<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:geo="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#" > <channel> <title>Buddy Holly’s glasses – THROUGH THE EYES OF JEFFERSON</title> <atom:link href="https://eyesofjefferson.com/tag/buddy-hollys-glasses/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://eyesofjefferson.com</link> <description>Presidential site adventures as told by a bobble head</description> <lastBuildDate>Tue, 29 Oct 2024 14:26:48 +0000</lastBuildDate> <language>en-US</language> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <generator>https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1</generator> <site xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">167670250</site> <item> <title>162: EARLY IN THE MORNING WITH BUDDY HOLLY</title> <link>https://eyesofjefferson.com/162-early-in-the-morning-with-buddy-holly/</link> <comments>https://eyesofjefferson.com/162-early-in-the-morning-with-buddy-holly/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Thomas Watson]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Fri, 10 Dec 2021 23:23:36 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Bob Montgomery]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Buddy Holly]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Buddy Holly Center]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Buddy Holly home]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Buddy Holly statue]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Buddy Holly wedding]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Buddy Holly's Fender Stratocaster]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Buddy Holly's glasses]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Echo McGuire]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Elton John]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Elvis Presley]]></category> <category><![CDATA[J.T. Hutchinson Middle School Lubbock]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Jerry Allison]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Jerry Allison boyhood home]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lawrence and Ella Holly]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lubbock High School]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lubbock Texas]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Maria Elena Holly]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Marshall Crenshaw]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Peggy Sue]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Roscoe Wilson Elementary School Lubbock]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Sonny Curtis]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Surf Ballroom]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Tabernacle Baptist Church Lubbock]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Cotton Club]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Thomas Jefferson]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Thomas Jefferson bobble head]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Tommy Allsup]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Waylon Jennings]]></category> <category><![CDATA[West Texas Walk of Fame]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Winter Dance Party tour]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://eyesofjefferson.com/?p=10298</guid> <description><![CDATA[The morning of Thursday October 14, 2021 began without an alarm, mainly because our agenda was filled with Buddy Holly sites in Lubbock. Tom knew we didn’t have far to travel that day; each of those seven sites were within…]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">The morning of Thursday October 14, 2021 began without an alarm, mainly because our agenda was filled with Buddy Holly sites in Lubbock. Tom knew we didn’t have far to travel that day; each of those seven sites were within a dozen-or-so miles of our My Place Hotel. Even without the usual wake-up call, however, my photographer was “up and at ’em” by seven o’clock and the three of us were on the road by 8:45am. </p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">The first site on Tom’s list proved to be the most difficult to find, as well as the hardest to establish as to whether or not the building was original to Buddy Holly’s time in Lubbock. That building was the famous Cotton Club, which had opened in 1938 and featured the largest dance floor in West Texas. But it wasn’t the dance floor that made the club famous, at least in the eyes of my photographer. In 1955, during a performance by Elvis Presley at the Cotton Club, an up-and-coming young musician by the name of Buddy Holley met the future King of Rock and Roll for the first time. As soon as Buddy saw the large crowd react to Elvis’ new sound, Holley turned to his friend and fellow bandmate Bob Montgomery, who had accompanied Buddy to the Cotton Club, and said: “We got to change.” After that show, the duo sold their acoustic western swing guitars and purchased electric Stratocasters so they could sound like Elvis. During Presley’s second visit to the club nearly eleven weeks later, “Buddy and Bob” opened for Elvis at the Cotton Club on April 29, 1955. Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins also performed during that historic show.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">With the pictures my photographer had on hand, he knew what the building looked like. Tom also knew the address of the Cotton Club; or at least he thought the address was correct. However, when his GPS guided us to the location, which was about halfway between Lubbock and Slaton, Texas, something was amiss. The Cotton Club wasn’t where Tom thought it was. At one point during their 20-minute search, Vicki drove the ‘Truckster’ past a freshly painted building that caught my photographer’s eye. As a matter of fact, I heard him tell his wife: “The shape of that blue building looks similar to the one pictured in this agenda. I think that might be the old Cotton Club. I just don’t know for sure – the building in the photo looked gray and this one is bright blue.” My photographer’s wife, not wanting to waste any more time blindly driving in circles, pulled into the parking lot of an old grocery store. At that moment, I heard Vicki say to my dumbfounded companion: “You need to go inside that store and ask if that’s the Cotton Club down the road. If it’s not, then maybe someone knows where it’s at.”</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Although I stayed inside the Jeep when my photographer went inside the grocery store, I heard his bizarre story when he came back out. Tom said the place wasn’t a grocery store – as a matter of fact, he didn’t know for sure what it was. He told Vicki the interior was very dark; he was met just inside the doorway by a big guy who immediately said: “I think you might be in the wrong place. This isn’t a grocery store.” My photographer asked the guy if he knew whether or not the blue building down the road was the old Cotton Club. Seconds after the man said he didn’t know; a young woman sat up in the darkness and said: “Yes, that’s the Cotton Club. It’s been closed down for a while. Someone just bought the place and painted it blue. They’re trying to fix it up.” I laughed to myself when I heard his story; only because “Clark Griswold” seemed very disheveled when he returned to the Jeep. It sounded as though Tom had unsuspectedly walked into a place of questionable clientele and he was fortunate to return with nothing more than accurate information. </p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" width="800" height="603" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01168-2.jpg?resize=800%2C603&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10304" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01168-2.jpg?w=4187&ssl=1 4187w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01168-2.jpg?resize=300%2C226&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01168-2.jpg?resize=768%2C579&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01168-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C772&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01168-2.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01168-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01168-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Unfortunately, the fresh coat of paint on the exterior had covered any ‘Cotton Club’ lettering that once enhanced the building’s outer walls.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="600" height="353" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-COTTON-CLUB-2.jpg?resize=600%2C353&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10308" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-COTTON-CLUB-2.jpg?w=600&ssl=1 600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-COTTON-CLUB-2.jpg?resize=300%2C177&ssl=1 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Cotton Club near Lubbock, Texas</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01169-2.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10305" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01169-2.jpg?w=4320&ssl=1 4320w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01169-2.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01169-2.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01169-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01169-2.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01169-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01169-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">As I stood in front of the Cotton Club, I envisioned the great performers from the past who had once graced the club’s historic stage.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="408" height="595" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-COTTON-CLUB-ELVIS-1.jpg?resize=408%2C595&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10303" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-COTTON-CLUB-ELVIS-1.jpg?w=408&ssl=1 408w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-COTTON-CLUB-ELVIS-1.jpg?resize=206%2C300&ssl=1 206w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 408px) 100vw, 408px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Elvis Presley posed with Pat Lowe inside the Cotton Club on October 15, 1955. Pat was the daughter of club owner Ralph Lowe.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01171-2.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10306" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01171-2.jpg?w=4320&ssl=1 4320w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01171-2.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01171-2.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01171-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01171-2.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01171-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01171-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">In my mind, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and a young Buddy Holley all walked through those doors to perform in 1955. It wasn’t until later, after we got home, when my photographer discovered this Cotton Club building was built in 1958 and was not on the same site as the original.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Vicki drove our Jeep into the parking lot of the Cotton Club, even though it seemed like we shouldn’t have gone onto the property. When Tom carried me to the front of the building where I posed for a handful of photos, a strange feeling of uncertainty overcame my resin body. I couldn’t explain that gut feeling I had; but in my mind, something didn’t seem right. Although I knew we shouldn’t have trespassed, and I waited for the new owner or the cops to show up at any minute, my anxiety was short-lived. It was incredibly awesome to see the club where Elvis, Johnny, Carl, and Buddy had all performed in 1955; even though we learned later that wasn’t the case. It turned out the original Cotton Club was destroyed by fire in 1958 – which was three years after that famous quartet had performed on stage there. The building we visited, also named the Cotton Club, had opened shortly after the fire and was located three or four miles south of the original site. That version of Lubbock’s Cotton Club had remained in business until its doors closed in 1980. </p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">When we were finished at the Cotton Club, it was time to go to church. At first, I wondered if my photographer felt the need to worship after he set foot in the “so-called” grocery store. But that wasn’t the case, and I should’ve known better. After we made the ten-mile journey north into Lubbock, Tom and I were once again standing in front of the Tabernacle Baptist Church. Not only did Lawrence and Ella Holley’s family worship in that church, but it was also the site of Buddy Holly’s funeral on February 7, 1959. During our time near the front of the building, it was as though I could see the pallbearers as they carried Buddy’s casket to the hearse for the short trip to the cemetery. As the casket emerged from the building, the deafening silence was broken only by the cries of the saddened mourners. Buddy’s former bandmates and Crickets carried their fallen friend – Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, Niki Sullivan, Bob Montgomery, and Sonny Curtis were pallbearers. However, one of Holly’s good friends was missing from the side of the casket. On that day, Waylon Jennings was at the Les Buzz Ballroom in Spring Valley, Illinois during a stop on the Winter Dance Party tour. Despite the tragedy that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper, the surviving members of the tour were forced to continue performing – the show went on with heavy hearts.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01176-2.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10314" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01176-2.jpg?w=4320&ssl=1 4320w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01176-2.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01176-2.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01176-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01176-2.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01176-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01176-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lubbock, Texas was where the Holley family worshipped. It was also the site of Buddy Holly’s funeral on February 7, 1959.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01172-2.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10315" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01172-2.jpg?w=4320&ssl=1 4320w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01172-2.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01172-2.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01172-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01172-2.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01172-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01172-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Buddy’s widow, Maria Elena Holly, refused to attend her husband’s funeral and has never visited his gravesite. She has stated over the years that she blamed herself for his death as Buddy would’ve never boarded the plane had she gone on the tour with him. Maria Elena was two weeks pregnant and was not feeling well when Buddy left on the ill-fated tour.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Tom and I returned to the Jeep where Vicki was parked near the Tabernacle Baptist Church. Even though my photographer and I had visited that church in 2016, it seemed as though there was an increased emotional connection on that cool October morning. While I knew the visit had affected my photographer, the visions of Buddy’s tragic death and funeral weighed heavily on my resin-filled mind as well. I can’t remember if I cried when I thought about his widowed bride. But something touched me deep inside; the day the music died. </p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Located roughly five blocks from the Baptist Church, we found the home where Lawrence and Ella Holley had lived; not to mention their famous son. But it was more than just a childhood home or a place the musician had hung his hat for just a short time. It was in the living room of that house where Buddy Holly married Maria Elena Santiago in a private ceremony on August 15, 1958. The marriage was officiated by Pastor Ben Johnson; Crickets’ drummer Jerry Allison served as best man while Allison’s wife, Peggy Sue, was Maria Elena’s maid of honor. </p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Vicki parked the Jeep a short distance from the front of the house on 39th Street. While his wife stayed inside our vehicle, Tom carried me across the street and onto the sidewalk where I immediately noticed a man watering the lawn directly in front of the home. At first, my photographer made small talk with the guy; who turned out to be the owner of the Holley house. A couple of minutes later, Tom was invited to sit on the porch while Enes showed him photographs of Buddy Holly’s wedding. I couldn’t believe my resin eyes when we sat on an ornate bench directly in front of the living room window where Buddy Holly was married. After he browsed through the photo album, my bold camera guy asked Enes if he would allow the two of us to see the spot where Buddy and Maria Elena were married. In my mind, I knew for sure the homeowner would agree to Tom’s brazen request, but he didn’t. Even when my photographer told him about his Winter Dance Party tour display and mentioned all of the sites the two of us had visited in the past eight years, Enes remained steadfast. He told my photographer he’s owned the house for over 30 years, and he’s only allowed one person inside his home to see the living room – it was the guy who gave him the photo album. Enes was a very friendly guy and the two of us felt honored to have met him. Although Tom was disappointed because his usual spiel had failed, I understood Enes’ concern of letting strangers inside his home. And trust me – no one is stranger than my photographer!</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="542" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01177-2.jpg?resize=800%2C542&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10319" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01177-2.jpg?w=4288&ssl=1 4288w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01177-2.jpg?resize=300%2C203&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01177-2.jpg?resize=768%2C520&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01177-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C693&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01177-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01177-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Lawrence and Ella Holley owned this home in 1958 and their son, Buddy Holly, was married in their living room.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01178-2.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10320" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01178-2.jpg?w=4320&ssl=1 4320w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01178-2.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01178-2.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01178-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01178-2.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01178-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01178-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">When Enes went inside his home to retrieve his Buddy Holly photo album, he left the front door open. That may have been my photographer’s only chance to see the living room.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="709" height="563" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-MARRIED4-2.jpg?resize=709%2C563&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10325" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-MARRIED4-2.jpg?w=709&ssl=1 709w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-MARRIED4-2.jpg?resize=300%2C238&ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 709px) 100vw, 709px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The newlyweds, Buddy and Maria Elena Holly, pose with Lawrence and Ella Holley shortly after the marriage vows were exchanged.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2895-2.jpg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10321" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2895-2.jpg?w=6000&ssl=1 6000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2895-2.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2895-2.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2895-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2895-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2895-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">As I stood for a photo outside of the Holley home where Buddy and Maria Elena were married, I began to wonder where Peggy Sue got married to Jerry Allison.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="488" height="360" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-MARRIED-7-2.jpg?resize=488%2C360&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10326" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-MARRIED-7-2.jpg?w=488&ssl=1 488w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-MARRIED-7-2.jpg?resize=300%2C221&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-MARRIED-7-2.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 488px) 100vw, 488px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Best man Jerry Allison and maid of honor Peggy Sue Allison watch as the groom kissed his bride. The Holly’s marriage ended on February 3, 1959, when Buddy was killed in the plane crash. The Allison’s marriage was filled with turbulence, as well, and they divorced in 1964.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1119" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2902-2.jpg?resize=800%2C1119&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10322" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2902-2.jpg?w=3669&ssl=1 3669w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2902-2.jpg?resize=215%2C300&ssl=1 215w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2902-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1074&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2902-2.jpg?resize=732%2C1024&ssl=1 732w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2902-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2902-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">When Enes held me tightly in front of his living room window, I envisioned Buddy and Maria Elena Holly posing on the other side of that window for their wedding photos. I was so close, yet so far away. Perhaps next time, Enes will invite my photographer and me inside!</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="759" height="642" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-MARRIED-6-2.jpg?resize=759%2C642&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10323" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-MARRIED-6-2.jpg?w=759&ssl=1 759w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-MARRIED-6-2.jpg?resize=300%2C254&ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 759px) 100vw, 759px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Pastor Ben Johnson posed between Buddy Holly and Maria Elena Holly for wedding photos on August 15, 1958. On that memorable day, Buddy was only 21 years old; while his bride, Maria Elena, was 25. </figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Moments before we bid farewell to Enes, I heard Tom mention to the homeowner about the next stops on our agenda. My photographer said we were headed for the three Lubbock schools Buddy Holley had attended during his childhood – Roscoe Wilson Elementary School; J.T. Hutchinson Middle School; and Lubbock High School. I was concerned, at least for a moment, when I heard my old photographer and I were headed to three different schools to take pictures. I remembered, however, that Tom’s always very careful to never capture photos where school children would be in the image.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">The first of three schools on our itinerary was the Hutchinson Middle School, which was located a little less than two miles northwest of the Holley’s 39th Street homestead. When we arrived at the school around 11am, Tom carried me to the front of the building while Vicki remained in the Jeep. Buddy Holley attended J.T. Hutchinson Middle School from 1949 to 1952 and it was in that building where he and fellow schoolmate Bob Montgomery decided to form a music act they called ‘Buddy & Bob’. Together, Holley and Montgomery played bluegrass music at local clubs and talent shows; they continued as a duo until Buddy went his separate way with ‘Buddy Holly and the Two Tones’ in 1956. That was also the year Decca Records had misspelled Buddy’s surname on a contract as “Holly” instead of “Holley”. Since he liked the new spelling, Buddy kept his last name as “Holly”. By early 1957, the Crickets were formed; and the rest, as they say, is Rock and Roll history.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01181-2.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10335" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01181-2.jpg?w=4320&ssl=1 4320w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01181-2.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01181-2.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01181-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01181-2.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01181-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01181-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">This school is the J.T. Hutchinson Middle School in Lubbock, Texas. Buddy Holley attended this school from 1949 to 1952.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="236" height="293" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-MIDDLE-SCHOOL-2.jpg?resize=236%2C293&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10333"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"> Buddy Holley’s middle school photo.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2920-2.jpg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10336" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2920-2.jpg?w=5847&ssl=1 5847w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2920-2.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2920-2.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2920-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2920-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2920-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The J.T. Hutchinson Middle School opened in 1948, one year before Buddy Holley enrolled there.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">After our quick photo-shoot at the middle school had ended, the two of us returned to the Jeep where my photographer entered the coordinates into the GPS for the next school on his list. When I heard Tom tell his wife about our next destination, I thought to myself: “Elementary, my dear Watson.” That’s right – the Roscoe Wilson Elementary School was the next site on our agenda, and it was only six blocks north of the middle school.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Roscoe Wilson Elementary School was built in 1940 and just three years later, on September 6, 1943, a youngster by the name of Charles Hardin Holley enrolled in the first grade. Not only was Buddy an above average student in that school, he also met Bob Montgomery there as well. They became good friends; both kids loved listening to the Grand Ole Opry, Louisiana Hayride, and Big D Jamboree on the radio. Holley was forced to leave Roscoe Wilson in the middle of his fifth-grade year when his parents moved outside of the city limits.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">My photographer and I got very lucky during our time outside of the elementary school. While we noticed dozens of school children as they frolicked together in a distant playground, none of the kids were in front of the historic Roscoe Wilson school. Our timing was perfect as Tom managed to capture his images of me without any children in the background. Had there been kids there, I’m certain we would’ve returned to the school later in the afternoon.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01182-2.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10337" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01182-2.jpg?w=4320&ssl=1 4320w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01182-2.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01182-2.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01182-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01182-2.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01182-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01182-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Roscoe Wilson Elementary School in Lubbock, Texas where Buddy Holley attended first through fifth grades.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01185-2.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10338" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01185-2.jpg?w=4320&ssl=1 4320w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01185-2.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01185-2.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01185-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01185-2.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01185-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01185-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Through the doors behind me, Buddy first met classmate Bob Montgomery and the two became good friends. Holley was an above average student and his love for music began to grow during those early school years.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">From the Roscoe Wilson Elementary School, we headed for the third and final school of the day, which was located about a mile-and-a-half away. After Vicki found a parking spot at the Lubbock Activity Center, Tom carried me across the extremely busy, five-lane 19th Street to Lubbock High School. Even though my safety-minded photographer used the crosswalk, it seemed as though the two of us were forced to play a game of real-life “Frogger” during our attempt to get near the high school. I was happy to be safely inside the padded camera case, just in case one of those Texas drivers had graduated from the “Kim Johnson School of Driving”.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">The moment Tom removed me from the camera case, my resin jaw nearly dropped off my face. Lubbock High School looked architecturally amazing to me, especially when I heard the school had first opened its doors in 1931. That meant students had attended Lubbock High for twenty years before Buddy Holley enrolled in ninth grade in 1951. At 90 years old this year, the place looked incredible. My photographer and I spent about 15 minutes near the exterior of the high school while I posed for a handful of images. During that time, I couldn’t help but think about some of the famous students who were educated in that building, including Crickets’ bandmates Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, and Niki Sullivan. But there were more: Sonny Curtis, who played in Buddy’s band before the Crickets were formed; Bobby Keys, who not only briefly toured with Buddy Holly, but he also played saxophone with the Rolling Stones; and Natalie Maines, who is the controversial lead singer for the Dixie Chicks. Perhaps the biggest music star, besides Buddy, to graduate from Lubbock High was Mac Davis. Davis not only had his own TV show in the mid-70s, he also wrote some hits for Elvis Presley, including “Memories”; “In the Ghetto”; and “Don’t Cry Daddy”.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2939-2.jpg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10346" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2939-2.jpg?w=6000&ssl=1 6000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2939-2.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2939-2.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2939-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2939-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2939-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Lubbock High School opened in 1931 and it looked brand new 90 years later. A ‘Who’s Who of Talented Musicians” were educated in this building, including one of the forefathers of Rock and Roll – Buddy Holly.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1096" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-SCHOOL-YEARBOOK-2.jpg?resize=800%2C1096&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10349" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-SCHOOL-YEARBOOK-2.jpg?w=1314&ssl=1 1314w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-SCHOOL-YEARBOOK-2.jpg?resize=219%2C300&ssl=1 219w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-SCHOOL-YEARBOOK-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1052&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-SCHOOL-YEARBOOK-2.jpg?resize=748%2C1024&ssl=1 748w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A page from the 1955 Lubbock High Westerner yearbook that featured Buddy Holley’s senior picture.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="605" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01191-2.jpg?resize=800%2C605&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10344" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01191-2.jpg?w=4199&ssl=1 4199w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01191-2.jpg?resize=300%2C227&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01191-2.jpg?resize=768%2C581&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01191-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C774&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01191-2.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01191-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01191-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">As I stood in front of Lubbock High, I envisioned Buddy Holley, Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, and Niki Sullivan as they walked out of the front door and headed home to practice some of their songs.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="501" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-YEARBOOK-2.jpg?resize=800%2C501&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10354" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-YEARBOOK-2.jpg?w=954&ssl=1 954w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-YEARBOOK-2.jpg?resize=300%2C188&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-YEARBOOK-2.jpg?resize=768%2C481&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Buddy Holley’s portrait in the 1954 Westerner yearbook, which was Buddy’s Junior year.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01193-2.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10345" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01193-2.jpg?w=4320&ssl=1 4320w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01193-2.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01193-2.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01193-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01193-2.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01193-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01193-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Music history was made in the school’s auditorium, seen in the distance, as Buddy Holley once performed with Bob Montgomery on its stage.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="582" height="475" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-JUNIOR-YEAR-2.jpg?resize=582%2C475&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10350" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-JUNIOR-YEAR-2.jpg?w=582&ssl=1 582w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-JUNIOR-YEAR-2.jpg?resize=300%2C245&ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 582px) 100vw, 582px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">This image was captured from a 1953 Westerner yearbook that featured a signed photo from Buddy Holley’s sophomore year. The student to the right of Holley was Stella Holton. Thank goodness she didn’t influence Buddy on the style of his glasses.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="775" height="625" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-BUDDY-AND-BOB-2-1.jpg?resize=775%2C625&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10351" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-BUDDY-AND-BOB-2-1.jpg?w=775&ssl=1 775w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-BUDDY-AND-BOB-2-1.jpg?resize=300%2C242&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-BUDDY-AND-BOB-2-1.jpg?resize=768%2C619&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 775px) 100vw, 775px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">While still in high school, “Buddy & Bob” performed at Echo McGuire’s “Sweet 16” birthday party. McGuire was Holley’s high school girlfriend.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="594" height="576" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-AND-ECHO-2.jpg?resize=594%2C576&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10352" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-AND-ECHO-2.jpg?w=594&ssl=1 594w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-AND-ECHO-2.jpg?resize=300%2C291&ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Buddy Holley and his high school girlfriend Echo McGuire.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1200" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2957-2.jpg?resize=800%2C1200&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10347" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2957-2.jpg?w=4000&ssl=1 4000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2957-2.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2957-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1152&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2957-2.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1 683w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2957-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2957-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">It didn’t matter to me whether or not the same sign was there when Buddy Holley was a student at Lubbock High. I thought it was still a cool place to pose for a photo.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="791" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-GRADUATION-2.jpg?resize=800%2C791&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10355" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-GRADUATION-2.jpg?w=960&ssl=1 960w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-GRADUATION-2.jpg?resize=300%2C297&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-PHOTO-GRADUATION-2.jpg?resize=768%2C759&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">“It doesn’t matter anymore” after Buddy Holley graduated in the Lubbock High Class of 1955. Buddy knew he wanted to be a recording star before the ink on his diploma had dried.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1200" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2960-2.jpg?resize=800%2C1200&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10348" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2960-2.jpg?w=4000&ssl=1 4000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2960-2.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2960-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1152&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2960-2.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1 683w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2960-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2960-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">I was crying, waiting, hoping that my photographer would come back to take me off this sign because I felt so useless, and I knew it was wrong.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">It was an honor for my photographer and me to visit Lubbock High School. For this bobble head, and I know Tom felt the same way, it would’ve been even better had the two of us gotten inside the school’s auditorium where I could’ve stood on the same stage where Buddy Holley once performed. Maybe, baby, if we ever return to Lubbock in the future, the two of us will make it onto that stage before it’s too late.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">It’s not everyday I see my photographer run, but that chunky guy scooted along pretty good to keep us from getting run over during our return trip across 19th Street. We had only one close call – a pickup truck with a dented door whizzed past us; the driver had no intention of slowing down or stopping. All I could do, as I stood inside the camera case with my painted eyes closed, was say to myself: “Oh boy, this might be the day when we say goodbye. I just hope this isn’t the day, when I die!” </p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Tom had one site left on the “Buddy Holly” portion of our agenda – the Buddy Holly Center, which was located roughly 15 blocks east of the high school. I was excited to get back to the museum dedicated to the late recording star and the headliner of the 1959 Winter Dance Party tour. In 2016, during my first visit to the center, the photos my camera guy captured when I stood next to Buddy Holly’s glasses were blurry. His lone goal on that Thursday afternoon was to capture striking images of the eyeglasses Holly wore when he was killed.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">We arrived at the Buddy Holly Center at 12 noon and before I could say “Shake, Rattle and Roll”, I found myself standing on top of a giant pair of black “Buddy Holly-style” glasses. While those glasses were cool, they weren’t the real McCoys; they weren’t the glasses my photographer and I were eager to see. Vicki decided to stay in the Jeep rather than pay the museum’s eight-dollar entry fee. Tom’s wife claimed she saw everything five years earlier and didn’t need to go back inside. When I heard Vicki tell my photographer that she would wait outside, I thought to myself: “Well all right, suit yourself. But don’t come back knockin’ if you have a change of heart.” </p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2973-2.jpg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10366" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2973-2.jpg?w=6000&ssl=1 6000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2973-2.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2973-2.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2973-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2973-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2973-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">While it was cool to stand on the huge replica of Buddy Holly’s glasses, I was anxious to see the real thing inside the museum.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2980-2.jpg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10367" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2980-2.jpg?w=6000&ssl=1 6000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2980-2.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2980-2.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2980-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2980-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2980-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">As I stood on the larger-than-life glasses, I saw the childhood home of Crickets’ drummer Jerry Allison in the distance.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Inside the center, Tom handed over the eight bucks; then he did something that shocked me – he asked the Center’s director for permission to snap a few images of the most historic eyeglasses in the world. My cameraman sought consent because he knew photography inside the Buddy Holly section of the museum was prohibited and he didn’t want to be reprimanded down the line should he get caught. In my mind, I thought it was really cool when the director said: “I’m glad you asked permission – most people don’t.” Then he smiled and looked up in the air as if to say: ‘What I can’t see, won’t hurt me.’</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">The two of us went inside the museum and luckily, we were alone, at least for a short time. Even though he had permission, Tom didn’t want to advertise the fact he was taking pictures. The Buddy Holly Museum was set up in a semi-circle design, which began with artifacts from his childhood and ended with items from his recording career. But there were two showcases that were segregated from the rest. One case contained some of his guitars, including his personal Sunburst Fender Stratocaster he had played at the Surf Ballroom on February 2, 1959. And the second case, which was the primary focus of our visit, protected the famed, black-rimmed glasses that Holly was wearing when he was killed in the plane crash.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">When the Beechcraft Bonanza plane that carried Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, and pilot Roger Peterson crashed into a frozen cornfield just north of Clear Lake, Iowa in the early hours of February 3, 1959, the bodies of the three singers were ejected from the aircraft. At some point during the violent final seconds, Buddy’s glasses must’ve been propelled from his face; ending up on the ground covered with snow. Hidden from the first responders’ view as they gathered the victims’ belongings, the glasses were lost until the farm’s owner discovered them two months later when the snow melted. The farmer gave the glasses to the county coroner where they were put in an envelope marked “Charles Hardin Holley, rec’d April 7, 1959”. Somehow that envelope was misplaced during a move to a new county courthouse where it remained locked in a steel cabinet inside a storage vault for 21 years. After a curious sheriff was combing the storage vault on February 29, 1980, he stumbled upon the envelope. After a legal fight over the glasses ensued, they ended up in the hands of Maria Holly Diaz, Buddy’s re-married widow. In 1998, she sold her husband’s historic trademark glasses to the Buddy Holly Center for $80,000 where they’ve remained on display since. </p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="450" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01197-2.jpg?resize=800%2C450&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10362" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01197-2.jpg?w=1920&ssl=1 1920w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01197-2.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01197-2.jpg?resize=768%2C432&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01197-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01197-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">It was a solemn and very sad moment for me when I posed near Buddy Holly’s glasses. In my mind, I envisioned Buddy wearing those same glasses while on stage at the Surf Ballroom and when he boarded the plane an hour or so later.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="509" height="411" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-ON-STAGE-2.jpg?resize=509%2C411&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10364" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-ON-STAGE-2.jpg?w=509&ssl=1 509w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-ON-STAGE-2.jpg?resize=300%2C242&ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 509px) 100vw, 509px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Surrounded by electric bassist Waylon Jennings (left) and Tommy Allsup on guitar, Buddy Holly was photographed as he performed at the Surf Ballroom on February 2, 1959. </figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="546" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2996-2.jpg?resize=800%2C546&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10365" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2996-2.jpg?w=5163&ssl=1 5163w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2996-2.jpg?resize=300%2C205&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2996-2.jpg?resize=768%2C524&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2996-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C699&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2996-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2996-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The scarred frame, without the lenses, was a visual reminder of the violent final moments in the life of Rock and Roll legend Buddy Holly.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="594" height="447" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-HOLLY-CLOSE.jpg?resize=594%2C447&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10372" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-HOLLY-CLOSE.jpg?w=594&ssl=1 594w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-HOLLY-CLOSE.jpg?resize=300%2C226&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-HOLLY-CLOSE.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 594px) 100vw, 594px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">With 20/800 vision, Buddy Holly was forced to wear glasses most of his life. At first, Holly disliked wearing spectacles when he performed. However, his black horn-rimmed Faoisa glasses became his undeniable trademark.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1067" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01199-2.jpg?resize=800%2C1067&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10369" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01199-2.jpg?w=3084&ssl=1 3084w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01199-2.jpg?resize=225%2C300&ssl=1 225w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01199-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01199-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01199-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">It was a true honor for me to pose alongside Buddy Holly’s Fender Stratocaster he used at the Surf Ballroom during his final performance on February 2, 1959. The last song he played that fateful night was ‘Brown Eyed Handsome Man’.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1200" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3004-2.jpg?resize=800%2C1200&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10371" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3004-2.jpg?w=4000&ssl=1 4000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3004-2.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3004-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1152&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3004-2.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1 683w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3004-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3004-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Buddy Holly’s pick still remained where he had left it after the show in Clear Lake, Iowa.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1207" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3001-2.jpg?resize=800%2C1207&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10370" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3001-2.jpg?w=3766&ssl=1 3766w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3001-2.jpg?resize=199%2C300&ssl=1 199w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3001-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1159&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3001-2.jpg?resize=679%2C1024&ssl=1 679w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3001-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3001-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">When the Winter Dance Party tour had finished in Springfield, Illinois on February 15, 1959, Waylon Jennings brought Buddy Holly’s guitar and amplifier to NYC and placed them in a locker inside Grand Center Terminal. Jennings mailed the keys to Maria Elena Holly before he returned to Lubbock.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1067" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-2.jpeg?resize=800%2C1067&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10373" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-2.jpeg?w=3024&ssl=1 3024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-2.jpeg?resize=225%2C300&ssl=1 225w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-2.jpeg?resize=768%2C1024&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-2.jpeg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-2.jpeg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">One of the display cases in the museum featured a white tee shirt once worn by Buddy Holly.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="781" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-1.jpeg?resize=800%2C781&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10374" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-1.jpeg?w=3081&ssl=1 3081w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-1.jpeg?resize=300%2C293&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-1.jpeg?resize=768%2C750&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-1.jpeg?resize=1024%2C1000&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-1.jpeg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-1.jpeg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A suit coat, once worn by Holly, and other artifacts were on display in another case.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="783" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2994-2.jpg?resize=800%2C783&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10376" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2994-2.jpg?w=2983&ssl=1 2983w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2994-2.jpg?resize=300%2C294&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2994-2.jpg?resize=768%2C752&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2994-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C1002&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2994-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2994-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">One of the last displays we saw featured some artifacts and photos from the Winter Dance Party tour.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="502" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-HOLLY-CRASH-2.jpg?resize=800%2C502&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10378" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-HOLLY-CRASH-2.jpg?w=3044&ssl=1 3044w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-HOLLY-CRASH-2.jpg?resize=300%2C188&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-HOLLY-CRASH-2.jpg?resize=768%2C482&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-HOLLY-CRASH-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C643&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-HOLLY-CRASH-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-HOLLY-CRASH-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">This graphic image of the crash site shows where the bodies of the three performers were ejected from the plane on February 3, 1959. It’s absolutely heartbreaking for me to see 17-year-old Ritchie Valens (dark coat in foreground), 22-year-old Buddy Holly (light coat) and 28-year-old J.P. Richardson, The Big Bopper (adjacent field) lying in that frozen field. The body of 21-year-old pilot Roger Peterson was still strapped inside the wreckage of the plane.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="964" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2991-2.jpg?resize=800%2C964&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10377" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2991-2.jpg?w=3293&ssl=1 3293w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2991-2.jpg?resize=249%2C300&ssl=1 249w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2991-2.jpg?resize=768%2C925&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2991-2.jpg?resize=850%2C1024&ssl=1 850w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2991-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_2991-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">These pieces, which looked like Buddy’s wallet and a couple of cards from his wallet, were recovered at the crash scene.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="604" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-3.jpeg?resize=800%2C604&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10375" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-3.jpeg?w=2843&ssl=1 2843w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-3.jpeg?resize=300%2C226&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-3.jpeg?resize=768%2C580&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-3.jpeg?resize=1024%2C773&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-3.jpeg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-3.jpeg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-STUFF-3.jpeg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Buddy Holly influenced many later Rock and Roll stars. Growing up, Elton John had perfect vision. But when he insisted on wearing other people’s glasses, his eyesight worsened – which forced him to wear glasses to correct his vision. The glasses on display in the museum were once worn by the “Piano Pounding Madman” himself.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Tom and I spent roughly 20 minutes inside the museum. In my mind, I knew my photographer would’ve spent a lot more time there had his wife not been waiting outside. While the artifacts from Buddy’s youth were cool, it was the memorabilia from his final tour that really broke my resin-filled heart. It was hard for me to take my eyes of Holly’s glasses. In my opinion, they were the most historically famous eyewear in American history. Even the blood-spattered glasses worn by John Lennon when he was assassinated would take a back seat to Buddy’s specs, at least in my and Tom’s opinions.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">The two of us rendezvoused with Vicki who was seated on a bench outside the museum; she had been occupied with her cell phone the entire time she waited for us. I laughed to myself when I thought: “Give her a fully charged cell phone and a glass of iced tea and we could’ve spent the entire day in that museum without her wondering what we were doing.” She did, however, walk with us to the last two sites near the Buddy Holly Center. The first was the boyhood home of Crickets’ drummer Jerry Allison and the second was the Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza, located across the street.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">During our 2016 visit to Lubbock, the three of us went on a tour of Jerry Allison’s boyhood home that originally stood a mile or two northwest of the Holly Center. When the home became rundown and there was a fear it would be destroyed, a local contractor volunteered to move it to the Center and his company helped renovate the historic home. As a matter of fact, the Allison home was VERY historic. In 1956, Jerry and Buddy Holly co-wrote their hit song “That’ll be the Day” in Jerry’s bedroom in the home. That song became so popular, in fact, the Quarrymen covered it for their first record. That’s right, “That’ll be the Day” turned out to be the Beatles’ first song they ever recorded. Jerry Allison once said: “Paul McCartney did tell me that if there hadn’t been the Crickets, there never would have been the Beatles.” </p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Early in the morning of February 3, 1959, after the Crickets had returned late the previous night from a recording session with Norman Petty in Clovis, New Mexico, Sonny Curtis was drinking coffee in the home’s dining room with Allison’s mother. Jerry was still asleep in his bedroom. A neighbor suddenly came to the door with the news she heard on the radio: The airplane that carried Holly, Valens, and Richardson on the Winter Dance Party tour had crashed in Iowa. All three singers were killed. Curtis was the one who walked into the bedroom that morning to inform the Crickets’ drummer that his good friend, Buddy, was dead.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Thanks to COVID restrictions, the Allison boyhood home was closed to visitors, which deeply disappointed me. In my mind, the Center could’ve insisted on proof of vaccination for entry into the historic home. And I was good with that scenario because my photographer, his wife, and I had all been vaccinated against the virus; a bug that seems likely will never go away. But as I stood outside the locked fence while Tom held me through the bars for a couple of photos, only one thought crossed my mind: “Well, that’ll be the day when you say goodbye. Yes, that’ll be the day, when masks made me sigh. They say it’ll soon be over; you know it’s a lie. ‘Cause that’ll be the day, when I die.” <br><br></p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01202-2.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10383" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01202-2.jpg?w=4171&ssl=1 4171w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01202-2.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01202-2.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01202-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01202-2.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01202-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC01202-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Even though I was vaccinated, this was as close as I could get to the childhood home of Jerry Allison. It’s so easy to keep the place closed to everyone, rather than just those who chose not to be vaccinated.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="660" height="409" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-ALLISON-HOUSE.jpeg?resize=660%2C409&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10382" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-ALLISON-HOUSE.jpeg?w=660&ssl=1 660w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-ALLISON-HOUSE.jpeg?resize=300%2C186&ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Jerry Allison was all smiles as he stood outside his refurbished boyhood home during the site’s dedication ceremony at the Buddy Holly Center on September 6, 20`13.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_4383-2.jpg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10384" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_4383-2.jpg?w=6000&ssl=1 6000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_4383-2.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_4383-2.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_4383-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_4383-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_4383-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">This image of Jerry Allison’s bedroom was taken by my photographer during our visit in 2016. In 2021, the house was closed to the public due to COVID restrictions.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="660" height="408" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-ALLISON-HOUSE-INSIDE.jpeg?resize=660%2C408&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10385" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-ALLISON-HOUSE-INSIDE.jpeg?w=660&ssl=1 660w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-ALLISON-HOUSE-INSIDE.jpeg?resize=300%2C185&ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Jerry Allison (red shirt) talked to Sonny Curtis about when he and Buddy Holly wrote “That’ll be the Day” in that bedroom.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1083" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_4382-2.jpg?resize=800%2C1083&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10386" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_4382-2.jpg?w=2822&ssl=1 2822w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_4382-2.jpg?resize=222%2C300&ssl=1 222w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_4382-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1040&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_4382-2.jpg?resize=756%2C1024&ssl=1 756w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_4382-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_4382-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">This was another image Tom had taken in 2016, and the photo was captured just three years after Jerry Allison stood next to the same piano.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">The three of us made the long walk across the Center’s parking lot, then across Crickets Avenue, where we ended up in the Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza. When Tom removed me from the camera case, the first thing I saw was the larger-than-life bronze statue of the man himself – Buddy Holly; and it was featured prominently in the middle of the West Texas Walk of Fame. Last night, I saw the same statue in a portrait on our hotel room’s wall. When Tom placed me on Buddy’s right hand as he strummed his Stratocaster, I could feel my resin heartbeat pounding in my chest. It was a proud moment – I nearly shouted: “Look at me”; even though I was worried to death about slippin’ and slidin’ off Buddy’s bronze hand and smashing to pieces on the statue’s circular bronze base below.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="501" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3043-2.jpg?resize=800%2C501&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10387" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3043-2.jpg?w=5377&ssl=1 5377w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3043-2.jpg?resize=300%2C188&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3043-2.jpg?resize=768%2C481&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3043-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C641&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3043-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3043-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Buddy Holly statue took center stage in the West Texas Walk of Fame.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1330" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3017-2.jpg?resize=800%2C1330&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10388" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3017-2.jpg?w=3251&ssl=1 3251w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3017-2.jpg?resize=180%2C300&ssl=1 180w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3017-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1277&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3017-2.jpg?resize=616%2C1024&ssl=1 616w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3017-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3017-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Buddy Holly seemed larger than life to me. Then again, he was 8.5 feet tall, while I stood at only 8.5 inches high.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="660" height="447" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-STATUE-1.jpeg?resize=660%2C447&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10393" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-STATUE-1.jpeg?w=660&ssl=1 660w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-STATUE-1.jpeg?resize=300%2C203&ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 660px) 100vw, 660px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">On Monday May 9, 2011, Maria Elena Holly was photographed as she talked with an unidentified fan after the dedication ceremony that opened the plaza named after her and her late husband, Buddy Holly. Photo credit: Lubbock Avalanche-Journal</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1200" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3032-2.jpg?resize=800%2C1200&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10389" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3032-2.jpg?w=4000&ssl=1 4000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3032-2.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3032-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1152&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3032-2.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1 683w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3032-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3032-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Tom had carefully balanced me on Buddy’s hand, but it felt as though I was slippin’ and slidin’ off his wrist. At that moment, I thought about singing: “This’ll be the day when I die!”</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1200" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3025-2.jpg?resize=800%2C1200&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10390" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3025-2.jpg?w=4000&ssl=1 4000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3025-2.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3025-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1152&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3025-2.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1 683w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3025-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3025-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">As I looked closely at Buddy Holly’s bronze face, it seemed as though he had been a rock star for a long time. He made his first appearance on a local TV station in 1952 and he was a worldwide star by early 1959. It’s hard to believe Buddy Holly died at the age of 22. In comparison, Elton John was 23 years old when he made his U.S. debut at the Troubadour in 1970.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1259" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3014-2.jpg?resize=800%2C1259&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10391" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3014-2.jpg?w=1747&ssl=1 1747w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3014-2.jpg?resize=191%2C300&ssl=1 191w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3014-2.jpg?resize=768%2C1208&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3014-2.jpg?resize=651%2C1024&ssl=1 651w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3014-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">There were times during our visit to the plaza that I couldn’t help but envision Marshall Crenshaw as he portrayed Buddy Holly in the movie “La Bamba”. In my opinion, Crenshaw performed the song “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” better than Buddy did; and that’s quite a compliment.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="624" height="521" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-MARSHALL-2.jpg?resize=624%2C521&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10392" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-MARSHALL-2.jpg?w=624&ssl=1 624w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-MARSHALL-2.jpg?resize=300%2C250&ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 624px) 100vw, 624px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption"> “Crying, duh do do do, my tears keep fallin’ all night long. Waiting, duh do do do, I feel so useless, I know it’s wrong.” </figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="541" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3041-2.jpg?resize=800%2C541&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10395" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3041-2.jpg?w=5501&ssl=1 5501w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3041-2.jpg?resize=300%2C203&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3041-2.jpg?resize=768%2C519&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3041-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C692&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3041-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/DSC_3041-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The bronze image of Buddy Holly looked out over Cricket’s Avenue at the Center named in his honor. Rave On, Buddy Holly. Your music will never die!</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Tom packed me into the camera case before we headed towards the Jeep. It was an amazing day of Buddy Holly sites, and I was left reminiscing about Buddy’s life, his music, and his untimely death. It was a few minutes past one o’clock and my photographer had promised his wife we’d spend the entire afternoon visiting Lubbock’s antique shops, which was exactly what we did. After scouring the internet for the best shops, Tom narrowed the field down to three – Vintage Etc. Antique Mall; Grand Central Station Antiques; and the Antique Mall of Lubbock. When it comes to shopping for stuff in those places, my photographer and I have the same interest: Presidential artifacts, historical relics, and Rock and Roll memorabilia.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">The first two places were duds, at least for the most part. Tom did purchase a Lubbock Avalanche-Journal newspaper from Grand Central Antiques. That 1977 paper featured a headline that broke the news of Elvis Presley’s death. My photographer thought the newspaper was cool because Elvis had performed some of his earliest shows in Lubbock. The last place we had stopped, the Antique Mall of Lubbock, was what my companion described as “the best antique shop I’ve ever been in”. That huge store had something for everyone, including my cheap and finicky photographer. Since we were in Lubbock, Texas, the birthplace of Buddy Holly, Tom had hoped to find some items related to the hometown Rock and Roll star. And the Antique Mall of Lubbock didn’t let him down. While there were several areas inside the mall that featured Buddy Holly memorabilia, my cameraman was literally blown away when we came upon one particular showcase. That locked case contained some unique Buddy Holly and Elvis items, including a 1954 Lubbock High School yearbook from Buddy’s Junior year. That historic book came with a $750.00 price tag as well. There were also several Holly vinyl LPs, which were released after his death, and a 78-rpm single that was cracked. But Tom didn’t leave that store empty-handed. On the third shelf of that showcase, tucked away behind the high-priced yearbook, was a Buddy Holly Music Festival commemorative bottle of Coke from 1997. Even though Tom is a Diet Coke consumer, he couldn’t get that collectible from the display case to the checkout counter fast enough. </p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="660" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-ANTIQUE-ELVIS-PAPER.jpeg?resize=800%2C660&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10400" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-ANTIQUE-ELVIS-PAPER.jpeg?w=3600&ssl=1 3600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-ANTIQUE-ELVIS-PAPER.jpeg?resize=300%2C247&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-ANTIQUE-ELVIS-PAPER.jpeg?resize=768%2C633&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-ANTIQUE-ELVIS-PAPER.jpeg?resize=1024%2C844&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-ANTIQUE-ELVIS-PAPER.jpeg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-ANTIQUE-ELVIS-PAPER.jpeg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">While this newspaper was historically cool, since it was from The Day Elvis’ Music Died, I knew Tom was wishing the paper had been printed on February 3, 1959.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1007" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-2.jpeg?resize=800%2C1007&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10401" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-2.jpeg?w=3005&ssl=1 3005w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-2.jpeg?resize=238%2C300&ssl=1 238w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-2.jpeg?resize=768%2C967&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-2.jpeg?resize=814%2C1024&ssl=1 814w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-2.jpeg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-2.jpeg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">At one point during our search inside the Antique Mall of Lubbock, my photographer found an interesting quartet of doll heads. I was shocked when he didn’t buy them.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="945" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-3.jpeg?resize=800%2C945&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10402" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-3.jpeg?w=2241&ssl=1 2241w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-3.jpeg?resize=254%2C300&ssl=1 254w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-3.jpeg?resize=768%2C907&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-3.jpeg?resize=867%2C1024&ssl=1 867w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-3.jpeg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">We also stumbled upon an eerie collection of mannequins, which made me think to myself: “If Tom buys one of those creepy things, I’m gonna set my foot down and find someone else to travel with. They ain’t got no home as long as I’m around.”</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-1.jpeg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10403" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-1.jpeg?w=4032&ssl=1 4032w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-1.jpeg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-1.jpeg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-1.jpeg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-1.jpeg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-1.jpeg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-ANTIQUE-1.jpeg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The two of us nearly fainted when we came across the ‘Holy Grail’ of display cases at the Antique Mall of Lubbock. Tom browsed the pages of the $750 yearbook, and I knew he wanted it for his collection. While I hoped he would think it over, the price tag was just too steep; especially since we had the huge antique flea market in Round Top left to visit.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="782" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-COKE.jpeg?resize=800%2C782&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10404" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-COKE.jpeg?w=2834&ssl=1 2834w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-COKE.jpeg?resize=300%2C293&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-COKE.jpeg?resize=768%2C751&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-COKE.jpeg?resize=1024%2C1001&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-COKE.jpeg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-COKE.jpeg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">While my cheap photographer didn’t pop-open his wallet for the yearbook, he did listen to me and buy the commemorative bottle of Coke.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">We had spent over three hours in the antique shops and my traveling partners were getting hungry. On the return trip to our My Place Hotel, the two of them decided they wanted authentic Mexican food. That meant only one thing – Taco Bell. It was roughly 4:45pm when we made it back to our room with the food. After Tom placed me on the windowsill next to the Holly photo, I watched my photographer and his wife as they dined on their fine Mexican cuisine. For the remainder of the evening, my photographer and his wife watched Tampa Bay play the Philadelphia Eagles on Thursday Night Football.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">After Tom Brady’s team squeaked-out a 28-22 victory over the Eagles, the lights were extinguished for the night. The solitude of darkness gave me time to reflect on the life of Buddy Holly. During our time in Lubbock, I saw numerous places and artifacts from all aspects of Buddy’s life, as well as his tragic death. But then my attention was broken by my taco-filled photographer. At first, I wanted to believe those six tacos he scarfed down wouldn’t affect his digestive system – but I guess I was just a fool. At some point, just past midnight, Tom began to rip it up; and the only thing that crossed my mind was “Oh boy!” But in the grand scheme of things, especially when I thought about how young Buddy Holly was when his life was cut short, there could be worse things than a little gas amongst friends. The one lesson I learned in Lubbock was: Life is precious, and life is short; don’t take life for granted. My newfound philosophy, thanks to Charles Hardin Holley, was: Take your time; enjoy each moment as if it were your last; and never, ever fly in February.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="490" height="618" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-GLASSES.jpg?resize=490%2C618&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-10405" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-GLASSES.jpg?w=490&ssl=1 490w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/LUBBOCK-BUDDY-GLASSES.jpg?resize=238%2C300&ssl=1 238w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 490px) 100vw, 490px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Buddy Holly 1937 – 1959</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">** <strong>This post is dedicated to the late, great Buddy Holly. Gone too soon!</strong> **</p> ]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://eyesofjefferson.com/162-early-in-the-morning-with-buddy-holly/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">10298</post-id> </item> <item> <title>48: WHERE THE CRICKETS ONCE CHIRPED</title> <link>https://eyesofjefferson.com/48-where-the-crickets-once-chirped/</link> <comments>https://eyesofjefferson.com/48-where-the-crickets-once-chirped/#respond</comments> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Thomas Watson]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Sun, 29 Dec 2019 18:46:02 +0000</pubDate> <category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Buddy Holly]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Buddy Holly grave]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Buddy Holly's glasses]]></category> <category><![CDATA[City of Lubbock Cemetery]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Crystal Ballroom]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Hilton Fort Worth]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Holley family home]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Hotel Texas]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Jefferson]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Jefferson bobble head]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Jerry Allison boyhood home]]></category> <category><![CDATA[John F. Kennedy]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Lee Harvey Oswald]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Oswald grave]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Rose Hill Cemetery Fort Worth]]></category> <category><![CDATA[The Buddy Holly Center]]></category> <category><![CDATA[Thomas Jefferson]]></category> <category><![CDATA[West Texas Walk of Fame]]></category> <guid isPermaLink="false">https://eyesofjefferson.com/?p=2115</guid> <description><![CDATA[It was roughly 100 miles from Buddy Holly’s doorstep in Lubbock, Texas to the Petty recording studio in Clovis, New Mexico. I heard David Bigham tell my photographer that when the Crickets were scheduled to record at the studio, Buddy’s…]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[ <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">It was roughly 100 miles from Buddy Holly’s doorstep in Lubbock, Texas to the Petty recording studio in Clovis, New Mexico. I heard David Bigham tell my photographer that when the Crickets were scheduled to record at the studio, Buddy’s goal was to leave home and arrive in Clovis at the same time they left. Even though the time zone changed at the Texas-New Mexico border, Holly still had to average 100 mph to achieve the feat. David laughed and said Holly and his bandmates always seem to accomplish the goal; mainly because there weren’t many police and there wasn’t as much traffic in those days. </p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">It was early afternoon on Wednesday July 27, 2016 and as I rode in the backseat of the Avenger that was headed along the desolate US Highway 84 towards Lubbock, Texas, I thought about Buddy Holly and his Crickets. After all, it was along that same highway that the band had travelled to and from Clovis countless times in the late 50s. </p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">As the clock was about to hit 3:00pm, we arrived at the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock and luckily, we were able to catch the day’s final tour of the J.I. Allison House that had been preserved at the Center. The boyhood home of Crickets’ drummer Jerry Allison had been moved there in 2012 and it was restored to look as it did in the late 1950s. As I was carried into the small one-story home, albeit in my camera case, I could feel the music history as it oozed from the walls. </p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="491" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-9.jpg?resize=800%2C491&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2117" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-9.jpg?w=5946&ssl=1 5946w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-9.jpg?resize=300%2C184&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-9.jpg?resize=768%2C471&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-9.jpg?resize=1024%2C628&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-9.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-9.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Jerry Allison’s boyhood home was situated alongside the Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock, Texas.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-1.jpg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2118" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-1.jpg?w=6000&ssl=1 6000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-1.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-1.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-1.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-1.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The home owned by Louise and James Allison, both of whom supported their son’s drumming and encouraged Jerry to invite his friends to visit and bring their instruments.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-2.jpg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2119" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-2.jpg?w=6000&ssl=1 6000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-2.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-2.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Jerry Allison once said that he and Buddy Holly would sit in Buddy’s ’55 Oldsmobile that was parked in front of their garage and “talk about songs, and girls, and Elvis.”</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">In the bedroom, which was shared with his brother Jaime, Jerry Allison and Buddy Holly wrote the song “That’ll Be The Day” after seeing John Wayne’s movie <em>‘The Searchers’ </em>at Lubbock’s State Theater. It was also in that same bedroom, where on February 3, 1959, Jerry received the worse news of his young life. Allison’s good friend and new Cricket bandmate Sonny Curtis walked into the bedroom, woke the sleeping 19-year-old, and told him that Buddy had been killed in a plane crash.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-4.jpg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2120" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-4.jpg?w=5779&ssl=1 5779w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-4.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-4.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-4.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-4.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-4.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The restored bedroom of Crickets’ drummer Jerry Allison.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1200" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-3.jpg?resize=800%2C1200&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2121" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-3.jpg?w=3819&ssl=1 3819w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-3.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-3.jpg?resize=768%2C1152&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-3.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1 683w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-3.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-3.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The view from behind Jerry Allison’s drumkit in the bedroom where Jerry and Buddy Holly penned their hit song “That’ll Be The Day”.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-6.jpg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2123" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-6.jpg?w=6000&ssl=1 6000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-6.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-6.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-6.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-6.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-6.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Allison’s dining room where the creative minds behind the Crickets were fed.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-7.jpg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2124" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-7.jpg?w=6000&ssl=1 6000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-7.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-7.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-7.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-7.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-7.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">As I stood in the Allison’s living room, I could almost hear the “futuristic sound” of Rock and Roll that filled that home in the late ’50s. </figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Although Jerry Allison’s bedroom was the highlight of the short tour, my photographer and I found the rest of the home interesting as well. No matter where I was carried in the small house, it was as though I could feel the presence of Buddy Holly and the Crickets. And what impact did that early Rock and Roll group have? Paul McCartney was once quoted as saying: “If there hadn’t been the Crickets, there never would have been the Beatles.”</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">When the Allison home tour was finished, I was carried back into the Holly Center where we visited the museum dedicated to the life and times of Buddy Holly. The first thing my cameraman learned upon entry was photography was prohibited inside the Holly museum, which disappointed him immensely as he wanted to capture an image of Buddy’s famous glasses. From my perch inside the camera case, I saw numerous artifacts from all aspects of Charles Hardin Holley’s life; especially items from his childhood growing up in Lubbock. But for Tom and me, and likely for every Buddy Holly fan in the world, the pièce de résistance came near the end of the visit. </p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">First, we saw a showcase that contained several of Holly’s guitars. However, the one guitar that was the Holy Grail for us was the Fender Stratocaster that Buddy had played at the Surf Ballroom on February 2, 1959. That’s right, the last guitar that Buddy Holly ever played was on display just a few feet from me; and it still had Buddy’s white guitar pick stuck in the pick guard where he had put it nearly 60 years earlier. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the Strat’s six strings on its body, knowing that the last musical sounds that Holly ever made came from right there.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Then I saw ‘them’ across the walkway from the guitar display; they were situated on a Plexiglas riser inside their own protective case. ‘Them’ were the pair of black-rimmed glasses that Buddy Holly wore on the night he was killed near Clear Lake, Iowa. Those eyeglasses were arguably the most famous spectacles in the history of Rock and Roll and I was within inches of them. As I stared at the black plastic Faiosa frames that Holly’s eye doctor had brought to his client from Mexico, an eerie sadness came over me. Hours before his untimely death, Buddy Holly looked through those glasses as he belted out his biggest hits at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. In his final moments around 1:00am on February 3, 1959, the singer likely looked through those frames and into the dark night sky; or perhaps he glanced over one final time as the young pilot, Roger Peterson, struggled to fly the small Beechcraft Bonanza aircraft. </p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="539" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-14.jpg?resize=800%2C539&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2132" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-14.jpg?w=5315&ssl=1 5315w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-14.jpg?resize=300%2C202&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-14.jpg?resize=768%2C518&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-14.jpg?resize=1024%2C690&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-14.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-14.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">As Tom posed near the entrance to the Buddy Holly Center, it turned out that my photographer’s reading glasses resembled Buddy’s signature glasses </figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1196" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-10.jpg?resize=800%2C1196&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2125" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-10.jpg?w=3316&ssl=1 3316w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-10.jpg?resize=201%2C300&ssl=1 201w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-10.jpg?resize=768%2C1148&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-10.jpg?resize=685%2C1024&ssl=1 685w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-10.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-10.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Buddy Holly’s Fender Stratocaster that he played at the Surf Ballroom on February 2, 1959.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1027" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-11.jpg?resize=800%2C1027&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2126" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-11.jpg?w=906&ssl=1 906w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-11.jpg?resize=234%2C300&ssl=1 234w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-11.jpg?resize=768%2C986&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-11.jpg?resize=798%2C1024&ssl=1 798w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">With the white guitar pick still where Buddy had placed it so many years ago, I thought of the song ‘Brown Eyed Handsome Man’ and envisioned Holly’s fingers strutting the strings during the final song of his life.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="899" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-AT-THE-SURF-1.jpg?resize=800%2C899&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2129" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-AT-THE-SURF-1.jpg?w=961&ssl=1 961w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-AT-THE-SURF-1.jpg?resize=267%2C300&ssl=1 267w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-AT-THE-SURF-1.jpg?resize=768%2C863&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-AT-THE-SURF-1.jpg?resize=911%2C1024&ssl=1 911w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Buddy Holly during the Winter Dance Party show at the Surf Ballroom on February 2, 1959.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="509" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-12.jpg?resize=800%2C509&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2127" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-12.jpg?w=4158&ssl=1 4158w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-12.jpg?resize=300%2C191&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-12.jpg?resize=768%2C489&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-12.jpg?resize=1024%2C652&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-12.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-12.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Buddy Holly’s glasses that he wore while on the Winter Dance Party tour. Holly’s glasses were likely thrown from his face during the plane’s impact with the frozen ground. The prescription lenses were gone and the iconic frames were badly damaged.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="563" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-13.jpg?resize=800%2C563&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2128" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-13.jpg?w=3459&ssl=1 3459w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-13.jpg?resize=300%2C211&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-13.jpg?resize=768%2C540&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-13.jpg?resize=1024%2C721&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-13.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CENTER-13.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The glasses were found by a farmer on April 7 1959 in the Iowa field where the plane had crashed. The famous spectacles were placed into an envelope and locked in a local sheriff’s storage vault until they were discovered in 1980 and given to Holly’s widow Maria Elena.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BUDDY-HOLLY.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2130" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BUDDY-HOLLY.jpg?w=968&ssl=1 968w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BUDDY-HOLLY.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BUDDY-HOLLY.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BUDDY-HOLLY.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The late great Buddy Holly with his signature glasses. Buddy had 20/800 vision and in the early days of performing he hated wearing glasses.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">After our tour of the Buddy Holly museum was finished, Tom talked with the curator and he was granted permission to photograph Holly’s glasses as well as the Stratocaster that Buddy had played at the Surf Ballroom. All that the curator had asked for was discretion from my photographer so that others in the museum didn’t see him taking the pictures. I knew that his request would be no problem as I’ve witnessed my cameraman being very sneaky in the past. </p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">When the secretive photo session with the Holly artifacts was finished, my cameraman asked the curator for one more favor: “Would you please give me contact information for Maria Elena Holly? I know she lives in Dallas, and we are headed there tomorrow. My wife and I would love to meet her and invite her to have lunch with us.” I was stunned that Tom had the nerve to ask the curator that question; then I was even more surprised when the guy responded with: “Maria doesn’t have email and I won’t give out her personal telephone number. However, I will call her tomorrow, and I’ll discuss with her what you and your wife are seeking to do. I’m sure she would love to have lunch with the two of you. Give me your cell number and I will have Maria Elena get in touch with you.” Although my photographer and I were stunned, we thought having lunch with the former Mrs. Holly might be too good to be true; and it was. Tom never did get a phone call from Buddy Holly’s widow. </p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Back outside, the three of us walked across Crickets Avenue to the Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza where we saw a large bronze statue of Buddy Holly that was surrounded by the West Texas Walk of Fame. Holly was the first musician inducted into the Walk of Fame; he received the honor posthumously in 1979. The three original Crickets; Jerry Allison, Joe B. Mauldin, and Niki Sullivan; received their honors in 1986. The eight-and-a-half-foot tall bronze statue featured Buddy as he played his Fender Stratocaster.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="475" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-1.jpg?resize=800%2C475&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2133" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-1.jpg?w=5961&ssl=1 5961w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-1.jpg?resize=300%2C178&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-1.jpg?resize=768%2C456&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C607&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-1.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-1.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Buddy and Maria Elena Holly Plaza that featured the West Texas Walk of Fame as well as a bronze statue of the late great Buddy Holly.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="504" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-3.jpg?resize=800%2C504&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2134" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-3.jpg?w=5451&ssl=1 5451w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-3.jpg?resize=300%2C189&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-3.jpg?resize=768%2C484&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-3.jpg?resize=1024%2C645&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-3.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-3.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The bronze statue faced towards the Buddy Holly Center, which was directly across Crickets Avenue from the plaza.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1200" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-4.jpg?resize=800%2C1200&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2135" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-4.jpg?w=4000&ssl=1 4000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-4.jpg?resize=200%2C300&ssl=1 200w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-4.jpg?resize=768%2C1152&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-4.jpg?resize=683%2C1024&ssl=1 683w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-4.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-STATUE-4.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Buddy Holly’s face and signature glasses were forever etched in bronze.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">We finished our visit at the Buddy Holly Center at a few minutes past 5:00pm and it was time to make the three-mile pilgrimage to the City of Lubbock Cemetery to visit the final resting place of Buddy Holly. Once Vicki navigated the Avenger through the cemetery’s gates, we made a right-hand turn and within a short distance we easily found the grave of the late musician located near the roadway.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">As I was carried in the camera case to the gravesite, the first thing I noticed was Buddy’s last name was spelled H-O-L-L-E-Y on the marker; which was the correct spelling of his family’s last name. Located next to the singer’s final resting place were the graves of Buddy’s father and mother, Lawrence O. Holley and Ella P. Holley. </p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">While we were at Buddy’s gravesite, my photographer had three small rituals that he carried out. First, Tom placed a KISS guitar pick that once belonged to Paul Stanley on Holley’s grave marker. It’s customary for visitors to leave guitar picks, and my cameraman left the KISS pick from a show the band had performed at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City on October 10, 2012. Tom felt that the pick was symbolic as Buddy Holly had appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show twice in that theater during his brief career. Second, my photographer scooped up some of the reddish-colored dirt from Holly’s grave. The sample of earth that was over the final resting place of Buddy Holly found a home in my photographer’s showcase that featured a tribute to the Winter Dance Party performers. And lastly, Tom played several Buddy Holly songs at the grave; he ended the small tribute with Eddie Cochrane’s version of ‘The Three Stars’.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="852" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-4.jpg?resize=800%2C852&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2136" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-4.jpg?w=2808&ssl=1 2808w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-4.jpg?resize=282%2C300&ssl=1 282w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-4.jpg?resize=768%2C818&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-4.jpg?resize=962%2C1024&ssl=1 962w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-4.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-4.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">My photographer placed Paul Stanley’s KISS guitar pick on the grave of Buddy Holly; located in the City of Lubbock Cemetery in Lubbock, Texas.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="582" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-5.jpg?resize=800%2C582&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2137" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-5.jpg?w=5372&ssl=1 5372w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-5.jpg?resize=300%2C218&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-5.jpg?resize=768%2C559&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-5.jpg?resize=1024%2C745&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-5.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-5.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The final resting place of Buddy Holly. The small hole in the ground, near the left side of the marker, was where my photographer scooped up the sample of grave dirt.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="586" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-8.jpg?resize=800%2C586&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2138" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-8.jpg?w=5176&ssl=1 5176w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-8.jpg?resize=300%2C220&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-8.jpg?resize=768%2C563&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-8.jpg?resize=1024%2C750&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-8.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-8.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Paul Stanley’s guitar pick, used at the Ed Sullivan Theater on October 10, 2012, was left inside the ‘O’ of Holley on Buddy’s grave marker.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-7.jpg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2139" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-7.jpg?w=6000&ssl=1 6000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-7.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-7.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-7.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-7.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-GRAVE-7.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The gravesite of Buddy Holly (with the flowers and flag) in the City of Lubbock Cemetery. The two markers to the right were atop the graves of Buddy’s parents Lawrence and Ella Holley; and the marker to the left was the grave of Lee Weir; Buddy’s nephew. </figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">I thought the small musical tribute that my photographer had played to Buddy was touching, especially when he finished with Eddie Cochrane’s “The Three Stars”. I was doing fine until Eddie sang the line: “Well you’re singing for God now, in his chorus in the sky. Buddy Holly, I’ll always remember you with tears in my eyes.” In 2015 I visited the Surf Ballroom and the crash site and this year I toured the Petty recording studio; I saw his glasses; and I finally ended up at Buddy’s grave. In the past three years I had visited the gravesites of 19 Presidents and none of those graves had the effect that this one had on me. I had figured that was due to the fact that Buddy Holly was only 22 years old when he climbed aboard the airplane and died on that cold February night.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size"> It was late in the day; a day that had begun in Clovis where Buddy Holly recorded most of his biggest hits and ended with some of those hits being played at Holly’s gravesite in Lubbock. A mile or two from the City of Lubbock Cemetery, we arrived at our motel – the Holiday Inn Express. In our room, I was placed alongside the television set where I spent the entire night thinking of the chorus to one song: “Well, that’ll be the day, when you say goodbye; Yes, that’ll be the day, when you make me cry. You say you’re gonna leave, you know it’s a lie; ‘Cause that’ll be the day when I die.”</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size"><strong>**********</strong></p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">The morning of Thursday July 28, 2016 was sunny and the sky was bright blue as we headed for another Buddy Holly site in Lubbock, Texas. It was a few minutes past 8:00am when we pulled up to the curb across the street from the house that Lawrence and Ella Holley once owned; and where Buddy Holly married Maria Elena Santiago on August 15, 1958 in the family’s living room. The Holley’s family pastor, Ben Johnson, conducted the small private ceremony that was also attended by Crickets Jerry Allison and Joe Mauldin. When the ceremony was over, Allison and Mauldin played the record ‘Now We’re One’. Since the home was a private residence, we couldn’t get any closer to the house than the sidewalk. As we stood in front of the house, I thought it would have been cool if we could’ve seen the living room where the wedding ceremony was held. I also thought to myself: “That’ll be the day, but it won’t be this day!”</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-HOUSE-1.jpg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2145" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-HOUSE-1.jpg?w=6000&ssl=1 6000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-HOUSE-1.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-HOUSE-1.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-HOUSE-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-HOUSE-1.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-HOUSE-1.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Holley family home where Buddy Holly and Maria Elena Santiago were married on August 15, 1958.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="719" height="568" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-WEDDING.jpg?resize=719%2C568&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2146" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-WEDDING.jpg?w=719&ssl=1 719w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/BUDDY-HOLLY-WEDDING.jpg?resize=300%2C237&ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 719px) 100vw, 719px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Buddy Holly and his bride Maria Elena pose with Buddy’s parents Ella and Lawrence in the living room of the Holley home on August 15, 1958.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Our final stop in Lubbock was at the Tabernacle Baptist Church, which was the church that the Holley family had regularly attended. On February 7, 1959, the funeral for Buddy Holly was held in the sanctuary of that church. Buddy’s widow, Maria Elena, did not attend the service; nor has she ever visited his gravesite. Our stay in front of the church was brief; it had been stated that tourists were encouraged to not enter the building unless they were attending a service.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CHURCH-2.jpg?resize=800%2C533&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2147" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CHURCH-2.jpg?w=6000&ssl=1 6000w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CHURCH-2.jpg?resize=300%2C200&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CHURCH-2.jpg?resize=768%2C512&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CHURCH-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CHURCH-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/HOLLY-CHURCH-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The Tabernacle Baptist Church in Lubbock, Texas was the site of Buddy Holly’s funeral on February 7, 1959.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">When our short visit to the church was finished, the three of us sat back in the Avenger and headed east. During that 314-mile trek to Fort Worth from Lubbock, my photographer and his wife discovered just how big the state of Texas was. For me, I just relaxed in the camera case and thought about what I was going to do when I got to Rose Hill Park Cemetery and stood on the grave of another Presidential assassin.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Before we went to the cemetery, however, we made one stop in downtown Fort Worth, Texas: It was a return visit to the former Hotel Texas where the President and Mrs. Kennedy had stayed on the night of November 21, 1963. Two years earlier, on March 22, 2014, I visited the historic hotel where I posed for photos with the exterior; and then I was carried inside to a section of the hotel’s Crystal Ballroom where JFK delivered his last speech.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">Once Vicki parked the Avenger, I immediately posed with the statue of John F. Kennedy that stood in General Worth Square. The JFK Tribute was located directly across the street from the famous hotel where the President and Mrs. Kennedy spent their final night together on November 21, 1963. As I was held a few inches from the bronze right hand of JFK, I suddenly noticed that my left leg was once again damaged; it appeared that a small section of my shin was missing. How could that have happened? Did it occur during the middle of the night when I was boppin’ and noddin’ to Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be The Day”? Whatever caused the damage, it was something that I would have to live with for the remainder of the trip.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="1066" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-1.jpg?resize=800%2C1066&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2149" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-1.jpg?w=3976&ssl=1 3976w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-1.jpg?resize=225%2C300&ssl=1 225w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-1.jpg?resize=768%2C1023&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-1.jpg?resize=769%2C1024&ssl=1 769w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-1.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-1.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The JFK Tribute is pictured in the shadow of the 15-story Hilton Fort Worth.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="615" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-5.jpg?resize=800%2C615&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2150" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-5.jpg?w=4194&ssl=1 4194w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-5.jpg?resize=300%2C231&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-5.jpg?resize=768%2C591&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-5.jpg?resize=1024%2C788&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-5.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-5.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">I loved that statue of JFK; however, I had wished the likeness stood on the exact place where Kennedy gave his outdoor speech on the morning of November 22, 1963. The statue was close to the precise location; but it was still over one hundred feet from the exact spot.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">From the statue of JFK, I was carried to the area that was close to where the President had delivered his second-to-last public speech, which was an impromptu address to over 2,000 people who had gathered in the rain in the hotel’s parking lot. For me, it was great to be back in front of the former Hotel Texas; and as I stood there, it was as though I could hear President Kennedy as he spoke to the spirited, but rain-dampened, crowd. </p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-8.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2151" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-8.jpg?w=4320&ssl=1 4320w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-8.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-8.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-8.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-8.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-8.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-8.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">From a podium that was positioned close to where I stood outside of the former Hotel Texas, President John F. Kennedy delivered the next-to-last speech of his life.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="693" height="460" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JFK-TEXAS-HOTEL.jpg?resize=693%2C460&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2152" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JFK-TEXAS-HOTEL.jpg?w=693&ssl=1 693w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JFK-TEXAS-HOTEL.jpg?resize=300%2C199&ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 693px) 100vw, 693px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">President John F. Kennedy was pictured as he delivered an impromptu speech in the parking lot of Hotel Texas on the morning of November 22, 1963.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">As I was carried into the hotel for another attempt at visiting the Crystal Ballroom, I had wondered what event would prohibit me from seeing more of the famous room. Two years ago, when I was in that same hotel, a dance recital was in progress and my photographer was only allowed to take me into a small section of the room and photograph me near a side wall. That lackluster photo was better than nothing, but we wanted more; and on that day in 2016, we got more.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">As my cameraman carried me into a large section of the Crystal Ballroom, it appeared that an event had just finished as several hotel staff members were cleaning up the room. There was a podium there, which was a great place for me to pose for photos. I also saw the kitchen entrance, which was where President Kennedy and his entourage had entered and exited the Crystal Ballroom on the morning of November 22, 1963. Since the entire ballroom had been renovated since 1963, it was hard for us to tell exactly where the head table had been situated, but we knew for sure that we were in the right room. It was exciting (and sad at the same time) for me to stand in the same room where John F. Kennedy had delivered the final speech of his life. </p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-3.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2154" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-3.jpg?w=4320&ssl=1 4320w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-3.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-3.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-3.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-3.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-3.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-3.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">From atop a podium in the Crystal Ballroom, I envisioned JFK as he gave the final speech of his life near this spot.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="702" height="509" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JFK-In-Fort-Worth-November-22-1963.png?resize=702%2C509&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2155" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JFK-In-Fort-Worth-November-22-1963.png?w=702&ssl=1 702w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JFK-In-Fort-Worth-November-22-1963.png?resize=300%2C218&ssl=1 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 702px) 100vw, 702px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">“Two years ago, I introduced myself in Paris by saying that I was the man who had accompanied Mrs. Kennedy to Paris. I’m getting somewhat that same sensation as I travel around Texas. Nobody wonders what Lyndon and I wear…”</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-2.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2156" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-2.jpg?w=4320&ssl=1 4320w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-2.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-2.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-2.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">There was no way we could tell exactly where Kennedy’s head table was situated on that fateful morning. We did assume, however, that it was near the same wall behind me.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="451" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JFK-IN-BALLROOM.jpg?resize=800%2C451&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2157" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JFK-IN-BALLROOM.jpg?w=980&ssl=1 980w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JFK-IN-BALLROOM.jpg?resize=300%2C169&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JFK-IN-BALLROOM.jpg?resize=768%2C433&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy arrived after everyone else had been seated at the head table. </figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="600" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-4.jpg?resize=800%2C600&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2158" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-4.jpg?w=4320&ssl=1 4320w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-4.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-4.jpg?resize=768%2C576&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-4.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-4.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-4.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-4.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">I posed in the Crystal Ballroom with the kitchen’s doorway behind me. It was through that door that Kennedy and his entourage had entered and exited the ballroom in 1963.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="706" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-7.jpg?resize=800%2C706&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2159" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-7.jpg?w=3634&ssl=1 3634w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-7.jpg?resize=300%2C265&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-7.jpg?resize=768%2C678&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-7.jpg?resize=1024%2C904&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-7.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/TEXAS-HOTEL-7.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">It was near this spot where President Kennedy had exited Hotel Texas twice. Once to give his impromptu speech in the parking lot and a second time to board his vehicle for the motorcade ride to Carswell Air Force Base.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="561" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JFK-LEAVES-HOTEL-1.jpg?resize=800%2C561&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2161" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JFK-LEAVES-HOTEL-1.jpg?w=895&ssl=1 895w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JFK-LEAVES-HOTEL-1.jpg?resize=300%2C211&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/JFK-LEAVES-HOTEL-1.jpg?resize=768%2C539&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">President John F. Kennedy walked towards the parking lot of Hotel Texas on the morning of November 22, 1963 to deliver a speech to the awaiting crowd.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">My photographer and I felt a lot better with that visit to the former Hotel Texas than we did two years earlier. But unlike our trip in 2014, we were headed to another Presidential site in Fort Worth – the grave of alleged JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. The large burial ground was located roughly ten miles east of downtown Fort Worth; which was perfect as it was on the way to our final stop of the day: the home of Vicki’s cousin Kim Johnson in Plano, Texas.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">When we arrived at the huge cemetery, officially named Shannon Rose Hill Funeral Chapel and Cemetery, we had difficulty finding the grave of Lee Harvey Oswald. My photographer and Vicki had been to the site back in 1995, but since they were old, their memories have faded a bit in the past twenty-one years. Tom went inside the funeral home, and he asked for precise directions to Oswald’s grave, but he ran into some resistance. My cameraman immediately administered his usual spiel about me and when the manager realized what the purpose for our visitation was, he “spilled his guts.”</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">As I stood at the grave of Lee Harvey Oswald, I had the same feeling come over me as I had when I was at the final resting place of John Wilkes Booth two years earlier. It was great to visit places that had Presidential connections, but both Booth and Oswald had a Presidential connection for the wrong reasons. There were differences between the two, however. In the case of John Wilkes Booth, there was no doubt that he shot and killed Abraham Lincoln. With Oswald, however, the jury was still out as to whether or not he pulled the trigger that ended JFK’s life in 1963. My photographer and I believe that Oswald had some prior knowledge to the assassination and maybe even had some involvement in the actual shooting, but there is no doubt that a second or third gunman was involved. And to make matters worse, the United States Secret Service did their best to cover up the evidence of the crime.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">My photographer carefully placed me onto the rectangular, burgundy-colored granite headstone of Oswald. At the moment I stood there, a plethora of mixed emotions flooded my resin-filled body. Had I been totally confident that Oswald was the gunman who assassinated Kennedy, I would’ve tried my best to whizz on the grave; although I imagine only a smidge of dust would’ve spewed out of my resin pants. But I wasn’t totally convinced that Oswald was the triggerman; he may have been only a patsy, as Lee had suggested following his arrest. I did think of the sadness that Oswald’s family must’ve gone through on that terrible weekend in late November ’63. After all, Lee was only 24 years old when he was assassinated by Jack Ruby just two days after JFK died and Rose Hill was the only cemetery in Texas that would take his body. Since Lee had no friends, or anybody that claimed to be his friend, a handful of news reporters carried Oswald’s coffin to his grave. Lee Harvey Oswald was a lost sole who had a crappy childhood and was likely mixed up with some crappy people as a young adult. Oswald had made some choices and those choices likely cost him his life.</p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="497" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-1.jpg?resize=800%2C497&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2162" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-1.jpg?w=5974&ssl=1 5974w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-1.jpg?resize=300%2C186&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-1.jpg?resize=768%2C477&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C636&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-1.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-1.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">The small headstone that had only the last name ‘Oswald’ etched onto the surface was the second marker that graced the alleged assassin’s grave. The first gravestone was stolen by a handful of Oklahoma college students on November 22, 1967.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="571" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-2.jpg?resize=800%2C571&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2170" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-2.jpg?w=4930&ssl=1 4930w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-2.jpg?resize=300%2C214&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-2.jpg?resize=768%2C549&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-2.jpg?resize=1024%2C731&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-2.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-2.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Oswald’s original tombstone contained his full name, his birth and death dates, a cross, and an ornate floral design that framed the etched wording.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="542" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-3.jpg?resize=800%2C542&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2164" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-3.jpg?w=5427&ssl=1 5427w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-3.jpg?resize=300%2C203&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-3.jpg?resize=768%2C520&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-3.jpg?resize=1024%2C694&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-3.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/OSWALD-GRAVE-3.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">“Where’s the Beef?” An empty grave, marked by a stone etched with the name Nick Beef, was next to the grave of Lee Harvey Oswald. Nick Beef was actually Patric Abedin, a “non-performing performance artist” from NYC, who purchased the plot next to Oswald when he was 18-years old and intends never to be buried there. I thought it was ironic that the name Nick Beef sounded “similarly” to Rick Bieth; blog inspirer and friend of my photographer. </figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="777" height="433" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/NICK-BEEF.jpg?resize=777%2C433&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2166" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/NICK-BEEF.jpg?w=777&ssl=1 777w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/NICK-BEEF.jpg?resize=300%2C167&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/NICK-BEEF.jpg?resize=768%2C428&ssl=1 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 777px) 100vw, 777px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">“There’s the Beef!” Patric Abedin, owner of the plot marked by the Nick Beef headstone.</figcaption></figure></div> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">It took us about 45 minutes to make the drive from Rose Hill Cemetery to Kim and Bill Johnson’s home in Plano, Texas. It had been two years since Kim had driven my photographer and me around Dallas and Fort Worth as we visited Presidential sites. I had looked forward to seeing Bill and Kim again as they are among the nicest people I have ever met.</p> <p class="has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size">My photographer’s wife loves spending time with her cousin Kim whenever she gets to Texas. An added bonus for Vicki is her aunt Sally, who is Kim’s mother, also lives in Plano and visits the three of us when we’re in town. We had a full-agenda scheduled during our stay – some of it was centered on JFK sites, which was right up my alley. However, there were other items on the itinerary that highlighted Vicki’s interests as well; and I was cool with that, too. Dallas is one of my favorite cities and I was excited to be back. And on this trip, I have a larger window to tour and see the sites I didn’t have time to visit in 2014. All I could think was: “Look out Dallas, here I come!” </p> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="572" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/KIM-AND-SALLY-1.jpg?resize=800%2C572&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2167" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/KIM-AND-SALLY-1.jpg?w=5594&ssl=1 5594w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/KIM-AND-SALLY-1.jpg?resize=300%2C214&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/KIM-AND-SALLY-1.jpg?resize=768%2C549&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/KIM-AND-SALLY-1.jpg?resize=1024%2C732&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/KIM-AND-SALLY-1.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/KIM-AND-SALLY-1.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Upon our arrival at the Johnson’s home in Plano, Vicki played “catch up” with Cousin Kim and Aunt Sally with photos of the three grandkids.</figcaption></figure></div> <div class="wp-block-image"> <figure class="aligncenter size-full"><img data-recalc-dims="1" loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="603" src="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/RIGGS-AND-CODY.jpg?resize=800%2C603&ssl=1" alt="" class="wp-image-2168" srcset="https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/RIGGS-AND-CODY.jpg?w=5225&ssl=1 5225w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/RIGGS-AND-CODY.jpg?resize=300%2C226&ssl=1 300w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/RIGGS-AND-CODY.jpg?resize=768%2C579&ssl=1 768w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/RIGGS-AND-CODY.jpg?resize=1024%2C772&ssl=1 1024w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/RIGGS-AND-CODY.jpg?resize=120%2C90&ssl=1 120w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/RIGGS-AND-CODY.jpg?w=1600&ssl=1 1600w, https://i0.wp.com/eyesofjefferson.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/RIGGS-AND-CODY.jpg?w=2400&ssl=1 2400w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Kim and Bill’s pet dogs Riggs and Cody Johnson as they got their first look at me. I could almost hear their thoughts: “I wonder what resin tastes like? I bet it’s better than chewing on an old rawhide!”</figcaption></figure></div>]]></content:encoded> <wfw:commentRss>https://eyesofjefferson.com/48-where-the-crickets-once-chirped/feed/</wfw:commentRss> <slash:comments>0</slash:comments> <post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">2115</post-id> </item> </channel> </rss>