ring at my house. I'd say: "Sure come on over." I was just a half block away. And we have kept the house and the clinic ever since. Eileen - And you had the money to go ahead and buy your equipment that you needed or did you need... Dorthea When we started out we did not have an X -ray machine. I talked to Howard Cargell who had one and he said just send your client and I will do X -rays for you. At that time, Dr. Cargell was not with El Cerito on Barak Lane where he is now. He was on Texas Avenue, where that Carter hamburger place is, just west of the old Wal -Mart building, which is now vacant. That's where he was with his brother. What was his brother's name, Bobby? Mick Tommy. 5 Dorthea- Tommy is the son of Bobby. Howard and Bobby. On the bypass on highway 21, there was a veterinarian. One of my advisors when I was in vet school was the head of the large animal clinic, Dr. Bill Romaine. And I had mentioned to him that it looked like I was going to stay in this area because Mick was working on his masters. He had a job here, we owned a house here, the children went to school here and he said, "Well the polite thing to do is to introduce yourself. You go to all the clinics and tell them who you and that you are going to be one of the veterinarians in this area." I don't think they do this anymore because there are veterinary clinics in this town now and no one ever comes by and introduces themselves. Eileen So there were other veterinarians in town in private. Dorthea In Bryan. Eileen In private business, but none in College Station because someone kind of said something or I'm under the assumption that everything was down on campus practically way back then. Mick Well pretty much everything was. And the city of College Station gave some kind of static about setting up her building. Dorthea At the time, the building next to the one I bought was this U- Tote -M. Mr. Quitta was the clerk there and that's another sad story we'll look forward to some other time. Quitta sold sandwiches and he sold apples, oranges, donuts, and candy bars. So he was considered a restaurant and the public health people said no way can you have an eating establishment within 200 yards or maybe it was 150 yards, it was a big distance, anyway, of the veterinary clinic. But the children went to school with the children of the lawyer named Carl Sanstead and so we knew the children and we knew he was a lawyer and we hired him and he went with me to City Hall and he said there will be no outdoor pens. Which is why I never did boarding and we would not take in stray dogs before the Brazos Animal Shelter was funded and built and opened. Sometimes the police would catch strays and would take them to local veterinarians and say would you keep them here for a while but we never did that. And with the help of this lawyer which is now dead we got the permit to open up and we did. And we decided to retire and close the clinic June 30th of this year. (1995) Eileen I'd heard that you had just recently retired. 6 Mick - Another thing too, is when we set up we took a trip over to Beaumont. They had a sale on surplus hospital equipment and stuff like that at a store. So we pretty much set up on a shoe string. We didn't have a whole big pile of capital out lay you now have to have. Eileen- Now did you work together? I mean did you help at all in surgeries? Dorthea- From 8 -5, he was at A &M. But at night he was free and he would help, he would do surgery. Mick- I wasn't supposed to because they told us you can't practice. I don't know how they would view my admission. Eileen- No, I was just thinking that there would be situations where you needed some help you know. Mick- Initially, I she and I are assistant and initially, the practice was doing quite well and then when different vets started coming into town. Eileen- Was there any problem about being a woman? Dorthea- I always felt a little uncomfortable about men who called about 2 o'clock in the morning and said they had an emergency but fortunately we lived at the house on Foster for 15 years, close enough that (Mick) he could go with me and there after that when we moved out in the country, A &M had the 24 hour emergency service, so we'd just say we're not set up to do after hour emergencies. Eileen- But before you would go out to the country, if someone...a calf... Dorthea- No. Eileen- You didn't do any large animals. So where in the country do you live then? Dorthea- We live behind the airport and we do not have a mailbox because we do not want people to know there's a house there. You cannot see the house from the road. When we were working, which is until recently, no one was home during the day so why advertise there's a house back there that's empty. Mick- We got our mail at the... Eileen- Post Office. Mick- at the clinic. Eileen- Oh, at the clinic. Dorthea- Now known as Robinson Enterprises which is an office. 7 Eileen -Oh, O.K. Dorthea- The public health people started their 911 service. They have to have a specific name. The clinic building was a little big for me so I divided off one room and one bathroom and rented it for many many years to Burr Moody. At that time, they didn't have cellular phone and the big thing was to buy, install and repair CD radios in cars. That's what he did and during that time, you could make a good living and you didn't need a whole lot of space. One room office with a bathroom. When 911 came in that use to be 103A and I was 103 and the 911 people said that cannot be so he became 101 and I became 103. And this unmarked road we live on out in the country couldn't be, it had to have a name And we had been interested in dogs and raised dogs and registered with AKC a kennel name. We wanted to have Robinson Kennels or Aggieland Kennels. And the AKC: said "Be reasonable there's gonna be other people who can have an equal claim to Robinson or Aggieland. You must have a noun and that's not the name of a person, place, or thing." So we took his name, his nickname Mick, and the end of my name and made Mickthea and registered that. So when 911 came in and said this dirt road has to have a name we said make it Mickthea Lane. Mick - And they did there's a sign out there, a regular road sign. Eileen - And I guess they did that in case of a fire they have to know right on 911 they did to know where to come and the police did that other and stuff. Dorthea We have another 10 acres in the same neighborhood and we wanted the 911 people to name that Nosnibor Lane which is Robinson spelt backwards. But, 10 years separated these 2 events and now the 911 people, they've gotten cocky and they've said you have to have 3 families living on a road before we give you a name. We've got this rent place a pad, they call it a pad, we got a rent pad that we rent to Jim Beard and his wife. They've got a mobile home and our son Desi leaves in a mobile home further on down. But there's no third home. Eileen Well what an interesting life you two have been sharing that's great! Dorthea I told 911: "If you give that name to someone else I'm going to hex you after I die." They replied, " Nobody wants that name." 8 Eileen- So how many dogs do you have? Dorthea- Ten Eileen - And they're what kind? Dorthea- Mainly, they're Papillons, which is a little toy spaniels, about six pounds. Mick has a few hunting dogs called American Water Spaniels. But our dogs never get out. We have them in chain linked fences. So we don't contribute to these stray dogs. Eileen Oh no I'm sure you don't. Dorthea You drive down the county road on Thursday when they're picking up garbage Eileen But I thinking about these little bittie dogs biting road. We had dog when our children were little ours died about 8 years ago. We had to have her put to sleep so I haven't bought mother one. As far as about doing this with East Gate is back when you were here with our family what types of things did you do for your entertainment? We all know that there wasn't' that many theaters, what did you do? Dorthea- The people in the area know what East Gate is but there has never ever been a sign. So if you're new in town and you talk about East Gate... Eileen- Yea they don't know Dorthea They don't know, and the origin of the term is that when the college was established, and the land grant college was out in the wilderness they built a big fence to protect the students. I guess from an attack by migrating desperadoes, or Bonnie and Clyde or Billy and Clyde. Anyway, the big fence around the campus had 4 openings in the directions on the compass and you know about North Gate and South Side and this is East Gate. But the fence came down long time ago and it was dawn for a long time and now there's a decorative fence with brick and grill and it's for people that come here and graduate and take pictures. Eileen I had interview Dr. Mark Lindsay last Wednesday evening and he was born and raised here and so I got a little where he used to play and all that kind of stuff where as ya'll came liter. But where did ya'll go do your grocery shopping? 9 Dorthea- Orrs had this store where auto shack or something is on Texas Avenue now. It belong to a man in Bryan named Mr. Orr. Eileen- Was that on the corner of University and Texas? Dorthea- No, No, No, this is Ridgecrest Shopping Center. Eileen- Oh, OK some of the people back farther they talked about some grocery store Mace's on the corner of University and Texas. Dorthea- It was very hard to get parking there; it was very crowded in the parking lot. So I never went. When I worked for Dr. Sidney O. Brown and Dr. George Krise one of the technicians they had there was Gertrude Adams and she was German. She was born in Germany, married an American soldier and came over and she said to go there because they had a German butcher. Eileen- Do you remember the name of your medical doctor that you used for you and your family and your dentist. Can you give me names. Dorthea- When we first came, we lived in this little garage apartment on Blue Grass in Bryan and our child, Savanna, she was sick and when Mick came home from work (we only had one car), we started driving around. There was a woman doctor near and we went there and she asked do you have an appointment? No, we said this was unexpected and she said "well 1 can't take you." And it was really painful I wish I could remember her name I think it was Nina Harris anyway the woman doctor turned us away, so we got back in the car and headed down Texas Avenue North and there was Dr. Searcys' building on the corner. He has since died and his estate sold the building to an insurance company. We walked in and his nurse said he quit working two hours ago but he's still here, just sit down and your turn will come. And sure enough, he did and we went to him until he retired. And when he retired he sent us to Dr. Walton and when Dr. Walton retired he referred us to Dr. Alexander. And we do what we are told and we stay out of trouble. Mick- Who was that doctor, the dentist? Dorthea- Dr. Hooper Mick- Dr. Hooper Dorthea- He was sharing the same building with Dr. Walton, where the City of College Station now 10 rents. Because the Walton family never sold that property they rent it to the city, instead. The City of College checks never bounce. Why sell the goose that laid the golden egg? That was a wonderful dentist. But he had cancer (melanoma)and it killed him. When he died, Dr. Walton did not take in another person. He then operated out of the entire building himself. But across the street Dr. White (a dentist) opened up an office and that was on the same block where we lived so we started going to him and we've been going there ever since. Eileen- Here again this goes back further really than when you started your business. Now did you take credit cards and all that kind of stuff or did you take strictly cash and check? Dorthea- Cash - check Eileen- Some of the people that were interviewed. and how about restaurants did you take your family and go out an eat once in a while. Mick- Not very often. Dorthea- Where Charli Ladies ready to wear is now there use to be a barbecue place called Arnolds. It's like... Mick- Yea a red brick building Dorthea- Yea a red brick building and you got your barbecue on a piece of paper Eileen- like Tom's now Dorthea- Yes, Tom bought him out and ran that for a while and then he moved and now he has two different locations. You'd get slices of onions, slices of bread, cheese, slices of beef, It was in the neighborhood where we lived. Mick- Not audible I can't remember... Dorthea- Yes, he use to take me where the Hilton is now. There was a little restaurant way in the back Mick- Zarapes' Dorthea- You couldn't see it but it was there. Eileen - That was your night out. Was it? 11 Dorthea- And that man is still in business. He now is in the old Randy Sims Barbecue building by Half Price Books Eileen- Oh yea Dorthea- It's called Jose's. Mick - That's the same guy and he runs Zarape's in Bryan Eileen - Right Dorthea- The other place on highway 30 burned down Eileen- Now do you remember going out to dinner whether your kids were with you or not I don't know the two of you, how much it cost you, for an evening out. Mick- How much did it cost; probably not more than twenty dollars. Eileen - And you had a family of four Mick- four kids Dorthea- four kids and us makes six. I don't remember going to hamburger joints like today's children, There was no Burger King, no Whataburger, no Wendy's. Eileen- right no fast food stuff Mick- No junk food Eileen- Did your kids go out to movies Mick - Actually the closest choices in College Station there was the Texan Dorthea- Oh the movies, drive in, yes there was a drive in movie. Eileen- Did you go there as a family Dorthea- Yes you'd go there in your car. Eileen- right, yes we did that too Mick- yes it was right there just North of town Eileen- I never went there with Mom and Dad they weren't into that but kids teenagers those days are long gone to aren't they? Dorthea- And in Halloween you just went around the block but you didn't have to X -ray the candy. An adult didn't go to protect the little kids from weirdoes. 12 Eileen - Right, and you knew most of your neighbors Dorthea- Yes Eileen - And probably had some neighborhood get togethers. Dorthea- the neighborhood didn't have children. We were probably the only ones who were reproducing then, Across the street were Charles and Dorothy Richardson who were in their sixties. And the Truittners. She was the nurse for Dr. Walton and the kids liked them. They use to call her Aunt Kate and him, Uncle Ben. Pearl Tanzer who taught school forever lived on the corner. Mick- At that time... Dorthea- And the city council man, David Hickson, whose family bought the house next to ours and he and his brother Dale, David and Dale were the two boys who lived next to us. So I guess there were children. The Hickson were the only others on the block that had children. Mick- Well there was the Pruitt's up the street. Dorthea- Oh yes, the Pruitts and Perry had a sister and Perry died in an automobile crash and the sister married and left town, I don't know where she is and he (Johnny) ran the family store and Mrs. Pruitt had a beauty shop across the street from me next to where Acme Glass is. And of course, Wilson Plumbing at that time you could see old Wilson the grandfather of the man who is running it now, Tom Wilson. They moved...they moved out to Highway 6. Eileen- Now were there a lot of things going on at A &M which the two of you attended. Dorthea- yea we never went to football games, we never went to basketball games, and then we never went to baseball games. Eileen- No office parties, get togethers Mick - Occasionally, but not very often. At that time school was pretty serious business. I guess we have different attitudes. I can think of some class getting togethers that we went to but those only occurred ever so often, not regularly. Dorthea- We did sometimes go out to a restaurant west of town called the Country Kitchen. When they had pies there the meringue was about 8 inches tall. That's what I remember. It was kind of a petrified brick building, petrified rock building with a lot of interesting rocks. It burned down. 13 13 Eileen Did they rebuild it Mick Yea they rebuilt it and then they torn it down Dorthea It was condemned. Eileen Because that's a place that I've never been to, but I remember reading about it. Dorthea They would serve the ice tea in mason jars and they had all kinds of antiques around the place. Mick there wasn't an open piece of wall. Everything from old guns, axes, to pieces of luggage and stuff. Eileen Do you have any memorabilia of anything at home of pictures or something that's real authentic with the East Gate that they could maybe reproduce or anything like that. Dorthea I have never taken pictures. He has a camera but he seldom ever takes pictures. there was a company a little up from us heading east. The Manning's had this shop. They would specialize in sewing very, very, full skirts for square dancing. They taught square dancing and they sold clothes and as you walked in there was a map of the United States on the wall that they pinned. The pins were different colors but that doesn't matter they just bought pins. And they had sold square dance clothes to every state in the nation. And sometimes back in the early days they didn't have air conditioning and I can remember walking down the sidewalk because the post office box was on the corner and their doors would be open and you could hear their sewing machines going br - -rr -room and you could see just these yards and yards of lace and it was like webbing, a colored webbing that they wore underneath (the skirts). Eileen - Are any of them still alive do you know? Dorthea When they closed that they moved down to Bryan and had a shop there for a while. I think I know where it is but I can't remember the name of the street. (College Avenue) Then they closed that one also. Eileen But I keep thinking I know there's quite a bit of square dancing that goes on around here and you wonder if there any connection of people get their own outfits. Dorthea Where the travel agency is now which is the very last building Eileen Executive travel Dorthea Where executive travel is now, the original senior Mr. Culpepper had his real estate office 14 14 there. And I can remember when we first opened up, he was short and portly and he came waddling in one day. He said, " I have a man that goes for me to Galveston and he brings me fresh fish and shrimp. Are you interested ?" I'm not that fond of fish, I like shrimp, but I was watching my budget at the time so I said: "no, not today." He talk for a little bit, but he never came back, he probably figured.... Eileen Waste of time there. Dorthea Can you imagine having a man that you hire just to go to Galveston to bring you fresh fish, shrimp? Eileen Years ago we use to have different trucks that would stop by, we were a little leery about buying and yet some people did all the time said it was wonderful. Dorthea Cooked it hard enough Mick A &M did a study on those folks and found the shrimp that you bought out of the trucks on the side of the road was in better shape that the ones you bought out of the stores. Eileen - If their driving straight in from Galveston and setting it up. I know you can order it. Eileen Well you two have just led a very very interesting life and it's been a joy to meet with you What do your 4 children do. Dorthea Well the oldest child is a daughter who is a lawyer who lives and practices in Corpus; the oldest son is a typical Aggie, he is an Aggie engineer, he works in South Houston and lives there; I have another daughter who is medical technician at Scott & White in Temple, she specializes in evaluating semen, she works with the andrology department. Scott & White is a big name in trying to help infertile couples. Then I have a son who just stay here, just does construction. Eileen - And number of grandchildren Dorthea I just have two, each girl has one girl. I'm disappointed but in a way I'm relieved because for a while I thought I was going to go to my grave without having a grandchild. Eileen I have 3, a boy and 2 girls and I enjoy them. anyway, I want to thank you very much for doing this. 15 15