Brenda (Minyard) Jones stays busy since retiring last October. Brenda worked 36 years for the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services Division for Blind Services. She is also very active in and supportive of her church. She is married to Gary Jones and they have two daughters: Misty lives in The Woodlands and has one daughter; Jennifer works for The Campbell Group and lives here with her husband, Aaron and their three sons: Ethan, Ben and Cooper. They also have one son, Jonathon who lives in Diboll. Since retiring, Brenda has had more time to attend the grandsons’ ballgames and their activities and also enjoys babysitting her granddaughter while her mom works out of town. Brenda says, “I am enjoying retirement and definitely recommend it.”
According to their newsletter, the youth at First Methodist in Diboll invite you, your friends and family to attend their church on February 19th. Immediately following the morning worship everyone will meet in the Fellowship Hall for a Camp Fundraiser luncheon. Because camp funds keep going up every year and the youth have to pay their own way, they would greatly appreciate your help toward this special event.
Burlon and Jan Wilkerson recently drove to Canton to spend the night. The next morning they drove to Emory for the Eagle Festival. It is a two day event celebrating all the eagles they have in the area. They attended a Birds of Prey show, listened to a local band, visited with vendors, and took a 3 hour bus tour to the nesting grounds. They saw many nests, most were empty but they did get to see an eagle in a nest near the end of the tour which was very impressive. They made a stop at a local bakery ran by Mennonites, “The Cinnamon Bear”, and testified the sweets were wonderful. That evening they ate catfish at a local restaurant before going back to Canton. On Sunday they made a side trip to Terrell to the Outlet Mall, then back through Tyler for a second stop of the week-end at “Andy’s Custard”. I learned that Andy’s Frozen Custard has always been fanatical about custard, and has served it with pride since 1986 and is the largest dessert only franchise in the world!
If you haven’t seen or heard it yet, you probably will… our Diboll policeman, Brandon Lovell in a photo with Lady GaGa. Brandon was working as a motorcycle policeman in Houston during the Super bowl. He was part of the escort team that brought celebrities to the stadium including the star of the half time performance, Lady GaGa who took time to pose for a picture with Brandon.
Betty Hendrick sent the following email. Sometimes, a group of dear friends gets together for birthday celebrations—yes, they still celebrate and are grateful! The ladies at the Airport Café often ask who is being honored. Last week, however, Donnie (Weeks) Smith had never eaten one of those tasty burgers, so she and Polly Leavell came to get Donnie’s opinion—-it was sort of a comparison between those burgers and Ray’s in Lufkin and the gathered friends had a good time as they often do. Those present were: JoAnn Rainwater, Nita Hurley, Ginger Capps, Donnie Smith, Polly Leavell, and Betty Hendrick. As usual, the conversations were a lot of “Do you remember….” (and we are glad when we can!) and shared laughter. As the friends grow older, there are more notations about doctor visits, etc. but it was a good time had by all.
On another note: Hannah Flynt, Billie Jean and Donald Capps’s granddaughter, will be competing in the State swim meet on February 18th. She is the daughter of Sherri (Capps) and Tim Flynt. They live in Huntington; she is a remarkable young lady as well as an excellent swimmer. Good luck at the State meet!
Pastor Kenny Hibbs and his wife Carrie were returning from a “Hot Hearts” Youth conference in Beaumont last week. Driving along near Woodville, Kenny’s phone rang and it was Gary Martel. They exchanged the usual greetings ‘how are ya’ and ‘where are ya’ and Gary replied, “I’m in the pickup in front of you”. They stopped and enjoyed a short visit. The Martels are having a great time keeping their grandbaby as much as possible.
Coming to Diboll to eat at Los Jarritos was a group that call themselves the “Over 50’s”. John Ralph and I were invited to join this group several years ago and don’t really know why unless it was at the invitation of John and Fran McGilvra and we just kept meeting them month after month. Most of the group has ties to Hudson either living or graduating from there but they still let us join them. Anyway, twenty folks gathered Monday for delicious Mexican food that everyone loved. It was great to see Annette and Darrell Richardson come as they have not been since last fall. Pat Brown was another sweet lady that we were happy to see and she too has been “under the weather” for some time. Others included: Mr. & Mrs. Charles Nix; Jerry and Dorothy Collins; Bob and Jimmie Putnum; Fran McGilvra; Jerry and Geraldine Bishop; Rufus Dunn; Barbara Clark; Jean Lee and her sister, Jackie; Bob and Nell Horton and of course, John Ralph and myself.
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