Stars aligning for history enthusiasts

Sometimes it seems like all the stars are in alignment. You know, when all sorts of things happen the way you expect them to be and everything turns out even better than hoped for, or when something you have been thinking about comes to fruition in spades right in front of your very eyes.

The stars were definitely aligned last week for me—at least when it comes to history. Let me explain.

Over the past number of years, the Gonzales Inquirer has had a column on a weekly basis that covered Texas history. It was a fine column and was well written, but I wanted something more than just Texas history. I wanted Gonzales County history.

I began searching around looking for input from the local denizens on who might be candidates to fill the history bill so to speak. My friend Gary mentioned a name to me a few weeks ago, suggesting that I get in touch with one Mr. Bob Burchard. Which I did.

Bob and I met a few weeks back and had a lively and free flowing conversation. When we were done, Bob offered to help. He suggested a few names, and I dutifully wrote them down and planned to call them. Then it happened.

One of the names on the list—Glenda Gordon—sent me an email out of the blue on Thursday. She wanted to talk to me about archiving and digitizing the past issues of the Gonzales Inquirer that are sitting idly by in the Annex. Later that same day, I received an email from Vickie Frenzel asking me if we could meet on Friday morning. Vicki—along with her husband Paul—were two other names on the list Mr. Burchard gave me.

And suddenly, all the stars were in alignment. Glenda and I met on Friday morning, and she took me out to the Annex to show me the back issues of the paper going all the way back into the 1800s. I was shocked to find the papers there, but even more surprised that we had not had these papers digitized and preserved before. Glenda said she had reached out to past management here, but nothing ever came of it. She also told me that the library wanted to house the back volumes in a climate-controlled room once we had the papers digitized and preserved. She told me she would introduce me to a person I absolutely had to meet—one Vickie Frenzel.

I smiled, then told her that I had to be back at the office because Vicki had reached out to me and asked to meet me that very day at 10:30 a.m.! Glenda laughed delightedly, and said she had to get me back to the office. Once back at the office, I met Miss Vicki and we talked history for an hour. She graciously gave me a copy of her book, then offered to send me a monthly chronology of events that have taken place in the long and illustrious history of our county. I immediately accepted. Then she made an even better offer; she told me one of the coolest things I could do was take a driving tour with her husband Paul. Not only would I learn more about the local history, but Paul could tell me even more tidbits than she knew. I immediately accepted that offer.

To bring this story to its “the-stars-are-aligned” conclusion, I want to let all of you know that starting this week we will be running Vicki Frenzel’s chronology of February. Half of it will run this week, the other half will run next week. We are going to get the papers digitized, either through newspapers.com or through a program at North Texas State University. And, thanks to my friend Lisa, I met Paul Frenzel at the Bop and Bash on Saturday at the JB Wells Expo Center and set up a time to do that driving tour.

I am excited about the future, and for lovers of local history, I hope you are too.