Mission Statement

The project was conceived during the summer of 2008.  Parker County institutions were contacted to determine if they were aware of a time capsule in existence or planned. It appeared that there was no such project.  Much thought has gone into selecting items to be stored in this first Parker County  Time Capsule. The goal was  to preserve for future generations a broad range of printed, photographic and video materials about people, places and activities in the county at the year 2008.  A detailed inventory can be found here

This list describes the different contents and how the descendants might benefit from their use.

Credit should be given to the Weatherford BestBuy Company which has graciously donated a new Sony Video player. Electronic consumer items are typically outdated about every five years.  The player is placed in the capsule and thus assures that the recipients of the VHS video tapes can actually play back the tapes placed in the capsules. Questions arose about the expected life of magnetic tapes. We have 45 year old Sony Betamax tapes which show no deterioration. The time capsule's content is not exposed to large temperature variations as the 4 foot deep rock perm will keep temperatures steady and below high or low extremes.

Founder's Biography

Harry Joel was borne in Fuerth, Frankonia, Germany on March 9, 1929.  Ancestors on his father's side were French Huguenots who immigrated to Germany when they were threatened and persecuted.  His early memories reflect the turmoil caused by the NAZI (National Socialist Party) regime under Adolph Hitler. Witnessing the Kristal Nacht atrocities and the burning of the Jewish Synagogue are after all these years etched into his memories.  At the age of sixteen he was hauled off to be part of the last ditch effort to enlist soldiers in the loosing battle of WW-II. His platoon attempted mainly to stay way from the advancing US Army. Assigned as a medic he was lucky to survive being hit by three machine gun bullets on Friday 13, 1945 . Somehow, he and another platoon member made it  walking back to Fuerth.  While finishing high school he received a post card from the French Red Cross describing tersely how and when his father succumbed to the conditions in a Russian prison camp in faraway Siberia. Planning to pursue an engineering career he had to go through an internship in a local factory, required before enrolling in the Ohms Polytechnikum in Nuremberg. A small stipendium by the Bavarian State for  the dependants of war casualties ran out and a job was taken to assist a professor in the electrical lab. Between the demanding study work and this job there was very little sleep time left. Graduation came and he was offered a job with AEG, a company loosely connected with General Electric.  After a few years a job offer from Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing (3M Company) came up.  While doing  a job playing organ for the Sunday School for US children I befriended a young soldier. He asked his father in Wisconsin to be my sponsor before immigration application could be completed. He had to put money in an escrow account. His son, Paul Matzke, now post master retired, still keeps up phone and mail contact.

During the mid fifties there was a large demand for electrical engineers, but getting a job required a security clearance. With the help of an engineer while interviewing a job was taken at a oil well service company. This wonderful job and others to follow at Honeywell and later Gearhart Owen in Fort Worth ultimately let to going into business doing software design for the first generations of small business computers.

Gradually this very busy job was cut back and finally led to "retirement".  Keeping busier than ever, improvements to the current home on five acres was quite satisfying. Harry's wife Jane enjoys the unspoiled nature, with three empty 5-acre lots surrounding our lot. We have a large number of purple martins and at least 20 more bird species to keep us entertained. The place was named Rocking Horse Ranch by the previous owners.