Re: Port O’Connor’s Goat Man (featured in Dec. 14,2012 Issue)

It appears I finally can say, “mission accomplished”. My Grandpa Ray’s headstone was installed on Friday, November 16, 2012. Twenty three years, one month and twelve days since his death takes the adage of “better late than never” to a whole new level..

This has been an emotional journey for me that began a few months ago while I was doing a little genealogical research on the Internet. That is how I discovered a gravesite photo for my grandfather, Raymond Northcutt. Initially I felt shock, and sadness by what appeared to be an undignified grave, then incredible guilt that it had taken all these years to discover the conditions. I also felt a sense of betrayal that the grave marker my mother, Adelle Northcutt Boucher, purchased for her dad shortly after his death had not been delivered. I decided to complete the mission she started.

It was during this quest that I discovered the incredible kindness and generosity of the the people in my grandfather’s adopted hometown of Port O’Connor, Texas.

I owe a debt of gratitude to:

1.) Mr. Clifton Baccus for photographing the gravesite and submitting the photo to the Findagrave.com website.

2.) The staff and volunteers at Findagrave who indexed the photo that allowed me to find it.

3.) Jamie Kinswater and the current owners of Richardson Colonial Funeral Home in Port Lavaca for providing the new headstone, although they had no obligation to do so because they did not own the business in 1989 when my mother made the purchase from the previous owners.

4.) Joyce Rhyne of the Dolphin Talk for this heartwarming article about my grandfather and her research on the “Goat Man” story from the Victoria Advocate. Grandpa Ray was a character who enjoyed entertaining any and all with his “large than life” stories.

5.) Bob Allen has my deepest debt of gratitude. It is only because of his herculean effort to locate and identify Grandpa Ray’s gravesite that allowed this chain of events to culminate in finally having it properly marked. His commitment to the Port O’Connor Cemetery is sincerely appreciated by me and no doubt by all the residents of your community.

Warmly, Vicki Noland

Dear Dolphin,

I have some exciting news to share with our community! Ms. Gloria Fric a.k.a. “The Dragon Lady” has very special 2013 calendars for sale.

Gloria took several fantastic pictures of the Warrior’s Weekend sand sculpture from last May. She created a calendar from the photos.

The calendars feature twelve different photographs of the giant American eagle created at last year’s Warrior’s Weekend. On the back of the calendars are answers to questions about the sculpture and Warrior’s Weekend.

The sand sculpture was created in honor of our wounded soldiers. It took 130 tons of sand (that’s five 18 wheelers full of sand) and stood 15 feet tall. Sixteen people worked on it for 14 days. The sand sculptors were from Victoria, Corpus and Austin, Leander and Port O’Connor, TX.

Selling these calendars will help raise funds to pay expenses to bring another Master Sculptor to POC. The Master Sculptor this year is coming all the way to POC from Canada and is a “World Champion” sculptor.

Needless to say, all monies raised will help defray the expenses for the entire sand sculptor team while they are here.

The calendars are $20.00 a piece. They can be ordered from Gloria Fric by calling 361-573-4940 or you can email Ms. Fric at thedragonlady2000@gmail.com.

If everyone in our area bought a calendar, the money raised to help these fine folks would be tremendous! I bought two. Gloria gave me several to sell. I have three left if anyone wants to stop by the office and pick up one.

Thanks, Dolphin. Your readers can check out Gloria Fric on You-Tube. Just look for the title “Many Hearts, Many Hands” . You can see how the team created the sand sculpture and how they feel about wounded soldiers.

Also, check out warrior’sweekend.org to see what Warrior’s Weekend is all about.

This year’s Warrior’s Weekend will be on May 17th & 18th 2013.

Let’s show Gloria & the Sand Sculpting team our support.

Sincerely,

Nancy Pomykal

Letters To The Editor:

As the Co-Chairmen of the Decorating Committee for the Christmas Luncheon of the POC Service Club, we want to thank the members who participated in our Trim the Tree Party in early December. We certainly enjoyed the camaraderie of each member who hung decorations on the trees and enjoyed both the Christmas music with the accompanying food.

And, to the two stalwart husbands, who braved the inclement weather to help us remove the exterior decorations and lights, a HUGE THANK YOU. We couldn’t have done it without you!

But, to our President, Janet Johnson, who has so kindly worked with us in our unusual ideas and plans for decorating the trees and the Community Center for the past four years, thanks for your support.

Sincerely,

Joyce Jordan & Sue Kubecka

The Dolphin welcomes letters from our readers on any subject that is of general interest to our audience. Letters should be 300 words or less (with exceptions at the Dolphin’s discretion). Letters reflect the opinion of the writer, and not that of Dolphin Talk staff, and we retain the right to determine suitability for publication. It is the policy of this newspaper to promote area interests: therefore, complaints against local businesses should be directed elsewhere. Letters must be signed and include day and evening phone numbers, which will not be published. Your name will be withheld upon request, but anonymous material will not be considered for publication.

Letters to the Dolphin:
Dolphin Talk, PO Box 777,
Port O’Connor, TX 77982
dolphin1@tisd.net

BOOKS, BOOKS, BOOKS and where do I start? Perhaps with David Baldacci’s newest, who is a very favorite author of mine. Perhaps it’s his background of law (and I spent 20+ years in that endeavor), or perhaps it’s just that he keeps getting better and better with each of his books.

The latest is entitled THE FORGOTTEN, an interesting title and what makes it even more so is how it applies to the plot. Luckily, Baldacci’s legal training becomes quite apparent in his writings as each sentence is compact and on point. He doesn’t waste words in any paragraph and has that very unusual ability with the first sentence to pull the reader in and not let go.

The book starts with a previous protagonist from an earlier book, CWO CID Agent, John Puller, Jr., who has been summoned to the bedside of his father, General John Puller, Sr., formerly the commander of the Screaming Eagles, the 101st Division, and who is now suffering from dementia and a resident of a care facility. As the General has just received a letter from his older sister, Betsy, now a resident in Florida, the content of which has him concerned, he has sent his son to investigate. Add an interesting Lieutenant from the local police force; a try-to-be socialite; a multi-millionaire who spends an incredible amount of money weekly on the landscaping of his palatial home and has an unusual way of creating his wealth; throw in a couple of kids (undocumented); and a 1 star female General, stir rapidly and you have an unbelievable mix for a town known as Paradise in Florida.

As Baldacci has intrigued my mind one more time, so that shortly I will be starting over re-reading his books in the order of being written. And there are more than a few to peruse all on a shelf at our Library; will keep you posted.

A fun book to read is MISCHIEF BECOMES HER by Kasey Michaels, and I believe, we have several of her books available; the premise is that somehow a homicide detective becomes involved with a TV reporter, whose father has died mysteriously. Characters are well drawn and really believable, though I’m not sure of that red hair, and the plot bounces around and around, all the time holding your interest. Light reading, definitely not earth shaking, but good entertainment.

Now that certainly cannot be said about Tess Gerritsen’s book, THE BONE GARDEN. Set in Boston in the time period of 1830, the book tells of the problems facing a medical school with the unavailability of corpses for anatomical studies. And what is done to remedy this matter. A major character in the book is Oliver Wendell Holmes, the physician, and his push for cleanliness among the other doctors as well as medical students. Nothing was ever said or thought that hands that had touched a patient with a deadly fever were not to be used to examine another patient. The number of women who had given birth, or were in that process, in a hospital that died of childbed fever or puerperal fever was amazing; those that did not have the money to enter a “lying in” hospital survived as they did not become ill.

So, to provide corpses for anatomy-medical students meant that many residents (those on the shady side of employment) engaged in digging up graves for the bodies. This became known throughout Boston as “resurrectionism”, and those that practiced this often had to run for their lives if the grave was on private property.

Ms. Gerritsen’s background is medical as she is a physician as well as a writer. One gets the opinion that the background for this book is one that she was highly interested in. Many of her later books feature the TV team of Rizzoli and Isles. The information and history in the book is fascinating, and one feels better for having learned a little more.

Just a quickie: we have an unbelievable array of books for purchase at our Library, both hard cover and soft cover, of all types of fiction and even nonfiction. Come see us before you take your trip! And we welcome all you visitors to our Library; we may be small but we have a lot of good books and DVDs! Just takes a Library Card!

“When an old person dies, a Library burns down” -Karin Gillespie

Bob Hill and his wife Shelly

The Fishing Guide

By Kenneth Peterman

In Memory of Captain Bob Hill

His face and hands were weathered and lined

From so many days of sun and brine,

Khaki shorts and fishing shirts,

And things that cut, sting, bite and hurt.

Taking care of us could take awhile.

But, he always did it with a smile.

He never complained just too much pride.

He was Captain Bob, the Fishing guide.

Catching fish and telling tales.

Sometimes in bays or ocean swells.

He’d help you out and give advice.

And share with you his Paradise.

He’d have for you a place to sleep

And even cook your catch to eat.

Each time you’d leave he’d shake your hand

You had no doubt he was your friend.

To say he’ll be missed would be understated.

Hearts are heavy and smiles sedated.

But he’d want us to put our sadness aside.

He was Captain Bob, The Fishing Guide!

(L-R) Dorothy O’Connor, unidentified woman, Grace Rogers, and Rena Marsh holding a rifle and shotgun. Lillian Obsta Collection. Victoria Regional History Center, Victoria College/University of Houston-Victoria Library.

Winning The West
Firearms In The Texas Coastal Bend

Museum of the Coastal Bend; opening reception February 12, 2013; 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.

Exhibit Dates: Feb. 13 – Aug. 30, 2013; Viewing hours are Tuesday through Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Through hunting and war, target shooting and John Wayne, guns are part of Texas\u2019 heritage and culture. Winning the West uses historic guns, photographs, toys, and artwork to show the links that firearms have to regional history and culture.