Babcock takes ‘projects’ to another level

By JOHN INMAN
UNCERTAIN, TX – This small community of 196 is on the map and may not be entirely certain of how it got its name, but Joe Babcock can tell you exactly how to get there.

The Heavener native has built a boat that sails and operates on Caddo Lake, which encompasses the area, Building boats is nothing new for Joe, he did so as a teenager out of his dad’s workshop before he graduated from Heavener High School in 1964. Now he has his own workshop where he designs and builds sea-going vessels, such as the Graceful Ghost, a live steam driven vessel with a working paddle-wheel and wood fired boiler that is fully operational and takes loads of passengers on tours off the shores of Caddo.

Babcock’s workshop is registered as Babcock’s Boat Works in Grimes County and his email address is babcockboatworks@yahoo.com.

	Heavener native Joe Babcock is shown on a boat.
The Graceful Ghost, originally built by Babcock, sails through the water.

“This to me is a story of the methods of construction that were just being developed at the time the Ghost was built.  I both designed and built the Graceful Ghost back in 1989,” said the 64-year-old Babcock who resides in Plantersville, TX. “I had only one full time helper who worked with me on it for a year and a half.  Even as we were building the boat, we were building my present shop to house the project.” 

Babcock recently made his way back to Uncertain – he originally put it on Lake Conroe, it was moved to the Port of Jefferson (TX) and from there to Caddo -- for an inspection by the new owners and U.S. Coast Guard to get re-certified to carry passengers. The Ghost is slated to begin operations again March 2.

 The new owners certainly respect Joe’s decisions. “He is a most generous person with his time and knowledge. We purchased the Ghost last March and since then have had to contact Joe many times to ask questions about his construction techniques and advice on a variety of other issues. He is always friendly and willing to help us in any way he can. We’re having to repair much damage from rotting wood due to the neglect of the previous owner. Joe is offering much needed advice once again.

“It seems that the Ghost was originally built well and under the circumstances has held up well. It is obvious that Joe knows what he is doing and is a craftsman. We consider him a friend and respect his expertise,” said the new owners, Captain Ron Gibbs, and Capt. Wes McCalip, who purchased the Ghost about a year ago.

The Ghost was first put in Lake Conroe for her sea trials, and moved to Caddo Lake years ago. “We had a lot of fun with her during those two weeks back in 1991.  She was then taken by professional boat transporters to her home on Caddo.  At the time, she had taken on her fully serviceable top deck.  Even then, the top of the wheel house was made to be removed as she went down the highway,” said Babcock.

“A few minor hull problems were detected, but miniscule for a boat of her age.  Overall they commended me of my work and seemed very thrilled to be working with such a one-of-a-kind craft,” he continued, following the most recent inspection.

Babcock has always thought of himself as a carpenter, or a designer/builder.

Asked how he got started the in building business, he said it was a long and winding road which included many Heavener High School teachers as well as his father.

“Daddy (Hermann) was definitely my most important woodworking and overall mentor. He would give me a project so he could work his own without me bothering him too much. ” he remembered. Hermann Babcock owned Babcock & Sons Hobby Shop in Heavener.

But he remembers in junior high going to Dallas for a Cotton Bowl parade and seeing all the floats, which intrigued him enough that it led to his taking workshop in the eighth grade under Willard Henson for the first time. “Poor Willard Henson, he heard from the Babcock boys, ‘that’s not the way daddy taught us’ enough times. When I came along and started pulling out pictures from the Cotton Bowl parade and suggesting to him, ‘why don’t we build something like this?’ Willard finally agreed since the homecoming parade was coming up.

“Maybe that was the first time for me to see something, then actually build it. By my senior year, I had seven different cars or floats I had designed.”

Then he recalled science teacher Dale Bettes got him started in the field of electronics because it would ultimately pay more than woodworking, and math teacher Ed Hawthorne who supplied him knowledge of geometry and trigonometry and Woodfin Garrett, another math teacher who taught him about the world of computers, which gave him a jump start into computer maintenance in the Air Force.

Attitude problems in the Air Force led to spending time in the brig, as Babcock recalls, and that in turn led to an “early out” from the military service and he subsequently moved to Dallas and went to work for an electronics firm that made computer parts.

Sometime about then, he said, “I realized that the carpenter down the hall was doing what I really wanted to be doing.”

A telephone call, however, from a fellow classmate, Jim Johnson, who at the time was in Washington, D.C. but said he was going to Europe that summer and wanted to know if Joe wanted to go along. “That was all it took,” Babcock said.

In D.C., Babcock made a quick trip to the Smithsonian Institute, one of the places he always dreamed he might see, traveling by bus, where he would meet Mona, a lady from Denmark who later became his wife. Off to Europe and Demark they went. That was in 1969.

“That trip was definitely a culture shock for me. The language, the cars, the signs, city busses that would take you anywhere, trains that would take you to the mainland. Ferries to Sweden, Norway, England and Germany, all a part of the infrastructure of what is the oldest kingdom of Europe.

“Mona took me to museums where I first saw things up close that were thousands of years old. Everything old was still there, but yet Denmark even then was way ahead of us Americans in design and architecture,” noted Babcock. But they eventually made their way back to Texas, found land and started to build in Plantersville, a small town northwest of Houston. The rest is history.

Babcock is wheelchair-bound now, disabled by a spinal laminectomy, but he hasn’t stopped working in his shop. “Most of my machinery is set so I can operate from my power chair. I have the foot rest to carry things around (up to 1000 pounds). Mostly, it takes the stress off my spinal cord and let’s me continue,” he explained.

Design, building and carpentry – even in his modified shop -- are all still a large part of Joe Babcock’s life.