Although many locals may be familiar with Henry Calton for his 22-year-career as a maintenance man with the LCRA, others have likely encountered the native Bastropian in different capacities over the years.
In addition to his work at LCRA, for example, the 84-year-old Calton has
worked as a plumber, sewage system installer, small-time rancher, BBQ pit owner, janitor with Bastrop ISD and most recently, a stocker at Wal-Mart.
Yet beyond a diverse employment history, it is a lifetime of giving back to his community in simple, but no less meaningful ways that perhaps truly defines Calton – things like teaching Sunday school, singing in his church choir, and as he loves to discuss, coaching little league baseball. Although no longer able to coach, Calton still has plenty of trophies lining one corner of his den to reminding him of his love for the diamond.
“I always liked sports and was myself a baseball player on a men’s team in Bastrop County for many years,” Calton said. “I could run then; oh man I liked that. But I loved to coach Little League. I coached for 40 years and was honored as the longest coach in the league.”
Besides coaching, Calton’s desire to serve his community on a different level has been plain to see for any fellow members of Macedonia First Baptist Church where Calton served as a deacon for over 50 years.
Like the baseball field, however, medical issues in recent years and the death of his second wife have meant he is largely unable to attend church. To recognize the absence of their longtime member, Macedonia First Baptist honored Calton two years ago with his own Henry Calton Brotherhood Annual Day.
Born in Bastrop in 1925, Calton grew up amidst a family of six brothers and two sisters (his remaining living sibling is a 97-year-old sister, Isabella Meshack). With a father who worked in plumbing Calton began joining him on projects while in high school and eventually took on the career himself. Through the 1940s Calton and his dad were responsible for digging and installing many septic tanks in areas of Clarksdale where sewage lines had yet to be added.
He continued working in pluming and sewage until the early 1960s when he joined the BISD. In 1965 he took a position with LCRA, which he held until his retirement in 1987.
Like many others whose Bastrop roots run deep, Calton says he has watched his community change in many ways over the years from his house on Emile Street where he has resided since 1971.
Although he still insists it is a good town in spite of the areas inhabited by “dope heads,” as he calls them, Calton stresses how much more trusting people were in the days of his boyhood.
“It was wonderful,” he says about the time. “You could leave your house open and go to New York for as long as you wanted and not have to worry about anybody going in there. And if anyone did go in it would be a neighbor going over to borrow a cup of sugar or flour and you could be sure they would tell you about it. Those were some good days.”
Calton pauses after the comment and then continues.
“The town raised us up and made good people out of us. It’s still a good place to live and a lot of people are moving here, but there’s too many dope heads.”