Colorful couple’s black and white legacy boosts the library fund

The moment that George and Cheryl Lauterstein came over the big hill leading into Wimberley from the Highway 32 junction with Ranch Road 12, they simultaneously gasped, smiled, and knew they had found their new home. Balancing a sense of peace with building excitement, they quickly found a realtor who took them looking at sites. Standing in the back of the realtor’s pickup, they gazed at nature’s abundance and chose their hilltop site. The Lautersteins built a stately Santa Fe style home that could grace the cover of an architecture magazine, and was, in fact, featured in the 1989 Wimberley Civic Club’s annual Home Tour. In the process, builder Gary Brim became a lifelong friend of the couple.

The first consideration of the house plans was the darkroom because George was a photographer extraordinaire. He told a Wimberley View writer in 1989 that the couple “built the house around the darkroom… Cheryl is the musician and athlete, and I’m the artist.”

Since the age of 13 he was consumed with photography, but it was during a trip in 1978 to Yosemite National Park that he first saw the framed works of Ansel Adams in one of the lodges. It was an epiphany moment for George. An Austin American Statesman article that appeared in 2001, quoted Lauterstein as saying, “ I’ve seen the world in a special way that I could never explain to anybody. This guy (Adams) sees the world the same way.”

He followed the career of the iconic artist, reading all he could find about him and studying his prints. George built his own darkroom and experimented with cameras and techniques, and continued to visit California sites to practice his photography. It was years later, while visiting a friend in the coastal community of Carmel, that he was asked if he would like to meet Adams in person at his home.

George reportedly said that was “like asking Moses if he might be interested in taking a look at those stone tablets.”

Adams showed George his darkroom, and the safe where he held the negatives of his most famous photographs. Lauterstein bought one of his view cameras that he added to the Leica and Olympus cameras he used extensively.

George had a varied career that involved four years in the Air Force, being a radio announcer, and a General Telephone Sales Representative and International Sales Trainer. His work took him all over the world, and extensively throughout Asia, Australia, and the Philippines. In November 1987, he retired, married Cheryl, and began what he considered the most exciting phase of his life in Wimberley, Texas. They spent the next 16 years traveling and taking pictures.

George was from La Grange, and Cheryl’s family owned and operated the popular Frank’s Restaurant in Schulenburg for 88 years before they closed their doors to the public in October 2017. Cheryl said, “He knew if we stayed around the home area, I’d continue to work in the family restaurant, and he wanted me to travel with him and have our own home.”

The couple drove around the Texas Hill Country scouting locations. All the towns had their obvious charms, but it was while returning from Kerrville that Cheryl remembered a friend who attended the Chapel of the Hills Church in Wimberley. So they turned the steering wheel in the direction of Wimberley, caught the breathtaking glimpse of the valley, and drove into their future. The Lautersteins lived in Wimberley from about 1988-2003, an era that Cheryl recalls as the happiest years of their lives.

George’s talent was quickly recognized by the artistic community, and soon his photographs were displayed in local galleries, the post office for a while, and in Austin galleries, including the Lynn Herman Gallery on 6th Street. In 1989, the Wimberley Chamber of Commerce contacted him to produce the annual calendar that featured the community’s most scenic sites. The Lautersteins were featured in Bill and MF Johnson’s book called Now That We’re in Wimberley, Let’s Shut the Gate which featured the “FEARS, DREAMS and ESSENCE of 60 Wimberley residents in 1979 and 1989,” a copy of which is preserved in the reference section of the Wimberley Village Library.

Cheryl, meanwhile, spent time in the Department of Music at Texas State University studying piano. She recalls fondly such Wimberley personalities as MF Johnson and Mary Guemple, who Cheryl considers examples of lives well lived. And she dearly loved her friends Elizabeth Stillman and Betty Wright who were “forces of nature.”

George’s big heart gave out in April 2003, and Cheryl’s mother became ill, requiring her return to Schulenburg to oversee her care. But she still comes back to the adobe home on the hilltop for respite and comfort. During one of her reflections, Cheryl felt like she wanted to give back to the town that had so welcomed and included her family. And that was when she thought of the community library. In early December 2021, Cheryl met with members of the Wimberley Village Library Building Committee to review the plans for the library’s expansion.

Library Director Carolyn Manning, Library Foundation Board President Carrie Campbell, and Building Committee Chairperson Aileen Edgington shared the building plots and drawings with Cheryl. They toured the existing site pointing out the history of the library and earlier expansions. Manning told Cheryl that the population of Hays County alone has increased four times what it was when the original building went up.

Edgington not only spoke to additions within the library itself, but also grounds improvements to include a greater parking area, safer driveway, reading nooks within the landscape, and a 100 seat meeting room for local groups to use without charge. All the trustees commented on the community’s use of the facility as a meeting place, a safe space, and a secure spot for Internet services.

Campbell explained that the trustees have secured a $4 million loan from Government Capital with funds raised by sales taxes, but $1 million must be raised from other community sources such as small donations, large donations, corporate and philanthropic organizations, and endowments and memorials. It was at that point that Cheryl Lauterstein sat down and wrote a check to the Library expansion project in heartfelt remembrance of the years that she and George had loved Wimberley, and Wimberley had returned that love. She is also gathering some of George’s prominent photographs, posters, and memorabilia for display within the library.

Edgington said, “Mrs. Lauterstein’s generous donation to our library’s expansion/renovation project is a real boost to all who have been working so hard to bring our dream to fruition. We look forward to working with her to plan a fitting tribute to her late husband in our finished project.”

Friends said George often gazed across the inspirational landscapes he was attempting to capture and would say with a deep sign, “What a life!” He loved beauty and friendship and never tired of sharing it.

Thanks to Cheryl, George’s love and passions will continue to be shared with future generations within their adopted home.

As she departed, Cheryl said, “That’s what I remember about Wimberley. It’s a great group of people who work well together.”