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09/09/15 09:36 AM #529    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)

Deeann Thompson Gillam's husband passed away over the weekend. I believe they have scheduled a memorial service for Sept. 19.

This is all that I find right now in the newspaper:

Services for Ben Wilson Gillam, 62, of Temple are pending with Scanio-Harper Funeral Home in Temple.

Mr. Gillam died Sunday, Sept. 6, at a Temple hospital.


09/25/15 09:28 AM #530    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)

Sorry to hear that Wayne's sister passed away.


10/01/15 10:14 AM #531    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)

The general manager of Nacogdoches’ Hampton Inn and Comfort Suites has assumed the same position at Hotel Fredonia.

 

“I’m super excited to be part of this project,” John McLaren said. “This will be a legacy hotel for the DeWitt family and community. I’ve never been a part of a project of this magnitude, so it’s going to be an honor.”

Nacogdoches restaurateur Richard DeWitt and his wife, Barbara, bought the 60-year-old hotel on Sept. 15. Using a 1950s motif, architect Army Curtis plans to restore the property to its original design while incorporating contemporary amenities.

“It’s going to be as the Peabody is to Memphis or the Carlysle is to Chicago or the Waldorf is to New York,” McLaren said. “There will be nothing outside of Dallas or Houston that can touch this hotel. And I’m not just fluffing it up. It’s going to be a premier landmark hotel and convention center.”

The redesign will include the entire property. From its quickly recognizable six-floor tower to its freestanding Oak Terrace, no room will go untouched.

“I’ve renovated hotels before,” McLaren said. “I’ve been through that process and this is the most expensive renovation I’ve ever seen on a property. Everything is going to be redone and done well. That is one thing I can say about Richard. When he does something, he does it well and correctly. It’s going to be quite impressive.”

DeWitt acquired the hotel from Texas State Bank after it concluded foreclosure proceedings in December 2014. It has been closed since November 2013.

“There will be suites,” McLaren said. “We want people to be awestruck. When you walk into the lobby and the rooms, we want you to have that huge ‘wow’ factor. That’s (Richard’s) and Barbara’s vision. It will exceed everyone’s expectations of what this hotel was and could be.”

McLaren said DeWitt talked to him informally about becoming general manager before offering him the job on the day he bought the hotel.

“I’ve known the DeWitt family for a few years, and I live on the same street as most of them,” McLaren said. “I’ve hunted with him at his ranch, and he expressed interest in buying the hotel and his vision for it about a year ago. Richard is one of those who, when he finds his person or identifies someone, that’s it. He’s ready to go.”

DeWitt owns Clear Springs and Auntie Pasta’s in Nacogdoches and stores elsewhere in Texas.

“John has a lot of hotel experience and a restaurant background,” he said. “He’s going to be as much help in the restaurant as he is in the hotel. With all the new gadgets they’ve got going now, we have to be on top of it to run a first-class hotel. John is a wonderful guy, and I think we can communicate well together.”

A Dallas native, McLaren, 45, has worked in the hotel industry for 27 years.

“My first job was in security while I went to school for criminal justice,” he said. “I wanted to be a police officer. Then one thing led to another and I worked mostly in hotels in Dallas. About seven years ago, we packed up and moved down here, and I worked in Longview for about two years.”

McLaren’s wife, Julie, is from Nacogdoches. She is director of revenue for La Quinta Inns.

“We met at Crowne Plaza in Dallas and worked together there,” he said. “And she said that one day we are going to raise children, but not in Dallas.”

That’s when they moved to Nacogdoches.

“And we have been here since,” he said. “I’ve done just about everything in hotel industry — from security to accounting — so I have a well-rounded education in the hospitality business.”

Also a member of the Nacogdoches Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors, McLaren started working for Hotel Fredonia today.

The hotel is expected to open in about a year. DeWitt has said it will include a steakhouse, cafe and bar.


10/08/15 09:29 AM #532    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)

Obituary for Micah-Shaye Burns Fike

Funeral services for Micah-Shaye Burns Fike, 35, of Lufkin, will be held at 10 am on Friday, October 9, 2015 at First United Methodist Church of Tatum with Rev. John Harvey officiating. Interment will follow at Harris Chapel Cemetery under the direction of Crawford-A. Crim Funeral Home.

The family will receive friends from 6-8 pm Thursday, October 8 at the funeral home.

Micah-Shaye passed from this life on October 6, 2015. She was born September 22, 1980 in Longview to the late Michael Burns and Shawn (Laird) Burns. Micah-Shaye was a homemaker and a member of First Assembly of God in Lufkin.

In addition to her father, she was preceded in death by: grandparents, Helen Leo Downs, A.B. Burns, and A.E. and Bobby Joy Laird; great-uncle, Sherman Smith; and great-grandparents, Dema Redman and Zedie Burns.

Survivors include: mother, Shawn Laird Burns of Martinsville; daughters, Kylie Diane Fike and Peyton Nicole Fike of Lufkin; sister, Ericka Nicole Burns Stewart and husband John Steven of Lufkin; nephews, Bryson and Lance Stewart; niece, Jocelyn Stewart; and cousins, Karen and Brooke Seimears, Ashley Henderson, Cameron Henderson, Kason Henderson, Amy and Macey Osburn, Mac Amick, Kellie and Kyle Laird, Rebecca and Landon Lunsford, Halley and Zack Watson, Geather Weeks, Tyson and Trevor Strong, and Kacie Powell.

Words of comfort may be shared with the family at www.crawfordacrim.com.

Today's Events

Visitation

OCT 8. 06:00 PM - 08:00 PM

Crawford A. Crim Funeral Home

1414 South Main Street

Henderson, TX, US, 75654

Upcoming Events

Service

OCT 9. 10:00 AM

First United Methodist - Tatum

150 Jackson St.

Tatum, TX, US, 75691

Cemetery Details

Harris Chapel Cemetery

Fm 1794
Tatum, TX, 75691

 


10/28/15 09:43 AM #533    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)


10/28/15 09:44 AM #534    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)


10/28/15 09:45 AM #535    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)


10/28/15 09:47 AM #536    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)


11/02/15 09:54 AM #537    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)

Just had to post this pic from the Sunday Sentinel--an article about the anniversary of DRT.

For those of you who went to Nettie Marshall--Mrs. Grimes and Mrs. Rector are pictured.

 


11/03/15 09:13 AM #538    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)

 

 


11/03/15 09:15 AM #539    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)


11/05/15 08:58 AM #540    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)

Can't resist!

Happy birthday, Randy and Ricky!


11/06/15 08:54 AM #541    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)

Bo taught us so much

Bo McMichael was a lot of things — all great, I say.

Football player, World War II veteran, family man, teacher, football coach, school board member and community leader.

The man I knew simply as “Bo” died Saturday at age 95.

At the start of the football season, we didn’t hear from Bo when we asked for his football picks for our weekly feature during the season.

It seems that Bo was having some health issues. But a few weeks later, Bo’s family urged us to send him those games, so Bo could make his selections. Even his doctors were asking him why his picks weren’t in the paper this season.

We were thrilled that Bo was back picking games.

A few weeks later, a family member emailed me saying Bo was in the hospital and “was in God’s hands.”

I figure it was probably 30 years or so ago when I first met Bo at a Nacogdoches High School football game, where he ran the clock at varsity games.

Bo’s life was coaching and educating — leading young athletes in the hope of them becoming great men.

After returning from the War, Bo was a player for a Texas College team that lost in the 1942 National Championship game for black colleges. He returned home to become the head coach of E.J. Campbell High School in Nacogdoches.

When NISD schools were integrated in 1971, he became NISD’s athletic director for the junior high school and later at the high school. In 1984, he was inducted into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

I knew Bo as the Dragons’ biggest fan, a school board member and a great friend, someone who also always shot me a dose of encouragement.

I attended a school board meeting once when I caught wind that the board could possibly let go of a head football coach.

I sat through the meeting, pen and paper ready, only to find that my source had led me to a meeting of budget concerns and other administrative details.

The football program wasn’t mentioned, much less the head coach being dismissed.

Bo was laughing so hard, he was crying.

“Hoss, your horse is still running,” he said.

I wrote a story on Bo about 10 years or so back. I told Bo of the project, and he showed up dressed in a suit for the photo.

He told me about his life, being a football player, a coach, a veteran, a community man — the whole works.

Here was a man who has a junior high school named after him — McMichael Middle School. In his early days, he was drafted into the first African-American outfit to serve in WWII.

The list goes on and on.

I told Bo something to the effect that he sure had done a lot great things for Nacogdoches.

Tears filling his eyes, Bo said “Nacogdoches sure has been awfully good to me.”

From playing and coaching to serving in the military to being an icon in the community, Bo McMichael has “Been Magnificent.”

Nacogdoches will miss you Bo. You taught us so much.


11/07/15 08:49 PM #542    

 

Warner Dale Rector

Jan,,,Thats is a very nice tribute to Coach or "  Bo' is you wrote..He was the one of the finest teacher I remember from NHS...You see, I only went to NHS my senior year 1974..  Coach Mc lived juist a few houses around the corner from me. I lived on Price Street in front of the school.. I could see my homeroom class winow on the second floor from my kitchen window...One afternoon I decided to talk a walk around the block and there was Coach Mc sitting on the front porch of his house. I stop just say to say hello and wsatb and talked for maybe 45 minutes..  Here again, He was a very much an open book.. He will be greatly missed. 95, WoW,,What a Man, What a legacy  .Thanks again ,,GREAT JOB as always.  Dale

 


02/03/16 11:46 AM #543    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)

What a great episode of HGTV's Fixer Upper last night!  Featuring our own Jeff Badders' daughter Rachel and her husband.  Jeff and Jackie were even on the last few minutes!

Here are pix and the episode is available online also.

 

http://www.hgtv.com/shows/fixer-upper/fixer-upper-a-contemporary-update-for-a-family-sized-house-pictures

 

 


02/15/16 10:16 AM #544    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)

I was so delighted to have helped Davy and Mr. Dubose get this into the SFA Film School's hands.

Can't wait for the screening.


02/15/16 10:17 AM #545    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)


06/10/16 09:38 AM #546    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)


06/16/16 12:59 PM #547    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)


06/22/16 11:31 AM #548    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)


06/22/16 11:35 AM #549    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)


08/15/16 01:11 PM #550    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)

 

On Aug 26, Coach Alan Johnston will be honored as a Distinguished Alum.  His dad is our former principal Johnny Johnston and he and his wife Mary will be at the game.

Come on out and see the Dragons play Kilgore and say hey to Coach Johnny.

Homecoming is Sept 23!  Hope to see some of you at the game.


01/11/17 09:28 AM #551    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)

So sorry to hear that Suzie Peppard's dad passed away.

His obit is posted on our obit page.

Hugs and love to Suzie and Dan and their kids and granddaughter.


01/19/17 09:20 AM #552    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)

 


04/17/17 10:30 AM #553    

Debra Jan Dobbs (Barton)

Nac to Nashville

Concert a homecoming for prolific singer-songwriter

BY TIM MONZINGO tmonzingo@dailysentinel.com

It’s been 30 years since Jim Collins picked up his guitar for a show in Nacogdoches. But since leaving his hometown, he’s built quite a reputation for himself.

On Wednesday, Collins will take the stage at Banita Creek Hall for a concert benefiting the Nacogdoches Art Alliance and his first hometown show in three decades. And while the show is enough of a reason to come home again, Collins said something else lured him back to Nacogdoches.

“It’s the people,” he said from Nashville, where he’s lived since 1995. “They could care less that I’d written any hit songs. In their eyes, I’m the same guy who rode the bus with them, and that’s awesome.”

A long road

Although Collins has made trips back to Nacogdoches over the years, he’s worked incessantly in Nashville since his wife spurred him to move there.

Collins grew up on a dairy farm just outside Nacogdoches.

Collins » 3A

Jim Collins, a Nacogdoches native and Nashville-based singer-songwriter, will headline the Nashville Songwriters Night benefit for the Nacogdoches Art Alliance on Wednesday at Banita Creek Hall.

Courtesy photo


 

Collins

» From 1A

He began playing music with high school friends, which led him to work at local venues such as the Party Center in the 1970s, Snoopys and Cotton Eye Joe’s. He began touring Texas as a performer and in the 1990s, settled in Dallas.

But it was in Dallas where he said he felt his career had plateaued, and it was his wife who encouraged him to head to Tennessee.

“Most people band around Nashville for years before anything happens,” Collins said in a distinct Texas drawl of which he’s proud. “The first song I wrote was a hit, and I thought, ‘Wow, this is easy.’” He boasts a number of popular country tunes to his name — “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” “I Don’t Feel Like Loving You Today,” “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven,” and “Hands of a Working Man.”

But there was a time he was nearly ready to give up. Collins has recorded a handful of albums, but he said he struggled with the music-industry politics in the business and getting on the same page with what recording companies wanted him to be.

“I lost my record deal because (the record company and I) couldn’t get on the same page,” he said. “It was heartbreaking.”

He was planning to move back to Texas and get back on the road doing shows when he got a call from Craig Wiseman, a fellow songwriter who was named “Songwriter of the Decade” in 2009 by the Nashville Songwriters Association International.

“I was ready to move home to play honky-tonks in Texas until Craig called and said, ‘You’re a songwriter.’I got serious about song-writing after that.”

Kenny Chesney recording of “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” which reached No. 11 among tracks on the Billboard’s Hot Country Songs, was a game-changer for him, although the tune was written as a joke.

On average, Collins said he writes around 130 songs a year. But he’s slowed down in recent years.

“The music business has changed some,” he said. “I’m writing less, but I think I’m writing better.”

The Show

Collins will bring fellow songwriter Wendell Mobley along with him for the Nashville Songwriters Night at Banita Creek Hall.

“I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to bring someone better than me along,” Collins joked about his fellow performer. “(He’s) the most talented songwriter and musician I’ve ever met.” Mobley played with Jack Green and Alabama, and is credited with writing tunes such as “How Forever Feels” and “There Goes My Life” recorded by Chesney, “Fast Cars and Freedom,” by Rascall Flats, and Alabama’s “We Can’t Love Like This Anymore,” among others. Kenny Rogers, Randy Houser and Joe Diffie have also recorded his songs.

Collins said he’s looking forward to playing his hometown again for a good cause, and he hopes people will take advantage of the opportunity to get a glimpse behind the scenes of the music business.

Most people band around Nashville for years before anything happens. The first song I wrote was a hit, and I thought, ‘Wow, this is easy.’”

JIM COLLINS

SINGER-SONGWRITER


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