I’ve often wondered if folks read this column. I’ve received some positive reinforcement in the form of e-mails. With permission from George Porcher, the author of these e-mails and a former Littlefield resident, I’d like to share his responses to specific columns. In response to the "Sliced Bread" column, he writes:

"It was a treat to read your article in Sunday's Leader-News.  Along with a trip down memory lane there was an interesting history of sliced bread.  This stirred my memory of the Rumback bakery in Littlefield. 

"Sam and Mrs. Rumback were probably the original owners of the two story building on the northeast corner of 3rd and Phelps Ave.    They were industrious, hard working people with cheerful dispositions. They loved good conversations with lots of laughter.  They both spoke with a German accent.  Mrs. Rumback ran the hotel which was located on the upper floor.  Sam ran the bakery on the first floor.  Their living quarters were on the west end of the upper floor. 

"The bakery baked and sold, "Sally Ann," bread.  Sam would have fresh baked bread coming out of the oven around 5 in the evening, just as people started home from work.  It was convenient to stop by the bakery and take home a loaf of fresh warm bread.  

"Either Mrs. Rumback or her daughter-in-law, Lenora, would be behind the counter.  (Lenora later married Mancil Hall after her husband, Willie Rumback, died.)  The warm bread would come from the back of the bakery on a conveyer to the sales floor.  I was fascinated by the process and loved to watch the bread go through the slicing and wrapping operation, all done by the machine in full view of the customers.  Lenora would pick up the fresh sliced loaf and put it in a brown paper sack for the customer.  I loved to go with my mother to get bread, and would open the wrapper on the way home and eat several warm slices.  They smelled and tasted so good to a hungry kid. I wish I could taste Sally Ann bread again and see if it tastes as good as it does in my memory.

"Sam Rumback loved cornbread, and thought my mother baked the best in the world.  He baked a lot of bread in his bakery but never cornbread.  The Rumbacks would come to my parents home for dinner (it was supper in those days), and Sam would eat a whole skillet of my mother's cornbread.  She was pleased to have a baker shower such compliments her cornbread. 

"I wonder if Sam Rumback's bread slicing machine was the only one that was ever in Littlefield.  Probably so.

George seemed to particularly enjoy the "CCC Camp" column:

"The postman brought the Leader-News today, and it was a treat to read the article you wrote about the Civilian Conservation Corps. Your article stirred up some old memories of Littlefield, and the CCC camp. While I was too young to remember much about the CCC camp, I do remember the camp commander, and one of the CCC projects in Lamb County.

"The commander of the CCC camp was Stoney Porcher. There may have been other commanders, but Stoney is the only one I know of.  Upon arriving in Littlefield, Stoney was surprised to find 4 Porcher families living in Littlefield. At the time, my grandparents, John and Maggie Porcher lived on a farm next to their son, Bruce Porcher. They had 3 sons living in Littlefield, John Jr., Ben, and Bruce. Stoney contacted my father, John Jr., and they compared their family roots. It turned out we were all related. Stoney became friends with all the Porcher families in Littlefield.

"My only memory of Stoney (I was only 4 or 5 years old at the time) is of him coming to my parents home at 502 E. 8th street for supper. Stoney was in his military uniform. He was a tall, well built, dark haired man with an erect military posture. He was very friendly, and thoroughly enjoyed comparing family history with my father. While Stoney was not fat, he was big, and when he sat down in one of the best chairs in our home, the chair broke down, much to the embarrassment of my parents and Stoney. That incident is probably why I remember Stoney.

"There was a playa lake on my uncle Bruce Porcher's farm. One of the CCC projects was to plant willow trees around the north and east sides of the lake. The trees were of a species that thrived even with their trunks covered in 2 or 3 feet of water, which happened almost every spring. Some years the lake was dry, and some years the water was 5 or 6 feet deep in the middle.  I'm just guessing, but it seems to me that it was about a quarter mile from one end of the trees to the other.

"The trees thrived and grew taller every year during the 30's, 40's, and 50's. The large, dense, green trees made a beautiful small wildlife refuge out of the old playa lake. The lake became an excellent place to hunt ducks.

"Sometime around 1947, some friends helped me stock the lake with small catfish we seined out of Bull lake. Fortunately, the lake did not go dry again for about 4 years. When the lake dried, catfish laden puddles formed in various places over the lake bed. People from Littlefield came to the lake and filled wash tubs with the catfish. All they had to do to catch the catfish was wade into the puddles and pick the fish up by hand. we were amazed at how the fish had multiplied and grown so big.

"Unfortunately, the trees around the lake caught blowing tumbleweeds during the fall and winter. The tumbleweeds would stack up over 6 feet high in the barrier formed by the long, thick row of trees. Bruce Porcher would use a pitchfork to remove the tumbleweeds and stack them in a pile to burn. It was a hard days work that had to be done every year. Bruce was afraid that if the tumbleweeds were not removed from the trees, a fire might start and burn up the beautiful trees.

"Well, that's what happened one year around 1960. The tumbleweeds caught fire and burned all the trees. Not a single tree survived, and today there is nothing to show for the wonderful CCC project that for almost 30 years added so much beauty to Lamb county.

"After his military service, Stoney settled in the Isleta area of El Paso.  Many of his descendants live there today.

Best Wishes, George"

I can’t express my gratitude to George and others who have been kind enough to let me know they’re interested in and enjoy the "At the Museum" column. I enjoy compiling the information each week, and learn a lot each time I begin to research a subject. I would love to hear from anyone and everyone who has comments or suggestions or memories. That’s what we’re all about – memories! After all, that’s really what history is!