June 24: Daniel Gayle; Tien A. Nguyen; Richard Wall; Holden Spears

June 25: Jamie & Jennifer Luker; Alfred Doolin; Dyllan Rodriguez; Willie C. Gaines

June 27: Justin Tigrett; Ryan Preslar

June 29: Amy Gosnell

July 1: Amber Lopez; Claudine Covarrubias; John Reneau

July 4: Christopher Brunotte; Charles DeLoach; Barbara Goodrum

July 5: Shirley Gordon; Michael Lucey

July 6: Teddy Hawes

July 7: Janet Johnson; Tyler Hawes; Gordon Valigura

July 8: Karie Skalak; Eldon Gooden; Kacie Lucey; Sharon Wood

Wednesday, June 8th, was the first Summer meeting of the Historical Book Committee, and we were extremely pleased to have as guests and speakers, Paul and Sarah Apostolo. Paul and his family are long-time residents here, and he regaled us with stories of life back in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Additionally, committee member Agnes Valigura was present to add some of her experiences to these stories. With these reminisces of both Paul and Agnes, we were able to see Port O’Connor in another life.

Paul spoke of growing up here and attending school, and he was able to name some of the businesses in operation at that time. He stated that many of the residents raised their own vegetables and livestock for meats, and if a family needed something at the store; i.e., coffee or flour or sugar, a bartering took place with the store owner. He also reminded us that automobiles were not prominent on the streets of Port O’Connor; one relied on bicycles, carts pulled by oxen or other animals or just your own feet. Fishing boats were powered by oars or sails; only a few of the large ones had motors. Although we were somewhat aware of these facts, they were definitely brought home to us through the stories of Paul and Agnes. But when he told of the means used for finding schools of fish via airplane power, smiles and expressions of awe were evident on the faces of all present.

Mr. and Mrs. Apostolo were the first of the guest speakers to come to a “Book” Meeting; we hope that the next meeting in July will cause another resident to come and share some of his/her experiences with us. As we listened to those stories of life here, it became so easy to put ourselves into this much earlier time of our community, As Paul concluded his stories, each member present recognized that she had more questions to be resolved later.

As the Port O’Connor Service Club is now on its Summer schedule of holding only one meeting a month, the next meeting will be July 7th at 10:00 a.m. in the back room of the Community Center. We welcome all interested women at any time at our meetings; contact Shirley Gordon, Membership Chairman, 983-4365 or Janet Johnson, President, 983-4733 for further information. Do plan to come and say hello.

The Sportsman Scholarship (In Memory of Jesse Giessel, Nick Pack, and Dusty May) is proud to announce the recipients of this year’s scholarships.

There were so many applicants it was decided to split up the recipients and award $500 scholarships to the following six students.

Caitlynn Davenport from Seadrift, plans to attend Victoria College, studying business.

The other five winners, from Port Lavaca, include Matthew Hahn, attending Tx.A&M, studying Agricultural Engineering; Heather Jennings, attending Blinn, studying Radiology; William Keller, attending Tx.A&M, studying Wildlife & Range Mgmt; John Kurtz, attending Victoria College, studying Criminal Justice; and John Kisiah IV, attending A&M, studying Business.

We are very proud to be able to present these scholarships to such enterprising students, and wish each of them the best in all of their endeavors.

Students receiving the Kiwanis Bring Up Grades (BUG) awards at Port O’Connor Elementary School for the 6th six weeks are:

1st Grade
Jordan Blevins, Joseph Diaz, Jessie Lashley, and Ethan Redding

2nd Grade
Collin Branch, Ronnie Carriles, McKaelyn Carriles, Esmerelda Garcia, Logan Hobbs, and Chloe Ragusin

3rd Grade
Javier Ayala, Kaleigh Diaz, Noah Guzman, Trey Hagler, Dillon Hobbs, Riley Hughs, Briana Lashley, Sierra Posey, Oscar Resendiz, Carlos Sanchez, and Paige Satterfield

4th Grade
Marshall Arlitt, Mitchell Arlitt, Adriana Carriles, Jacob Diaz, Zoila Garcia, Gavin Gosnell, Cierra Harper, Craig Lopez, Madison Posey

5th Grade
Javier Guzman, Justin Munsch, Kevin Resendiz, Shelby Rodgers, Jerry Satterfield, Wendy Solis

6th Grade
Will Ragusin, Juan Resendiz, Luis Resendiz, and Whitney Ronshausen

Winners of the bicycle drawings are Jerry Satterfield and Shayleigh Sprague.

Congratulations to all these students for their efforts to improve their grades.

-Donna Boyd

Fifty friends and associates were present at the June 14 meeting of the Conservative Club to honor Otto Thyssen as he was presented his World War II medals. The medals included Good Conduct Medal; European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 1 Silver Service Star; World War II Victory Medal; Honorable Service Lapel Button WWII; Expert Badge with Rifle Bar. They were presented by Dallas Chambless, Staff Assistant to Congressman Ron Paul.