For at least four decades, a sign advertising Graham’s Watch Repair hung from the Graham family home wedged between a Marble Falls school and RR 1431, drawing customers and curiosity. 

Positioned as it was, right on the highway with Marble Falls Elementary School in its backyard, the white clapboard house drew speculation, especially after it sat empty and dilapidated over the last 10 years.  

“My son and a lot of friends always thought it was haunted,” one father of an elementary school student told The Picayune Magazine. 

The home’s last occupant, Houghton Graham, was the second of three sons of Jalina “Jay” and Corbett Graham, who built the house. Houghton taught himself to repair watches and clocks by reading books. He had an eidetic memory, which allowed him to recall images of everything he ever read and every clock he ever fixed. 

“He was a brilliant man,” said second cousin Darlene Oostermeyer, who grew up with Houghton and his brothers and cared for them in their later years. “He could pick up a clock or watch manual and he would know exactly what to do. It was astounding to watch him work.”

Customers would leave their timepieces on the porch with a signed note attached stating the problem. Houghton would fixed them and collect cash when the owners came back to pick up their goods. A jeweler in Burnet brought their toughest repair jobs to Houghton, Oostermeyer said. 

Last year, the 84-year-old house was torn down and the property sold to the Marble Falls Independent School District, which moved its fence and expanded its playing field. 

Workers found two vintage travel clocks in the walls and 300 brown snuff bottles with cork tops under the house. The only items of any worth were five violins and seven stunning antique clocks, Oostemeyer said. She also salvaged an antique side table now in her home and Houghton’s work desk, which resides in The Falls on the Colorado Museum in Marble Falls. Oostermeyer is on the museum’s board of directors. 

The 1,100-square-foot house was home to both Graham’s Watch Repair and the five-member Graham family. Along with the parents and Houghton were Dempsey, the oldest boy, and Taylor, the youngest. The boys lived in the house their entire lives, sharing a bedroom with three single beds. Dempsey and Taylor died in the house. Houghton died in a hospital after a few years in a nursing home. He was the last to go.

Work was an easy commute for them all. Corbett, Dempsey, and Taylor all had jobs as janitors and bus drivers for the school district. The back of the house opened onto the athletic field of what was first the old Granite School (where the museum is now housed) and later Marble Falls Elementary.

The home sat empty after Houghton was moved to the nursing home just a few years before he died in 2012. 

Its precarious position on the shoulder of RR 1431 was not where it was built. Before the gravel road was paved to become a highway, the house was just above the flood plain of the Whitman Branch of Backbone Creek, where a bridge is now. The Texas Department of Transportation moved the house from the creek and again later, repositioning it back from the road when the highway was widened. TxDOT built the concrete stairs from the road’s shoulder to the front porch, which can be seen in the only photo that exists of the entire family. 

When the parents were alive and the boys were fairly young, the home hummed with music from a large upright piano, fiddles, banjos, mandolins, and guitars. Oostermeyer’s father, Leslie Elbert Farmer, joined in on Saturday nights, and the kids would climb on the three single beds in the brothers’ bedroom to listen to the family and anyone else who showed up to play. 

“We lived across the road by where the car wash is now,” Oostermeyer said. “Dad and I would walk down there on a Saturday night, and they would all play. We sat on the beds on these wonderful quilts, and it was so warm. There was a huge potbelly stove in the room. Most played fiddles, but Dempsey played piano.” 

The piano has it own story. At one point, with both parents dead, the house was red-tagged for eviction by the city. Oostermeyer organized family and community members to get it back in shape so Houghton could live out his life there.

“They were hoarders,” she said. “It was unbelievable, but when Aunt Jay was alive, the house was immaculately kept. Not by Aunt Jay. She never did a thing! Dempsey did all the cooking and cleaning.”

During a major cleanup of the house, Oostemeyer got rid of a lot of the old furniture and a giant wood-burning kitchen stove. As for the piano, when she opened the top, she found dead cats stuffed inside. She and a cousin cleaned it as much as they could but couldn’t find a taker.

Word got around they were clearing out the house, though, and she got a call from another of the cousins. 

“It was his grandmother’s piano,” Oostemeyer said. “He does not know how it got from his grandmother’s house to the Graham’s house, but he came and got it and finished cleaning it up. Now, he has his grandmother’s piano.” 

The house fell into disrepair and disarray after Jay died. With his mother gone, Dempsey quit cleaning, Oostemeyer said.

According to a story she heard from the late Rev. Max Copeland of First Baptist Church of Marble Falls, the Graham boys doted on their mother. One of his many visits to the home was on Jay’s birthday. At the time, she was in a wheelchair, having lost both legs to diabetes. Everyone in the family except Taylor suffered from the disease. Houghton lost most of his eyesight to diabetes but was able to continue his repair work thanks to watchmaker magnifying glasses.

“Brother Max said they had put a crown on her head that said ‘Princess,’” Oostemeyer said. “It may have been one of her last birthdays. He told me they revered her, which I guess is why they never left the nest. They never dated, never married.” 

Houghton did have a sweetheart at one point. He confided in Oostemeyer that his biggest regret in life was not marrying the young lady, who seemed to return his affections. She ended up marrying someone else and moving to Llano. 

“He said his mother wouldn’t let him because he was their biggest moneymaker,” Oostemeyer recalled. “He not only fixed clocks and watches, he was an extraordinary woodworker. He used to refurbish antiques, too. Everyone paid in cash.”

At the end of his life, Oostemeyer learned her cousin kept that cash in a box under his bed. When he could no longer travel, she came by to see if he wanted her to pay his property taxes for him. He pulled out the box and counted out enough cash for her to take care of the bill. 

“He had several thousand dollars under that bed,” she said. 

Some of what was salvaged from the house can be found at The Falls on the Colorado Museum, including Houghton’s work desk complete with his glasses and goggles. An old cuckoo clock sits on the top of the desk where Oostemeyer found it when doing a final cleanup of the property. 

“I tried for the longest to find the owner,” she said. “Eventually, I found a cardboard box with cuckoo parts and a name on the bottom with an index card.” 

She tracked down the owner’s daughter to see if she wanted the clock. The young lady asked if it was fixed. 

“I said, no, it wasn’t and she said she didn’t want it if it wasn’t fixed,” Oostemeyer said. “That’s how I ended up with the clock. It had been on Houghton’s desk for years.” 

In refinishing the desk, Oostemeyer discovered that Houghton carved into it the names of his deceased pets, what type of animal they were, and the day and time they died. The family always had a lot of animals. 

“When the city red-tagged the house, animal control came by and picked up 52 cats,” Oostemeyer said. 

Houghton was well known in the community. He taught his skills to apprentices, who carried on the trade, one in Leander and one in Smithwick. 

When Houghton went to the nursing home, he moved in among friends. 

“A lot of people were there that Houghton knew,” Oostemeyer said. “Cleaning out that house and making it livable for him was a labor of love. It gave him a couple of years in the only home he ever knew.” 

Houghton Graham’s desk, photo, and some of his tools are in The Falls on the Colorado Museum, 2001 Broadway, just steps away from where his house once stood in what was once the school building that employed his father and two brothers — still never far from home.

suzanne@thepicayune.com

Julie Parsley (center with plaque) was recognized for her five years as chief executive officer of the Pedernales Electric Cooperative during the co-op’s regular board meeting Dec. 16. With her are directors Travis Cox (left), Milton Rister, Amy Akers, Libby Pataki, and James Oakley and board President Mark Ekrut. Director Paul Graf (not pictured) attended the December meeting by phone. Courtesy photo

Pedernales Electric Cooperative members with solar or any distributive energy could see an increase in the amount the co-op will pay them for their excess electricity. The Board of Directors heard a draft resolution at its regular meeting Friday, Dec. 16, that will raise buy-back rates to 6.060005 cents per kilowatt-hour from 5.3770 cents as of March 1, 2023 — an increase of 0.68305 cents.

Last fall, buy-back rates for individual solar generation were cut by about 4 cents per kWh, despite opposition from members with solar panels. Before the drop in December 2021, the price paid per kilowatt-hour was 9.347 cents. 

About 6,100 of PEC’s more than 300,000 members have distributed generation, or solar, installations, which is about 1.7 percent of the co-op’s total membership.

A final vote on the Sustainable Power Credit is scheduled for the board’s regular meeting at 9 a.m. Friday, Jan. 20, 2023. 

Energy policy and outreach specialist for Public Citizen, Kaiba White, was unimpressed with the increase. Public Citizen is a national advocacy group. White works for the Texas office. The group was vocal in its opposition to PEC’s initial cut in solar buy-back rates.

“It’s a small fraction of a penny,” she said. “It’s a very small change when you look at it in the context of retail rates, which also changed.”

The rate per kilowatt-hour is figured annually based on changes in energy costs, natural gas prices, and other market factors. Solar members argue that environmental benefits of using solar energy, which has a smaller carbon footprint than natural gas, oil, or coal, should be taken into account when figuring those rates. 

Those numbers don’t exist, said Chief Financial Officer Randy Kruger at the Dec. 17 meeting.

“There is no rate for carbon,” he said. “If legislation is passed to provide a rate for carbon, then we would include that.” 

White agreed that PEC followed its methodology in figuring the rate changes both last year and this year. 

“But it’s the same flawed methodology, so solar members are paying more for energy they receive than what they produce,” she said. “They are paid an unfair rate.” 

She suggested that PEC’s next cost of service study, which just got underway, should include a re-evaluation of the solar rate. 

suzanne@thepicayune.com

Sterling Creek Builders representative and attorney Jeff Kelly addresses the Granite Shoals City Council on Dec. 14, asking for a change to a zoning ordinance for the incoming high-end development Granite Pointe. The rezoning removes all commercial property plans. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey

The Granite Shoals City Council voted to approve a zoning change for the incoming Granite Pointe subdivision during its regular meeting Dec. 14. The original approved plans for the new subdivision included commercial zoning for a marina, restaurants, and more, but developer Sterling Creek Builders adjusted them to a residential-only build after receiving negative feedback from neighbors. 

The council unanimously approved Ordinance 810 (a), which rezoned Granite Pointe as fully residential.

The area originally set aside for commercial development in Granite Pointe will now hold 21 cottage-style homes and ample parking space for subdivision residents. The developer also will reduce the number of planned lakefront estates in the subdivision from 11 to nine to make room for more parking and less crowding. 

The Granite Shoals Planning and Zoning Commission heard developer presentations on Dec. 13 and recommended that the council approve the change.

“One of the reasons we got rid of the commercial aspect, the ability to do a bar, restaurant, or boat dock, is because of you,” said attorney Jeff Kelly, representing Sterling Creek, to a full council chamber. “We don’t want to have unhappy neighbors. We don’t want to have an unhappy community. We want a community that is going to support this project and make it great.”

According to Kelly, Sterling Creek chose to adjust plans for commercial development after residents from the neighboring condominium communities of Lakefront and Tropical Hideaway opposed the inclusion of businesses in the neighborhood. Original plans for multi-use commercial and residential zoning were approved in May 2021. Sterling Creek representatives returned before the council in October 2022 to present the zoning changes, which led to the Dec. 14 vote. 

“I think it’s important that we all realize that tonight is not the final design phase. … It’s simply 810 (a),” Kelly explained. “All it’s doing is asking the council, with the approval of the residents, to phase back from multi-use, commercial dock, large high-scale condos to what’s more responsible and amenable to our neighbors.”

Prior to the vote, Councilor Samantha Ortis addressed the loss of economic development because of the rezoning.

“I do feel like this is a lost opportunity for the city,” she said. “It seems that you guys have done your due diligence to appease the neighbors. I am a little bothered that we, as a city, have now lost out on some significant sales-tax revenue.”

Ortis referred to the numerous discussions the council has had concerning how to bring economic development to Granite Shoals. 

Kelly agreed with Ortis’ statement but again referred to the developer’s desire to be in alignment with the subdivision’s neighbors.

“(Sterling Creek owner John Corcorran) made the financial decision to be more amenable to his neighbors and be more responsible as a developer,” Kelly said. “That, unfortunately, has a negative financial impact for the city.”

While it is unknown what the overall financial impact of the proposed commercial businesses would have been, the 21 cottage-style homes are valued at around $1 million each, which would bring in about $125,000 in property taxes using the 2022-23 Granite Shoals property tax rate. 

The city’s current sales-tax rate is 8.25 percent, but it only receives 2 percent with the other 6.25 percent going to the state. Potential employment opportunities at the businesses was another unknown factor.

Councilor Phil Ort countered Ortis and Kelly, stating that numerous residents had complained and they had a right to be heard.

“I don’t represent businesses, I represent voters,” he said in response to Kelly’s comments. “I do see the significant value we have lost from the city with the commercial development. I understand (Sterling Creek’s) point of view. I understand (the neighbors’) point of view. But I have to look at all sides.”

Ortis ultimately moved to approve the rezoning and was seconded by Councilor Kevin Flack, leading to unanimous approval.

dakota@thepicayune.com

A paraprofessional at Colt Elementary School, Misty Reed was awarded a scholarship through the Marble Falls school district’s Love Inspire Teach scholarship program earlier this academic year. The scholarship will help Reed complete her teaching degree while also earning her certification. Courtesy photo

Marble Falls Independent School District has recently created several educational opportunities so current employees can earn teaching degrees and certifications with tuition and fees paid for through district and state funding. The list of programs available to staff members total over $200,000 of grants and scholarships.

“Marble Falls ISD stands behind its commitment to supporting teachers who will love and inspire our students,” said Superintendent Dr. Chris Allen. “We are proud to have the ability to help our employees grow in their education and achieve their personal goals.”

The most recent opportunity awarded to the district stems from a competitive grant financed by the state of Texas called Grow Your Own.

Selected applicants will receive up to $17,500 to cover tuition and certification costs or $5,500 for staff members who only need certification costs covered. Prospective candidates must sign an agreement to teach for the district for at least three years after earning their certification or degree.

“It is important to be able to offer this support to our employees who have dedicated so much to our students and schools,” said Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction Yarda Leflet. “Everyone involved benefits from this program.” 

Another educational opportunity for district employees was announced earlier this fall. Funded by the district, the Love Inspire Teach program offers scholarships to current MFISD employees who do not have degrees. Committed to covering tuition, the district has allotted up to $10,656 per student for the program.

Workers such as classroom aides, bus drivers, child nutrition workers, and custodians are all eligible for the district-awarded scholarship. Upon selection and completion of their certification or degree program, recipients must agree to continue to work for the district for an additional two years.

To date, 10 applicants were selected to receive scholarships this year. 

“I have been trying for several years to finish school while working full time and raising a family,” said Misty Reed, a Pre-K paraprofessional at Colt Elementary and scholarship award recipient. “To have the support of my school district is very motivating. Teaching is my calling in life, and I’m very excited and grateful for this scholarship.”

Applications for the Love Inspire Teach program will open again in August.

nathan@thepicayune.com