Former Dibollian, Dr. Ted Mullins, was home during the holidays visiting with his mom, Ruth Mullins and his sister and brother-in-law, Diane and Bob Pennington. The three were waiting for him at the airport and anticipating Ted’s flight to arrive in Houston at 10PM. He texted to let them know his plane was not going to be able to land in the stormy weather and because of fuel shortage was directed to Louisiana to refuel. It was 2 AM before his plane actually made it back to Houston and landed. The group had reservations in Austin and drove on in the wee hours of the morning. Diane was the tour guide and had planned four days of activities in Austin. They arrived back in Diboll on Christmas Eve where Ted and Ruth enjoyed Christmas dinner at I-HOP.
Sunday, December 29th, was Ruth’s birthday. After church, Ruth, Ted and Diane (Bob was working) drove to Tyler and enjoyed a delicious birthday meal at Rudy’s BBQ and then did shopping. While he was here Ted found time to drive to Livingston to Manny’s for his favorite… hot boiled shrimp. Ted is just “Ted” when he comes home but his work staff calls him Dr. Mullins (Ph.D., Bio Services).Ted lives in the community of Jeffersonton and works for ACC in Mannesse, Virginia. Simply stated but highly classified, Ted serves as a liaison between his company and CDC (Center for Disease Control) in Atlanta, GA and Homeland Security in Washington, DC. A lot of the people Ted works with in VA look forward to his return from Texas because they love and expect him to bring them lots of peanut butter logs and Chick’O sticks from Atkinson Candy.
Saturday, January 11th was Emma Lee Smith’s birthday. She and Joe Donald met with friends and family to celebrate with lunch at the airport. Those enjoying the food and fellowship with them were her niece and husband, Mary and Jerry Clark; longtime friends, Geraldine Pouland, Mary Lou Havard and a surprise visit from a special friend, Othal Lowery, who brought her fresh flowers. Others present were Fran McGilvra, Kathryn Chuke and DeShea Franks.
Jesse and Suzanne Bradford left for an eight-day cruise aboard the Carnival Magic on Sunday, December 8. Tuesday was the first stop in Key West, Florida. Boarding the Old Town Trolley, it took them on a tour of the island. Their drivers told all about Key West. They visited the Butterfly Conservatory and Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum. One stop was to the southernmost point of the U.S.
Wednesday the ship docked in Freeport, Bahamas. They had booked a tour called “The Bahamas Seafood Culinary Experience”. They were told all about Freeport as minibuses took them to one of the beach areas. The driver said there are no taxes in Freeport. There is also no government subsidizing or welfare on the island. The crime rate is very low. There they watched a demonstration and then cooked their own island rice dish, fried conch fritters and fried conch. The group went down to the beach to listen to one of the divers tell how they dove for the conch, showing them how to get the muscle out and then made an appetizer dish out of raw conch.
Thursday was a day in Nassau, Bahamas. They booked the Atlantis Adventure Day tour. They tubed the River Rapids, rode a tube through the shark tank which Suzanne says she will never do again because it was too rough. The day ended relaxing on one of the beaches and enjoying a great aquarium there. They ran out of time for the 45-minute lazy river tubing ride.
Once they left the 40 degree weather in Galveston, most days were in the high 70’s and mid-80’s. The food on board the Carnival ship was outstanding and the service was great. Sunday it was back to reality. Suzanne said Sunday evening she kept waiting for someone to cook her dinner, pull the bed covers back and put chocolate on her pillow; it never happened!!
We have received lots of goodies from the folks running for office when they come to visit the RT. Bobby Cheshire made a hit with the homemade tea cakes that his mom, Ruth Cheshire, baked for him. He carried them to the original round table at Lufkin Farm Supply first and brought us what was left. Bob Brown, Charles Kent and the others guys must not eat like we do or else Ruthie made an extra amount of cookies. They were very good and did not go to waste.
Gabriella Roberts, a 6th Degree Black Belt with 20 years’ experience in martial arts will be teaching a Self Defense and Spiritual Warfare class on January 25th. It is “Art of Survival” for mothers and daughters 12:30 – 2:30 at the Clawson Assembly of God Church on Hwy 69 in Pollok.
We have tickets available for the upcoming Turkey Banquet, February 7th, 6PM at the Nacogdoches Civic Center and we also have tickets for the 10-gun raffle.
Vintage Blooms, a flower shop and much more, located in J.R.’s Party Barn on Hwy 59 is pushing to be open by the 20th of January in time to place orders for Valentine’s Day. It will also be a gift shop with antiques and more.
Our deepest sympathy to the family of Joe Carter Denman, Jr. He left a big footprint on Diboll and all who knew him or worked with him learned from him.
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