A Dash to the Post Office
by Carolyn Herff Kennon
It was 1942. The war was raging in Europe and the Pacific.
My friend Helen had arranged a blind date for me - a First Lieutenant stationed at Ft. Sam Houston, named Bill Kennon. Four of us crammed into his 1937 Ford Coup and headed for the country to have a picnic on our ranch. First we went through Boerne. We than drove out the San Antonio Road to Main Street, down the hill past the Catholic Church, across the Cibolo Creek to Max Theis's Grocery Store, where we bought hamburgers with my rationed red stamps.
Boerne was a charming little town; all commerce took place on Main Street. The sidewalk was lined with tall shade trees, no traffic at all. I didn't realize it at the time, but Bill must have been charmed.
Lt. and Mrs. W.G. Kennon, Jr., at Suitsus Lodge, Boerne 1944We went back out the San Antonio Road to our summer place, "Suitsus". We journeyed past the home, through the home pasture, across the creek to our favorite picnic place on the bluff over-looking the creek - clear water rippling over the rocks to the canyon.
Five months later we were married! We stayed at the Cibolo Hotel, just down the hill from the church. It was then that I showed him the Malikopf Hill with the family's monument to my great grandfather. I told him, jokingly of course, "Look north, east, west, and south - all this belongs to us!" In Nashville, where we later lived and raised our family, he would tell this story as if I had said it before we were married.
Three months later he was overseas. Two summers later I was staying on the ranch with Mother, waiting for his over-due leave. My Auntie Vic had acquired a beautiful horse she named June Bug for his brown color. He was an outlaw - none of the orderlies at Ft. Sam could handle him. She worked very hard to tame him, and he could only be ridden by women. Then, she gave him to me!
While waiting that summer, I road June Bug a lot. Sometimes I would get impatient for a letter from Bill. I would ride into Boerne to the post office to beat the mail lady. I would pass the grocery on the right, past Bergmann's Hardware on the left, and next was Mr. Adams house. His butchershop was just two doors away. I hitched my horse to the post in his front yard and ran to the post office, hoping for word that my Bill was OK.
Bill's leave was finally granted, and where do you think we spent it? Boerne, of course, with June Bug, the ranch, the Malikopf, the Cibolo, and each other - at last.
