Tom Mix Memorial -- Photo by Pat Bean
“I always remember an epitaph which is in the cemetery at Tombstone, Arizona. It says: ‘Here lies Jack Williams. He done his damnedest.’ I think that is the greatest epitaph a man can have.” – Harry S. Truman
Cowboy Memorial
While driving a lonely stretch of Highway 79 in Arizona awhile back, I came upon this Tom Mix Memorial. Mix, just for all you youngsters out there who may never have heard the name, made over 325 movies between 1910 and 1935. All but nine of them silent films.
While this cowboy was a bit before even my time, I did see a few of his last movies when they played as Saturday matinees at the Lisbon Theater in Dallas. Looking at the memorial I could almost smell the popcorn and feel the rough-cushion of the seats in that old theater.
Landscape near where Tom Mix crashed his vehicle and died of a broken neck in 1940. -- Photo by Pat Bean
I wonder if it’s still there, on Lancaster Avenue in South Oak Cliff. I couldn’t find it on the Internet, but I did come across a site for Lisbon Elementary, which I attended in the first grade.
Mix died in 1940, very near this memorial, which it was evident had seen better days.
Traveling is a two-part journey. First there’s the joy of seeing new sights and learning new things, and then comes the connections that take one back to other times and other places.
It takes both things to satisfy my wanderlust.
Bean’s Pat: Things I love http://tinyurl.com/87gobqe I have Portuguese in my genes, but I would love this blog even if I didn’t.
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Ok, not only do I like you….I want to be you!
I saw some Tom Mix movies when I was a youngster, but never knew he’d died before I was born.
Me neither Bob. Nor that he had made all those silent movies. My cowboy hero was Roy Rogers — and I didn’t like that Dale Evans.
Great post. Thnx for sharing your travels, memories & photos: the best of virtual travel for me. 🙂 EllaDee
I do a lot of virtual traveling myself. Thanks for joining my journeys.
I drove past the Tom Mix monument on Sunday. I vaguely knew that Tom Mix had something to do with movies – and briefly thought about stopping to look at the monument – but it had been a long day on the road and I was ready to get home. Thank you for the reminder to slow down and stop sometimes! I did enjoy all the hedgehog cacti in spectacular magenta bloom along Hwy 79 that day!
I try to schedule stops during my travels. I find if I write them down as part of my driving plan I’m far more likely to stop and linger awhile. I, too, know the dissatisfaction of driving by and not stopping. About 20 miles down the road the regret starts to set in. Thanks for commenting.