Tags
Baby Head, Coffeyville, Family history, Genealogy, Kansas, Llano, Miller, Texas, Willbern, yearbooks
I just found this fabulous yearbook picture of my great uncle Damon Willbern (1900-1985) at age 16 at Llano High School in West Texas. He looks just like the successful Kansas banker I remember in his last decades. He was married to my Aunt Margie (Marjorie Miller), sister of my grandmother, and I adored them both.
One of my favorite memories of Uncle Damon was seeing him sitting in his Cordoba red leather reclining chair in their house in Coffeyville, Kansas, with his favorite Spanish peanuts, holding a fussy baby granddaughter in his lap. In his gravelly voice, he’d tell this tiny baby, “Give ’em hell, honey!”
From the yearbook I learned that Uncle Damon was born in a place called Baby Head, Texas, now a ghost town. For real!
Generations of Nomads 
Great stuff, Kim! Keep up the fascinating quest. Haden
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Thanks, Haden!
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Kim, we own a property at Lake LBJ in Llano County and it is just a stones throw from Babyhead. There is an historical marker along the state highway that gives some history (or folklore) about the community. There is still an active cemetery and many Willbern’s are buried there. I took my father there for a quick visit and he was very appreciative. I have since found and have taken a photo of a street sign named Willbern’s Glen, although they misspelled the name. I fully intend to contact the current owners of the property to ask if they would allow me a tour and take a few photos. I have seen this picture of Damon, Sr somewhere. Perhaps if you post it on Ancestry.com I can link it to my tree.
It is so funny that you remember the red leather chair and peanut dispenser! They both ended up at my parent’s house almost as a shrine. The poor easy chair was disintegrating but it would NOT be removed. Your post really brought back some memories for me.
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Oh, Connie, I love that the chair and peanut dispenser were like a shrine! That seems only right. And it would be great to go visit the property.
I got that photo from a yearbook on Ancestry. I’ve added the photo to Uncle Damon’s gallery, and the link to the yearbook is under the Sources section of his profile.
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