Local author, historian and community leader Bill Johnson shares memories and anecdotes about the town of Wimberley in the newest oral history presentation by the Hays County Historical Commission (HCHC).

            Johnson’s oral history video will be screened free of charge at 4 p.m. Sunday, March 21 in the Senior Lounge of the Wimberley Community Center, 14068 Ranch Road 12. Johnson's will be the seventh "voice" in the HCHC’s "Voices of Hays County" oral history series, and he is the first person from Wimberley to take part in the project.

            During the interview, which was conducted by HCHC member Clemmie New, Johnson talks about his earliest memories of Wimberley, when he helped his grandfather, T. C. Johnson, clear cedar stumps on their Blue Hole property. He shares stories about many prominent figures from Wimberley’s early days, including Buck and Kitty Winn, Clarence and Pansy Burdette, Joe Cruze, Raymond Czichos, sisters Artie and Gussie Montague, Carl Scudder and Susie Danforth.

            Other topics in the video include Johnson’s service in World War II, when he was wounded at Iwo Jima; the town’s early schools; the first Market Days on the square, initiated by Johnson’s mother; and the volunteer spirit of Wimberley that, in Johnson’s view, sets it apart from other towns in the county. “Wimberley is a group of good, tough people–the basic Wimberleyite –and we’re working on training the newcomers and teaching them that this town is worth fighting for,” Johnson explains.