March 21, 2016

 

The Diboll High School Dazzlers, their managers, sponsors, and families traveled to Orlando, Florida for five days at Walt Disney World for Spring Break. They kicked off the week with a day exploring the Magic Kingdom. Tuesday, the Dazzlers participated in a “Dancin’ Disney” workshop presented by Disney Performing Arts. The girls were taught a Broadway style Disney routine by dancer/ choreographer Sam Simms, and then went through a mock Disney audition using what they had learned. After a break, the girls learned another routine and then put it all together in a special mock performance with Goofy! The Dazzlers all earned Disney Performing Arts certificates and were made honorary “cast members” for their hard work, and spent the rest of the day enjoying Epcot. Wednesday was spent in the Animal Kingdom, and the Dazzlers performed a 15 minute show in the Disney Springs area that evening. A packed crowd were excited to learn about Diboll, and were shocked to learn that a town our size was able to raise so much money and had such a great dance team. Disney was equally impressed by the Dazzlers, and the girls “earned their ears” and received a commemorative Mickey Mouse trophy. The rest of the week was spent in Hollywood Studios and back in the Magic Kingdom before starting the bus ride home.

The Diboll Dazzlers and group traveled on a chartered bus. Those making the memorable trip were: Capt. Celeste Monrroy, Lt. Brittney Barkley, Lt. Jazlynn Mark, Lt. Peyton Morgan, Evian Davis, Jo Lynn Baker, Kelsie Grissett, Tristan Rice, Yesenia Gonzalez, Ashlee Cole, Nicole Santana, Jade Hernandez, Mirella Carrillo, Anais Fajardo, Haley Sudduth, Madison Powell and Valerie Ramirez. Their sponsors are Gina Souto and Kristina Inman and their managers are Rebecca Banuelos and Cynthia Ramos. A total of 64 made the trip to Florida. Thanks Dazzlers for putting DIBOLL on the map, we are proud of you.

Jan and Burlon Wilkerson have been taking “mini” vacations and I am most appreciative that they are willing to share information about their most recent one which started with a trip to Galveston to the historic Grand 1894 Opera House & Theater. They attended a performance of Capitol Steps a five member troupe who have all worked on Capitol Hill. For 35 years they have performed satire all based on fresh news from the headlines; their claim is, “We put the MOCK in Democracy”. Jan said with this being an election year, they have had plenty of material. The next day they spent time on “The Strand.” Their first stop was La Kings Confectionary where they bought handmade candy and sat on a bench out front and ate it for their breakfast before continuing shopping along the famous street. They toured the “Ocean Star” which is an actual off shore oil rig that has been made into a museum.  They were able to see how these rigs are set up and what type of work an off shore rig is capable of doing.  It was a very interesting tour.

The next weekend Jan Burlon Wilkerson went to Irving to attend the Texas Steel Guitar Associations Jamboree. Talented steel guitars players came from around the world to perform. The music never stopped with a different performer playing every 30 minutes.  One of the highlights was the Charlie Pride band, The Pridesmen, backing their steel guitar player.  His son, Deon, sung and then visited with the crowd .The next day they “shopped” their way home by going to the outlet mall in Terrell, and making stops in Tyler, and Jacksonville. These two are already making plans for more mini vacations.

Two sets of sisters enjoyed a mini vacation to the Boardwalk in Shreveport. Letha Grandgeorge and her sister, Naomi Holeman and Ginger (Taylor) Capps and her sister Judy (Taylor) Kellum. It was during the time that I-20 traffic was being re-routed through highway 59 and it took them one hour to drive from Lufkin to Nacogdoches. Letha said the traffic was bumper to bumper from Carthage to Shreveport and it took them two hours for that short distance but once they arrived in Shreveport, they took their time enjoying all the luxuries of the Margarita Ville Hotel.

Enjoying an afternoon trip to the Arboretum in Nacogdoches were good friends, Don and Dollie Whitaker and Earl and Carolyn Hutson. Earl said everything was very pretty but you best not wait too much longer to see the azaleas. They met some mutual friends also walking the trails and enjoying the day; Martha Williams and her neighbor, Ernestine Allison from Hudson. Martha and Ernestine came back to enjoy some good fried shrimp at The Cajun Oaks before going to see the new faith-based movie, Miracles from Heaven, which they highly recommend seeing.

Enjoyed visiting with ’96 DHS graduate Kevin Tolly who lives in Plano but was in Diboll taking care of his mother’s lawn. His mother is Linda Tolly who is a teacher’s aide at Diboll Primary.  Kevin works in Human Resources for Plasticpak who manufactures bottles for Pepsi, Kraft, Gatorade and many other companies. Kevin was all smiles talking about his upcoming wedding in April to Tanya Rodriguez who was also a member of the 1996 DHS graduating class. Her parents are Jesse and Rosemary Rodriguez of Diboll. Oh yes, I had to go back four generations of Kevin’s family before I could truly say I remembered his great-grandmother, Erma Lee Shatto.

Dianne Gibson enjoyed having her granddaughter, Lena Tate, in Diboll during Lena’s spring break from her 8^th grade class at Magnolia West. They enjoyed visiting over a delicious meal at the Tokyo Japanese restaurant. Lena was excited about spending remaining days of her spring break at Crystal Beach.

Let’s hope the customer that quoted the saying “Thunder in February, Frost in April” is wrong and spring is finally here to stay. Our fresh bedding plants are green and healthy and folks are ready to put them in the ground. Chuck Mann was anxious to use the new Sthil weed trimmer he bought. Cathy Pavlic was in buying cattle cubes for her grandkids to feed the neighbor’s Braham bull.

Carl Ferguson brought us raffle tickets to sell on a Ruger 1022 rifle. All proceeds from the sale will go directly to Delilah Olivares, to help with the expenses of medical treatments. The tickets are 6 for $5 or $1.00 each.

Margie Bass has made a new produce, handmade soap with sugar that acts as an exfoliate leaving your hands extra soft. We have used the jar she brought us and it does leave your hands feeling extra soft. Thank you Margie.

As a reminder, the Burke Chapter of the Eastern Star is having a fund raiser, April 1^st, selling $7 lunches of pulled pork sandwiches. You can go by the lodge in Burke or call 829-5973 to place an order.

As Christians, we will celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ on Easter. It is the most well attended Sunday service of the year for Christian churches. Plan to attend services somewhere on Easter.

Come see us…’round the table.