Monday, April 29, 2024
Robert Lee “Uncle Bob” Saunders was an early-day resident of Gatesville and the son of one of Gatesville’s early business pioneers. Born in 1880 in Gatesville, Uncle Bob had many memories and stories from his childhood which, later in life, he put in writing during the 1940s and 1950s for The Gatesville Messenger in a weekly column titled “Down Memory Lane.”
According to John Frank Post, editor of the Gatesville Messenger from 1946-1978, “Mr. Saunders composed his Down Memory Lane columns from his West Main Street home in the shadow of the county courthouse dome. Deadline time would find him hunched square-shouldered over his small desk pecking away at his typewriter.” Post continued, “disdaining the rules of grammar and political correctness, he wrote like he talked – straight and plain-speaking. He was spared any tedious research, as his gifted memory supplied him with facts that he could weave into his own inimitable embroidery, using colorful anecdotes, local history, and happenings. Yes, Uncle Bob knew how to juice up a story.”
Post recalled that the “Down Memory Lane” column was a hit with the readers of the newspaper from the beginning. Post said that Uncle Bob’s close friends felt he viewed his writing as a “gift to his generation and a legacy to generations to come.”
The following is an excerpt of Uncle Bob’s Down Memory Lane column that appeared in the Sept. 30, 1949, edition of The Gatesville Messenger:
County Judge Fred Faunt Le Roy
None of the lawyers of the town wanted to be bothered with the county judge’s office, for they could make more money out of one big murder case than the judge’s pay would amount to for a whole year. But Fred Faunt Le Roy, who lived just across the Leon River south of Gatesville, was prevailed on to stand for the office, and he was elected and took office Nov. 21, 1882.
Fred Faunt Le Roy was a young lawyer from Virginia who was sent to Coryell County when it organized in 1854 by the Federal Government on a special mission, which remained a military secret. Anyway, the young lawyer from Virginia stayed in this county, raised a family of three boys and one daughter, and served as county judge for the years 1883-84; after which he retired to his farm across the Leon River.
We used to see him on the streets of Gatesville almost every day, and if you knowed the old Judge, you wouldn’t get too close to him, or he would drown you with that spray of tobacco juice. The old Judge lacked a whole lot of being a beauty, and as far as I ever heard, he made a good judge.
He was succeeded in office by W.P. (Bill) Stovall, the father of Lum Stovall who now lives at King. W.P. Stovall was not a lawyer, but he evidently was an outstanding man in Coryell County, for the people elected him to serve for the years of 1885-88. Old Timers will remember his brother, Jack Stovall, who ran the Gatesville Hotel for several years back in the ‘80s and ‘90s.
