Yorktown to Yorktown with a few stops in between
Couple notes differences of same-named New York and Texas towns
Barbara Crain grew up in Yorktown, N.Y. She moved more than 1,800 miles to Yorktown, Texas, with her husband, Bill, in February of this year. The retired couple moved to Yorktown to be closer to Bill's family in the Cuero area.
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YORKTOWN vs. YORKTOWN
TexasNew York
Founded18481788
Population 227136,318
LocationSouth Texas 40 mi. from New York City
Total Area 1.7 sq. mi.39.3 sq mi.
YORKTOWN - For Barbara Crain, the road from Yorktown, N.Y., to Yorktown, Texas, led from Massachusetts through Montana.
"We found our place on the Internet, actually," said Barbara Crain, a volunteer at the public library in the Texas Yorktown. "We had been looking for about 10 years. We needed certain things - room for horses, room for company, not near the road."
But Barbara Crain's search wasn't random; her husband Bill Crain's father, Bill Crain Sr., is the brother of Cuero attorney James Crain.
Comparing Yorktown, N.Y., of the 1950s to Yorktown, Texas, of the 2000s, Barbara Crain said, "The big difference is football."
"At my school, the only people who had seats were the players. They had the benches. Everyone else sat on the ground and there were no lights," recalled the fit 68-year-old former medical research librarian.
Her husband agreed.
"It's a bigger deal here," he said.
Barbara Crain said the small-town life of both places was similar, even 50 years apart. A photograph of the school in her high school yearbook revealed a similar building that until recently stood in Yorktown, Texas, and not that unlike the current high school building.
"At the time I grew up there, it was very rural and very dairy. I went to the same school building from kindergarten through high school," said Barbara Crain, also recalling the New York town's Rexall Drug Store downtown. "The scenes from Main Street are the same. It was a very friendly small town,"
As is the Lone Star brand.
"The people have been very welcoming," Crain said. "I love the idea I can garden again all year-round, which is lovely."
The Crains, who met through their work at a biomedical research institute in Massachusetts, have retired and are enjoying interesting pursuits.
In addition to her volunteer work at the library, Barbara Crain is considering teaching some computer courses at the library on using the Internet.
"She's a great volunteer and a valuable asset to our library," said librarian Beth Riedesel.
Crain is passionate about the Yorktown Public Library.
"Beth has been my lifeline to the community and the library here is the community," Crain said. "When you walk in you don't have someone who says, 'Shhhhhh!' They say, 'Hi, how are you?'"
Bill Crain, the retired scientist, participates in reining, an international Western style riding event. Crain picked up the interest while in Montana, the last stop before moving to Texas in February.
How does a scientist go from doing microbiology research in embryo development to raising horses in Montana?
"Bill had his mid-life crisis and asked what I would think about moving to Montana," the librarian half of the pair said. "I had to go look at a map and saw how far to the left it was. It was way left. We drove our Conestoga wagon across the prairie and loved every minute of it."
Bill Crain laughed.
"Conestoga Honda," he said.
The couple worked in another research institute near Great Falls, Mont.
"It was an interesting and unexpected place," said Bill Crain.
Barbara said life in Montana was "hot and cold."
"The reason we adjusted so well there and here is that we have had other lives," she said. "We've lived other places and done other things."
She said surviving her first summer in South Texas felt like a major accomplishment, acknowledging this past summer's record heat.
"For the first time in my life I'm not getting sad that it's fall and you know winter's coming. Here it's 'Yay! Summer's over.'"
And in Yorktown, Texas, that means time for football.
Comments
This is an excellent example of the type of local news story at which the Advocate excels and, I might add, I enjoy reading. Kudos to Sonny Long. Keep up the good work.
October 26, 2009 at 12:36 p.m.