Best Overall in the Boat Parade
Mark Daigle, 24’ Tritoon boat, Grinch Boat

Best Largest Pleasure Boat:
40’ Sport Cruiser named Fueling Around, Bill Squires

Best Medium Pleasure Boat : Indianola Fishing Marina, 25’ Dargle

Best Smallest Pleasure Boat: David Haseloff, 21’ Sportster

Most Spirited Boat in the LIghted Boat Parade
Tropical Christmas, 25’ X3, Brandon Welch

U..S. Coast Guard

Sorry, we have no photo of Most Unique
Chris Wolfe, Karoake Boat, 28’ Grady White

The Port O’Connor Community Service Club at their Christmas party. These ladies (some are not pictured) give senior citizens a beautiful Christmas Luncheon every year – only one of many good works they do for our community.

Annual “Senior Citizens’ Christmas Luncheon:: The POC Service Club had a wonderful turnout for their annual “Senior Citizen’s Christmas Luncheon”, with the highlight of the day being the announcement that our wonderful Joyce Rhyne is the recipient of the Club’s distinguished “Community Champion Award”, for her decades of hard work, excellent reporting, and invaluable service to the POC Community through her publication of the “Dolphin Talk”, keeping all of us informed about what’s going on in POC!! Congratulations, Joyce, and thank you for everything you do for POC and its citizens! Everyone had a great time enjoying the beautiful decorations, Christmas Carols sung by Lilli Soto and her merry band of Elves, the blessing by Pastor Ernie McDonough, the delicious meal and desserts prepared by the Service Club Ladies, and the camaraderie and visiting with family and friends. The Club wishes all of you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, 2025!

Memorials: The Club made a donation to the Hospice of South Texas in memory of the Honorable Richard Meyer.

Farmers Market: Please check out our Service Club Booth at the next Farmer’s Market on January 11, 2025 from 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon. We will have delicious baked goods, potted plants, handcrafted items, “Service Club Cookbooks“, and “POC- End of The Road” License Plate Covers, and more.

Service Club Meetings: Club meetings are the first and third Thursdays of the month, with the next ones being January 2 and January 16, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. at the POC Community Center. All Ladies are welcome!
Medical Equipment For Loan: The Club stocks medical equipment of various kinds to loan out to those in need. For inquiries, please contact one of the Ladies listed below.

Spring Mega Garage Sale: Our next Garage Sale will be on April 5, 2025, and we are already preparing for it! We appreciate your generous donations of household, decorative, and kitchen items; small appliances; gently used clothing; shoes; toys; children’s and baby items; furniture, lawn and sports equipment, etc. For your convenience, we have a “Drop Box” in front of our “Service Club Donation Center.” For questions, or to donate, please call one of the ladies listed below.
Alane Haardt- 281-416-6028
Nancy Ladshaw- 830-832-0510
Marie Hawes- 361-920-2322
Nan Burnett- 832-276-5948

Maeghen Strahm, Nominating Committee Chair and Marie Hawes, President presented Joyce Rhyne (Dolphin Talk) with the Service Club’s Community Champion Award.

You Heard it from the Dolphin:
Congratulations to the Port O’Connor Community Service Club on another wonderful Seniors’ Christmas Luncheon. The food was delicious, the decorations beautiful, and the service outstanding. If you’ve never been, you have missed one of the highlights of the Christmas season.

I would like to thank the Club for honoring me as their “Community Champion” this year. As I told those in attendance, Dolphin Talk is not my paper, it is a community project. Without the input from reporters and secretaries of the various organizations and other individuals in our communities, there could be no paper. If you, the reader, ever have something you think would be of interest to the community, please don’t hesitate to contact me at the above address/phone number/email.

I would also like to recognize some who have been very important in getting this paper out: our dedicated reporter Tanya DeForest, the ladies who deliver the paper – Laura Rhyne, Karolyn Kinsel, Suzie Jaycox and Rose Williams, my loyal proofreader, Ann Pesek, and our advertisers who make the printing possible.

And, thank you for reading the Dolphn Talk!

Joyce Rhyne, Editor

How this 60 ft. cross came into being, as told by Reverend Erny McDonough of Fisherman’s Chapel at its official dedication on the evening of November 24, 2024:
It was early on the morning of November 20, 2014, when, whether asleep or awake I do not know, but I heard the unmistakable voice of God speaking, “Erny, will you put up a 50 foot cross for Me?” I was totally taken back, but I remember well that I pondered a few seconds before replying, “Lord, I will do anything for You that You will help me with!” And that started this journey.

My head was whirling! How? Never “Why?” but always “How!” I, to this day, ten (10) years later, do not know the Why, but I truly don’t care! Pastor Joane was immediately on board and ready to give encouragement, especially in those times when I doubted. We have always felt that when we follow His directions, He will lead us where He wants, and we will accomplish His plan for our lives. We always want to be OBEDIENT to the voice of God!
God brought us to a special couple that we first met while cleaning their home here in Port O’Connor. Dr. Marsh Miller agreed to provide the funds for the project in honor of his lovely wife Mable. Without their financial backing, this project would have languished greatly! On several occasions, Dr. Marsh would give us a check for the Cross and always tell me there was more when it was needed.

Our first action, besides a lot of asking for wisdom, was to contact every lumber mill we could find on both the Northeast and the Northwest coasts. I only knew wood, so we felt a 12” by 12” treated beam would be what we needed. No one could produce one long enough for the 50’ cross. We knew we wanted the Cross beams to 20’ to make it look aesthetically correct. I drew on graph paper the concrete design and the placement of the sitting rocks to keep something in front of us to follow as we pursued the goal.

Just before Christmas, Donny Haynes came by and bluntly asked me, “What do I need to help you with?” I could not think of anything, so after a few minutes, we prayed and asked the Lord what He wanted. I then told Donny that we were trying to put up a Cross for the Lord, and he told me that a man had just given him a lot of scrap beams that he would gladly help us use. We were humbled, yet overwhelmed.

The Corp of Engineers heard by the grapevine that we were installing a lighted Cross on our property. They contacted us and asked if we would give them permission to put the Cross on their nautical maps. I assured them that that would be great because of its value in tacking into Port O’Connor, but I added, “We have one request that you place on the bottom of each map, ‘If your lost, look to the Cross!’” He replied, “Preacher, that is catchy, but you know we can not do that!”

Needing additional input, in early 2018, we contacted our Missionary friend, Norman Knoodle, asking if he knew an Architectural Engineer, and he placed us in contact with Alone Church – yes, we have just learned that was his given name! What a great resource! He gave us drawings and ideas that are incorporated in this structure! He told me we had to go at least 15’ in the ground and build a base 4’ by 4’ and 2’ deep to hold a 50’ Cross, without any guide wires. We also learned that this Cross was his last project before he went to Heaven!

With our great lack of understanding, we contacted at least 4 other architects and firms, and each had some knowledge from which we gleaned, and Donny kept working on the 21’ base. We do not know who all worked on this Cross Base, but several different men told us the hours they spent welding on it. It was complete and sat outside Donny’s office – Action Welding – for several months until finally we asked him to bring it to the Chapel. We had been talking about this cross without any evidence for years, and we wanted to let everyone know that the task had begun. Frankly, people were beginning to ask us to stop talking about the cross because it was embarrassing! Donny brought it and laid it beside the Chapel.
We talked with landscapers. We talked with lighting experts. We talked with painters. We talked with concrete workers. We talked with anyone and everyone we found who would talk to us about some of the phases of the Cross. David Williams found some stadium lights that would put a beam of light 120 feet in the air. We purchased them and they sat in our office for years.
There were several memorials that came to the Chapel for the Cross, the first being from Bob Stevens in memory of his wife Elaine. There were funds from Steve Peters in memory of his wife Sherri. Johnny Rhyne’s family also contributed.
The base lay beside the building way too long. We could not find anyone who could drill a hold large enough, nor wide enough to hold the steel base and the concrete that was needed. Finally, two (2) of our church men came by and told us, “Preacher, we have a man coming this morning who will put that base in the ground!” They were Ricki McKinney and John Scott – and true to their word, men come on May 12, 2022, and left with a base successfully placed at the foot of our Cross. On May 23, 2022, the forms were laid, and the rebar was installed readying the pouring of the concrete slab.
With the concrete base installed, we began looking for help with the Cross. One summer morning in 2022, a wonderful couple attended our services. Afterwards we learned that they owned a steel fabricating company, River City Industries in San Antonio. After service, we told them about our vision and showed them the slab of concrete with the base for the Cross. Two weeks later, Steve and Margaret Jones arrived at my office with a plan. “We will build the Cross, if we can make it 60’ tall, and truck it to Port O’Connor.” We cried with joy – God had sent another team to help us with our goal.

True to their word, the steel arrived on February 25, 2023. It was welded together March 3 by Rudy, with the careful supervision of Steve, and stood up on April 30, 2023. But, we are a little ahead of ourselves. On January 29, 2023, while working, John Scott was killed in a construction accident. At the memorial service, Trent and Ashley Kucera of Victoria Crane came over and told us that John had talked continually about the Cross. John’s enthusiasm was so infectious that Victoria Crain would raise the Cross when we were ready.

River City employees got very involved. We want to mention Hank Perez and especially Ray, who did the engineering. There were many whose efforts and expertise made the project possible.

We had Allen come by and install the lights with the assistance of Clint Beard and John Belden. We had Dwayne lay the base stones, which were donated by Keith and Jana Hermes and put in the “fish” where were inspired by Pastor Joane and created at Tanza, in Edna. Frankie Deloach was around here helping with almost everything. Butch Fincher kept showing up, ready to help at any given time.

Now our story goes into September 2024, when the blocks showed up. Steve and Kyle Hay worked to put them in the exact placement as you see them today. We have requested 7 blocks, but Steve – always trying to do better, brought 8 and eight (8) is the number of New Beginnings – WATCH OUT!

We desperately needed new street lights and our dear neighbors, Dennis and Donna found them, donated them, painted them, and installed them on November 14, 2024!

We are certain that we missed mentioning several people who labored for the Lord with this endeavor. Today, we are honored to say, “God, we feel we have completed this task You have given us AND we as a Community of Believers, who have kept the faith with personal sacrifice are ready for Your Next Assignment! May this Cross bring salvations to Port O’Connor and the surrounding areas!

Thank you, Shorty’s Home Improvement for donating and setting up the Port O’Connor Christmas Tree at King Fisher Beach Pavilion
Folks from the community brought items to decorate it.