SEADRIFT: Lonnie (Lon) Howard Cantrell, 80, passed away surrounded by loved ones, early Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011, of complications from pneumonia after hip surgery. He was born on June 25, 1931, in Los Angeles, Calif., and lived throughout the southwest and midwest, as well as Central America. After retiring from sales, he and his wife moved to the Texas coast. He had been married to Mary June Hardy for 49 years. They enjoyed traveling and playing golf with friends.

He is survived by his wife, his children, Marguerite Newcomb, Jon Cantrell, Alan Cantrell, and Cristin Gaffney; son-in-law Glenn Gaffney, daughters-in-law Terisha Cantrell and Julie Flanagan; 8 grandchildren; and 2 great-grandchildren.

He is preceded in death by his parents, Alta Leah Martin and Theodore Roscoe Cantrell.

The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be given in his name to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Memorial Service for Lon Cantrell in Seadrift is scheduled for Sunday, January 8, 2011, 2:00 p.m. in the Pavilion at 6th Street on the Seadrift Bayfront. Come help us celebrate the life of this extraordinary man and friend.

The Toy Run arrives!

Thanks to the efforts of a few dozen generous boating enthusiasts and some caring local citizens, more than 500 children will be enjoying a happy Christmas this year.

The boaters make up the “Toy Run”, the brainchild of Jerry Karnes and his friends in the Houston area. For the past nine years they have been making the 79-mile trip from Freeport down the Intracoastal and across the bay, in good weather and in terrible weather, to bring boat-loads of donated toys for needy children in our area. This year more than 30 boats arrived in Port O’Connor on December 3. There were so many boats with so many toys, they couldn’t all be unloaded at The Inn at Clark’s docks. Many had to dock at neighboring Caracol and carry the toys to the awaiting trailers at Clark’s. As usual, quite a number of Port O’Connor locals were on hand to help with the unloading.

Marcy, Bill and Jonathan Barr the first Toy Run boat to arrive at Clark’s

Unloading the toys

A boatload of Santas and bikes!

Toy Run photos by Bret Williams

The trailers filled with toys are stored in a secure area until the next day, when the Adopt-An-Angel Committee and their helpers begin the all-day task of unloading and sorting the toys. Some of the toys will go to the more than 50 children in Port O’Connor’s Adopt-An-Angel Program. Combined with the clothing, shoes, and other items bought by local volunteers, these children can expect to find that Santa has deemed them “very good” this year.

The Adopt-An-Angel Program begins in November when children whose parents/guardians realize they won’t be able to provide much in the way of gifts, submit their requests to the Committee. Each child is given a number – names are never given out – and locals volunteer to provide $100 worth of clothing for that child. The volunteers receive all the child’s vital statistics, but never know their names.

The numbers are drawn at the POC Hardware store, where Wanda, Teddy and other employees have assisted this effort for more than ten years. When the wrapped gifts are returned, they are stored securely at the store.

The program began about 20 years ago as the “Angel Tree” at Port O’Connor School. The Adopt-An-Angel Committee is actually Port O’Connor’s Marie Hawes and Brenda Smith. “I so appreciate the Port O’Connor community,” said Marie. “I try to give back whenever I can.”

The toys brought by the Toy Run covered the gamut of nearly anything a child could wish for. Everything from hula hoops to fishing poles, art supplies, dress-up stuff, games, balls, dolls, stuffed animals and toddler toys was spread out in the staging area for sorting and giving away. There were even 65 shiny new bicycles. This was enough to keep Marie and Brenda and their ten selfless helpers busy the entire day.

At the end of the day, toys were given to more than 500 area children. In addition to the Adopt-An-Angel children, toys were distributed as follows:

The Harbor; Sheriff’s Dept.’s Brown Santa; Grace Episcopal Church; two organizations in Seadrift; Foster Care of Edna/Calhoun County; Victoria Red Cross; and the six Guerro children of Goliad whose house burned down on December 1.

Volunteers unload and sort toys from the Toy Run.

Marie Hawes

Wanda Redding (left) and Brenda Smith (right) sort through the toys.

Janet Johnson, President of Port O’Connor Service Club, presents Kay Middleton (right) with the Club’s Citizen of the Year award. -Photo by Bill Tigrett

“I just enjoy getting out with my friends and helping,” explained Kay Middleton when asked why she’s always involved in any kind of work that the Port O’Connor Service Club decides to do. If there’s a project to do, anything from bake sales to lugging around heavy items for garage sales, you’ll always find Kay showing up early and staying late. The Club’s semi-annual garage sales are a favorite project of hers and she very much enjoys serving at the Tuesday Senior Citizens lunches, which she has done since its beginning. While not officially a Service Club project, Kay, like several other Club members, helps unload the boats in the annual Toy Run. She has been doing this since its inception nine years ago.

Kay’s dedication to service has been recognized, and earned her the award of “Citizen of the Year’ from the Port O’Connor Service Club. She has been a member of the Club for the past twenty years, and for ten of those years served as Club Treasurer. During her years as Treasurer, Kay received a lot of ribbing from members for being so frugal. She wanted to be sure that every penny was accounted for and was spent to a good purpose.

Kay and her husband Ray, originally from Houston, enjoyed week-end fishing in Port O’Connor for many years before moving here permanently in 1979 after Ray’s retirement. After settling here, Kay kept up her enthusiasm for fishing, while Ray preferred to spend his time in his welding shop helping his shrimper friends repair their boats.

When she’s not working on a Service Club project, you might see Kay riding her bicycle around Port O’Connor or unloading her catch of the day at the dock She also enjoys kayaking.

Congratulations, Kay, for earning this much-deserved honor as Port O’Connor Service Club’s Citizen of the Year!

Best Commercial Boat

Doug and Mary Jo Walker’s shrimp boat, and the crew from Beacon 44 RV Park took the prize for “Best Commercial Boat” in the Parade.

Most Spirited

Will Ostrand, of Spring, TX, and his crew of the “Don’t Panic” (shown above and at right) won the “Most Spirited” award in the Port O’Connor Lighted Boat Parade.

The Port O’Connor Lighted Boat Parade, sponsored by the Port O’Connor Chamber of Commerce, was held on Saturday, December 3rd. It has been declared the biggest and best in Port O’Connor’s recent history. If you did not get to watch it, you missed a spectacular event!

Thank you to all who participated. It was a daunting task for the judges to decide on the winners as it seems there were so many deserving entries and not enough categories. The judges were torn, but finally decided on the following winners listed below. Included is a brief, but not necessarily complete description of each winning vessel for identification.

Category: Boat No., Name, Type, Description: Area/City:

Most Special # 19 U.S. Coast Guard – BM1 Terry J. Reed, Operations Petty Officer Port O’Connor
(Santa, Reindeer, Candy Canes, Music)

Best Overall # 30 Chad Trueheart Friendswood
(Christmas Tree and Fireworks)

Most Spirited # 12 Will Ostrand Spring
(Dancers, Dancing Santa, Texas Flags, Music)

Most Unique # 01 Annette Hausman Freeport
(Mr. & Mrs. Claus, Elf, Dogs w/Lights)

Best Commercial # 28 Mary Jo Walker Port O’Connor
(Shrimp Boat with Pirate/Skull Crossbone, Outrigger Lights, Music)

Best Large Pleasure # 27 Frank Gerking Seadrift
(Houseboat with Snowman, Wreath, Christmas Tree)

Best Medium Pleasure # 24 Jason Fry Cypress
(Sleigh & Dolphins, Candy Canes)

Best Small Pleasure # 22 Chris Doolin Port O’Connor
(Stagecoach, Sailfish, Music)

There were local area entries along with entries from many other cities mainly due to those who came here with the Toy Run. Thanks to all the wonderful people who participate every year in the Toy Run bringing toys to the children in need and then after that they decorate their boats and join in the lighted boat parade. Because of them, our boat parade is growing and getting better every year.

The Chamber would like to thank the wonderful and very generous efforts of Bill Bahr, Jerry Karnes, and all the others who were with them who work so hard for the children in need in the area. Not only that, but they also give joy to some of us sharing their Christmas spirit with their decorated boats in the parade. Do you realize how much time and money of their own they spend doing all this and then the hours and hours in their boats? Gasoline is not cheap these days either. Their generosity is overwhelming and a simple “Thank you for all you do!” is very inadequate, but we do sincerely thank you.

BM1 Terry J. Reed, Operations Petty Officer of the U.S. Coast Guard Station in Port O’Connor was superb in all the help we received for the parade from him and all those with him. We really appreciate the U.S. Coast Guard and also sincerely thank you all.

Thanks also goes out to Mr. Jim Vass who graciously loaned us the VHF communication capability we needed.

Last, but not least, the POC Chamber thanks all those who helped in any way to put on the lighted boat parade and the judges who were put in a difficult spot deciding on the winners.

For those of you who may not know – Scott and Kelly Wheat of Port O’Connor solicited toys and donations from local businesses, trailered their boat to Matagorda to join the Toy Run group and came in with them. Their boat was also filled with toys. Afterwards, they too were in the boat parade. Good job, Scott and Kelly! And Thanks!

US Coast Guard led the parade.

Most Unique

Flags Flying in the Boat Parade

Watching from the docks