Martha Meinsen Scott
April 13, 2005

Return to Stories.

He was the family legend. This uncle who had left Kansas City and moved to Texas. For fame and fortune. From the moment I married into the family, "Uncle Charles" stories were always being told.

Larger than life he was to me, this man who had made his fame and fortune so many miles away first in Midland/Odessa, Texas and later in Austin. He also was an enigma in the family -- one who daily wore a suit and tie for none of the other uncles did.

My first summer in the family, word spread that Charles was coming to visit Grandma and so the whole family gathered at Grandma's to visit with Charles and his daughter Cordelia.

I'm sure I was something of a mystery to him. This girl who had won "Jimmy's" heart so quickly. We talked a lot that day, Charles and I, and I understood why he was husband Jim's favorite uncle for he became mine that day as well.

As the years passed, we would all gather at Grandma's whenever Charles and wife Jewell would come "home". I always enjoyed these visits. The chance to talk to the legend of the family. The family story teller as well for in Texas, his adopted state, it was all right to embellish stories "just a tad"! And stories did he have.

After Uncle Charles retired from the insurance business, they moved permanently to their beloved "yella" house in Blanco, Texas. Hill Country. From there his second career as a politician came to be and eventually he became judge of Blanco County. From day one he was known all over as The Judge!

Warm memories after we moved to Linderhof, our home in Fort Scott, Kansas, are the visits that Charles and Jewell made. They stayed with us and we always looked forward to their fall trips to Fort Scott. Whatever activity we were doing we took them along. They've been to Rotary Oktoberfests, Courtland Happy Hours, and Marine Band Concerts besides the lazy days spent visiting with mugs of coffee on the front porch.

But Charles understood for he and Jewell were also involved in their community of Blanco. You didn't just live in a community, you gave yourself to it.

We always went downtown whenever they came. For shopping -- to see if Aunt Jewell could add another Fort Scott Santa to her collection and often for lunch as well. While downtown, he would visit, and he'd walk into every store and shake hands and chat with people. These weren't Fort Scottians but friends he'd never met.