September 25, 2017

 

John and Lynette Monk were married August 30th, 1957. Lynette’s birthday was two months before on June 27th when the eye of Hurricane Audrey came over her home in Sulfur, LA. John was in his senior year at LSU and attending Bougaloosa Forestry Camp. He knew the storm was brewing but back then there was no weather channels or cell phones. He stood in line at a pay phone to call and check on Lynette. She was OK but the whole town was caught off guard causing total devastation and loss of many lives. John didn’t waste any time in setting a date two months later to get married on August 30th. 60 years later, they had plans to celebrate their wedding anniversary at their favorite French restaurant in Humble, Chez Nous but another devastating hurricane Harvey prevented that from happening. They are still waiting to enjoy that special celebration but it may be after the hurricane season is over. Congratulations to the John and Lynette Monk!

One never knows where Wayne and Cindy Clark will be one week to the next. They have just returned from a quick trip to Las Vegas with their friend Kathy McKnight, to see best-selling female artist in history on the Caesars Palace stage for a powerful set featuring all her greatest hits. Céline Dion’s Colosseum show has been called “the show of shows and “Las Vegas’ biggest act since Elvis.” Céline Dion has won five GRAMMY Awards, Record of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, two Academy Awards for the title songs “Beauty and the Beast” and “My Heart Will Go On” from Titanic and many other awards. These three from Diboll were certainly impressed with her show. Since the purpose of their trip was mainly to see Celine Dion they didn’t leave much time for sightseeing or anything else. They spent two nights in the Four Queens and enjoyed the nightly show on Fremont Street and a tour of Hoover Dam the next day. Wayne was disappointed the elevators at the dam were not working that go down into the bottom where the huge turbines are.  Having worked in a plant he would not have believed the dam’s basement was clean enough to eat off the floor.

Lisa Dotson who has worked at Temple (now GP) for 33 years came in to pick up insecticide for her dad, Darryl Richardson, who also was a longtime employee there. Lisa and Greg Dotson are first time grandparents and she just happened to have a few photos of Gregory Logan Dotson who has beautiful red hair and was born on September 11th in Waco, Texas. He weighed 8 lbs. and 12 ozs and was wearing a Baylor Bear shirt in one photo. They have already determined the baby will be called Logan. His parents are Blake and Amanda Dotson of Waco. Greg is already wanting to move to Waco. Blake graduated from Baylor and continues to live there and work for United Health Care while Amanda is fortunate to be a stay-at-home mom. Logan’s aunt is Alyssa Dotson who is in her senior year of pre Physical Therapy at Texas State University in San Marcus. Proud great-grandparents are Annette and Darryl Richardson.

We had an interesting visit with Danny Vinson who now lives in New London. Danny said he “finally” stopped to see the Everything Store after passing it for so many years. He thought it was a place that sold Poland chainsaws. Danny was in the US Coast Guard for 22 years and played professionally in the CG band while living in New London, Connecticut. He moved to New London, Texas and is the 5th generation to live on the old home place. He presently travels to colleges to teach students, most of whom are aspiring band directors, how to play the euphonium. He travels to University of Houston to teach two days a week but he also teaches at Blinn College, Kilgore Junior College, UT at Tyler and other places.

Tommy and Lynn Marie Bryan also made their first trip to Pouland’s. They are the new owners of the Swap Shop on KRBA 1340 AM radio where you can buy, sell or swap. The popular radio show originated in 1953. Tommy and Lynn Marie purchased the show about six months ago. They previously owned Bryan’s BBQ and were featured on Robert Irvine’s “Restaurant Impossible” show but sold the property later. They have had other ventures but said The Swap Shop has been the most fun. The couple has been married for 28 years and love to interact “on the air” between 10:30 and noon, Monday through Friday. Lynn Marie grew up in Lufkin where she was head cheerleader, FFA Sweetheart and involved in lots of pageants. She met Tommy at a fund raiser and they were married three months later. Check out their FB page Bryans Swap Shop Group.

Logging contractor and 1989 DHS graduate, Clint Ramsey, stopped by to leave a flyer about The Gypsy Horse Show Association’s regional fall show October 13-15 at the Henderson Expo Center. A typical horse show with halter classes, trail classes, English and Hunter Pleasure, Driving classes, Freestyle Riding, Costume, Ranch Riding classes and much more. The Gypsy Horse was bred and developed many generations ago by the Romany Travelers of Wales, England and Ireland. The Gypsies desired a small draft horse colorful enough to match their caravans. These horses are easily recognizable by their long, flowing manes and tails, and the abundance of feather on their legs. “Three extraordinary days of showing some of the most beautiful horses in the world!” Clint and his wife, Jenny, own several of these horses some of which are for sale. Their two oldest children Colton and Cara are married and have made Clint and Jenny grandparents four times. Schooled at home are 11-year-old Tucker; 16-year-old Gabe; 15-year-old Delaney and 13-year-old Lucy will be participating in the horse show. The Ramseys live in Timpson.

Precious Lewin Colwell is in his second week of Preschool 4 and insisted his mother Brooke bring him to see John Ralph at Pouland’s. Clay and Brooke are thankful he likes school. Dalton Havard came in to get a lawnmower tire repaired for his grandmother, Kaythryn Havard. Gary Gores was in getting new tires. Tommy Fenley is anxious for winter to get here and wished he lived in Alaska. In the meantime, he plans to go fishing and came in for his new license. Others doing the same were: Lewis Ivey; Chad, Caleb and Allee Stewart; Ray Lenderman; Amanda, Josh and Dalton Moreno; Clyde Maxey; Tic Toc McClintock; Sherrill Fears; J.D. and Sue Johnson Korye Stewart; Cloyce Evans; David Thelen; Robert Ramsey and son Cash.

Don’t forget Pouland’s can be your Deer Hunter Headquarters with guns, ammo, feeders, seed for deer plots; corn, peanut flavored rice bran and of course, 2017-18 hunting & fishing licenses.

The coffee pot is always on so come see us…’round the table

September 18, 2017

 

It was good news for Bettye Greer when she finally heard from her daughter and son-in-law, Jean and Mike McCollum who live in Naples, Florida, that their new home sustained minimal damage from the 140 MPH winds of hurricane Irma.  Mike and Jean voluntarily evacuated and waited for the storm to pass in a motel in northern Florida. Bro. Larry and Anita Weaver moved in with ‘lil Larry’s family and learned their house was fine but no electricity; they live in Jacksonville. My brother and his wife, Jerry and Annabelle Powell, stayed in contact about hurricane Harvey with neighbors near their home in Bailey’s Prairie (Angleton) as they were vacationing in Ruidoso, NM. And more recently, Judy Carrier posted to all her friends that she is OK after the earthquake on Tuesday in Mexico City.

Another couple, Bob and Gail Long, who live two miles from Tampa Bay, also voluntarily evacuated with their Shih-tzu “B-Beau”. They put up as many things they could off the floor, packed a suitcase with enough clothes for 5-6 days and headed toward his sister’s home in Memphis, TN. What is normally a 4-5 hour drive took them 14 hours. The further they went the harder it was to find food, fuel and restrooms but they finally made it. After three days in Memphis Bob and Gail decided to drive to Nacogdoches to visit good friends, David and Traci Hanson. David is a lumber salesman for Snider Industries. The Longs attended Harvest Point Baptist church with the Hansons and Bob taught the Sunday School class. Bob Long said, not braggingly, he is an itinerant evangelical Bible Professor with a diploma in Bible Theology. But he also has a BA in English; MBA from University of Oklahoma City and a Doctorate of Theology. Bob and Gail also sang a duet during the worship service. Gail has a Bachelor of Music degree and is an accomplished organist, pianist, vocalist and music teacher.

Now, you are probably wondering how they got to the round table and enjoyed eating a bowl of pinto beans and cornbread? Bob and Gail were in Sam’s looking for flea medication for “B-Beau” when someone recommended they come to Pouland’s. We certainly would like to thank that person! Bob and Gail walked in Pouland’s about noon and immediately smelled something good. Andrea told them she was cooking pinto beans and cornbread for lunch and invited them to eat at the round table.

Also eating pinto beans at the RT that day were Jerry and Geraldine Bishop who are volunteers and part of the Southern Baptist Convention Disaster Relief Task Force. They were waiting for tires to be mounted on the “water truck” that they maintain during disasters such as hurricane Harvey. The truck is actually a water purification system that is used for workers to shower and was recently taken to Rockport. Woody Ingram also enjoyed the lunch. He is one of the newest certified “yellow hat” volunteers recruited by the Bishops. During the lunch discussions, Woody and the Longs discovered they both had eaten and recommended Pop’s Soda Ranch on the side of the iconic Highway 66 in Arcadia, OK. They say you can’t miss the 66 foot tall neon soda bottle and the 700 varieties of bottled sodas that are available inside.

The Over 50’s Group met this month at The Cracker Barrel to catch up on the news since the month before. Attending and enjoying the food and fellowship were John and Ann Jones; Newt and Jeanne Courtney; Darryl and Annette Richardson; Barbara Clark; Bob and Nell Horton; Bobbye Burroughs; Jerry and Geraldine Bishop; Pat Brown and Rufus Dunn. Pat Brown was proud to announce she had a new great niece, Emmerson Ray Todd whose parents are Abby and Brent Todd. Emmerson’s paternal grandparents are Dr. Jansen & Pat Todd. Her maternal grandparents are Paul and Tamesha Root and great-grandparents are the late Bill and Louise Lindsey. Pat Brown and Louise are sisters. We have fond memories of Bill Lindsey coming into the store and sitting on a stool at a child’s table having tea with our young preschool granddaughter, Cheyenne Swor; they had some great discussions. My, how time flies, Cheyenne is now a senior at SFA!

Joe and Kay Gage of Diboll are proud to announce their youngest son who serves in the military has been promoted to Col. Phillip K. Gage, United States Army Garrison Japan. Phillip graduated from DHS and on to Texas A&M where he received a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science from Kansas State University. He is a graduate of the US Army War College, Carlisle, PA where he earned a Master of Strategic Studies. Phillip has served around the globe including Fort Carson, CO; Camp Casey, Korea; Fort Knox, KY; Saudi Arabia; Fort Irwin, CA; Iraq; Fort Hood, TX; Vilseck, Germany; Afghanistan and Fort Benning, GA. Presently he is the commanding officer at the US Army Garrison Camp Zama, Japan where he resides with his wife, Janie. Joe and Kay keep up with Phillip on You Tube.

David and Charlotte Carter are changing the name of their business in Burke from His & Hers Trade Days to His & Hers Mercantile since they are now open regular days during the week and not just one weekend. It is such a fun place to shop and look for interesting “Oh, I remember having one of those” items.

David Carter is president of the Diboll Area Lions Club which is making plans for the annual Lions Club golf tournament at Neches Pines, October 14th. A few of the folks that have been in buying hunting and fishing licenses include: Rhonda Hoover; Henry Hayden; Mona & Fox Adams; Darryl Stanley; Harold Maxwell; Raymond Bounds; Donnie & Darlene Stephens and Bryan Wilson. Junior Young learned he was just one year too old from receiving a free fishing license.

The Diboll Business Association appreciates Rick Patel allowing us to meet in the hospitality room of the Diboll Inn & Suites. Rick has purchased the washteria next to the hotel. It is now Diboll Washteria and has some brand new top loading washing machines and commercial dryers. He invites people to use the new equipment.

Stop by when you can and see us…’round the table.

September 4, 2017

 

Kudos to Diboll Firemen! Fire Chief, Gary Jones, was seen eating lunch at Los Jarritors with several other firemen on a Saturday during a workday for the department. Others enjoying the delicious food included: John Alvarez, William Courtney, Joe Parish, Keith and Gary Dover, Raymond ‘Shadow’ Ryan, Grady Courtney and Aaron Smith. The guys spent the day doing general maintenance at the substation on Neil Pickett and also poured a foundation for a communication tower. Little did they know a few days later, after Hurricane Harvey made it devastating landing, some of these same guys would be packing up and driving to Rockport to help people in need.

Diboll FBC Pastor Kenny Hibbs and his wife Carrie have two daughters in the Rockport area; April and Mike Striedel and Amanda and Bobby Bickle. Amanda coaches Rockport Pirates girls’ volleyball and basketball teams. After the storm she went to the campus and the gym where they recently played was no longer there. Kenny and Carrie left on Thursday for Rockport and members of the Diboll Fire Department left on Friday, including: Gary Jones, his 12-year-old grandson Ben Smith and Ben’s dad, Aaron; Joe Parish, Larry Lucas, Chris Hambrick and Grady Courtney. They met up with Bro. Kenny who had made arrangements for them to stay at the Assembly of God Church in Portland. Previously, in making the arrangements at the church, Kenny was surprised to learn their pastor, Woody Woodard, pastored and lived in Lufkin at one time. Woody asked Kenny about Steve Comstock who is pastor of Diboll’s Assembly of God…small world!

This group of volunteers from Diboll put the experience behind their tools and cleaned up debris left from the storm. They worked on an elderly couple’s garage that had fallen on their vehicles and removed the metal beams of the garage to get both of their cars out. They were strong enough to roll tin down from a mobile home and put a tarp over it. They also helped erect a large tent on the grounds of the First Baptist Church where they had services on Sunday and stretched tarps to cover the end of the church that is missing. Another elderly couple in Taft was grateful to these guys for cutting up a large tree. These guys found it hard to believe that so many people were offering them water and food. Aaron Smith said, “This is what makes you proud of Texas”. April and Mike Striedel prepared two meals for these appreciative volunteers. If you are interested, go to Diboll FBC Face Book page for the link to Youtube.com and watch the video “Rockport Cleanup-Diboll” with Stephen Curtis Chapman singing Beauty will Rise in the background.

Diboll First Methodist Church got busy after receiving a text from a former pastor, Jeff Stuff, that Buna needed help. Lists of items for “flood buckets” and “hygiene bags” were distributed for anyone who was interested in providing the items. Melanie Goodwin, the pastor’s wife, was in a store checking out with items on the lists when the person behind her in line paid the bill. The church put together 32 Flood Buckets, 134 Hygiene Bags and 50 loaves of bread that was delivered to Central Baptist Church in Buna by Pastor David Goodwin, Brandal Porter, Teresa Medina, Gene and Ronna Winchester. People were lined up to get the buckets and bags when they arrived.

Members of Faith Family Church traveled to Batson, Texas to “clean up” and later Pastor Leo Lytle and Randy Pilcher went back to drop off $7,000 to $10,000 worth of much needed donations to a new shelter that was opened at the Assembly of God church on highway 105. Leo said, “The church bus was packed tightly with literally no room to spare with donations from the area. Special thanks to Wal-Mart, Sam’s Club, Abeldt’s Pharmacy, The Medicine Shoppe, Trinity Baptist, a generous donor and dozens of people who brought what they could right up until we left at 11AM”. Bro. Leo also said that while standing in the checkout lines that people were giving him donations.

Diboll FBC Super Seniors thoroughly enjoyed having Margie Harrell at their September luncheon. Margie, who grew up in Diboll and is the Director of the Diboll Housing Authority, says she is not a speaker but once she begins to talk about Diboll there is no slowing her down. She LOVES Diboll, its people and is proud of her heritage and we are proud to call her friend.

It was good to see Theresa Lyles come in with her husband, Roy Lee. For years she worked across the street at the scale house but we never got to see her. She is no longer working and Roy Lee is taking good care of her as her health is improving. Arthur Bean from Corrigan came in with his adorable 3-year-old granddaughter, McKensie, who was not intimated by any adult and spoke freely. Mr. Bean has worked 37 years at what is now GP in Corrigan.

C.W. Loftin came in to buy his hunting/fishing license which were, first time ever, at a reduced price this year. He checked his cell phone and let us know that the Neches River was at 14.32 feet, down from Thursday’s 15.03. He was feeling kinda bad because his 4-wheeler wouldn’t start that day; he had spent more than he wanted to with eye issues and the pump had gone out on his aerobic system.  Some others that have been in buying their new licenses were: Christi Quarles, Barley Lenderman, Randy Nerren, Melvin Linton, Sr., Bubba Nevills, Jeff Capps, Allen Bailey, Woody Ingram, Jay Shands, Trey Denman, Jr. Grandgeorge, Bob Davis, Hunter Stewart, Jason Cook, John and Carolyn Richard, Richard Rainwater, Angela Havard, Randy Havard, Cody McLin, Mason Ford, and John Cassata . John Wallace also bought his license and called back to ask Andrea if she undercharged him. She had to remind him he too has had a birthday that permits a reduction in the price of his license.

Come see us…’round the table.