The Labor Day fireworks and vendor show ended up being a great way to end the summer in our little village. Thank you to everyone who helped make this event a great success. Hopefully next year we will have the show during the fourth of July weekend.

We are excited to announce that the Port O’Connor Chamber of Commerce has partnered with Elite Fishing Series and the Speedy Stop Open Championship to be held in Port O’Connor on September 19th – 21st. Port O’Connor will be featured and promoted throughout the event, including having our logo on the checks, trophies, and other media. The support of this event will be the first ever frogg toggs Elite Solo Tour and Brecknell Elite Kayak Tour, held in our great community. Our sponsorship with this tour completed the package, allowing the event to be filmed and produced for one of the Elite Solo Tour Episodes on the Discovery Channel.

Our Second Annual Port O’ Connor Boat and Fishing Expo, is scheduled for October 4-6, 2024, at the Port O’ Connor Community Center. There will be a variety of vendors providing marine and fishing products, guide services and several boat manufacturers. We are currently working on the schedule for our Culinary Corner and look forward to learning, from some amazing chefs, how to make some tasty seafood dishes.

Grab your spooky decorations for your vehicle, golf cart, trailer, etc. and decorate your canine too and join us during Trunk or Treat at King Fisher Beach (Park Avenue) on Saturday October 26th. This is a great event for the kids to safely celebrate Halloween and fill those treat buckets. There will be a $100 cash prize for the best decorated and then a prize for Best Dog Costume. Look for the Chamber tent and bring your pup by at 7:30 for them to showcase that costume.

The second Saturday of each month you need to visit the Port O’ Connor Farmers Market at the Kingfisher Beach Pavilion from 8:00-12:00. You can usually find fresh vegetables, jams and jellies, homemade breads, and fresh eggs. Our local artists are there as well with beautiful coastal pieces.

We appreciate our new and renewing members Towboat US-Marine Towing & Salvage in Port O’ Connor and the surrounding areas since 2007. Teresa’s Salon-A full-service salon offering hair, manicures, pedicures and spray tans. Morris Moon Mercantile -Will feature a selection of refined yet approachable pieces, from beautiful home décor to distinctive gifts.

For more information on these businesses and our other chamber members please visit our website at www.portoconnorchamber.com.

On July 31 faculty and staff of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service from across the state gathered in Bryan-College Station for the agency’s Superior Service Awards, the highest recognition given to AgriLife Extension employees in honor of their exemplary service and programming. Among the honorees were Calhoun County agents RJ Shelly and Emilee DeForest.

Shelly, after just four and a half years of dedicated service, was recognized with the Emerging Issues Individual award for his exceptional networking abilities, establishing strong relationships throughout the Gulf Coast, and greatly enhancing the prosperity of numerous coastal communities. Shelly’s leadership in oyster mariculture solidified his reputation as a key advocate for advancing the industry within Texas, spearheading various impactful programming initiatives.

Additionally, Shelly was recognized by Capital Farm Credit as the 2024 County Agent of the Year – Risk Management & Marketing for work done on the economic impact of the Ayres, Mesquite, and Carlos Bay oyster harvesting closures.

Receiving the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Rising Star Award for exceptional work within the first three years of employment was Emilee DeForest, Calhoun County’s 4-H and Youth Development Agent. DeForest was in the first cohort of Rising Start Award winners, representing Texas A&M AgriLife Extension District 11. Emilee has been involved in numerous youth and adult programs including Livestock Judging, Livestock Quiz Bowl, Sportfishing, Consumer Decision Making, Sewing, Shooting Sports, and Food & Nutrition project areas.

Calhoun County is fortunate to have among its AgriLife Extension staff, these two award winning agents.

Not really knowing what I was getting into I gladly agreed to attending an event at Josie’s in Port O’Connor this past 9/11. What I found was a bunch of God-honoring patriots that have served their communities as police officers and their country as servicemen. Thanks to the efforts of John Collins (pictured in the middle of the picture above) and his volunteers there has been an effort to host retreats for these officers as well as for our servicemen over the years. John believes strongly in giving these men a “time-out” as they have served their fellowmen well in pouring out their lives out for others. Retreats have included hunting, fishing, and golf tournaments.

This past 9/11 event was a fishing retreat for policemen and soldiers. In the group there were ten soldiers who had been awarded the Purple Heart for being wounded in action and six policemen. Two of the policemen (pictured left John Klesseraht and pictured right T.R. Hughes) were from New York. They were there when 9/11 happened. The 9/11 attacks were the deadliest terrorist attacks in our history, killing 2,977 people.

Terry Godfrey
A Self-Made Man

Terry Godfrey is a self-made man. On his own at age eleven Terry did what he could to make some money. He entered the Army when he was seventeen. Terry completed basic training at Ft. Polk, Louisiana. His duty stations were in Ft. Bragg, North Carolina and at Camp Casey and Camp Edwards in South Korea. He was honorably discharged from the Army. We salute Terry’s service to our country. Thank you, Terry!

Terry’s dream was to become a crew boat captain on a 100 ft. boat. He went to Captain’s School in New Orleans, Louisiana and was later hired by Arthur Levy Seahorse, a crew and work boat company. For eleven years Terry Godfrey drove crew boats back and forth to oil rigs in Texas and Louisiana. When the oil field collapsed, he drove flat bed trucks for thirty years for different companies. He’s been to all forty-eight states!

Terry was water baptized when he was eleven in a Baptist Church. Commenting about his water baptism he said, “I felt a peace and serenity that passes all understanding.” He, also, stated that “I felt that same peace when my mother passed.” Again, Terry said, “When I rededicated my life at thirty years old, I felt that same peace.” Another comment Terry made about his faith was: “My grandmother read to me on a feather bed the Bible and it saved my life a thousand times over.”

It’s not hard to see that Terry loves the water. He said that when he was growing up his family loved to vacation in Galveston. Terry was born in Arlington, Texas in 1953 and for the past two years he has lived in Seadrift. Terry said, “I looked around and I fell in love with Seadrift and its people.”

Terry is a member of what he calls “the welcoming people” of the Methodist Church. Terry was impressed as a child with the Methodist Church because of its welcoming people. Terry states, “I want to stay in Seadrift because of the people of the Methodist Church.”

-Tanya DeForest

Terry Godrey Then and Now