May 9, 2016

 

For Mother’s Day, Margie Harrell was proud to receive a pair of Golden State Warriors socks to go with her Warriors jersey. It only takes a few minutes when talking to Margie before the subject of Steph Curry is in the conversation. She has told me before that she’s been watching Steph since he graduated from a small unknown college (Davidson in Davidson, NC) and knew he was on his way to becoming a basketball star. Monday evening Margie helped us serve at a banquet and on leaving, said she was going home, put on her Warriors’ jersey and socks and cheer for Steph and the Golden State Warriors who were playing the Portland Trail Blazers that night. It was such an exciting victory she didn’t go to sleep until after 3AM. The next day at Lions Clubs noon meeting she was still wearing her Warriors jersey and socks and talking about Steph Curry who returned from an injury to score 40 points in Golden State’s overtime win earning him the MVP award.

For those of us that are not as familiar with the Golden State Warriors and Steph Curry as Margie is, this is his second straight year to earn this coveted MVP award in a landslide 131 first place votes which earned him 1,310 points. “It is the first time in NBA’s 61-season history that a player has been the blanket first pick for the award. Margie knows how to pick a winner! Curry’s personal statistics for the season shattered his own record for most three-pointers, which had stood at 286, with 402. He also led the NBA scoring charts with an average 30.1 points per game. I say again, Margie Harrell knows how to pick a winner.

Someone else has had some excitement in their family. Gary and Susie Martel are now grandparents to Luke Daniel Mary, who is the son of Kayla and Adam Mary of Waco. He was born on Wednesday, May 4th at 9:40 AM. On Tuesday evening with bags packed, Susie and Gary received the “on the way to the hospital” call from Adam and cautioned them there was no need to “drive like a bat”. The Martels’ plans were to drive two vehicles so that Gary could return home sooner. Susie was anxiously waiting while Gary was having to make calls and re-arrange his busy schedule for the next couple of days; after all, he is superintendent of Diboll schools. Susie decided she couldn’t wait any longer and “hit the road” knowing Gary would follow her shortly. Somewhere about “Goat Hill”, she got another call from Adam, “baby is coming” and speeds up. Gary was following but never caught her. In Kosse, Texas, Gary looked in his rearview mirror and saw the dreaded flashing lights and dutifully pulled over and had his license ready for the officer who looked at them and said, “That’s OK Mr. Martel, I’ve already given your wife a ticket and I’m not going to give you another one.”

The story continues about 1:30AM in the hospital. Gary and Susie and Adam’s parents, Diane and Richard Wallace of Waco are all in the waiting room; Gary had not said anything to Susie about her speeding ticket. Mr. Wallace asked if they saw any deer while driving to Waco during the night; Gary said “yes” and Susie said “no”. Gary says, “That’s why you got a ticket, you were driving too fast to see any deer”. That had been Susie’s biggest worry that Gary would show up while she was getting a ticket. Her story was she got stopped in Kosse going 67 in a 45MPH. She also dutifully gave the officer her information and he walked away. He came back with a ticket and asked her if it was a medical emergency. After she told him her reason for speeding he was compassionate, gave her his telephone number, and said if she would send him a picture of the baby, he would waive the ticket. Just as soon as baby Luke Daniel was born, Susie was snapping pictures and the officer was one of the first to receive a photo!

Cathy Pavlic and Kathy Sample were in buying hummingbird feeders to give for Mother’s Day gifts. Lewis Ivey bought Shirley another running rose bush for Mother’s Day. Shirley had bought a rose bush last year and it was so big and beautiful this year she wanted another one. Billie Jean Capps and Woody Ingram also bought roses; Billie Jean bought Knock Out roses and Woody bought the new Drift roses that don’t grow as tall as others.

DHS graduate, Josh Brasher, was recognized as an outstanding SFA graduate in the spring issue of Sawdust, the magazine of the SFA alumni association and Stephen F. Austin State University. Josh lives in Winter Garden, Florida and works for Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando but the article talks about him being a balloon handler in Macy’s Thanksgiving parade for the past two years. Josh said, “Walking the 2.5 mile parade route in front of millions of curbside and TV spectators is an exhilarating experience. It’s great to see families and friends enjoying a true American tradition. It’s surreal to be a part of something so iconic.” He also said, “This year was even better because I saw the Lumberjack Marching Band. It was cool to see SFA represented in the parade and the band looked and sounded amazing. I bragged to others about the band and that SFA is my school.”

Tom Harris recently returned from a trip to Belterra Resort in Indiana. This was a military reunion of ECHO Co 1/5 1st Cav. Twenty men, previously serving in Vietnam during 1970-1971 and some being part of the Cambodian incursion, enjoyed reminiscing with each other and tours of Fort Knox and the Kentucky Speedway. Tom and three others had not all been together in over 40 years. Thanks to Tom’s wife, Marty, for sharing this news and a heartfelt “Thank You” to these veterans and all who serve to protect us.

Bobby Chandler was in for garden fertilizer. We are hoping to see more produce this year from gardens than we have seen in the last couple of years. It has not been too long ago that Glen Shivers had surgery but he was in buying pea seeds and Uncle George’s syrup.  Walter Levine shared he was cooking BBQ for Mother’s Day. JoAnn Anderson came in for Caladium bulbs and brought us freshly made ginger snap cookies from San Augustine. Thomas Anderson and Ed Domingue had been to Smith’s Farms in San Augustine to buy greenhouse tomatoes. Smith’s Farm will shut down their tomato greenhouses at the end of this month just in case you love them as much as we do.

The DHS Class of 1983 is planning a reunion on Diboll Day, October 1st, at JR’s Barn. Those of you who are interested can find more information on their Facebook page, “Diboll High School Class of ’83. You can also email Tina Wolf Jowell at tinajowell@yahoo.com

Come see us…’round the table.