Nanci Coddington Almond

 

 

 

 

 

 

Biography

Nanci Coddington Almond, a resident of Wimberley, is a retired Texas State Administrative Assistant. She and her late husband, Bill Coddington, former San Marcos City councilman, attended the inauguration of President Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1965. She donated the gown and gloves she wore at the inaugural ball to the LBJ Museum of San Marcos.

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Part of the LBJ 100 Oral History Project.

Nanci talks about moving to Houston in the 1960s and relocating to San Marcos in the 1980s. She briefly discusses her husband's role in San Marcos politics and her experiences working at the University.  She recalls her preparations for Lyndon Johnson's inauguration and the ball that followed.

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Interview with Nanci Coddington Almond

Interviewer: Barbara Thibodeaux

Date of Interview: May 1, 2008

Location: Wimberley, Texas

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Interviewee:  Nanci Coddington Almond, a resident of Wimberley, is a retired Texas State Administrative Assistant.  She and her late husband, Bill Coddington, former San Marcos City councilman, attended the inauguration of President Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1965.  She has donated the gown and gloves she wore at the inaugural ball to the LBJ Museum of San Marcos.

BARBARA THIBODEAUX:  This recording is part of the LBJ Centennial Celebration Oral History Project sponsored by Texas State University. Today is May 1, 2008. My name is Barbara Thibodeaux. I am interviewing Nanci Coddington Almond in Wimberley, Texas.

Nanci, even though you have agreed to the terms and conditions of the release pertaining to this interview in writing, will you also verbally acknowledge your acceptance with a yes or a no?

NANCI ALMOND:   Yes.

THIBODEAUX:  Thank you very much.  So where were you in 1965?

ALMOND:  Well, in 1965 we were in Houston. My husband had been transferred—had taken a position with his company, which was Helene Curtis Industries, which was out of Chicago. So up until about—in 1963 we moved permanently to Houston, which was a tremendous culture shock for me after living in a big city. 

The first thing I had to do when I was eight months pregnant was to learn how to drive a car because I had never done that, and here I was a grown woman with almost two children. But I saw very quickly that it was absolutely something that had to be done.

So we moved there, and one of the reasons that I agreed to move there was I found out that people had dishwashers there and we didn’t have that in Chicago, so that was kind of my consolation for having to move to some foreign land. (laughs)

So anyway, we stayed in Houston until 1982 and then my husband retired from—well, in the meantime he’d left Helene Curtis. He ran a big beauty distributorship there, and he left there and he went into the real estate business, and he ultimately ended up in business brokerage.

And then he decided, you know, that it was time for him to move on to some quieter place, so we spent about a year running up and down the I-35 corridor looking for a place that felt right. So we ended up in San Marcos in 1982 and bought a house in San Marcos in the city, which we loved. It was on four acres and it was a house that was built by a judge whose name was Barber. And it was very interesting—very interesting house. We bought it from a political science professor that worked at the university, and so we settled in. Unfortunately, retrospectively, I didn’t appreciate it as much as I would now, except now I’m too old to do all the work. (laughs)

So we lived there from 1982 until—I think I sold it in about, oh, I’m going to say, ’98. My husband passed away in ’95, and it was just too much work for me to get on the tractor and work full-time and do all that stuff. So I decided to sell the house and moved into an apartment, which I thought was a really good idea because I was tired of lawnmowers and all that stuff. So I moved to an apartment and ultimately met my husband and ended up here in Wimberley. So that’s kind of the story of background.

My husband was on the city council. When we came to San Marcos, he looked around and saw that maybe he could be of some service, and he’s always been—I wouldn’t say—he was never political because he wasn’t a political person—and found out very shortly—in a very short order that you have to kind of go along to get along. So while he was—he was loved and hated at the same time by the citizens, but I can’t tell you how many times through the years that I’ve gone in to just down the street to the Landa Shoe Shop [Landis Shoe Clinic] and got in there. And he said, “What is your name?” I said, “I’m Nanci Coddington.” He said, “Oh, my gosh, we should’ve listened to Bill,” and I said, “Well, you know, we get too soon old and too late smart. So anyway, it’s too late now.”

So anyway, he served on the council for one term and then he ran for mayor and lost that election. And I don’t think he really ever got over that. (laughs) Nobody likes to be on the losing end of it, but at any rate, he continued to kind of be a watchdog for what went on in San Marcos in all the entities: county, city, and the school board. So they kind of feared him in a way not realizing that Bill was a one-man army. There’s lots of people that say, Yeah, keep up the good work. Do what you do. But nobody wants to join forces. But anyway, he was rather—people just didn’t quite know where he was coming from.

That’s—we had a good life there and both of our sons were already gone. My one son was at the University of Texas and the other one was in San Antonio, and we had my daughter, and she went through the public school system with lots of disabilities. We were always there to make sure that she got the best of what they had to offer. She graduated from San Marcos High School and also from Southwest Texas State University.

And I worked at the university for fifteen years. I was the administrative assistant to one of the deans and loved—absolutely loved that job because there isn’t anything like being able to tell other children what to do and they do it.

THIBODEAUX:  Do you remember what years your husband served on the city council?

ALMOND:  I would say—let’s see. We moved there in ’82—I would say ’83 for a two-year term, and he ran against a Hispanic woman, which nobody would’ve ever thought that—but anyway, I have all the stuff. He wrote an open letter to the newspaper and that was what did it. I mean, he was a very colorful person, a very colorful person. Like I said, they either loved him or they hated him. (laughs) And they also feared him a little bit without any reason to do that except that he told things the way they were and people don’t always like to hear that sort of thing. I tried to kind of just stay out it because I was never much interested in doing that kind of thing. I had enough to do at home and at working.

That was—and it was too bad. I believe he ran for council again prior to running for mayor and he lost by like one vote. I said, “Well, make them do a recount.” Oh, no, he didn’t want to do that. And then he ran for mayor. I think that’s how it went. It was good and he just got—he just had that in his blood once he got into it and realized that there was such a need out there for people that could tell the other side of the story. He just would not let it go, he kind of almost was—he was obsessed with it (laughs) even when he was really sick. So he was still obsessed with it. That’s that part of the story.

Back in 1965, we were living in Houston, and the major person with Helene Curtis Industries was a German by the name—well, there were two brothers, Willard and Gerald Gidwitz. Willard, who was the principal, the kind of upfront principal, lovely—just a wonderful man, I think he was probably fairly big, heavy contributor to the Democratic Party. I can’t say that for a fact because I really don’t know, and at that point it really didn’t make any difference to me. But I kind of suspect that that’s how that was.

So at that time Bill was, like I said, he—and then his other boss, who was the president—Willard was the chairman of the board, and his boss was the president, who was also just a tremendously lovely man—asked if we would want to go on this junket to Washington for the inauguration. And we said, “Yeah,” of course we did, and we went with other people that were Helene Curtis distributors from kind of around the country. So there were probably maybe a total of thirty of us or something like that that went on this junket.

We did absolutely everything that there was to do. They had it pretty well planned out of touring and all that sort of thing. But it was exciting to kind of prepare to do something like that. You know, Bill had to go out and buy a tuxedo, and of course, we went down to Sakowitz in Houston. Houston had a lot of charm back then. When you think back on it, it doesn’t happen anymore hardly ever where you can go into a store like Sakowitz downtown and have one of the Sakowitzes wait on you. So he got all fixed up and they had a custom-made suit. That was back in the days when he used to like to wear cashmere socks, and you could go down there and buy, oh, the cashmere socks for three dollars a pair. So anyway, he got his little self outfitted.

Of course, I went to Esther Wolfe, which was kind of the finest women’s store—one of them—in Houston, probably the, which was in what’s now the big huge Galleria, which I’m sure both Esther and Joe Wolfe are now passed away.

But anyway, I had a great time, and we always had a great time shopping there because it was kind of one of those—Bill would always go at Christmastime or birthday time over to Esther Wolfe. And they would sweep him away into one of the dressing rooms and ply him with a couple of martinis and sit him down and run all the models by with all the latest fashions so he could pick out what he was going to bring me home. When I went to get the dress, they were just delighted and a wonderful, wonderful help, and I chose that dress because a) it fit me nice, and b) it only cost $165. (laughs)

Then of course, I had to get the shoes, which I spent a lot of time trying to get those matched up to the dress, which, again, the evening of the inaugural ball at the National Armory, the only thing I could think about was how bad my feet hurt because there was absolutely not one single place to sit down in the armory. I borrowed the fur that I had, I borrowed it from my neighbor because I thought it would look very elegant with the dress.

And so off we went. We went to the inaugural parade, and I had kind of pretty good darn good seats. I mean, he must have given the party a lot of money (laughs) because it was pretty good seats. We were right up there.

One of the things that struck me at the time as the open car went by with John Connally in it, he did the hook ‘em horns sign, which back—I didn’t know what that meant because I had not been in any shape, manner or form affiliated with the University of Texas. And where I came from that just simply meant bullshit, and so I was absolutely horrified when I saw him do that and I thought, oh gosh, how rude can you be to do that in front of all these people? (laughs) So anyway, we went to that, and I’m pretty sure that we went, you know, to the swearing in. But we were not up close and personal at that point with it.

We went—got dressed and went to this wonderful ball and it was very exciting, but like I said, my main thing that I was thinking about was how bad my feet hurt. And had a lovely time, and Louie Armstrong was the entertainer for that particular venue, so every time I hear him sing, “Hello, Dolly,” I can always remember him standing there with that horn in his hand and his handkerchief in his hand and singing “Hello, Dolly.” That was kind of just a real neat experience.

So we just spent the rest of our time going to the Willard Hotel and doing all the fun things that you do there. But it was a really good experience.

And then subsequently through the years, I went to work at Southwest Texas, which is now Texas State, in 1983. The school that I was in was kind of had—was the school that was called Applied Arts and Technology at the time. We had a lot of different majors under our umbrella. One of the—was the major—but one of the departments that we had under us was the Air Force ROTC and the Army ROTC. This would be probably later on in the—maybe in the early ‘90s. I can’t remember just exactly when it was—probably so.

Lyndon Johnson’s grandson, Lyndon Nugent, was in the Army ROTC. I have heard a lot of neat stories about him, and I really felt that they were kind of a really neat family and a very loving family because I can’t tell you how many times during the time that Lyn was there—if we had a presidential pass and review, Lady Bird would be there. Luci would be there. Any other children—you know, they would all be there as a family for him. When he was commissioned—I mean, they had a huge family crowd there when he got his commission as a second lieutenant.

But one of the cute stories that one of the cadets told me was that they had—they didn’t know who he was because he did not make a fuss over who he belonged to. So he said one time they were going hunting up at the ranch, and I guess they were sitting someplace close by, and this cadet said to him, said, “Wow! That’s a really neat gun.” Lyn said, “Yeah. It belonged to my grandfather.” He said, “Well, who’s your grandfather?” and he said, “Lyndon Johnson.” You know, then it all kind of came together. But I mean, he was just a really low-key lovely young man.

Like I said, they were always there. Mrs. Johnson was always there with her Secret Service men, had the same ones for quite a long time. One particular time when it was kind of a really fun thing, they had a presidential pass and review over in back of Bobcat Stadium out in the field, and we had the Blackhawk helicopters out there that were doing—they were going to do a little hoo-hah out there. Of course, there was a grandstand set up, which we thought was far enough away, but when the helicopters landed, all the chairs blew off of the grandstand. Lady Bird’s hat went flying. Everybody’s dress went up in the air, and it was just hilarious to watch all these shenanigans that were going on with that.

But like I said, they seemed to me as a total outsider, you know, outside of knowing the boy, they just seemed like a really close, nice family. They really did, and it’s a nice memory to be able to think back on what a lovely person that she was because she was very gracious and always did the receptions. If there was one, she would always hostess it and she was always very accessible, even though the Secret Service were always there. She was very warm and a nice person. She really was. I consider that part of that whole Johnson kind of experience. It was a fun time.

So anyway, I don’t know anything else, but (Both laugh) I could tell you some other stories about other people that have been kind of important. I had this one lovely friend in San Marcos. Her name was Madelyn Maddox, and her husband was the major general to George Patton during World War II. She was one of the first people that we met when we came there, and she was one of these truly, truly elegant ladies that I would have hoped but it would never happen that I could be like her. She was the really one person that I was just so terribly taken with because she was so elegant, and she was my friend for a number of years and always had wonderful stories to tell.

But one year her house—she had a lovely house—she was actually my neighbor, but she had just a very elegant little home in San Marcos—I agreed to be the docent for her home for the Tour of Homes. So I got the cadets, the Army ROTC cadets, to come and help me with that. Of course, one of the things they had there was George Patton’s saddle because she was, like, very close with Mrs. Patton and with him. Of course, George Patton was a tremendous person with the Arabian horses. So she had his saddle. That was kind of a neat experience, but she was really a wonderful person. When she passed away, which was a couple of years ago—and she’s buried up at St. Stephen’s here—and I still haven’t been up to say hi, and I really need to do that because she was just so special.

But I think it was right at the point where my husband had his car wreck and so I was kind of taken up with that, and so I wrote a note to her daughters and I said, “Here’s to an elegant lady. This is the most wonderful woman—one of the most wonderful women that I’ve ever known.” So that’s my aside story. (laughs)

THIBODEAUX:  Well, just a couple of questions about the inauguration ball.

ALMOND:   Sure.

THIBODEAUX:  I know that was one of many, I’m sure.

ALMOND:   It was.

THIBODEAUX:  Did the Johnsons make an appearance when you were there?

ALMOND:   Oh yes, definitely. Definitely. And you know, another thing that just—that I remember now, is we were still living in Chicago when he was the vice president. I can remember seeing the two of them on television and thinking to myself, holy cow. How raucous are these people, you know, because Yankees just were not used to that sort of demeanor at all.

Yes, they definitely were there, and I think they attended every one of them for a short while. We did get to watch them do their traditional little dance that they did, and they were quite elegant. He was quite an elegant man. So that was kind of a neat thing.

Then the other thing, a couple of years later after he was elected president a year or two when Luci got married, we were there. We happened to be in Washington, DC at that particular time when she was getting married, and of course, there were parties at every major hotel in Washington with major people. I think the hotel we were staying at Dr. Casey—remember Ben? He was the star of the hour at that particular reception that they were having because there were lots of parties going on there. So that was kind of neat.

But getting back to the inauguration, I just don’t remember a lot about it. I just remember there were tons of—tons of people. I was not expecting that. I was expecting this nice quiet little intimate gathering. (laughs) There were probably five thousand people there because, see, the ball at the National Armory was the biggest of the balls because of the space that they had there. So that was that.

THIBODEAUX:  I know it didn’t have any meaning for you then, so you probably don’t remember. In the inauguration parade, do you remember seeing the—I’m not sure if was it was the Southwest Texas band or the Strutters?

ALMOND:  No, I don’t, but see, I may have seen them, but it wouldn’t have meant anything to me at all. You know, if I saw them today or ten years ago or twenty years ago, yeah, it would’ve meant something to me. But no, I didn’t—and I probably have some pictures somewhere. I have no idea where they are because I do remember taking pictures of the procession going by, but no, I don’t remember that at all. I mean, I’d never even heard of Southwest Texas State College—I think it was just a college back then. It wasn’t—I’m not even sure it was a university. So, no, I don’t remember that at all. Like I said, the thing that stands out most in my mind is seeing the open car go by with John Connally. (laughs) That was something that I just never forgot about. (laughs)

THIBODEAUX:  That is a good story. Well, actually, you’ve answered all my questions.

ALMOND:   Oh, did I? Okay, good.

THIBODEAUX:  So unless there’s anything else that you can recall?

ALMOND:   Not off the top of my head. You know, I really haven’t put my thinking cap on too much about it, and I probably would’ve if all this other stuff wasn’t going on.

But it’s just a long time ago, and when you’re—as you know—raising children and doing all that kind of stuff. I mean, the first house I ever had was when we moved to Houston because I’d always been an apartment rat. When Bill and I got married we always lived in high rises on Lake Shore Drive, so having a home was just—it was just kind of a really interesting experience. (laughs)

And I can remember—taking—walking. We were living in a duplex and walking down the street and went into this house that was being built, which, oh, I just immediately fell in love with it. It was a beautiful house. So the builder happened to be there, so I said, “Well, how much are you asking for this house?” and he said, “Forty-two, nine.” And I said, “Oh, gosh, that’s a lot of money.” So when Bill came home from work, I said, “I found the house that I want, but it’s awfully expensive,” and he said, “How much is it?” and I said, “Forty-two, nine.” So we ended up getting it, and it was about three thousand square feet, and I mean, it was really a nice, nice house. Living in a house was just my first real house experience.

THIBODEAUX:  How old were you at the inauguration?

ALMOND:  I think I figured I was twenty-seven because both my boys were young but counting backwards I think that I was about twenty-seven when I went to that. At that point in my life, I was very into – the maid came in and Nanci left to go shopping. (laughs) So I spent most of my time getting ready for something fun and to do because we did like to go out and we did like to go to nice restaurants and clubs and all that kind of stuff. So we pretty much saw Houston come into its own.

As a matter of fact, when Bill went into the real estate business, he developed the Woodway condominiums, which was a condominium project close to Post Oak and Woodway. And that was the first one that they had in Houston, and he was kind of the sales manager for that project. That was pretty interesting because it was new and people that had money wanted to do that. Anytime there’s anything new, you know that all the people that have the big bucks are from everywhere. I mean, he had people from Caracas that came and bought apartments there.

One of the couples that became a very good kind of long-term friend were the—their name escapes me right now, but they lived in River Oaks and he was the assistant secretary of the navy under Franklin Roosevelt. So they became really kind of good, good friends, and when her son got married, she said, “Well, Bill, I want you to get Mark and his new bride an apartment here,” which he did. He found them just exactly what they wanted.

I mean, living in Houston was something that I would not trade for anything because it was just so cool. I mean, there were—you had the International Club and the Cork Club and you had to bring your own bottle, which that was weird. But they had all the biggest stars that were there that came and performed at those places. But it was just really neat to see all the transition there going on, and then of course, by the end of the ‘70s, then it started getting kind of intolerable.

We lived on a street called San Felipe, which is one of the major kind of places. Well, the point that we had our house there, my little boys could go and ride their tricycles out in the middle of the road. You know, that didn’t last a whole long time before they started—the traffic started getting busy. I know one day somebody rang my doorbell, and she said, “Do you know your little boy is out in the middle of the road?” I said, “Well, he probably is. I mean, he always does that,” (laughs) “he didn’t see any reason not to do it now.” But it was really good. You know, it was really good back then. I would never look back to going back there for any reason. I have lots of good friends there and they say, “Why don’t you come visit?” “ Um um. You can come to my house, but I’m not coming to yours.” So it was good. It was good.

THIBODEAUX:  Well, thank you, Nanci.

ALMOND:   Okay.

THIBODEAUX:  I appreciate it.

ALMOND:   I hope I didn’t babble too long.

THIBODEAUX:  No. You’re fine. (laughs)

ALMOND:   Because I can babble forever.

(End of interview)