Theresa Ann (Cravens) Casparis

Memories of Her Life

Our wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend, Theresa Ann Casparis, joined Jesus, her savior, and her parents on August 14, 2016. Theresa was born August 28, 1934 in Winchell. Texas to Edna Faye Lindley Cravens and Barney Howard Cravens.

Theresa's Family History

Howard was working at a ranch in Brown County at the time of Theresa's birth. He had encouraged the red-haired beauty, Faye, to marry him, live in Winchell, and start their family. Faye soon became a loving mother, an accomplished cook, an artist, and the heart of the family. Theresa and her brother Gary were born in Winchell eleven months apart. Howard would eventually work in the oil fields as a driller in Eunice and Artesia, New Mexico, Big Lake, Texas, and other west Texas oil fields. Theresa's brother Ron was born in Eunice, New Mexico and Judy was born during World War II in Brooksmith, Texas. Howard and Faye then moved the family to Big Lake, Texas for the next five years.

As the first child of this hardy stock, Theresa relished the role of big sister and mother's helper with Gary, Ron, and Judy. Having two strong brothers was sometimes a trial and it was some relief when her baby sister was born. Judy had a large vocabulary at age six because Theresa constantly read to her.

Howard wanted to provide a better life for Faye and his children. Faye was having health problems and could not obtain good medical care in Big Lake. In 1949, fortune shone on the family when Howard was invited by the residents of Gillespie and Llano Counties to become their water well driller. This was an easy transition from oil field drilling, so they sold their home in Big Lake, and Howard immediately bought a drilling rig and water truck and made the move. On the way to Stonewall that June, the kids became very excited because they had never seen terrain as they saw in the Hill County.  West Texas did not have blooming peach trees and water in the creeks that time of year. They thought they had arrived in paradise. Faye found good local medical care with Dr. Feller and her health soon returned.

The local residents helped by providing a traditional German style, two-story red house for them to rent. Theresa, now sixteen, cried because she did not want new boyfriends to pick her up for dates at a red house! This first house was a little small for the family of six so they soon moved down the country road to a larger house known as the Gardner Place, which was an old stagecoach stop. During her senior year of high school, Theresa boarded in Fredericksburg and she worked at the corner drug store as a soda jerk. Theresa lived at the Gardner Place in the summers until she went off to Southwest Texas State Teacher's College with the dream of becoming an English teacher.

Howard and Faye moved to the newly renovated home they bought in Stonewall and Ron and Judy became the only non-German speaking children at the Stonewall Elementary School. Later, they went on to Fredericksburg to finish high school.

The drought of the 1950's took its toll on everyone and the family was forced to diversify. Howard and Faye grew and sold fabulous produce from their gardens and peach orchards and he ran the local Sinclair gas station for a while. In the 1960s, Howard and Faye left Stonewall to live in San Marcos to work for a few years at Gary Job Corps, and Faye worked as a house mother with the intellectually challenged. When they retired and returned to Stonewall, their home became the hub of family gatherings. Christmas, Easter Egg Hunts, and Thanksgivings were always large affairs with Theresa's three children, Gary's six, Ron's three and Judy's two boys. How Theresa loved these large celebrations! She learned to cook by her mother's side, cooking from scratch using produce from the garden and orchard with whatever else was on hand to create hearty meals. Of course, the other women joined in while the rest of the family tried to practice patience, but not much.

Theresa and Bill

Theresa met William Howard (Bill) Casparis the summer after her freshman year in college and her life took a turn. They met at a dance on the 4th of July 1952 in Hye Texas, halfway between her home in Stonewall and Bill's in Johnson City. The dance hall had a fishpond in the front ringed by a low wall. As they were parting, Bill stepped in the fish pond and soaked his boots and pants. We will leave it to others to speculate on what caused that misstep, but Theresa overlooked it and agreed to go out with him to a baseball game in Stonewall. After that date, they were inseparable. When Theresa and Bill were dating, Judy remembers Bill bringing her home to the Gardner Place and sitting on the squeaky front porch swing talking for hours. They became engaged on March 8, 1952 and were married at the First Methodist Church of Fredericksburg on June 21, 1953. Theresa's best friend, Barbara Everett, was her maid of honor. One of Bill's friends, Jay Waugh, was his best man. Theresa wore a street-length dress of ecru lace over skirts of net and taffeta with a small fitted jacket and carried a colonial bouquet of pink roses. Their wedding reception was at Weinheimers Hall in Stonewall where flowers from Faye's own garden filled the room.

Bill was drafted and was soon stationed in Columbus Ohio. He was proud to serve in the Army as each of his four brothers and many of his cousins had before him. Theresa went with him on this adventure and they lived in enlisted quarters on the base. They fit right in with the other married couples and developed an active social life that included cards, dominoes, trips to the lake, and of course, music and dancing. Soon, Theresa was expecting and she decided to return home to have help from her family, especially her mother. While Bill finished out his enlistment in Ohio, mom returned to Stonewall and they had their first child, Terry, in May 1954.

Bill soon returned to Texas and began looking for work. He had had many jobs in Johnson City working in gas stations and the hardware store in addition to working with his father in carpentry, but the job market was too small for a man with a family. He found a job in Austin in auto upholstery at Wesley-Pearson on Burnet Rd. So, Bill and Theresa Casparis from small towns in the Hill Country were among that early wave of folks who would move to Austin to build a new life and a new city. At first, they rented a garage apartment in Hyde Park and then in 1956, they bought a house in the Crestview area on Brentwood Street. At the time, that location was far North Austin. While Anderson Lane did exist farther north, it was a country road. For several years, there was only a cornfield behind the house to the north.

They fit right in with other newcomers and the house became a gathering spot for neighborhood kids as the family grew. In a feat of well-paced, but probably lucky family planning, Melia was born in December 1956 and Kelly was born in January 1958. There were plenty of other young parents and kids to make the neighborhood bustle with activity. During this period Theresa and Bill also started a life-long friendship with Alma and Buddy Turner. They lived on Manor Road near the airport and the families frequently spent time together. They also maintained close relationships with their parents, brothers and sisters, and many nieces and nephews. Weekend trips back to the Hill Country were common.

Who Theresa Is to Her Family

Theresa's talents tended towards the artistic and domestic. She was an intelligent and sensitive woman – a lover of her Lord, people, nature, parties, dancing, dogs, narrative and poetic writing, and most especially music and her children. She taught her children to love nature and took any opportunity to go birding with (or without) them. Like her mother, Theresa's cooking style was a blend of southern and southwestern and she produced delicious dishes including chicken and dumplings, fried chicken, chicken fried steak, stuffed bell peppers, tacos, macaroni salad, and possibly our singular family favorite, pinto beans and cornbread. She also loved to bake and our family enjoyed her pies, cakes, donuts, cream puffs, and cookies. Of course, everyone had their favorites – Kelly ate at least half of the tacos, and we recently learned Theresa sometimes made a second batch just for him! Unfortunately Terry and Melia did not like the stuffed bell peppers but they managed to survive.

Theresa was particularly fond of parties, holidays, and as Theresa called it, "going out." Card games and Super Bowl parties were often occasions to gather on Brentwood or at the home of friends and family. She loved to go dancing, especially on New Year's Eve and the couple made the rounds of Central Texas honky-tonks. Christmas was especially festive and was always spent in the Hill Country. Fortunately, Stonewall and Johnson City are only 16 miles apart and close to Austin so the load of food and presents – when economic conditions allowed – did not have far to travel. Halloween was also a big deal at 2008 Brentwood, perhaps even more so for Theresa than the kids. No doubt there are adults today who remember being met at the door by a cackling witch. The trick-or-treaters were only rewarded after being invited to jump into the oven inside the witches den! The family can attest that no children were harmed and that Theresa's popcorn balls and caramel apples made the fright worthwhile.

Theresa loved music and she loved singing. She was blessed with a beautiful voice and loved all kinds of music. In her senior year of high school she boarded with some girlfriends in Fredericksburg where she attended high school and sang in the Senior Girls Quintet and in a country and western band – unfortunately, the name is lost to history. Later, living in Austin she and Judy were members of the Notables, an all-female ensemble that sang popular and patriotic songs, often in barbershop-style harmony, at public events and private parties. Theresa also sang in several church choirs (sometimes with Kelly) and most importantly, she always sang at home. All of her children loved this but only some benefited in acquiring musical talent.

Writing was another life-long enthusiasm and she filled notebooks with her narrative and poetry. For a time she wrote the Grapevine social column for the Blanco County News and the Johnson City Record Courier, but her primary vehicles were letters to friends and those notebooks for her own consumption where she talked candidly and passionately about her life, good and bad. Fortunately, this talent benefited the other children who missed out on the musical gene.

Perhaps three children were not enough for Theresa. As her own children grew she began working in childcare and soon was operating a daycare center out of her house. It was often chaotic but always interesting and filled with affection. The parents of "her kids" could not have had a more loving caretaker and she became popular with the young parents in the neighborhood. She also spent time as a baker at the Lamar Junior High School cafeteria where she used the skills learned from her mother.

As the kids grew older, the family was able to take memorable road trips to satisfy their desire to spend time in the outdoors. Camping was a pastime everyone loved. There were trips to private West Texas ranches made available by uncle Jake Casparis, a professional trapper for the U.S. Government, and by Bill's employer as a Texaco service station operator, Ford Smith. Actually, these were more like expeditions than camping as several members of the extended family and pals of the kids were invited to come along. The most talked about trip remains the camping trip to Estes Park in Colorado. On the outward leg at a point somewhere in West Texas, Bill pulled the station wagon over and said there was car trouble. He got on the citizens' band radio and called for help. Soon a car pulled over and stopped. To the shock of everyone (except Bill) out jumped Buddy Turner. A closer look revealed the entire Turner family in the car! This is a classic example of the practical jokes Buddy often talked Bill into. We still remember how Theresa laughed in relief that the car was not dead and how happy she was to have Alma on the trip with her. The two families had a great time together in Colorado.

While mostly a stay-at-home mother, Theresa also had a capacity for entrepreneurship. When her children finally left home, she and Bill also left home. They operated the Rod & Reel Motel in Rockport and then moved to San Antonio to work with her real estate agent brother Ron, his wife Sharon, and her sister Judy and her husband George, to operate a house make-ready business. This was hard work but successful and helped to fund their future activities. After a few years, they moved back to Johnson City and opened the Water Hole Saloon and later Times Ago Collections. This venture led to "picking" trips across Texas, the South, and the Northeast. Theresa specialized in vintage glass, dishware, and cookware. During this period, she accumulated a collection of more than 200 toothpick holders of every shape, color, and description. Yes, that is a thing.

Her three children have given her seven grandchildren whom she loved and treasured, too often from afar. Trent and Lindsey were able to travel with "Ma and Pa" several times including a memorable Amtrak trip from Austin through Los Angeles (during the LA Riots, no less) to Sacramento. Trent and Lindsey also fondly remember her chicken fried steak and going to the nursing home with her and singing to the residents. Ian remembers Theresa as being kind and welcoming to the new kid in the family and having fun at Times Ago. Kellen, Caleb, and Will enjoyed working at Times Ago washing windows, arranging toys on the shelves, and learning to count back change at the register. Caleb and Will had lots of fun staying at Ma's house for sleepovers with marathon video games and trips to Sonic. Kellen loved Ma for many reasons but helping her with her pin curls was one of her favorites. Every time she asked, Ma was there to do it for her, even when her hair frizzed out and it had to be redone. The older kids also loved hanging out at the saloon playing shuffleboard with some (we have just learned) sneaking bags of potato chips from behind the bar! All the grandkids enjoyed watching game shows with their Ma, getting frequent hugs, and eating whatever goodies she made.

Theresa was a life-long Democrat, although she slipped and voted for Ross Perot over Bill Clinton in 1992. We are not positive why she did this but perhaps she was unduly influenced because Terry worked for Perot's company, EDS. She was always proud of that local boy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, and what he accomplished with the Great Society legislation upholding civil rights, support for the Medicare and Medicaid programs, and the War on Poverty. She spoke often of the ideals of equality, fairness, and charity; this certainly influenced her children.

In Memory

Theresa, our mother, was and is the heart of our family. She nurtured us, taught us, and left us with so many wonderful memories. Our hearts are broken but also filled. We are so happy that she is now with her Lord, and after so long, has no worries and is at peace. All is forgiven.

Terry, Melia, Kelly, and for our Dad – August 18, 2016.

Theresa is predeceased by her parents, Howard and Faye Cravens. She is survived by her husband, William "Bill" Casparis of Johnson City, her son Terry Casparis and his wife Joyce Humble of Johnson City; daughter Melia O'Dell of Austin; and son Kelly Casparis and his wife Cindy Casparis of San Marcos.  She is also survived by her grandchildren Trent Casparis and his wife Devin of Sacramento, Lindsey Ferguson and her husband Levi of Newcastle CA, Ian Graham of Austin, William "Will" O'Dell of Austin, Amber Johnson and her husband Carl of San Marcos, Kellen Casparis of San Marcos, and Caleb Casparis of San Marcos. She is survived by her brother Gary Cravens and his wife Ardyce of Austin, her brother Ron Cravens and his wife Sharon of Burnet, and her sister Judy Cravens Schoenfeld and her husband George of Art, TX. Theresa will also be greatly missed by her long-time friend, Alma Turner, and Trent and Lindsey's mother, Zelda Casparis. Theresa leaves her heart with her beloved dachshund, Guinness.