Grandpa Mayes, the Indy 500, and John Philip Sousa
Austin Carroll "Slim" Mayes was born in Eastland, graduated from Anson High School, and lived off and on in Abilene, TX throughout his life. He was born in 1901, before there was any sort of popular music in America. As a result, the only music he was able to get ahold of to listen to was the kind of orchestral music that has been around for hundreds of years. He always considered himself a violinist, but was recruited to play clarinet with the Simmons College Band while still in high school. Of course, Simmons College is now Hardin-Simmons University; that band is now The World Famous Cowboy Band. Mayes worked as a mechanic during a brief time as a student at Simmons College. He was one of the first people to repair airplanes in West Texas. Of course, there was only one way to make sure the plane was fixed. This meant he was one of the first people to FLY airplanes in West Texas as well! Mayes decided to take his skill as a mechani...