Thursday, January 16, 2025
“I’m known as Nana the banana pudding lady,” says Nancy Doyle, of Eldorado. “I make banana pudding for different occasions - like for the high school football team when they have their team supper. And I make them for funerals, just whatever.”
Nancy is also known as the hot cracker lady. “I take oyster crackers and put seasoning on them. They are hot and spicy sometimes. I try to watch how much cayenne pepper I use.”
She is best known for making colorful, decorative signs.
“It started as a hobby while I was teaching school. As of right now, I’ve made 1,130 signs. I write down each one on a yellow pad. I’m on my 34th yellow pad now.”
Some people ask her to make a sign. “Mostly with my big mouth I’ll ask people if they want me to make them one. I love doing them. The smiles on their faces when I hand it to them are all the pay I need. Some people pay me money, but I don’t ask for it.”
Her signs are all over Texas. “I sent some to New York, North Carolina, the Philippines, and even to Uganda. They’re everywhere.”
The signboards are about 6 inches by 2 feet, and she gets them at art supply houses.
“I don’t saw and do lumber stuff. I paint the boards white unless they say they want a different color. Then I take each little letter, paint it, and glue it to the board with Elmer’s glue. Then I put little doo dads on them: butterflies, flowers, or stars. For teachers, I put teacher stuff on them like the ABCs, 123s, apples, pencils, and books. I always make a sign for the new elementary teachers. Because I taught those grades.”
She considers making the signs a craft. “I have no art background. This does not take a whole lot of talent. I just paint and paste and decorate.”
It takes her a couple of weeks to make a sign. She’s been doing it more than 30 years. She has 200 colors to use in making a sign. All of her material for sign making is tucked away neatly in drawers and cabinets throughout her house. She has boxes of letters. She has just started making wooden letters a foot tall and decorating them. If a person’s name is Susan she’ll get a big decorated S.
“I usually have about six or seven signs to do. Not long ago, I had 20 to do at one time. It was overwhelming, but I got them done.
She made a sign for me.
“Well, of course. I wasn’t going to let you come here and not make you a sign. “
She also gave me some spicy crackers and a big bowl of banana pudding. Both were world class.
