The Port O’Connor Cemetery Association would like to thank everyone that bought a raffle ticket to raise funds for the ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the cemetery. Congratulations to Stephanie Smith, she was our big winner! Thank you again to Veronica Ragusin for donating her canvas photo and to Sisters Gift Shop for the basket full of goodies. We raised $285 and all of it goes towards keeping our cemetery maintained and in good repair.

Clara Paulk

Most folks who have lived in Port O’Connor or Seadrift for a good, long while will recognize this smiling face. She was one of the helpful tellers at the local bank. Beginning in 1989 at First State Bank of Seadrift, and then at First National Bank in Port O’Connor, Clara was there to assist you until her retirement in 2010.

Clara was born in Port O’Connor in 1941 to Pat and Clara Hawes. She was the second of fourteen children, all of whom are happily still with us, most still residing in Port O’Connor.

She has happy memories of her childhood in Port O’Connor, and fondly remembers her visits to the Matagorda Island Lighthouse, where she and the lighthouse keeper’s daughter, Lorna Barr would play on the lighthouse steps.

Clara met her husband Fisher when he was stationed here with the Air Force. They moved to Maryland, living there for 18 years and raising four children.

Moving back to Port O’Connor, Fisher and Clara’s brother Mark, bought and operated the Port O’Connor Food Store. After her husband passed away, she continued to work at the Food Store until 1989.

In recent years, she and her brother Teddy went on mission trips to Antigua, Guatemala. For nine summers, they traveled there where Clara worked with disabled children while Teddy did maintenance and construction on the orphanage. “I’d go again if I could,” she said.

Nowadays, Clara helps others as a volunteer for Hospice of South Texas and a member of the Serra Club of Victoria, which supports seminary students, and helping out at her church, St. Joseph Catholic in Port O’Connor. She also works part time at her brother Teddy’s POC Hardware.

When asked if she still enjoys living in Port O’Connor since it has grown and changed so much, she replied, “As long as we don’t have a red light, I’m good.”

The children of Pat and Clara Hawes:

Front row: Sally, Missy, Clara, Marian, Madeline
Back row: Teddy, Forrest, Freddie, Father Roger, Philip, Michael, Leslie, Paul, Mark.

Cruising the beach on Matagorda Peninsula, Krista Stroope came across a sea turtle on the shore. “I’ve been coming here for eight years, and I’ve never seen a sea turtle before. We didn’t exactly know what to do. It didn’t look like it was doing very well.” Krista said. “We heard there was hotline but didn’t know what it was.” They ‘Googled’ it and called the number. “We got someone in Florida, but they gave us the number for Texas.” her friend Brittany McCrary explained. Answering the 866-Turtle5 hotline, Denise Crane took the call, asked for the location, GPS, and photos then called all the boat captains on the summer volunteer list for the Mid-Coast Sea Turtle Rescue.

Unfortunately, none were available. One last call, to Otto and Alane Haardt, however, was successful. Otto and Alane, legendary good-hearted POC locals, sprang into action.

When they reached the Big Jetty, they found the gulf waves to be too much for their bay boat, so the Stroope family helped them dock on the bayside and took Otto to the sick turtle on the gulf beach. As the group was helping the stranded turtle, a man brought them a second, smaller turtle that he’d found further down near the jetty. In the meantime, Alane made a call to Nancy Ladshaw to recruit some shore-side help. When the two turtles were brought to the Fishing Center, Nancy’s young & strong grandson, Jody Haines and his friends Jesse Rubio and Blaine Tompkins were there to help lift & carry the large turtle to Denise & Rusty Crane’s vehicle. (The big one was nearly 3 ft long and weighed in at 137 lbs!)

Turtle transport partner Steve Plant, volunteer with Keep Aransas County Beautiful, met the Cranes at the DQ in Tivoli. Denise recruited some DQ patrons to help lift the ‘big guy’ into Steve’s truck and away they went another hour and a half to the ARK (Amos Rehabilitation Keep) in Port Aransas. As of this writing, the turtles are both surviving. Unfortunately, veterinarians still do not know what is afflicting the loggerhead turtles. Last year a record number of loggerheads (over 400) were stranded or found dead on Texas Beaches. Most were under weight and malnourished. So far this season, the Mid-Coast Sea Turtle Rescue has responded to 9 turtle reports. Besides these 2 live turtles, there have been 7 deads reported. Reporting dead turtles provides important information to the scientists who are studying these beautiful animals.

It takes all of us to help these beautiful animals. Put this number in your contacts now 866-887-8535 (866-Turtle5). Option 3 calls a Mid-Coast volunteer directly. If you see a sea turtle on the beach (alive or dead) please call as soon as possible. If you’d like to help rescue turtles email us at MidCoastSeaTurtleRescue@gmail.com

The Mid-Coast Sea Turtle Rescue is a program sponsored by San Antonio Bay Partnership, a grass-roots organization who’s mission is to protect, restore and enhance the natural resources of the San Antonio Bay System for the benefit of the ecosystem and its human uses. www.SABayPartnership.org/Sea-Turtle-Rescue

Come, join in the fun at Seadrift Community Bunco! It’s happening every second Tuesday of the month at the Seadrift Civic Center. The next game will be held Tuesday, August 8. Everyone, adults and children ages 10 and up (accompanied by an adult) is welcome to join in. Spaces are limited.

Games start at 7:00 p.m. and ends about 8:30 p.m. If you’ve never played, a quick lesson/rule review will be at 6:30 p.m.
Our event is free to play thanks to our sponsors: Seadrift Police Department, Sea Tow, Simplified Soap, Freedom Boats USA, and CRC Fuels.

The hosts are Miranda Edwards, Jayme Edwards, Lisa Campbell, and Tracey Johnson.

Bunco is easy to learn, and you can win prizes. So, come join us on August 8th.

Facebook page: facebook.com/SeadriftBunco

Back To School Garage Sale:
The Club will be having a “Back To School Garage Sale” on Saturday, July 22, 2023 8:00 AM-12:00 Noon at the POC Community Center Pavilion! Clothes and Shoes for students of all ages will be available. Come One, Come All!

Farmer’s Market:
The Service Club appreciates your support at our POC Farmer’s Market Booth, held the 2nd Saturday of every month; next one being Saturday, August 12, 2023 from 8:00AM to 12:00 Noon. We always have a variety of homemade goodies, plants, hand crafted items, our “Service Club Cookbooks” and our “POC- End of The Road” License Plate Covers!

Meetings:
The Service Club’s next meeting is August 3, 2023 at 10:00 a.m., at the POC Community Center. All Ladies are welcome!

Fall Garage Sale:
The Ladies continue to accept your generous donations of household, kitchen, and decorative items; small appliances; clothes; shoes; toys; children’s and baby items, etc. Due to limited space, we cannot accept furniture until our next Garage Sale, which is scheduled for September 30, 2023 from 8:00 AM- 2:00 PM at the POC Community Center Pavilion. You can leave your items in the “Drop Box” at the front of our Donation Center, or, to donate larger items, please contact one of the Service Club Ladies listed below:
Alane Haardt- 281-416-6028
Marie Hawes- 361-920-2322
Nan Burnett- 832-276-5948
Nancy Ladshaw- 830-832-0510