June 29, 2015

 

Teresa and Ray Anthony came in the store dressed casually and we learned they both were on vacation last week. At that moment they were headed toward Crystal Beach to spend the day with good friends, Linda and Arthur Murl Jones who were also vacationing. The Jones family had rented a gorgeous beach house for the week for daughter and son-in-law, Tara and Joe Cole and more importantly, 3-year-old beautiful red head grandson, Cole. Also enjoying the week was Angel and Kory Gillespie and their 4-year-old son, “Liam”. When Teresa and Ray arrived after lunch they found Linda and Arthur Murl relaxing as all the others had gone to Moody Gardens for the day. The four decided it was a good time to tour the beach in a golf cart. Teresa said there was a nice breeze, the beach was clean and the water was beautiful. They were having fun and drove on the beach all the way to Bolivar ferry and back…FOUR hours of fun! Ray and Teresa said their “goodbyes” and drove into Galveston for a meal and arrived home about midnight. I heard later Arthur Murl suffered severe sunburn on his legs.

Teresa Anthony also shared that her granddaughter, Lola, is now SIX years old. Her parents are Abby and Brad Lawrence and her little brother Tucker is already TWO. Lola has a busy summer. She was invited to participate in the first Miss Texas America pageant which was held in Houston. The pageant was for girls four to six years of age. Lola modeled an evening gown, had an interview and received an invitation to return next year. She plans to attend Dinosaur and Zoo camps in the next couple of weeks and is taking swim lessons from Mary Grimes who also taught Lola’s mom to swim. Tucker has already completed a week of swim lessons from Mary’s daughter, Emily. In the evenings, Lola is attending VBS at Diboll First Baptist and having a great time.

The Round Table was full one day listening to Milford Ruby and his never-ending stories. But that day, J. D. Johnson told us he remembered Milford in the early 50’s coming through town in an Oldsmobile convertible with his “ducktails” flying. When Milford got out to walk anywhere you could hear him coming in his steel heel taps and he knew how to drag his heels to make the sparks fly!

I received the following email from Sterling Burnett who is married to Bobbie Joyce Wilkerson and both are DHS graduates. Thursday Bobbie & I met Janis & Clinton Clark for lunch at the Black Eye Pea in the area of Deerbrook Mall. Sterling says, “We enjoyed OUR SENIOR LUNCH & discussed our memories of Diboll High School. I remember when Clinton & Bobby Hudson came back from the Military and began school with us. They signed up for trigonometry class and the two of them were the only ones requesting the course. Our Dear Mr. Pate (superintendent at the time) taught the two of them so they could take the class that they thought would help them in the future.” We also discussed if there were any other class mates living in the Houston area but no one came to mind. They chatted for a couple hours and Bobbie wasn’t going to get that close to Dillard’s without shopping. Sterling obediently drove her to the mall where they “killed” the afternoon before returning home.
Sterling also commented that it was good to hear that our City of Diboll was recognized as one nice place to live. Actually, it was rated the #2 Best Place to Live in Texas and rated #1 as the Safest Place to Live.

The Super Seniors of Diboll First Baptist enjoyed an outing to Jasper to eat lunch at the Catfish Cabin. Driving the bus was Charlie Mann and those in the back were: Mary Ingram, Peggy Burt, Ginger Capps, Chris and Meredith Walker, Joe Miranda, Betty Page, Leonard and Billie Robison, “Little” Leonard and Camille Robison, Fran McGilvra, Ruth Mullins, Betty Kee, Joe Nell Placker, Joyce Carr, Mary Lou Havard and Kathreen Chuke. Everyone reported the food was good and the fellowship was even better!

These Super Seniors and a lot of other folks remember a sweet couple, Bro. Raymond and Gerry Dunkin who now live in McKinney, Texas but previously served as interim pastor at Diboll First Baptist. A note from Raymond said he went to visit a doctor for a hurting in the area of the appendix. A scan indicated a ruptured appendix. After being in the hospital 5 days flooded with antibiotics, doctors informed him that another scan indicated a malignant pancreas. He was quickly sent to surgery where they removed about half of the pancreas and spleen. He is home recouping and praising God for a ruptured appendix and no evidence of cancer. They may live in McKinney but there is a place in their hearts for people here in East Texas. I’m sure they would love to hear from some of you. Their address is 5701 Virginia Parkway, apt. 2212, McKinney, TX 75071.

The Fourth of July isn’t all about BBQ and fireworks. It is the day our nation severed its ties with tyranny and it is a day we celebrate our freedom, liberty and the birthday of our country. May God Bless America. Don’t forget to fly “OLD GLORY”.

Come see us…’round the table.