Don and Atha Martin welcomed Don's brother Gary McLeod and his wife Sherri from Sacramento, CA to their home this past week. Don and Gary had not seen each other in 43 years. Don is the oldest of four boys. Besides Gary, his brothers are Bob and Rob McLeod of Redding, CA. A family get-together was held Sunday in DeQueen, Arkansas at the home of Don's aunt Sharon Chaney and her husband Steve.
Norma and Fred Rice, Don and Gary's aunt and uncle from Beaumont came up on Monday afternoon. Tuesday the whole group went up to Rich Mountain to Queen Wilhelmina's Lodge for lunch. Everyone had a good time looking at old family photos, visiting several cemeteries and visiting with a couple of Don's and Gary's cousins in Locksburg. On the way back to Lufkin, Don and Atha stopped in Gillum and brought back some Arkansas peaches.
The Lufkin High School band reunion was held June 30, and it was a huge success says Ernie Murray who headed up the event. Former LHS band director Waymon Bullock and current director Scott Williams worked the musicians all morning and into the afternoon before the concert that night at Carpenter's Way Baptist Church. The most senior participant was Cary Butler, class of 1953, and all decades were represented right up to the present. The highlight of the concert was a special recognition of twirlers, who twirled to the Fight Song. Participating in that were Jane Swanzy, class of 1969; Jerri Blackwell Seibert, class of 1970; Carol Smith, Kathy Rich Rainwater and Mary Beth Burton, class of 1971; Elaine Bennett Rice, class of 1972; Dustina Mitchell, class of 1999; Kendal Gay and Chelsea Hendricks, class of 2007; Kayla Murray, class of 2008; and Amy Murray, class of 2010.
Ernest and I had lunch at the Finish Line Sport Sub Shop and saw Sonny Mahan and his grandson Matthew Mahan from Austin. Chris Luna is the manager and the grandson of Jo Ann and Homer Denby and son of Dennis Luna. I remember when they had Anthony's Café downtown Lufkin.
Ernest's bag cell telephone was "cut off" by AT&T, and he had to go and get a new one. We saw Sandra and Michael Bennett and Sandra Riley shopping.
Lisa and Sal Soto's twin boys, Ryder and Ace, are home from the hospital in Shreveport. Lisa said the boys were doing great and keeping her busy.
Mark your calendar for August 6 to 10 to pick up your 2007 Panther season football tickets at the LISD transportation building. Renewal notices will be mailed July 26. The season starts on Friday, August 31 against Longview here at Abe Martin Stadium. The other home games are September 21, Aldine Eisenhower which is homecoming; October 12, College Park; October 26, The Woodlands; and November 2, Magnolia.
Happy Birthday: Cash Ramsey, Duncan Garner, Marianne Bryson, Jamie and Jay Durham, Debbie Jackson, Matt Davis, John Langford, Kristina George, Margaret Huggins, Marijo Meredith, Carolin Sanders, Delise McIlveene, Sandra Leinart, Marcy Jumper, Clark Royle, Ilisa Parker, Alexis Johnson, Carrie Havard, David Ferguson, Tom Tatum, Megan Looney, Al Meyer, Carson Camp, and Caleb Guzman.
Happy Anniversary: Dorothy and Bob Gibson, Bill and Ruth Brandenburg, Emmie and Phillip Leach, Fred and Agnes Hutson, Juanita and Buddy Bridges.
Bill Royle brought me some Ethiopian coffee. It had a funny story about the end of the 3 rd century AD, some Christian monks fleeing from persecution, found refuge in the highlands of Ethiopia. They noticed that the sheep were "bewitched" and played all night like it was a spring morning. The monk convinced himself that the sleeplessness was due to the leaves and fruit of a certain unfamiliar shrub. Picking some of the ripe cherry like fruits, he chewed the seeds and found that he too felt an unusual exhilaration and was wakeful that night. Thus coffee was discovered in Ethiopia, which is the home of the Queen of Sheba. He brought Ernest a "David and Goliath" slingshot. We are going to have to find smooth rocks and practice.
Ernest and I took off for Kemah and the Gulf Coast for several days in our travel trailer. It was raining as we came to the bridge into Kemah. The rain stopped as we went to the Marina Bay RV Resort, recommended by Jewel Arender. We drove by the house where Ernest's Aunt Edie lived in Bacliff and went to the Topwater Grill at San Leon on O Street where Tamesha Jumper had taken us several years ago. I had blacked catfish with etoufee sauce and Ernest had fried shrimp. Looked like rain so we went to the Mall of the Mainland in Texas City. We went across the bridge to Seabrook to T.H. Seafood on Waterfront Drive and bought deveined shrimp for $3.99 a pound. The next day we roamed at Wal-Mart and Radio Shack while it rained. We left at 11:15 for Gringo's Mexican Restaurant in front of the Mall of the Mainland before going to the Gulf Greyhound Park Racetrack in La Marque. I had wonderful pulled pork barbecue quesadillas and Ernest had hand rolled tamales, beans, rice, and guacamole. There were 13 matinee races and another additional 4 twilight races on Sunday that started at 1:30 p.m. The track opened at 1:00. Not many people there. There were eight dogs in each race. Ernest bet $2 on each of the 17 races and won 8 races. He broke even and made $1. I won sixx races and the afternoon cost me $8.20. This racetrack is the world's largest greyhound facility with four levels that are climate controlled. On Monday we met my LHS classmate, Jon Paul Arledge, at 11:30 at his house that is on Clear Lake with a view of NASA across the lake. He took us to The Flying Dutchman on the Kemah Boardwalk for lunch. I had the shrimp platter and they had shrimp. The shrimp cole slaw was good. Ernest and I walked down the boardwalk looking at the new Boardwalk Tower like the sphere at the Hemisphere in San Antonio. It was raining so we just walked looking at the new roller coaster all made of wood that is being built that should open in August. They said that the wood frame gives a better ride. Weather has slowed their work. I think that the carousel is new since we were there. There are many things for children to do like the Ferris wheel, which I was glad, that it was not running. We were trying to decide where to watch the fireworks. A lady at the CVS said that she watched them from the Target parking lot. Tuesday we left for Galveston about 9:15 and it took about 30 minutes to get into town. We drove out to East Beach to see where Woodie Hicks has bought a condo at Palisade Palms Condos. They should be ready March 2008. We went to the Sunshine Bakery and bought a ham and cheese croissant, apricot turnover, blueberry coffee cake, cinnamon roll, poppy seed muffin and a small key lime pie. At 11 a.m. we went to Di Bella's Italian Restaurant recommended by Carlyn and Duncan Garner. Food was good. I had lasagna, eggplant Parmesan, Italian sausage and pasta. Ernest had the three-cheese chicken. From there we went to the Strand and to Chico's dress shop and walked the blocks along the Strand. We had ice cream at the Star Drug Store. Left about 2:00 and drove along the Seawall to Moody Gardens where we got our tickets for the 3D IMAX movies Ocean Wonderland and Deep Sea. We saw the 4D movie about Dinosaurs and experienced water spray, wind and dinosaurs punching us in the back. We walked through the Aquarium in between the movies. Schlitterbahn has a big complex next to Moody Gardens. Looked like they had a crowd. Stopped in Bacliff for cheaper diesel at a station near Sullivan Pharmacy owned by Joe and Charlotte (Font) Sullivan. Did not go say hello since it was the day before July 4 and after 6:00 but they looked like they were open. Rain hit again and Ernest took the trailer awning down. On July 4 we were up about 7 a.m. and listened to the rain. It started raining on us about noon on Saturday and except for Tuesday in Galveston it had rained every day. Ernest says that we brought the rain with us. Made a trip to Target just to kill time with the rain. At Kemah, we watched the boats come out of the Clear Lake called the Boating Capital of Texas and is a harborage for the third largest number of privately owned boats in the nation. It has 7,000 boat slips at 19 marinas. We wandered on the Kemah boardwalk. Had drinks and nachos at the Cadillac Bar watching the people and boats. Many people were walking and looking. Boy did they have the theme park rides. Some made my stomach hurt just watching them. Ernest went to Sylvia's Cozy Corner to ask about Muecke's that he remembered when he was in Kemah some 55 years ago. I had gone to Babin's Seafood House to ask about reservations for dinner and to watch the fireworks. The girls were nice and told me that if we could get there about 7:30 p.m. we could stay until the fireworks at 9:30. We lucked out and the rain stopped and we were able to get the last table on the patio outside. The meal was Cajun and we had the crawfish etoufee. The barge was out in Galveston Bay and people and their boats were all in the bay to watch the fireworks at 9:30. They were the most beautiful, spectacular fire works that lasted for about 20 minutes with patriotic music. During the time before 9:30, we could see people or towns around the bay shooting their fireworks. Back to the description of fireworks. When you get old like me you forget what the fireworks at Disneyland and other places were like so the ones most recent are the best!!!!! I found out that Babin's took the spot where Willie G's Restaurant was located the last time we were in Kemah. The Saltgrass Steakhouse is a new one to us. If you come to watch fireworks that are every Friday at 9:30 p.m. during the summer, it would be a good place to watch.
I took three sun hats, a visor and sunscreen and then bought ponchos for the rain. We did have a good time and ate and ate the good seafood.
On Saturday July 7 we went to Dallas where Julie and Rocky Morris had a 100th birthday party for my dad Willie Royle who passed away at 64-years- old. The cake had a golf club for the number one and two golf balls for the zeros. Attending besides Julie, Rocky, Ernest and me were Bill Royle, Laura Royle, Clark Royle, Milton and Robbie Hickman, Bonner and John DeShazo. Rocky cooked a delicious meal and Julie set a fine table of china, silver and crystal. When we went to get Bill on Sunday from Milton and Robbie's new home on Laurel Valley, we met George Richardson and his family from Kansas City. Robbie and Milton were entertaining cousins for the weekend.
Nancy Jumper Herde celebrated her birthday on 7/7/07 with a party starting at 7:07 p.m. for 25 people at their home in New Canaan, Connecticut. She was celebrating on her "Papaw's" birthday that she shared with him. So my dad had a big 100 th party in two places. He would have loved it.
Catch you around town. Let me hear about your summer. Janice Ann. Email: roweja@suddenlink.net
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