Memories of Ed Pollak

This picture was taken in the fall of '47 when Bub Wilken drove his '37 Chevy and took Ed Pollak, Don Armstrong, my brother Don and I on a trip down to the Ozarks in Arkansas. (Bub also took the picture} The car "broke-down" in Conway where we spent several days while it was being repaired. I don't know how we could have had a better introduction to the southern life style. Some years ago we traveled through Conway and I couldn't find anything in the Metropolitan City that resembled the small city that we visited years earlier.

This scene was at the Capitol in Washington, D.C. in January of 1948. A cab driver recognized us as farm boys early in the day and made us a deal for seeing the most significant sights in the City in one day. He even took the picture of Ed, Tony, Don, Bub and Don Armstrong. It wasn't until years later when we lived in the area that I fully appreciated the great job our driver did in getting us to the right place at the right time to help us see as much as possible.

This picture to the left was taken 63 years after the one above. Don Armstrong's were here from Wyoming (Don took the picture) and he, Ed and I spent an afternoon back in the Bohemian Alps north of Garland where we all grew-up. While we stopped at the Garland baseball diamond, we drove past all of our old farmsteads, past land that we farmed and heard Ed tell about the County roads that he helped grade. There wasn't a hill that we went over that didn't bring to mind a memory from one of us. Ed was a great guy.  They played bohemian music at his funeral today. It was very appropriate. We missed Ed at the Accordion Jamboree held at the County Fair this fall. We always made a point of setting close to where Ed sat at earlier Jamborees because he always sang along with the accordions. He had a wonderful voice and seemed to know all of the songs. I lost a dear friend.