I met Tex in 1959 when he was a student at a Colorado college (was it Wittenburg? Something like that, anyway) majoring in gunsmithing. I did a concert there, and complained that I couldn't find any silk & steel strings (I was playing an old Washburn at the time and preferred them to the nylon strings it was made for) in Colorado. Tex came up to me backstage, invited me to his dorm, and presented me with a set of silk & steels. May not have saved my life, exactly, but I couldn't have waited until nylon strings stopped stretching before my next booking, and I sure did need new strings!

Next time I saw him was on a street in Greenwich Village, maybe around 1964 or 5. He recognized me, for some reason, and when I turned around at his "hello!," I remembered him very clearly. Let's face it, Tex presented a memorable figure! The man was a huge as his heart. He'll be missed by many.

Sandy