July 20, 2015

Othal Lowery and her niece Linda Lowery, stopped by late one afternoon to visit at the RT. As usual, John Ralph has old photos and other memorabilia at his fingertips. They looked at photos and shared stories of several mutual acquaintances. He just happened to have a 1946 DHS annual. Miss DHS that year was a lovely Othal Russell. She was also Football Sweetheart and Reporter for the Future Homemakers. While sitting at the round table, Othal received a call from her son, Joe Bruce, who was vacationing in Colorado with his son, Matt. They were enjoying the cooler temperatures and the good fishing. Although it was raining when he called, Joe had a taken a photo of that morning’s sunrise and posted it on his FB page. He truly has a talent for seeing beauty through the lens of a camera and sharing it with those who do not. I learned in talking with his mother though, she got him interested in painting as a young boy that surely led to his artistic photography. Joe Lowery’s work has been published on the covers and inside of many magazines and hangs on the walls of many homes. Check out his Facebook page for some awesome photographs, Joe Lowery Photography.

Four members of the Minton family celebrated birthdays at a recent family gathering at Woodlawn Baptist Church where Kenny Mayo is the pastor. Billy Frank Minton, Mutt Minton, Thomas Minton and JoAnn (Minton) Grigson are now a year older and a bit wiser. A few of the others gathered for the occasion included Frances “Pesty” Mayo; Sandra Minton; Pokey; Rosie, Nancy Jo and about 30 more. The group enjoyed BBQ brisket with all the trimmings and of course, birthday cake.

Dianne and Mike Gibson celebrated their 3rd wedding anniversary, July 14th, with good friends, Don & Sandy Hendrick. The Gibsons were invited to the Hendricks’ lake home on Rayburn and later treated to a meal at the Dairy Mart in Broaddus. The Dairy Mart is always packed because of the good food and friendly atmosphere. The Gibsons ate their famous hamburgers and the Hendricks had their fried shrimp. A few days after that, Mike and Dianne drove granddaughters, Raven and Sabra Modisette, to the Broadway Mall in Tyler. This past weekend, Mike and Dianne both served as judges at a BBQ Cook-off at the Nacogdoches Expo Center. They are always doing something fun or is it they have fun at whatever they do? Congratulations!

Crowds at restaurants usually indicated there is something good going on inside. That was the case last Friday evening when JR and I went to Wells to eat catfish at DeLeon’s. Arriving about the same time was Dwight Lyons who joined us. Sitting at the next table was Carol Ruby from Forest. He re-introduced himself and reminded us that his first visit to the RT was one rainy day when he pulled a trailer load of hay under our shed to keep it from getting wet. He came inside and when he started to leave JR insisted he stay and eat lunch. Carol is a very interesting person. He was a barber for years in Houston and knows lots of folks there and around here. Yes, he is related to Diboll’s legendary Milford Ruby, Mary Lou Havard is his aunt and he knew Jimmy and Brenda Martin when he lived in Houston. Small world.

Shane Garrett was volunteering at the Ellen Trout Zoo when he met Crissy Hall who is one of the supervisors at the zoo. It took him about month before he got the courage to ask Crissy for a date to the movies. Because she likes scary movies, they went to see Cabin in the Woods. That was three years ago. A couple of weeks ago on a Sunday afternoon at the zoo, Shane had one of Crissy’s co-workers call her on her radio to come to the hippo area, which by the way, is her favorite animal. Shane surprised Crissy when he knelt down and asked her to marry him. When she said “yes”, he put an engagement ring on her finger. His parents, Phil and Loretta Garrett and his sister, Alecia, were in the shadows and recorded the event. The wedding is September 19th. At lunch that day of the secret proposal, the Garrets had gathered to celebrate Shane’s grandmother’s birthday, Jessie Ship. Crissy was there also and everyone knew about the proposal except her. Mrs. Jessie shares her birthday with her twin, Lillie Mae McGuire.

Jana and Donald Coulter spent several days lavishing in the sun at the Silver Leaf Hill Resort on Canyon Lake near New Baunfels. With them was 15-year-old son Waylon; Jana’s niece and nephew, Steven and Tera Thompson and John and Tammy Beeson from Baytown. The group spent three days floating down the Guadalupe River, one day at Schlitterbahn, one day at the Tanger Outlet mall in San Marcus and enjoyed cooking out and swimming at the resort pool. Joining them for one day of floating down the river was Theresa and James Burns. They all returned home in time for Waylon to enjoy a birthday dinner on the 16th at Logan’s. Other family and friends that attended were: Chris Coulter; Hannah Jones; Brenda, Manuel and Jesse Herrada; Madison Villarreal; Shelia Hess; Amber Hess; Katie Hess; Karen Coulter; Nita Coulter; Chris, Debbie, Kelsey, and Dillon Haschke; Connie and Matt Moreno; Amanda Scarborough; Theresa, Tanner and Jaydn Burns. During July Waylon got his drivers permit and completed his TX Boaters Education course so he is licensed to drive the boat when the family has outings on the lake.

I received the following from Kitty Bounds: VOLUNTEERS, MENTORS AND COMMUNITY LEADERS NEEDED: Calling the Christian community to attend a start-up meeting for the forming of the Christian Men’s Center/Christian Men’s Job Corps (CMJC). This ministry will be patterned after The Mosaic Center in Lufkin for women. We have two meetings available to attend to explain our mission and gather volunteers. The Community Meeting’s” will be held on July 28th, and August 18th at 6:00pm in the Lufkin Middle School Auditorium. If you can attend a meeting, a volunteer form will be sent to you to fill out and bring or you may pick one up at the meeting. Only attend one meeting, please. Judge Paul White, Judge Bob Inselmann, Jerry Spann, Love, Inc., Police Chief Gerald Williamson, Becky Ellison state represent for CMJC, and Site Coordinator John Fulbright III, will be presenting. The mission of this ministry is to provide job training, life skills, education and personal development for men who have a desire to change their lives. The plan uses Christian principals to help them discover the love of Christ and want a better life for themselves and to become a vital part of our community. What we need right now is to gather men and women leaders, who are willing to work toward the united goals of this mission. These two meetings will provide an overview of needs and challenge you to volunteer and share your resources. Your prayers of support are needed. Please contact John Fulbright. III, @ 214-669-5276 or by email at: johnfulbright3@yahoo.com if you can attend the meeting. We also can send you a volunteer form if you cannot attend.

Please send me your vacation news to sandra@poulands.com.
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