October 3, 2017

 

Oh my, where does the time go? Eck Franks, son of popular Diboll ISD teachers, Bennis and Opal Franks has retired after working 25 years at First Bank & Trust East Texas and before that, 16 years at Lufkin Federal Savings and Loan. Our daughter, Andrea Swor, has fond memories of Eck as the buyer for LFS&L when they purchased her FFA steer in 1980 at the Angelina County Youth Fair. She’s proud to say Eck has been her loan officer since that time.

What can I say about Vernon Glass this week except he’s deserving of a big “Thank You” for the fresh stoneground cornmeal he brought to the store. His cornmeal makes the best cornbread especially when using Mrs. Birdie Pate’s original recipe for Mexican cornbread shared by Nita Hurley. Vernon is somewhat like the “bunny” on the TV commercial, he just keeps going and going.  An apprenticed mechanic, Vernon has ALWAYS had unique classic cars. He arrived this week driving, what he calls, his “T-Box”. A 1924 T-model with an exposed engine that will run in excess of 100 MPH. The interior is a beautiful white leather. I didn’t notice any windows and the doors have been welded making it look like a box, Vernon, somewhere near 80, is able to step over into and under the steering wheel without any difficulty. The “Ooogaa” horn is original and from a 1914 model. Vernon says this particular car has been in every Diboll Day parade for the past 50 years.

Customers of Pouland’s from Ratcliff, B’Ann and Bob Beam, took time to visit at the RT. B’Ann grew up in Ratcliff and later met Bob in Colorado and married. They lived in different places including Dallas where B’Ann taught school and Bob built bridges. They have since retired in Ratcliff where they enjoy camping often taking their horses with them. They began planning a trip in March with friends in Red Lodge, Montana who had relatives that live on a 7500-acre ranch in Douglas, Wyoming which happened to be the centerline of the recent eclipse. About 18 friends and family members met at the ranch a couple of days early and enjoyed visiting and camping in tents, teepee and campers. After the eclipse, the traffic was so bad they had to wait a couple of days before driving on to Estes Park. The Beams are already looking forward to the next eclipse in 2024 in Texas.

Jason Stuck came in with his two adorable and talented two daughters; 11-year-old Ainsley and 5-year-old Hailey, both who are experienced gymnasts in cheering. Ainsley has been training for seven years and Hailey started when she was three. Hailey, being petite, makes her a perfect “flyer” which is the team member that is usually thrown into the air and caught by teammates. Ainsley is considered a “back spot” who has the important responsibility of holding the “flyer”. Their mother Carmen and Jason are responsible for their two daughters getting to gym class two times a week.

It was good to visit with Hulen “Cotton” George and his wife, Suzanne, from Martinsville. “Cotton” has fond memories of coming to Diboll to visit his grandmother and cousins.  She was affectionately known to all us as “Momma George” who worked in the school cafeteria for many years. Cotton was an Ag teacher in Martinsville while Suzanne taught math in the Chireno ISD. They presently attend Springhill Baptist church with former Diboll ISD Ag teacher Larry Poe and his wife, Judy. Their pastor is Don Chumley whose mother is Donnie Jenkins of Diboll. Hulen continues to serve as a National Director for the Texas High School Rodeo Association and they have one son, Brady George, who lives in Dayton.

James Paulette stopped by Pouland’s for corn and Andrea enjoyed visiting with him. He and his wife Pat live in Angleton now but James grew up in Lufkin where he played Little League with Butch Maddux, Sandy Bate and Bud Maddux who is now known and recognized  internationally as the coach (along with Malcom Deason) for the world famous “Thundering 13”. James and Pat Paulette attended the Little League World Series in South Williamsport, PA. James was able to visit with Bud ‘through the fence’ at the game while wearing his orange Southwest World Series cap. His wife Pat even borrowed a piece of cardboard to slide down the world famous hill at the park. James also shared that his claim to sports fame came in 1966 while the Panthers were playing Nacogdoches, who at that time, was ranked 2nd in the state. James scored the only touchdown of the game to beat Nacogdoches 6-2. The Paulettes have been traveling around scratching off their bucket list that included Niagara Falls, Cooperstown and Gettysburg.

Faithful Swap Shop listeners on KRBA 1340, Gerald Drake and his daughter, Michele Shanks, made a fast trip to Diboll after hearing about Pouland’s The Everything Store on the radio. I felt fortunate to receive a 2000 Kennedy 50-cent piece from Mr. Drake who is known for giving them away. Michele was happy about finding a Christmas present in one of our showcases.

The children of Mary Lou Havard planned a special party for her 90th birthday at her beautiful ranch home off FM1818 in Beulah. Enjoying reminiscing, visiting with friends and family and a catered fajita dinner from Tome’ were: Deborah and Jimmy Cole; Brad Howes; Angie and Manuel Compos and children Kylee, Whitaker, Josh Saldana  and Hailee Hargis; Mary Beth and Mike Boatner; Stephen and Kellie Sheppert and daughter Lottie Sheppert; Andrea Swor; Wayne and Janet Harris; Kathreen Chuke; Sandy Beauchamp; Bonnie Mettlin; Danny Harris; Dwight and Valerie Chisum; Ed and Debbie Chisum; Randy Chisum; Claire Harris; Keith Havard; Dana Jones; JoNell Placker; Bettie Greer; Joyce Carlton; John Ralph and Sandra Pouland.

Calling all men to participate in the 2nd Annual “Be A Hero & Walk in Her Shoes” which will be held October 21st. Registration forms are available at Library, Civic Center and City Hall. This is a great benefit for Cancer Awareness.

Come see us…’round the table.

 

May 16, 2016

 

The newly organized chapter of the Diboll Lions Club, under the direction of President Gary Gores, is not wasting anytime to begin being a service to our community. One of the most important programs that Lions Club has to offer is the KidSight Program to detect early visual conditions. Gary Gores and Lions Club Director, Tracy Nichols were recently certified and trained to use the Spot eye scanning camera service for the Lions’ National KidSight program. The goal of KidSight is to provide an optical camera to objectively scan young people from 6 months to 6 years of age and identify conditions that may be present impairing their vision, catching potential vision problems at an early age can impact eye development in time to make corrections and allow for lifetime improved vision and the basis for better learning. Tammy Holder of Tree House Academy was the first Diboll Area daycare professional to provide the program to their toddlers. If Lions Club KidSight program can be made available as an opportunity for youth, it could indeed be a blessing in their lives .Lions Club International hopes the Lions KidSight program will be supported throughout Texas and impact thousands of children’s’ eye heath in Texas. For more information contact Gary Gores 936-465-8215 goresgolf@ymail.com

It’s not too late to join the Diboll chapter of Lions Clubs and still be a charter member. There has been approximately 60 members that have already joined and there’s always room for more. Contact Gary Gores for more information, 936-465-8215.

Christi Quarles was one proud mother of her youngest son, Owen, who won the $500 savings account from Huntington State Bank for having good grades. Students in grades one through 12 from any school district, private school, charter school even home school as long as they have written and signed Report Card are eligible to register their Report Card A’s for a Chance to Win a $500 Savings Account. There are two drawings a year and Owen won the second semester that is held in May. Winning students are awarded a Certificate for a $500 Savings Account in front of their classmates on their school campus. Since the bank first initiated the Pays for A’s Program in 2002, they have proudly awarded $60,000+ in Savings Accounts to students in our area. For more information about the Pays for A’s program, contact Stacey Willmann, Marketing Director at (936) 639-5566.

Luis and Rosie Maldonado of Diboll are extremely proud of their son, Marco, who is a freshman at Tyler Junior College. Marco, like his dad, loves the game of golf and is a member of the Tyler Junior College men’s golf team that moved to the top of the latest NJCAA D2 golf poll, the National Office announced Monday.  Additionally, Marco Maldonado was ranked 2nd in the nation individually.  The squad is preparing for the NJCAA D2 National Championships, which will be held May 24-27 at Swan Lake Resort in Plymouth, Indiana. Marco is also one of five who is competing for the Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year Award. Congratulations and Good Luck to Marco and his team members.

Jimmie Woodward was one of the volunteers that helped the Diboll Business Association with the coke booth at the Tamale Festival last Saturday. In conversation she mentioned a recent trip to Cozumel and agreed to share it with me. Following is the email I received from Jimmie. Tom (Kuhn) and I left Houston for an 8 day visit to Cozumel which turned into an 11 day adventure.  While in Cozumel we snorkeled, swam, sunned, parasailed and did a lot of walking.  One day we took a 30 minute ferry ride to Playa del Carmen and spent the day.  One day we took the submarine ride which took us down 100 feet to view a sunken ship; beautiful fish, tons of awesome coral and formations on the bottom of the ocean and we saw 4 scuba divers.  One day we rented a car and took a trip all the way around the island of Cozumel, which was totally awesome.  We visited a lot of restaurants and, of course, ate while we were there.   Excellent food!!!! And as any vacationer, visited a lot of gift shops, making some souvenir purchases.  At last, it was time to go home but we learned that the Houston airport was flooded, no planes to come and get us, so we had to stay an additional 3 days!   Oh, So, Sad!!!! NOT !  Great fun on a great adventure!

Sitting at the round table one day was Jimmy “Big Mack” McCall, Bobby Chandler, Skeeter Scarborough and Ray Anthony. Skeeter never worked at the paper mill and didn’t contribute much to the conversation or had a chance to say much because the other three had a great time reminiencing about people and good times while working at the paper mill.

Sue Chandler shared with me that her husband Bobby and daughter, Tracey Murray, gave themselves a “surprise” birthday party on May 14th at the Murrays’ home. This is an annual event since Bobby’s birthday is the 15th and Tracey’s is the 16th but I don’t think it is a “surprise” to anyone. The menu included pulled pork, chips and dip and cupcakes for dessert. Enjoying the food and fun were Bobby and Sue Chandler; Leslie and Rickey Stubblefield, their daughter-in-law, Megan and grandson, Carson (Josh had to work); Ray Chandler and fiancée, Ashley; Tracey and Sydney Murray and their son, Caleb, his wife Zowie and beautiful 9-month-old, Henley. Caleb, Zowie and Henley live in Deridder, LA but travel back home quite often.

Marjorie Bass is always “on the go” doing something that usually involves cooking. She said cooking keeps her mind off her aches and pains. We love to see her coming because it usually means she’s been in the kitchen and bringing us something to eat. This past week she brought not only a breakfast dish but also a hearty serving of her homemade chicken and spaghetti. Thank you Margie, you are a sweetheart!

To those of you that didn’t attend the annual Tamale Festival, you missed a treat. I can’t believe they said it was our 9th year for this fun occasion. It was a bit hot but lots of folks drove a distance to enjoy not only hot tamales but a variety of food menus, vendors, rides, lots of entertainment for children and an extraordinary petting zoo that included a camel!!  Where else could you go but in Diboll to see camels and tamales. Put it on your calendar to attend next year, the 2nd Saturday in May. A BIG THANK YOU to the small committee that made this a very successful event.

Come see us…’round the table.

 

JR’s Party Barn

 

JR’s PARTY BARN

This attractive building is decorated with Austin stone and sits in the edge of a pasture beneath a large old fashion windmill.

There is plenty of outdoor space for party games, pony rides, and inflatable bouncers.

J.R.’s Barn is a No Smoking facility inside.

 

We are available for

Weddings

Quinceañeras

Anniversaries

Birthday Parties

Meetings

Luncheons

Socials

 

 

 Our Location is:

Highway 59 (about 1 mile north of Diboll and 8 miles south of Lufkin.)

STORE HOURS

Monday – Friday 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Saturday 10 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

 

 

Come by and speak with manager, TERESA POULAND,

about any of your event planning needs.

She can take the stress off of you

with her event planning expertise, catering, and decorating services.

 

JR’s PARTY BARN

1430 North Temple Dr.

Diboll, Texas 75941

Phone 936-829-5556

E-mail Teresa@jrspartybarn.com