February 8, 1006

Jackie is organizing all of the books of photos and stories that I have collected through the years. As we are sorting through the items, we try to figure out why we saved various items. As we look at the pieces of paper which look like scratch paper, we remember the events that were recorded on the paper.

When Deborah and Onor were in high school, they learned shorthand, so that when they suspected something exciting was about to happen they would grab a pad and pencil and paper so that they could record the conversations.

One of these times was when Uncle Jake Harmon came to see us. We never knew just how long he was going to stay. The girls would grab their pencil and paper and would be sitting in the distance where we would think they were not listening, but were intensely working on their homework. Uncle Jake would sit down and make himself comfortable. Sometimes he would sit on the front porch or in the living room.

I knew the story would be good when he found my Grandma’s old corn cob jug which she hid behind the doors in the house. The jars were full of the good quality beverage that Uncle Jake always seemed to find. He called it the "old good stuff."

Uncle Jake was my Grandma’s brother, and he visited our family often.

One of the stories Uncle Jake told was about the Aubrey Airport. It was located where the Main Street Assembly of God Church is now located. The air strip was fairly large and covered the area from the church west to the railroad track.

According to Uncle Jake Harmon, the airplanes used the area during the early 1920's. He said that the airstrip was created accidentally when the pilot of a small craft experienced a damaged propeller and was forced to make an emergency landing on the S.H. (Sam) Hodge farm just south of town. The pilot worked several days on his craft’s damage. He repaired the propeller with pure brass parts that he personally made by hand at the forced landing site.

The emergency landing created quite a fan fare for the local folks.

Arthur Harmon, a native of Aubrey, recalled the airplane making a trip to Dallas in the1920's. The Aubrey Highway between Denton and Aubrey was being created during this period. He says that Love Field was way out in the country at this time. He also says that the trip from Aubrey to Dallas took a long time.

He said that the pilot made a statement on the ride home from Dallas, "One thing I want to do when we return to Aubrey is make a loop-to-loop." The passenger became scared and asked to be let out at the nearest railroad station. He rode the train back to Aubrey.

Early the next morning, while the Highway 10 crew was working on the new highway, the pilot and airplane flew over the road construction site. Everyone was amazed at the stunt. Arthur remembered that they had no parachute, goggles or seat belts as they did their loop-to-loop. All of their friends on the ground looked up with amazement as the pilot performed.

Arthur said that the pilot asked him to go with him and become a stunt flying partner. Arthur told him that he had too many hogs to feed, cows to milk, corn to shuck and too many rows to take care of. He simply didn’t have time to change his profession.

The Aubrey pilot and his wife went on to be a stunt jumper. His wife stepped out on the wing of the plane and slipped and fell to her death. A short while later, the same thing happened to the pilot.

After Uncle Jake finished his story, he looked up at the sun and then looked at the cork top jug. He said, "you know, I am going to have to get on the go." But first he picked up the door prop again, and said goodbye to everyone.

Before he left, he said that the next time, he took a plane trip was in 1973, when he went to California. He said there had been many changes, and there was no comparison of the two rides.

Arthur Harmon was a practiced historian and never failed to bring in facts of history or photos. He gave me the Aubrey Opry House band photo and identified each of the band members. The Opry House stood on land that was located in front of the Mustain home. The Opry House was the last building to occupy this land which was destroyed by fire during 1907.

We also have a lot of recordings from Uncle Joe and Aunt Mattie Lee Goin. It is hard to judge which of them could tell the best story. I will share some of their stories in the future.

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