As far as I know, the lyrics…and what passed as a tune…belonged to Abilene lawyer named Homer Montgomery.
Homer and I arrived at The University at Austin Texas, after World War II ended.
I was an 18-year-old undergraduate working on the student Daily Texan newspaper. Homer was enrolled in Law School, cashing in his GI Bill-of-Rights something less than $100-a-month scholarship money.
We were both from Abilene, and his song-writing fame preceded him. When we returned home for vacations, Homer instructed you were to sing as soon as you saw the city lights:
“Abilene forever! Abilene forever! Abilene, forever!
“ Beautiful city ‘midst prairie dog holes, Abilene forever!”
(Volume required. Tune, whatever you could muster.)
After graduation, we both returned to Abilene. I went back to reporting for the Abilene Reporting-News. Homer joined a plaintiff’s lawyer firm. And more than once filed suit against the local clothing manufacturer.
Abe Lankford hired about a dozen women to sew work clothes. Abe wasn’t as well-known as Dickey’s clothing in Fort Worth, but Homer filed enough workman-compensation suits that Lankford Clothing became a West Texas household name.
When the two met at an Abilene evening party ( town was “dry” since 1910s, ha ) Abe bore no animosity.
“Homer. Homer. Sue me. Sue me. I need the publicity.”
Image by witwiccan from Pixabay
