NAME OF PERSON INTERVIEWED: Tankersly, La Rue Sawyer (Mrs. Cy)

Date of interview: June 14, 1973
Location of interview: Brownfield, Texas
Length of interview: 1 tape (30 minutes)

Brief synopsis of interview: Mrs. Tankersly, daughter of Terry County pioneer Monroe Brown Sawyer, talks about her family and early life in Brownfield.

Topics:
Family life and background—Sawyer Ranch, begun in 1901
Education—Texas Technological College (now TTU, 1925)
Cattle branding
Community and social life—picnics, movies, Chautauqua and tent shows
Gomez, Texas
Santa Fe Railroad—first train to Brownfield (1911)

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NAME OF PERSON INTERVIEWED: Tapp, Raymond

Date of interview: August 16, 1972
Location of interview: Lubbock, Texas
Length of interview: 1 tape (45 minutes)

Brief synopsis of interview: Raymond Tapp, President of the American Cotton Shippers Association, discusses the cotton industry in West Texas and his career as a buyer and exporter of cotton.

Topics:
Family background—father was a cotton broker
American Cotton Shippers Association—purposes and arbitration of contracts
Clark Cotton Company
Cotton industry—surplus crops and overseas markets
World War II—military service

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NAME OF PERSON INTERVIEWED: Tarbox, Elmer

Date of interview: August 1 and 3, 1973
Location of interview: Lubbock, Texas
Length of interview: 6 tapes (5 hours, 20 minutes)

Brief synopsis of interview: State Representative Elmer Tarbox recalls his early life, athletic career at Texas Tech, and military career with the Air Corps during World War II. He then summarizes his business career as a theater owner, car dealer and manufacturer of athletic weights, discusses his children and lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease, and reviews his political career.

Topics:
Family life and background—Higgins, Texas
Texas Technological College—Athletics
Basketball—high school and Tech
Boxing—won a district championship
Football—1938 undefeated season and 1939 Cotton Bowl game
Pete Cawthon
Track and field—accomplishments at Tech and meet in China
World War II—U. S. Army Air Corps in China, Burma, India Theater
Kowloon, China—bombing raid
Tennis match—with Chinese National Champion
Gen. Claire Chennault
Athletic weights—distributed through Sears; plant in Puerto Rico
Automobile dealership—Big Spring, Texas
Church activities and children’s lives
Theater owner—first drive-in theater in Lubbock
Medicine—Parkinson’s disease
Texas Tech University Medical Center—establishment of Parkinson Institute
Politics—Texas House of Representatives (since 1966)
Governor Preston Smith

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NAME OF PERSON INTERVIEWED: Tarpley, Dick

Date of interview: April 22, 1988
Location of interview: Lubbock, Texas
Length of interview: 1 tape (40 minutes)

Brief synopsis of interview: Journalist Dick Tarpley discusses his military tour overseas as an Army cryptologist during World War II.

Topics:
Background—Newspaper jobs at Edinburg, Wichita Falls and University of Texas
World War II—European Theater
Camp Crowder, Missouri—cryptoanalysis
Italian campaign—invasion of Sicily
Southern France—allied invasion (1944)
U. S. 7^th Army—Signal Corps
Gen. Alexander Patch
Gen. George S. Patton
Western Europe—return tour

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NAME OF PERSON INTERVIEWED: Tarpley, Lyle

Date of interview: November 18-19, 1974
Location of interview: Abilene, Texas
Length of interview: 2 tapes (1 hour, 45 minutes)

Brief synopsis of interview: Lyle Tarpley, former employee of Wooten Wholesale Grocery Company, reminisces about his early life and identifies old photographs of early Abilene and its citizens.

Topics:
Family background—father came to Abilene in 1882
Abilene, Texas—early businesses and residents
Belle Plain, Texas
Education—Stamford Junior College
Flu epidemic (1918)
Wholesale grocery businesses—Texas (Abilene)
World War I—military service; black soldiers

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NAME OF PERSON INTERVIEWED: Tarver, L. R.

Date of interview: August 9, 1983
Location of interview: Kermit, Texas
Length of interview: 2 tapes (1 hour, 15 minutes)

Brief synopsis of interview: L. R. Tarver, former Winkler County Treasurer, reminisces over his years in the county, including a discussion of Winkler County law enforcement.

Topics:
Background—began in laundry business
Crime and law enforcement—Winkler County
Petroleum industry—oil boom in Winkler County
Real estate business—Texas (Kermit)
Sid Richardson
Ellis Somers

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NAME OF PERSON INTERVIEWED: Tasker, Ralph

Date of interview: August 3, 1976
Location of interview: Hobbs, New Mexico
Length of interview: 2 tapes (2 hours, 10 minutes)

Brief synopsis of interview: Ralph Tasker, retired basketball coach, discusses his years in basketball, focusing on his coaching career in Lovington and Hobbs.

Topics:
Background—West Virginia
Athletics—New Mexico
Coaching—disciplines, modes and philosophy
High School and college sports—basketball
Hobbs, New Mexico—state championships and tournaments
Lovington, New Mexico—state championship
John Denver

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NAME OF PERSON INTERVIEWED: Tate, G. D. and Viola

Date of interview: September 10, 1984
Location of interview: Denver City, Texas
Length of interview: 2 tapes (1 hour, 30 minutes)

Brief synopsis of interview: The Tates, early settlers of the South Plains area, reminisce about Denver City, the tent camps and his teaching career at Denver City High School.

Topics:
Burke, Texas—Honolulu Oil Company
Denver City, Texas—tent camps and businesses
Denver City High School—first graduating class, faculty, athletics and campus programs
Sligo Independent School District
Wayland Baptist University—Plainview

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