I (Jeanine Plumer) interviewed this individual when I was the editor of a magazine called Weird Texas. It takes place in Womack, which is outside of Waco.
A light breeze stirred the dry, sandy dirt surrounding the massive enclosure. The circulating air also gave rise to the well worn pieces of loose leaf paper held firmly in the calloused hands of 61 year old Howard Wilkerson. He’s standing in the shade of a looming 30 foot high and 43 foot long wire and plaster wall designed to look just like the front of the Alamo. On each side of the Alamo facade the plaster and wire continue in the style of medieval castles, walls, complete with a turret. Howard has used a mixture of pink sand and regular gray plaster, which when combined looks much like the real weathered stone found on the the Alamo walls, or perhaps, those found on the walls of a castle. These walls encompass Howard and his wife’s single wide mobile home.
For the last four years, Howard has been building his own private Alamo.
He has done much of the construction himself, but on occasion, finds the need to ask the neighbors for help. For instance, when he wanted to haul a 4 inch galvanized steel pipe encased in cement, designed to look like a cannon, to the top of the turret.
Though Wilkerson insists he lives in the Alamo, I know it’s not the real Alamo. Not only because the real Alamo is not East of Waco, but because the real Alamo doesn’t have a seashell design on its columns.
Below is an interview that I had with Howard. In 2001.
Weird Texas: I’ll begin by asking you what I think everyone wants to know. Why did you build the Alamo facade and castle walls around your mobile home?
Howard: Because I’m a Texan and proud of it. I’m proud of the people that came before me and allowed me the privilege of living in this part of the country, and the people who gave their lives for this.
Weird Texas: Why castle walls? Why not, say, old Spanish mission walls?
Howard.: I know my family came from England.
Weird Texas: Were your grandparents English??
Howard: No, They were Texans. I’ve never had time to research my family history.
Weird Texas: I can see why. What were your thoughts when you mixed that first bucket of plaster?
Howard. Better get this done before I get to Dan burn old to do it.
Weird Texas: Where in Texas were you born?
Howard: Bellemead, on October 1st, 1943.
Weird Texas: Was your father a builder?
Howard: no, He was the janitor for the First Baptist Church and drove a school bus.
We’re Texas: Clearly you are the artist. Did you show artistic ability as a child?
Howard: Well, in 5th grade I won an art contest, I painted a comucopia. I won two tickets to. Orphaned theater. This was exciting because there were only two theaters in town, and that was the nicer 1. I’ll never forget the movie that was playing. It was. I can’t think of it. Grapes of something.
Weird Texas: The Grapes of Wrath.
Howard: No. I can’t remember the name.
Weird Texas. You left Texas for a while and spent 30 years in the small town of Rosemond, California, and worked as a teacher and general contractor. Why did you return to Texas?
Howard: I really came to be with family. Mom and Dad lived in Waco and were in their later years. I wanted to be there for them.
Weird Texas: Why Womack?
Howard: Waco was too big of a town.
Weird Texas: How many acres do you own?
Howard: 40.
Weird Texas: was the mobile home here already.
Howard: yes.
Weird Texas: your wife has made a contribution towards your project.
Howard. Yes, I ruined her jello molds. I use them to make the seashell designs.
Weird Texas: None of my jello molds have sea shells on them. Where did she get them?
Howard: You’ll have to ask her. Gives his wife the phone while asking where she got her Jello molds.
The wife: I’ve had them for years. They are copper and from California. I have all kinds of them, A pineapple, the horn of plenty, just different molds.
Weird Texas: Do you have any hobbies?
The wife: Crocheting and knitting. I’m busy, I don’t have time for hobbies. I work up at the neighbors. Their daughter, she’s 27, was in a car accident and paralyzed. So I worked for them and helped them out.
Weird Texas: How long have you two been married?
The wife: 12 years.
Weird Texas: Any children
The wife: Between the two of us we have 7. They’re scattered all over the country. The husband is given the phone back.
Weird Texas: You work from sunrise until until lunchtime. Do you eat breakfast?
Howard: yes, whatever she’s got in the house. My doctor has put me on a diet and he says whatever tastes good, I can’t eat it. I’m too busy to die right now, so I just to go along with it.
Weird Texas: What do you do in the evenings?
Howard: not too much. Talk to my wife and go to bed. I don’t have much of a social life. We’ve got, we’ve got. Livestock and take care of to take care of. Sometimes I draw up plans. You know, I’m putting up a roof with the. Texas flag on it. It will be 20 feet by 42 feet made of colored tin. I’m working on how to make a 9 foot star to go in on the blue tin.
Howard Wilkerson, a resident of the Womack area, gained local notoriety for transforming his double wide mobile home into an elaborate tribute to Texas history.
He constructed a full scale Alamo facade directly in front of his mobile home, complete with iconic humped parapet and limestone style detailing. The house is located near the intersection of FM219 and FM22 in Basque County, close to the Womack 7th Day Adventist Church.
Womack TX. In 2001, when I conducted the interview, had a population of 35 people.