September 12, 2016

 

Don and Sandy Hendrick took their great-granddaughter, Aniston Ray Youngblood, daughter of JR and Alaryca Youngblood, to her first pep rally Friday, Sept. 9th, she is 8 months old.  They met their granddaughter Jordan Eldridge at the gym.  Jordan came home from San Marcos, where she is attending college, to see her sister Jentrie Eldridge cheer at the pep rally.  Jentrie is a member of the JV Cheerleader team.  Cousin Tyler Eldridge was in the crowd as he is a senior at DHS.The pep rally was great and the whole student body and guests observed a moment of silence in honor of our First Responders.  Each high school class either made a poster, a song or a rap to present to the First Responders that attended.  They also did a skit honoring the American flag in observance of 9/11 that was most impressive.  It was an honor to observe the youth of our great little city honoring the very people that put their lives on the line every day to protect us.  Thank you DHS students and staff for a great pep rally.

John Powers was one of seven WW II Veterans that attended the 62nd annual reunion of the 3rd Marine Division Association that was recently held in San Antonio. There were 215 members that attended including Marine of the Year, Sergeant John Brandon Black from Okinawa. During the banquet on Saturday evening, Vietnam War Veterans were presented long overdue Vietnam lapel pins presented by Retired General Michael Hagee who was also the guest speaker. Later, the guests were entertained by The English Brothers Band played old western songs that enticed a few oldies to shake a leg on the dance floor. The event concluded with the singing of “America the Beautiful”.

During the several days together, the group participated in a barge dinner cruise, a tour of San Antonio, toured missions and the National Museum of Pacific War and Ester’s Follies while the ladies enjoyed seeing the historic Menger Hotel. Traveling with John to this reunion was his wife, Mable (Nivens) and three of their four daughters: Rose Ann Elisson from Plano; Johnnica Edgenly from Farmers Branch and Belinda Stanly from Ft. Worth. These girls have always been very supportive and proud of John. Johnnica is usually asked to sing the national anthem at these special events.  A solemn memorial service was held Sunday morning when seventy-three names of the 3rd Marines were called out and the response to a bell ringing was  “not here sir”. There were also four names called of active duty 3rd Marines with the same response.

To say “thank you” to those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice is simply not enough for the freedoms we have of living in the United States of America. It breaks my heart when I see NFL football players and little boys on an entire football team(in Beaumont, TX) refuse to honor allegiance to our flag and country even though their freedom to do so was bought and paid for with the lives of men and women who defend this great country. Is history not being taught anymore?

The DHS Alumni Association is furnishing drivers for the Diboll Day Golf Cart Shuttles from parking areas to Old Orchard Park for the festivities. The shuttles will run from 10:00 until 4:00 but volunteers are needed to drive for any hour or more. Please contact Fran McClain if you would like to be a driver.  829.2779 or respond to her email at franmc@consolidated.net or on Facebook. Fran is also reminding anyone that is interested, it’s time to order Diboll Day 2016 Cookbooks. Let her know if you want one. The price is $12.

For a milestone 50th birthday, Melvin Linton, Jr.‘s wife, Sandy, tried her best to surprise him with a party at the Bears’ Country Diner in Broaddus. He may not have been totally surprised but that didn’t stop them from enjoying seafood, frog legs, shrimp and fish. Happy Birthday ‘lil Melvin, you can tell everyone you are a half century old!

Crimson Christian Academy is rallying around another special fundraising event, Crimson and Camo. The large event will be held September 27th at 6:30 in the Lufkin Convention Center and is sponsored by East Texas Veterinary Clinic and B&S Guns and Ammo. The big item is a 10-Gun Raffle for $25 or 5 for $100. Another popular raffle item is a Texas Lifetime Hunting Fishing License, an $1800 value. Tickets for that are $5 each or 5 for $20. The Academy had a table set up in Pouland’s to sell tickets and had students, parents and staff selling the tickets. We enjoyed visiting with Administrator Jan Albritton and teacher, Martha Huffman.

We enjoyed visiting with Kim Holcombe, wife of Luke Holcombe, whose family has lived in Burke for many years. Luke and Kim live on the Holcombe family home place after moving back from Dallas. They are truly changing their life style as Luke has retired from the Dallas Police Department where he worked as a homicide detective in Duncanville.

Neighbors in Deer Trace also have two new residents, both on Redbud. Janice Denby moved from Lufkin where she is a nurse at CHI St. Lukes. She is a neighbor to Ronnie and Lamona Coleman. Chris and Melody Barnes moved from Nacogdoches into the home at 1012. They both are enjoying the Neches Pines golf course.

While getting new tires put on, Lora Mason shared that Diboll 4-H will be selling ribeye sandwiches in the park on Diboll Day. Randy Prescott was also in getting new tires. Fran McGilvra was one happy mom for a week while son, Neil McGilvra, was here visiting from his home in California. They traveled around visiting friends and cemeteries and ate most of their meals on the road. Coming into the store all on the same day at different times were three members of the Flournoy family. Jamie came in for dog food; her husband William and his dad Fred had flats repaired. Jonathan Smith also had to come in for tire repair.

Jimmy Taylor enjoyed visiting at the round table and ate lunch with us. Billy Davenport came in to buy herbicide to kill the bad stuff in his pond and also bought a Diboll Free Press. He and his wife Delores made the 30-year column with a picture of them at the grand opening of their new video store in Diboll…30 years ago.

Be sure to check the Free Press and various Facebook pages and websites for the many Diboll Day activities that are going on.

Come see us…’round the table.