Shirley Coleman is recovering from triple bypass heart surgery in Woodland Heights. Her son Ronnie says she is doing well. Joy Smith is still recovering at home after spending several days in the hospital. We hope these two ladies continue to improve.

Frank and Theresa Farrow left their home in Beulah and drove 901 miles into snowy 34 degree weather in Bloomington, Illinois, for Frank to judge the National Minilop Rabbit Show. That's quite a change from the warm seventy-degree temperatures they left in East Texas. They were ready to come home after three days.

Brenda Duren came in for Bread & Butter Jalapenos. She had been ordering them off the Internet and saw that we were dealers for them. She said her family loves them! Leroy Lazarine stopped by after doing his volunteer work at the Joe Elliott House. Leroy volunteers at the desk 8-12 every other Wednesday.

Long time buddies, Joe Jr. Wilkerson and Joe Anthony came in bringing donuts one rainy morning and enjoyed drinking coffee. These two told me stories about my brother, Jerry Don Powell that I can't repeat. One story they told was about another one of their buddies throwing 2" busters and one landed on the front of my dad's 1952 Mercury and busted the windshield. Joe and Joe Jr. spent two nights at the Anthony's clubhouse with their fishing buddy, Jimmy McCall. Joe Jr. caught all the fish. Ella Wayne gave Joe Jr. strict orders not to leave the store without a RT Cookbook

Joe Anthony and several other ranchers are excited about trying a new product that cost much less than granular fertilize. It is an economical forage booster water soluble pasture fertilize.

Ray Carr spent several days with his mother, Vera Carr, while Earl and Joyce Carr were vacationing in Kerrville in their 5th wheel. Ray was leaving to get back to Port Neches in time "to lay down the rules" for his and Linda's daughter, Sarah, who is a senior at PNG high school and will be attending the senior prom on Saturday. Our thanks to Mae Day for the rich and sweet date nut roll. It was delicious. Hugh Robert Lyles brought us another batch of hot fried catfish just in time for lunch. Thank you again.

Mark Dickerson joined us for ham sandwiches. He has been working about three months with T/I Transportation and is happy that his wife Natalie and children, Austin, Aaron, Tyler and Jayden are in the process of moving from Bryan.

The Burke Eastern Star Chapter had a very successful fish fry in the park. They had hoped to sell at least 200 plates of fried fish but sold over 250! Dixie Cook had read about the plate lunches in THE FREE PRESS and decided she would go and hopefully, visit with several of her former students. Dixie lives at The Meadows in Lufkin and asked the hair dresser/ cake baker, Kay Tullos, to make her an Italian Cream cake to carry to the fish fry. When Dixie arrived at the Old Orchard Park in Diboll she was disappointed when she realized the lunches were mostly "to go" so, she found a spot and ate her lunch. She decided to bring her cake to the Round Table and sure enough she found some of her former students who enjoyed visiting with her.

Geraldine Pouland was sitting at the RT; she had just graduated from Diboll in May of 1943 when Dixie came to teach in September. Marcia (Warner) Jones and Byford came in and Marcia was one of her students. Sandy Hendrick came in and recalled a lot of good times as one of her students. John Ralph and I were also her students. Dixie told the story about seeing a poster of an owl she wanted for a bulletin board. The poster was in the post office but they told her she couldn't have it. She called one of her former students, Post Master Joe Anthony, and soon had the owl in the middle of her bulletin board with the saying: "A wise old owl sat in a oak, the more he heard the less he spoke, the less he spoke the more he heard, why can't we all be like that bird?" She also told her students: "Be sure the words you say are soft, kind and sweet because you'll never know which ones you'll have to eat."

One more thing about Dixie Cook you may not know. She spends lots of time sorting recipes. The first time she did this was with family recipes putting them on 5x8 cards; she made up TWENTY-SIX boxes for her niece, Linda Fisher and 24 boxes for Linda's sister, Darla. Dixie is still working on recipes!

Joe Paul Stovall and John Ralph were visiting one day when they decided to locate Ralph McGill who was the pharmacist at Rexall drug store in Diboll during the early 50's. They got his telephone number from the McGill's good friends, Bruce and Jimmie Beth Durham. Ralph McGill lives in Weatherford, Oklahoma. His wife Pris died in 1987 and his son Bruce sells insurance and real estate in Weatherford. The youngest son Mike owns and operates the 24/7 Cherokee restaurant off I-40 in Weatherford. In the 50's the drug store had a soda fountain and was a good place for all ages. Aline Stovall, Maurine Bridwell and Jerry Spivey were some of the ladies that worked there. Royce Grimes helped out after school. Ralph McGill was active in the Quarterback Club with my father-in-law, Hileory Pouland. Mrs. Ralph (Pris) McGill was a charter member of the Diboll Garden Club in 1960. They were very active in the community.

Joe Paul was a good friend of Bruce McGill when they lived in Diboll. One weekend Joe Paul spent the night with Bruce and the next morning Bruce's mom (Pris McGill) asked Joe how he wanted his eggs cooked for breakfast. Joe Paul didn't know what to say, he thought everybody always had cereal for breakfast.

The Smith sisters have returned from another "Sisters Trip". The sisters are the daughters of Ezra Smith: Mary Grissom; Julett Odom; Mae Day; Lucille Jones and Bettie Havard. The group drove to Austin and enjoyed a show at Esther's Follies, rode the Duck Mobile, visited Lady Bird Johnson's Wildlife Center and observed the bat spectacle from a boat ride. On the way home they ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel and enjoyed stopping and shopping at antique places. They have been doing this for almost a decade and are already planning next year's trip.

The Diboll First Assembly of God church will have their 3rd Trades Day on Saturday, April 26th at their church located at the corner of Borden Drive and US Hwy 59 in Diboll (across from the Best Western Diboll Inn). Everything is free and will begin at 9AM until 2PM and include booths, entertainment, train rides and inflatable activities for the kids. Pastor Bruce Fraizer would be happy to have more gospel singers and booths. Give him a call at 212-1863 if you are interested. Hope you're catching the spring fever and will come see us…'round the table.