A Photo Reconnects Me with an Old Friend

I was recently working on a blog that explored the connection between photography and writing and came across another of Charles Blackburn‘s incredible photos.

As I stared at this photo, memories started flooding my conscientiousness of an old friend, Clay Reynolds. The woman in this photo by Blackburn is at a Fina station in Texarkana, TX. She appears to be waiting. Seeing the woman in the photo immediately re-connected me to Reynolds and the woman waiting in The Vigil, his first published novel in 1986.

Reynolds was my freshman English professor at Lamar University. I loved him as much as a student can love a demanding professor, and he profoundly influenced me. I had him both semesters, and he made me grow in a lot of different ways. I’ll never forget how he explained “it’s” versus “its,” as he bemoaned a bumper sticker that stated, “Texico hates it’s employees.” Funny how things like that stick with you. I also admired how he came from a small Texas town to become a tenured professor and how he became a published author.

Reynolds grew up in Quanah way west of Dallas in north Texas. Although considered a “city boy,” by locals, Reynolds spoke of doing farm and ranch work during the summers and spending a lot of time in Quanah’s public library. (Editorial note: Libraries are incredibly important and support our “arsenal of democracy.”) He became a fan of one of my favorites, Larry McMurtry, in High School and later got to meet McMurtry in Archer City. He said he was overwhelmed by McMurtry. He said, “He was a writer from Texas, my Texas, West Texas. Writers weren’t supposed to come from there.”

Reynolds graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, where he received a degree in history in 1971. After going to Trinity for a master’s degree in English with a specialization in 20th-century American literature in 1974, he received his Ph.D. in Modern Literature from the University of Tulsa in 1979.

I might not be a writer if I hadn’t met him a few years later. First, he taught me how to write. Two, he showed me that real-life human beings I actually knew can write novels. Like McMurtry did for him, he showed me that it can be done.

I read his first novel, The Vigil in the late 1980s. I was young and quite impressionable. The novel presented the story of a woman who’s daughter disappears after boarding a bus. The woman waits on the bus stop bench for her daughter to return for a very long time. Somehow, Reynolds made this into an interesting tale that holds your attention.

I next read, Agatite and enjoyed it. Reynolds shared some of the grimmer aspects of Texas life concerning sin, retribution, mob mentality, and the darker aspects of small-town life in the South or Southwest.

I then lost touch with Reynolds. He went on to write many well-received novels of which I was never aware until this photo “re-connected” us. Sadly, he passed away in 2022. I never got a chance to let him know how he inspired me and how I went on to be a writer. I guess this blog is about as close as I’ll get to doing that.

I just ordered Monuments. It is about a 14-year old boy who fights to save a landmark in his small West Texas town. I may identify with it. I’ve tilted at a few windmills myself.

If you enjoy reading about gritty, small West Texas towns and themes. I encourage you to check him out.

Although I have had many literary influences, you may pick up a little of “Dr. Reynolds” in my writings too!

---

If you enjoyed this post, please subsribe!