April 10 – 11, 2024

We left Dallas under dark clouds. It didn’t take long for the rain and winds to pelt Van Go. In Georgia, we’re used to rains moving quickly through the area, but this rain lasted for a few hours. Plans were to stop in Memphis, TX at a Harvest Host location that was out in a field. Before we arrived, we got a message from the Host that the field was all mud. OK – need to find other accommodations. The Host suggested we might try a city park in Memphis. When we finally found it, it was perfect for a night – even had electric hookup. There were about 8 spots, and by evening, they were all filled. Wonder how people find out about these places???

On Thursday, we headed towards Palo Dura Canyon, the 2nd largest canyon in the US. Made a few stops along the way. The first stop was the Charles and Mary Ann Goodnight Ranch. The Goodnights were ranchers in the Canyon area and were responsible for restoring bison in Texas after there had been mass killings of bison due to hunters. The official Bison Herd of Texas, descendents of Goodnight’s herd, is located a short distance from the house in Capstone State Park. Charles Goodnight had a long and interesting life and Mary Ann was an able partner.

On to St. Mary’s Church in Umbarger, TX. Interesting history of this Catholic Church. It was built as a very plain church – no adornment on the interior. A new priest came to the parish and very much wanted to do something to improve the church. This was during WWII and there was a POW camp nearby. Some of the prisoners were Italian artisans. He made a deal with the commanding officer to have 9 of the prisoners come to work at the church. He could not pay for their work, but the church ladies were happy to feed the men. They came for 6 weeks and created something incredible.

One of the POWs created this incredible painting of the Assumption of Mary. Many years after the war, a trip was arranged for some of the POW’s and their families to return to Umbarger to see the remains of the camp and to see the church that some of them had painted. The creator of this painting had died, but his daughter came on the trip. When she saw the painting, tears streamed down her face. She later told one of the church ladies that the face of Mary was her mother and the cherub at the bottom with her arm raised was herself as a child.

The painters spoke with some of the church members during their return trip and mentioned that they had left their “signatures” at the church. The members were puzzled and said they didn’t understand. One of the men went up to the background of the statue of Mary and outlined the swastikas that were part of the painting. No one had ever noticed.

War time was horrible, but something beautiful was created. It was not only the church that was created, but there were many friendships developed between the POW artisans and church members. Many of these relationships continued with written letters and visits after the war. God can create something good even in the most difficult of circumstances.