A part of the history of this newspaper walked in the front door this week, and it was an incredible feeling.
Family members of T.F. Harwell, who founded the Kyle News in 1903, walked in the door after noticing the stone at the top of the Hays Free Press building showed a date of 1903.
Bob Barton, owner of this newspaper until his death a few years ago, bought the Kyle News from Turner Harwell, T.F.’s son, in 1953. Bob was in college and jointly purchased the paper with his best friend and local legendary superintendent Moe Johnson.
After a series of name and location changes, the newspaper finally settled back in Kyle as the Hays Free Press, only a few blocks from the site of the original newspaper.
Turner continued to work at the newspaper for another 40 years and could be found helping customers at the front counter and taking photos for Kyle.
Where was the Kyle News located at its founding? Across the street from the current Kyle Baptist Church on Center Street. The old Harwell home has since been moved. The presses and business were in a shed behind the home.
This week, Tommy Edwin Harwell and his daughter Tonja Harwell Mettlen were attending a wedding in San Antonio and decided to make a stop at the cemetery in Kyle. Tommy is the son of Don Lee Harwell, Turner’s youngest brother.
Neither Tommy nor his daughter and son-in-law live in Kyle and just wanted to take a look at the town after all those years.
And when they walked in, they found a surprise. After more than 20 years of hanging on to old Harwell family photos, I was finally able to hand over the photos to family members.
It brought tears to everyone’s eyes. It is something incredible to look at photos of grandparents and great-grandparents and realize the family resemblance.
It was especially important to Tonya Harwell, since her young son is named Fletcher, after his great-grandfather. According to Tonya, he looks just like all his kinfolk – even down to the Harwell ears.
It just shows that family history and photos are important. No matter how many generations have come and gone, families like to look at their past and compare – and see who looks like whom.
For Tommy and Tonya, we hope they enjoy their little surprise.
For me, I’m glad to hand over the precious photos to family members.
It made my day.
