Loren Wilson seems to be calm on the surface, but there are subjects he feels deeply about. The first is his family. He and Brenda have three children, two boys and a girl. The oldest, Wesley, is a senior at Tarleton State University and is studying pre-med. The second, Wade, is married and is a real estate salesman. The daughter, Dawn, is a freshman at Granbury High School.

Wilson is proud of Brenda, who received a degree in nursing after her family was beginning to be grown.

Neither he nor Brenda play musical instruments, but all their children do. It is the case, as Gibran might be paraphrased, of "the songs that lie buried in parents' hearts are oftentimes sung by their children."

Wesley plays classical piano and has studied under Dr. Jeffrey Shumway. Wade plays saxophone and guitar and is a "Willie Nelson sound-alike" and Dawn plays flute. She will be in the state competition in June. She also plays the piano.

Wilson says he has a multitude of hobbies. He loves fishing and he once caught a 38-pound catfish wile fishing on Lake Texoma. He caught an almost nine pound black bass in a stock tank in Hood County. He loves to hunt dove and quail and once got a 38 pound bobcat when he was about 12 years old, up in the Panhandle of Texas.

He says, "I also collect junk. I am collecting different kinds of barbed wire, and I do a lot of hiking especially in the Big Bend area. We canoe on the river occasionally because my wife is sports-minded, too. We play basketball, softball and throw horse shoes. Our daughter is a gifted athlete."

Wilson remembers when he was on the city council and Hugh Raupe was mayor. "Some of the buildings on the square were boarded up, and things weren't looking too good for Granbury's prospects. We could never have foreseen how the town would grow. I admire the optimism of people like Craig Raupe even now and I believe it will work. It took both nerve and optimism like the pioneers to bring Granbury to its present greatness. I was on the council from 1970-74 and it was in bad financial straits. A lot of people worked to get the lake for Granbury, and we own them a debt of gratitude."

Jacob deCordova was the first to envision utilizing the river back in the 1840's, according to Wilson. There have followed a long list of people like Joe Nutt, Mitchell and Tipton, the First National Bank people, Jimmy Dixon--the list is too long he says.

According to Wilson, "A building sold on the square in that era for $8,000 and now it would bring $150,000. The Opera House I remember as a shell, with no roof. Jo Ann Miller is due a lot of credit and all the unnamed people who hauled trash out of that building. That was a sort of 'town project' and there were always plenty of volunteers for the restoration of that Opera House. A lot of money, blood, sweat and tears went into that restoration."

Wilson is currently Democratic chairman of Precinct 2, and is less than enthused about the present caucus system.

He feels strongly about the water problems facing Granbury down the line. "I still think we will have to come to surface water maybe on the Paluxy at some time in the future."

He feels strongly about providing facilities for the youth of Granbury. "I believe this problem of providing parks and recreation, places for sports, is one of our most urgent and pressing problems. I also believe in beautification of the Granbury area. We really owe a debt to those people who have worked so hard to make Granbury beautiful."

There is one other subject that Wilson doesn't mince words about. It is the subject of the way we coddle criminals. "Especially in the area of child and parent abuse, we need to get as tough as necessary to prevent this. Any man or woman who would abuse a child or his parents is not fit to live in our society! It is a crying shame that older people have to barricade themselves for fear of being molested. And I feel that the people in nursing homes need all of us to visit them and make them feel part of the community. After all, without their effort we wouldn't have a beautiful place like Granbury in which to live."

2000 HOOD COUNTY TEXAS GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY