Chapter 1: What family stories do we cherish and why?
There's something that happens when you're sitting around family, maybe at a holiday dinner, maybe just an ordinary afternoon, and someone leans in and says, did I ever tell you about... And just like that, you're pulled into a family story, so specific, so detailed, you never think to question it. It just becomes true.
Until one day, you hear it again and wonder, wait, is that actually what happened? That's where the new podcast, Family Lore, begins. It takes those stories, the ones passed down, polished, protected, and gently starts to pull at the edges, not to ruin them, but to understand them. In this special presentation, you'll hear a preview of Family Lore episode one, the unsinkable Margarita Sames.
Yes, that Margarita. The one that shows up at celebrations, vacations, sometimes Tuesdays. But like any good story, it comes with a question. Who actually invented it? Family Lore follows one family's claim that their aunt created the legendary cocktail. As you listen, search for Family Lore wherever you get your podcasts. And when you're done, maybe call someone in your family.
Ask them to tell that story again. And this time, ask questions.
I want to tell you a quick story that might be the true origins of this podcast. It was a hot summer afternoon in Texas, and I was about 12 years old. I was spending some time at my grandfather's house, and at some point he said he wanted to show me something I might find interesting. So he went to his office and he took out a small wooden box, a little bigger than a shoebox.
He opened the lid, and inside were three pistols. One was the standard-issue Colt 45, which he carried in World War II. The second was a German Luger, which he got from someone who wouldn't be needing it anymore. And the third was a Colt 45 1917, a big, hefty, six-shot revolver. I knew the story behind the first two, but I didn't know anything about the revolver.
And that's when he told me that I had a great uncle who ran a bank in Kansas. And this uncle was considered a potential target by the famous bank robbing duo, Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. So the United States government shipped this revolver to my great uncle in the event he had to defend himself from Bonnie and Clyde. I love hearing stories like these. You know, family lore.
and not just lore about my family, anybody's family. You hear it from time to time. I'm related to Pocahontas, or my great uncle invented the yo-yo, or my grandmother was almost cast as Dorothy Gale. Those are kind of unusual examples, but I'm interested in the unusual ones. The ones that seem a little far-fetched are just intriguing.
In this podcast, I'm going to have people on to tell their family stories, and then we're going to find out if there's any truth to these stories. Our investigations will not always be easy or predictable, because the stories we hear in this show aren't taken from textbooks or documentary series. They're preserved in a different format. This is Family Lore, and I'm your host, Lloyd Lockridge.
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Chapter 2: What is the significance of the unsinkable Margarita Sames?
I've been so excited just to talk to you. I know. I know. It's been a while. It's been a long time.
This is Martha Sayers. Martha is not an easy guest for me to introduce. First of all, I've always called her Miss Sayers. Two of her five kids, William and Markham, are two of my best friends. I've known them for as long as I can remember. And I've known Miss Sayers for as long as I can remember. You know the old saying, it takes a village to raise a child?
Well, Miss Sayers is a very important person in the village that raised me. There are many stories Ms. Sayers could tell you that would be very embarrassing for me. Frankly, she could stop this podcast right in its tracks. But instead, she's agreed to tell us a story about her life. In the past, when I've told people a shortened version of the story you're about to hear, they think I'm kidding.
But I'm not. This is real family lore. And it centers around Ms. Sayers' great aunt, a woman named Margarita Sames.
This is a colorful and romantic country. One of the oldest... And yet one of the newest cities on the border is Laredo, Texas, the gateway to Mexico.
The story begins in the early 1960s in Ms. Sayers' hometown of Laredo, Texas, which at the time was a sleepy little border town. Her home life when she was a little girl was pretty normal and down-to-earth, as she puts it. But every once in a while, her family would get a visit from Uncle Bill and his wife, Margarita. And Bill and Margarita were just different, especially Margarita.
They would come to Laredo and stay at my grandmother's house. And that's where I got to be around her a few times. She's the person you take a second look at. You know, you don't just walk by and not notice because she was stunning, very attractive. And she was very made up all the time and had fancy clothing.
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Chapter 3: How do personal anecdotes shape our understanding of family lore?
And Margarita just had this swagger, you know, hand motions all the time. And she smoked and she drank. And, you know, I mean, everybody was just kind of, whoa. She was way ahead of their game.
I think we all have relatives like this. The ones who roll through town unexpectedly and dazzle us with glimpses of something different. Every family has its culture. And with that, they're usually members of the family who have a counterculture. And the rarity of these characters has a way of burning memories into our minds.
So one of the first things I really remember, she was putting her makeup on. I was just standing right by her side. She was talking to me and telling me stuff. And I was just like taking it all in at five and All of a sudden, she took out this tool, you know, or whatever it was. I didn't know what it was. And she curled her eyelashes. And I can still see her face.
I never in my whole life seen somebody curl their eyelashes. I'm not going to say my mother didn't know about curling eyelashes, but she didn't do it. You know, I mean, she wasn't like that. But that's bad. I'm not saying it's bad. She was just over the top on everything. And it was always just a little bit, you know, hmm, Margarita and Bill are coming to town, you know, so get ready.
But when it came to anticipating Bill and Margarita's visits, there was something a little more to it than eyelash curlers. There was something else about Margarita that made her a particularly interesting guest. I think Ms. Sayers, as a five-year-old girl, could sense that. Because Margarita was not just her aunt's name, it was the name of the drink she allegedly invented.
I've heard my whole life that she invented the margarita.
She invented the margarita. That's quite a claim, isn't it? To invent the margarita. When I first heard this, I found myself thinking, did somebody really invent the margarita? It just seems like something that would naturally come into being. But of course it didn't. Tequila, Cointreau, and lime is not going to mix itself. And salt does not magically appear on the rim of your glass.
Someone had to have been the first to make it.
So who invented the margarita? To find out, search for Family Lore wherever you get your podcasts.
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