Wednesday, September 18, 1985/The Battalion/Page 9
Texas poet has
number of ‘irons’
in the creative fire
By Jim Earle
Slouch
“This is the last one I ha ve and it’s an amazing opportunity for you! A
f enuine bottle of seawater taken from the site of the Titanic, and at a
argain!"
Police Beat
The following incidents were re
ported by the University Police De
partment from Sept. 9 through
Monday:
MISDEMEANOR THEFT:
• Nine bicycles were stolen from
various locations on campus.
• Four wallets were stolen from
various locations on campus.
• A backpack was stolen from the
Commons Dinning Hall.
• A backpack was stolen from the
Sterling C. Evans Library.
• A telephone was stolen from
115-E Zachry Engineering Center.
• A telephone was stolen from
the Louis Pearce Pavilion.
HARASSMENT BY PHONE:
• There were eight reports of ha
rassment by phone from various lo
cations on campus.
FELONY ! HEFT:
• A 1982 Chevrolet pickup truck
was stolen from where it was parked
near Building W-3.
DISORDERLY CONDUCT:
• A nude man was jogging in
Hensel Park.
TERRORISTIC THREAT:
• Someone called on the Gay
Hotline and said a bomb would go
off at the Gay Student Service orga
nization held in 402 Rudder.
ASSAULT:
• A woman reported that a man
entered the women’s restroom on
the fifth floor of the Sterling C.
Evans Library. The man began
speaking to the woman, placed his
hand on her back and would not al
low her to exit the restroom. The
man left when another woman en
tered the restroom.
Associated Press
ARCHER CITY — Normally, the
thought of a writer’s or poet’s studio
brings to mind a large, airy garret
with windows aplenty.
That’s not so for one of Texas’
most respected poets.
Her “studio” is part of a converted
walk-in closet so narrow she can al
most touch the walls by extending
her arms.
To get into it, she has to walk
arouna a large pool table in the den.
But Margaret Slack prefers it that
way.
“I can come in here, close the
door and not be distracted by any
thing,” she explained.
It might be an unusual work
f )lace, especially when she could
tave any room in the large, comfort
able home she shares with her hus
band, Joe. But the confining situa
tion obviously works for her.
Earlier this year Slack won first
place in lyric poetry in a contest
sponsored by the National Feder
ation of State Poetry Societies.
Entries came from all over the
United States and foreign countries.
But Slack wasn’t the only member
of the Wichita Falls Poetry Society
whose work the judges liked. Six
other members of the Wichita Falls
group also finished in the contest’s
top 10 in their various divisons.
These included Ann Moorehead,
Mrs. Clark Gresham, Jennie Spray,
Ruth Ruther, Candace Dimitri and
Lou Gatlin.
Slack said the Wichita Falls poetry
group is especially active and serious
about its work.
Despite her talent, Slack said she
has never published a book of her
work, though she said a friend once
had some of her poems bound in a
one-of-a-kind book for her.
“I don’t like to make the effort to
be published,” she said, explaining
that publication requires constant
revising, editing and perfect typing.
And to be honest, the longtime
Archer City resident said she doesn’t
have the time all that would take.
She said she has other irons in the
fire. She is an accomnplished por
trait and landscape painter. Her
home houses a large collection of
her hand-painted porcelain.
Her talent in this particular field
has prompted numerous requests
from friends for specially painted
porcelain sets.
But she has steadfastly refused all
requests, explaining she doesn’t like
to “mass produce” her work.
“I’d go crazy painting one color
on a bunch of dishes and then doing
the same thing all over again with
another,” she said.
She said she has been writing po
etry since she was a child, but still be
lieves “the bottom line is poetry like
nursery rhymes.”
. She has little patience for more
modern free verse.
She recalled that as a child, her
younger sister found some of her
poetry in the bottom of her drawer,
including a piece that had moved
her to tears while writing it.
The sisters read it aloud and
“laughed themselves silly.”
“I didn’t forgive them for that for
a long time,” she said with a laugh.
Slack has lived in her present
home since her late parents built it
when she was 7 years old.
Her husband, who retired in 1974
after more than 30 years of teaching
shop and mechanical drawing for
the Wichita Falls schools and at
Sheppard Air Force Base, added
onto the house as their family grew.
The Slacks have two sons and two
daughters, who are scattered from
Wichita Falls to Montana to New
York City.
The Slacks have nine grandchil
dren.
Nursery caretaker still working at age of 94
Associated Press
ROSHARON — It’s Monday afternoon, and
Rubin Banks is resting in the shade of an old
barn. The barn smells of wood smoke, and the
walls look like they aren’t going to stay upright
much longer.
Banks doesn’t seem to mind the smoky smell,
the bugs, or the run-down shape of the barn
where he works. As far as he’s concerned, it’s
“his" barn.
Banks has been working at the same place in
Rosharon for 26 years. Or maybe it’s 28. Even
people in the accounting office of Teas Nursery
in Bellaire aren’t sure.
Teas hired Banks to take care of the trees and
grounds at the Rosharon nursery, which is across
the highway from the Darrington Unit of the
Texas Department of Corrections.
He used to walk the three miles every day, but
many people have come to recognize the short,
stooped figure shuffling along FM 521, and they
stop to offer him a ride.
He doesn’t have a driver’s license. Never did.
No sir, never had a need for one. Not in his 90
years. Or maybe it’s 94. Again, nobody is exactly
sure how long Banks has been around. Except
•Banks.
“That’s right. I turned 94 on July the 26,” he
said with a smile that exposed the gaps where his
front teeth used to be.
Most of the relatives gave up trying to talk him
out of walking to work 10 years ago, when he was
a youngster of 80 or so.
“When they tell him he shouldn’t keep going
up there he says, ‘Oh no, I got to go to work,’
said his great-niece Josie Lee Banks.
Banks has worked all his life. He said that’s
why he has lived so long. It’s in his blood.
He was born in Rosharon, the second of five
children, and stayed until he was 14.
He left at 14 to work the cotton fields in West
Texas, mostly around Odessa. He went from
farm to farm, always keeping busy, always work
ing hard.
Eventually he returned to Rosharon, some
time around 1927.
He brought his wife and four boys, and lived
on land owned by Frank Turner, where he said
he stayed for 18 years while he raised his boys
and the three other children who were born after
the family moved to Rosharon.
Banks’ eyes seem to look back in time while he
recounts stories from those years.
His youngest daughter, Lucy, now in her late
50s, still lives in Rosharon.
“He was a strict father, but he always stuck
with us,” Lucy said. “We worked hard dry farm
ing, cotton, raising chickens and pigs anything
you can name, we raised it.”
Lucy said all her brothers and sisters grew up
with an appreciation for hard work, which Banks
helped instill.
Banks spends his time watering trees and mak
ing repairs on the nursery grounds.
“He was always working hard for us,” she said.
“We didn’t go hungry much. We did real good.”
Not surprisingly, Banks is well-known around
Rosharon.
As Banks sits by the barn talking about old
times, a car pulls up by the muddy drive outside
the nursery gate. A young man with bulging
muscles and no shirt struts down the path.
“Yo, Rubin!” he calls.
Banks looks up and smiles in recognition.
“Oh, hi,” says the man. “I saw some stranger’s
car out front and I just wanted to check up on
you, make sure everything’s okay.” He smiles,
flexes and leaves.
“That boy is a guard over at the prison,” Banks
said. “Yeah, it’s nice to know people will watch
out for you.”
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