January 19, 2015

“An improvement program made Diboll’s school system one of the best equipped in East Texas.” This was a quote from the Houston Chronicle in June of 1968 referring to a fence around the school that a new teacher, Wilber Pate, asked for in the early 40’s. The fence was needed to keep out the kids—the four-legged variety. “Sometimes the goats would wander right up to the classroom windows and chew away the shrubbery during class. It was a standing joke that Diboll’s goats were the best-educated in the county.” Now, when you see the name W. F. Pate on the gymnasium at the middle school, you youngsters in Diboll will know it was named after a young man that later became superintendent and had a vision for Diboll schools.

Barley Lenderman shared the following article from The Diboll Free Press in September, 1961. A Diboll garbage collector killed a would-be prowler here with a stick last Friday morning. The man, Arvyle Williams, beat the invader to death with a long stick. Williams spotted the culprit as he approached the front porch of the Paul M. Durham home to collect for the month’s garbage removal (Southern Pine Lumber took care of collecting the garbage before the days of city conveniences) He said the would-be intruder looked as if he might try to crawl through a front window of the Durham home. Williams summoned the maid, who provided the stick which Williams used to do the killing. The intruder: A 16” coral snake which had crawled onto the front porch in Diboll’s newest residential section, the Pinedale Addition.

Now, more current news.

Beulah Grocery & Café is now open for business at the intersection of FM 58 and FM 1818. The new owners are Hollie (Lyles) and Jerry Clark and her parents, Theresa and Roy Lee Lyles. This corner has always been a gathering place for the folks who live in the community of Beulah and a convenient place to meet and visit with friends and neighbors. The store and café will be open from 6AM – 9PM Monday – Saturday. The grocery store will be open on Sunday from 8AM – 8PM but the café will be closed. The menu includes breakfast, lunch specials from 11AM – 2PM, and they will also serve hamburgers, steak finger baskets, chicken tenders, chipped beef, homemade pies and more. Weekend specials include Rib eye Steaks on Friday nights and Fried Catfish on Saturday nights. The Lyles’ daughter, Stephanie, along with Rhonda Patton and Donna Conner will also be lending a helping hand with this venture. Don’t forget this is also a grocery store with necessary food items and a deli with meats and cheese. The gas pumps have been rebuilt and gas should be available in the very near future. Maybe we will see you there! The telephone number is 829-0240 or ask for a menu at beulahgrocerycafe@yahoo.com

It was good to see and visit with Trey Ingram when he came in the store with his dad, Dr. Woody. Trey had been hunting in Beeville and came to Diboll to check on his mom, Mary, who is recovering from a recent hip replacement. Mary and Woody were loading one of their Christmas trees that was going into storage when it fell apart and caused her to fall. On this day, Trey had been helping his dad “take down” more Christmas under Mary’s directions but as we all know, guys just can’t seem to get it packed away as well. Trey and his wife, Clis, live in Oklahoma with their three children: 14-year-old Ella; 11-year-old Wood and 9-year-old Nate. Trey was returning home in time to attend a basketball tournament. Trey is humble and very modest but I managed to find out that he is CEO and very actively involved in Legend Energy Services, a company with a fleet of large equipment and crews that clean and prepare oil and gas wells for production.

Fran (Miranda) Rodriquez and her husband, Louis, came in the store to use a gift certificate given to him as a Christmas present. Louis recently retired after working 10 years as assistant auditor for Angelina County. He and Fran retired to Diboll in 2003 after working in Jersey Village (NW Houston) for 12 years where he was Financial Manager and Tax Assessor-Collector for the City of Jersey Village. Louis didn’t waste any time starting his retirement as he is taking the Master Gardeners course at the County Extension office through the end of March. Be sure to watch for the date of the Master Gardeners’ annual plant sale in April. It’s a good way to get started with spring gardening.

In visiting with longtime friend, Nita (Ramsey) Hurley, I learned congratulations are in order for her granddaughter, Sydney Hurley, who has signed a Letter of Intent to play softball at Northeast Texas Community College. I went to Nita’s Facebook and saw where Sydney posted a picture of her signing the letter of intent with her brother, Kevin, sitting beside her. Because her sister Reagan wasn’t present for the picture, Sydney had drawn a “stick figure” of Reagan sitting on her other side because she said, “My brother and sister mean the absolute world to me”. Sydney also won First Place at a recent Powerlifting Meet. Congratulations, Sydney two times!!

Reagan Hurley couldn’t be present for the picture of Sydney signing her Letter of Intent because she is in Greece studying abroad for one semester. Reagan is a student at Incarnate Word in San Antonio and qualified for this opportunity to study and have an enlightening experiencing. Reagan is sending lots of photos and was glad to see a McDonald’s that had an English menu beside the Greek one. She will be away for four months taking basic classes and visiting wonderful sites of the country.  Remember her in your prayers.

We have some exciting events approaching: Project Graduation’s annual Valentine’s Dinner will be February 14^th at 6:30 in the fellowship building at Diboll First Baptist Church. Good food, entertainment and a dessert auction. Treat your Valentine to a nice evening for $40 per couple. Pretty decorations, good food, fun, fellowship and a good cause!

February 21^st at 6PM in our Temple Civic Center will be the Fourth Annual Black Tie Bingo benefitting the Boys and Girls Club of Diboll. “Heart to Heart Vegas Style” is the theme with an evening filled with good food, live and silent auctions, games and of course, bingo. For more information call the Boys & Girls Club office at 936-560-6844 or locally, Patsy Colbert at 829-3543. “Black Tie” describes the upscale event not a requirement to attend. Just learned there will be a $20 discount on individual tickets that are sold before February 5^th. Make that telephone call and save $20. It’ll be a fun evening.