I received messages from two men who have fond memories of Mr. Weth. The first was from Lou Payton (SLHS '46). Here's what he said:
Chuck, I would like to add a couple of stories about Mr. Weth.....When Earl Tise, Jr. and I were at Southwest Texas State, Mr. Weth allowed us to go to his ranch on the Devil's Backbone to hunt and spend time on weekends.....Later, when the Sugar Company was one of my customers I had some dealings with him and he invited me to his home to see his World War 1 trophies when he was a fighter pilot in the German Air Force.......I wonder what happened to all those items....
Thanks again for reviving old memories......Lou Payton
I agree with Lou; I wonder what happened to Mr. Weth's WWI memorabilia. I don't think the Weths had any children, but I could be wrong. BTW, I'd always heard Mr. Weth was an ace. That's something I should investigate.
I got a note from David Wickersham (DHS '63). Here's what he said:
Johnny Friend and his Dad invited me to go hunting with them and Mr. Weith at his ranch. I was about 14 at the time. As I remember it was 1000 acres in Fredricksburg on the Devil's Backbone. Being a city boy who had just two years before moved to the country (Sugar Land), I knew very little about the outdoors and wildlife. One morning I got up early and went exploring by myself. I soon saw a flock of turkeys on the next hill. I decided I would kill one with a big stick I had. I was sure the men would be very impressed. I ran down the hill and up the next one only to see the turkeys were already on the next hill. I ran faster this time but again they had beat me to the next hill. I ran with all I had and got to the top of the next hill just in time to see them gliding into the valley like a squadron of B-25s. I never knew they could fly.
Mr. Weith had a WWII army jeep that he had the machine shop at Imperial weld a solid metal plate on the undercarrige and install a substantial roll bar on the top. With that protection, he would run over anything. We had some wild rides that week with him. Several times he rolled it over. We would get out, roll it over on it's wheels and go again.Thanks for the memories.David
It sounds as though Mr. Weth was a generous fellow. Here's a photo of him at the ground breaking for the Sugar Land Gym on Lakeview in 1932. It looks as though someone (probably Frau Weth) annotated the photo. It says 'Albrecht.'
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| Gus Ulrich is standing near the stake (in shirt sleeves). W. T. Eldridge, Sr. is in the white suit and white hat. M. R. Wood is in the white suit next to Mr. Eldridge. |
The Weths lived in the building on Eldridge Road that was once the transmitting station for KPRC radio.
