Hester Jane Ervin Howard

I would like to thank John Bullard for his assistance in the preparation of this post.

Recently I was traveling through Carlsbad, Texas, something I’ve done many times over the years. There’s not much in Carlsbad, other than the San Angelo State Supported Living Center and some houses and churches, post office, and a few other establishments that owe their existence to the state facility. San Angelo is about fifteen to twenty minutes to the southeast.

I seemed to recall reading something about Robert E. Howard’s mother Hester having been a patient in a facility north of San Angelo, but it had been a while. Memory is a tricky thing, and I wanted to get confirmation. It happened that I was talking to John Bullard on the phone as I was passing through, so I asked him about it. He thought I was right, that Howard had mentioned such a thing in one of his letters. A few hours later he sent me the following excerpt from one of Bob’s letters.

To Lovecraft, Feb. 11, 1936:

“Please pardon the shortness of this letter, but I’ve had to snatch such moments as I could to answer it, and it’s possible that it seems disconnected and muddled in spots. I’ve had little opportunity to do any writing of any kind for the past month. In fact this letter is the longest bit of writing I’ve done since about the 20th of January. After our return from Marlin we stayed at home for about two weeks, and then my mother’s pleura filled again, and we took her to a hospital in San Angelo, 105 miles southwest of Cross Plains. After a few days then we put her in a sanatorium about seventeen miles northwest of San Angelo, where she stayed for six weeks, when her condition got so bad we put her back in the hospital at San Angelo. She remained there twelve days, and then we brought her home, since it seemed they had done all they could for her. Her condition is very bad, and she requires frequent aspirations, which are painful, weakening and dangerous. It is wonderful with what fortitude she endures her afflictions; in every hospital she has been, the doctors and nurses speak of her cheerfulness, her nerve, and her steadiness in the highest terms. But it is only what can be expected in a woman of the old pioneer stock. This has been a bitter winter, and the harshness of the weather has hurt her. First one woman and then another we hired to help wait on her has been taken sick herself, so the job of nursing my mother has been done largely by my father and myself. She is subject to distressing and continual sweats, and naturally has to have constant attention, so I find little, if any time to write, which is why this letter is brief, and possibly so disconnected. Some times we have to be up all night with her.

There seems to be little we or anyone can do to help her, though God knows I’d make any sacrifice, including my own life, if it could purchase her any relief.”

The sanatorium Bob is referring to was known at the time as the McKnight State Tuberculosis Hospital. Click the photo of the historical marker on the left to read more about the history of the place.

On my way back through  few days later I pulled off the road and tried to take a few pictures. I didn’t try to go onto the grounds. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been admitted. I drove along a road next to the facility and took a few pictures from the car. There really wasn’t a good place to pull over. The fence had some type of green privacy screening woven through much of it, so clear shots of the buildings weren’t easy to get.

I wasn’t comfortable getting out. This part of Texas is a place where you’re likely to find the locals armed. And while I doubt anyone would have shot first and asked questions later, I wasn’t keen on having to explain myself to a deputy wondering why I was taking pictures. Plus it was well over 100F.

I did get out and take the picture of the historical marker. Other than that, all the shots were from the car. Here are a couple of them. You can see the buildings are more recent the 1930s. I could see some older buildings in the background but didn’t have a clear shot at them.