Last Saturday, February 20, was the annual “Testing of the Bulls”. This event was held at The Bar None Cowboy Church in Tatum, Texas. Vic Bass, Buddy Jordan, Dale Frost, Jim Kitchen, Dale Fioux and Curtis Kelly attended and carried 900 cedar “Jesus is Lord” crosses with them. “Testing of the Bulls” is for men only. The Duck Commander himself, Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty, was one of the speakers along with foremost historian, David Barton. The meeting presented opportunities for men and boys to discover the spiritual background of the United States of American as a nation and to learn Phil Robertson’s views on patriotism and the role of rural men in the world of faith. It is a time when men ask themselves if they have the inner strength to stand up for Jesus. More than 4000 men attended the event and all the crosses were taken and delivered all over Texas and some in Louisiana.
“Keeping up with the Joneses” used to be a common saying but now it’s keeping up with Othal Lowrey and her shadow, Deshae Franks. Traveling in a van a couple of weeks ago, these two picked up more ladies and headed toward Beaumont to celebrate Bobbie (Havard) Goolsbee’s birthday. Their destination was the home of Bobbie’s sister, Jean McClammy in Nederland. Aboard the bus were Bobbie, her sister from Nacogdoches Deb Cheek, JoNell Placker, Kay Harrison, Othal and Deshae. More family members met them in Nederland. Almost 20 guests including Bobbie’s three daughters, Delisa Riley from Lindale, Trish Hopson and Jeannene Bunn and other family members had reservations to celebrate Bobbie’s birthday with a seafood dinner and birthday cake.
When the van safely delivered all the ladies back to their cars in Angelina County, Othal and Deshea picked up Johnnie Simpson and drove to Dibolll where they met Othal’s grandson and his wife, Austin and Sarah Clark and her granddaughter, Leslie Clark and her boyfriend, Austin Parker and his mother Shirley. They came to Diboll to attend the Black Tie Bingo at the Lottie and Arthur Temple Civic Center sponsored by the Boys and Girls Club. They enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by Bodacious BBQ and had multiple opportunities to bid on silent auction items and play Las Vegas style games and six games of bingo. Their table had two Bingo winners: Austin Clark won several restaurant gift cards and Leslie won an Outback gift card and a fitness bracelet. Reports were they really enjoyed the fun-filled evening.
Speaking of fitness, several couples traveled to Galveston during the Valentine Day weekend to demonstrate their determination to stay fit. Matt Amason, his brother-in-law, Michael Dorman, Julie and Tom Baker ran a ½ Marathon which is 13.1 miles! It began on The Strand, headed toward the seawall, to the East Beach and back to the Strand. Matt was disappointed and hoping to improve his time of 2 hours and 22 minutes. Sisters, Lorrain Dorman and Allison Amason ran a 5K which is 3.1 miles. After it was all over, the group celebrated a Valentine Dinner before returning home.
Lee Allen lives on several acres near the Angelina County Airport with his wife, Desirae; 3-year-old Brooklyn and 6-year-old Emilee. Both girls have their own ponies and love to ride. Lee works as a mechanized welder tech for Michel’s and when he has a few days off, enjoys taking flying lessons. He is working toward the 40 hours needed for his pilot license and has already completed his first solo flight last Friday. His flight instructor is Matt Courtney who owns Courtney Aviation with his dad, Chad Courtney, who is a pilot. Matt’s grandfather, Newt Courtney, is also a pilot. While Lee was visiting at the round table, John Ralph introduced him to Barley Lenderman whose first and only job was working his way up as manager of the Angelina County Airport. Barley has been retired for a few years.
Kendra Bray came in holding something very small in a colorful blanket. I could see a small white head and discovered it was a six-week-old Toy Chihuahua & Miniature Boxer puppy named “Kevin”. He barely weighed a ½ pound.
Poor trusting Earl Carr. He never dreamed someone would go into his open garage and take his almost brand new Stihl blower. But they did and he came back to buy another new one.
Jake Havard came in for weed eater string and Roundup. He’s getting ready for spring. Mike Gibson can hardly wait for the ground to dry up enough to put his new orange tractor in the dirt to do some serious plowing. For all you gardeners and handy men, we carry a variety of handles for axes, hoes, etc. For the crafty and creative souls, we also have a few clean and colorful burlap feed sacks as seen on Pinterest.
The historic Ryan Chapel Church began in 1866 in a 16×20 log building with dirt and stick chimney. The last building constructed in 1937 was the fourth to be erected on the same site. If you remember that building was totally destroyed by fire last year in May. The church has plans to rebuild for the fifth time and The Friends of Ryan Chapel Rebuilding Fund is sponsoring a bingo this Saturday, March 5th at the Lottie and Arthur Temple Civic Center in Diboll. The doors and concessions will open at 5PM and the games begin at 6PM. There will be 10 games and 2 blackout games with great prizes that include cash and gift cards. Attend, have fun and support a great cause.
Come see us…’round the table.