Rusty & Denise Crane, Rob & Sharon Snider
Texas Master Naturalists

Congratulations! New Certified Texas Master Naturalists

Port O’Connor area residents Denise and Rusty Crane and Sharon and Rob Snider successfully completed the initial training program and volunteer hour requirements to become certified Texas Master Naturalists.

The mission of the program is to develop a corps of well-informed volunteers to provide education, outreach, and service dedicated to the beneficial management of natural resources and natural areas within their communities for the state of Texas. What makes the work of a Master Naturalist so important is that they are not only individuals who love nature and offer their time but are also trained naturalists with specialized knowledge of local ecosystems, species, habitats, and environmental demands.

The Mid-Coast Chapter comprises of eight counties including Calhoun, Victoria, Jackson, Matagorda, Goliad, Refugio, Aransas and San Patricio. The initial training program consists 10 Saturday programs which provide hands-on experiences across the chapter’s counties. The next training will be offered in February 2019. If you are interested, contact the program coordinators initialtraining@midcoast-tmn.org

www.midcoast-tmn.org or Find Us on Facebook: Mid-Coast Texas Master Naturalists.

Well, it finally happened this May. School ended, kids were promoted, awards were giving and the legendary 1st grade teacher, Mrs. Judy Anderson, retired from the classroom at POC Elementary.Administrators, co-workers, students, former students and their families honored her for her years of service and dedication to the children of Port O’Connor. She will be sorely missed.

Mrs. Anderson graduated from the University of Texas and began teaching in Kindergarten, but soon moved to 1st grade where she found her niche. She was the daughter and granddaughter of former teachers, so she came well equipped for the job.
For 40 years Mrs. Anderson has combined rigorous academics with gentle instruction in social skills and life skills. She has created an environment for success for POC Elementary students blessed enough to have her as their teacher. Mrs. Anderson has touched the lives of so many students in her years of teaching, but the parents of those students say they have been touched too.

She is an extraordinary teacher and has a gift for working with children. She has had the unique and small town special privilege of teaching multiple sibling groups, children and grandchildren of her former students and her own children in our highly rated local elementary school. She has helped numerous other young teachers develop their craft, implemented countless programs and teaching techniques, attended hours and hours of ongoing educational development and endured more administration and staff changes than you could even count. She has taught gifted and challenged students, willing learners and those so challenging even their Moms weren’t sure they would make it through 1st grade.

In her years of service in Texas education, Mrs. Anderson has endured more than twelve policy and curriculum rewrites and overhauls, but she never quit exceeding the state standards with POC 1st graders. She often went above and beyond the highly demanding duties of classroom teaching when she coordinated Christmas programs, helped with the student food pantry, chaired the Christmas Angel Tree project, supervised special extracurricular activities and provided before and after school tutoring and extra help to struggling students.

She also shared in a thriving local family business and raised two sons of her own. One son remarked when leaving Mom’s ‘s 1st grade classroom that his mom would go with him and be his teacher all the way to graduation. It seems she has done just that. In fact, when Mrs. Anderson leaves her 1st grade classroom this summer, they won’t even have to change the name on the door. Her son, Mr. Collin Anderson will step right in to teach and shape the next group of students at POC Elementary. He has a big teacher’s chair to fill. I know he will be a success as well. He learned from one of the best.

Congratulations, Mrs. Judy Anderson and enjoy your retirement!

Surviving the Island Heat

Greetings from the island everyone. I hope all of you are doing well and are surviving this scorching south Texas heat that we have been having the past several weeks. And to make it worse, the island has not had any measurable rain for the last two months, causing my garden to really suffer. I’m trying to keep the tomato and melon plants watered, but I certainly need several inches of rain. This is probably one of my poorest tomato crops in several years, and I believe it is because of the heat and lack of rain. But I will never give up, I love to garden and grow delicious island tomatoes.

Warrior’s Weekend was a great success a few weeks ago in POC. I spent some time at the sand sculpture display out at the Community Center, and met the highly talented sculptors as they began and completed the most beautiful displays, made entirely from 250 tons of sand. I treated the sculptors and volunteers to shrimp salad that I brought them at lunch from J&H Shrimp in POC; that stuff is so good. It was a pleasure being a small part of this amazing Warrior sand sculpture display that was created in the Warriors’ honor. It truly was a beautiful sight, and can still be viewed at the Community Center.

On the Warrior fishing day on Saturday, I helped out by giving golf cart rides to the volunteer boat captains that had to park their trucks far away, and then I enjoyed watching throughout the day as the Warriors brought in lots of fish that they caught. Later that evening, I attended a delicious bbq dinner that was held for all of them and anyone that wanted to attend. I hope to be a part of this wonderful Warrior’s Weekend for years to come.

On Memorial weekend I was at the Front Beach for the POC Chamber of Commerce sponsored kids fishing tournament and kite flying contest. It was fun watching the kids fish and have such big smiles on their faces, seeing them catch an assortment of fish, from tiny to actual legal keepers. And later that day, I counted 16 pretty kites being flown by the kids, filling the Front Beach sky with beautiful vibrant kite colors. Thank you POC Chamber of Commerce and Donnie Klesel for sponsoring these events.

One of the ways I’ve been cooling off in this heat, not having AC out here, is to occasionally drive down to Pass Cavallo and enjoy a nice cool swim. I usually meet there with friends after they venture over across the bay in their boat. It’s a great way to visit and relax, and enjoy God and nature’s liquid AC relief.

The dreaded “H” word season is upon us, so I always have to begin making preparations and plans for possible hurricane landfalls near me. Last year Harvey was a brutal reminder that it could happen to our area, and you simply have to be prepared. I know that my boat trailer is in dire need of some axle repairs due to the always present corrosion. In case I need to pull my boat out of the water and leave it somewhere on the mainland, the trailer must be ready, and evacuation plans need to be made in advance. Prepare for the worst, and pray for the best.

Maintenance is always an issue out here on this barrier island, not only with house related issues, but also my boat. My Haynie Bigfoot, which I purchased new in April 2000, sits in the water 24/7, so barnacles and algae attaching to the bottom of the hull are a constant problem. Every 6-8 weeks, especially during the summer months, I have to physically get into the water and scrape the barnacles off the bottom of the boat. If this isn’t done, the barnacles create a terrible resistance drag on the boat as it’s going through the water, making the outboard work much harder and using much more fuel. Just part of island life residency.

I want to thank the Dolphin Talk Island Life readers that continue to approach me at different places to say how much they enjoy reading the articles. Jimmy Berkovsky from Shiner, Susan Pair from Ganado, Phyllis Brisker from Houston/POC and Kevin at POC Speedy Stop, I appreciate all of your kind words.

Well that’s it from the island for now, everyone please take care and have a great day.

A precious little girl watches as Warrior sand sculpture volunteer Susan Braudaway writes the name of the girl’s Warrior dad on the Wall Of Hope”. -Photo by Clint Bennetsen

On Monday June 4th 2018, the Seadrift Masonic Lodge Number 1098 presented Mrs. Joyce Rhyne with the Community Builders Award. This honor is presented to those citizens of the community who have demonstrated their continued support of community projects which improve the overall quality of the community and surrounding area. Honorable District Deputy Grand Master Mike Calhoun made the presentation.

Also receiving the Golden Trowel Award for outstanding service to Seadrift Masonic Lodge was Mr. James Washek of Port O’Connor. He has endeavored to be active in Lodge functions and provides a continuing effort in maintaining the Lodge building.

Mr. Joe Beaver of Seadrift received recognition for becoming an Endowed Member of Seadrift Lodge. This is achieved when the member provides a specified amount of funds which is placed in a perpetual fund to aid in the ongoing functioning of the Lodge.

Award presented to Jim Washek

Award presented to Joe Beaver

Deputy Grand Master Mike Calhoun presents award to
Joyce Rhyne, Editor of Dolphin Talk

Participants in the Kite Contest
-Photo by Susan Braudaway

We had another good turn-out for the POC Chamber of Commerce’s Kite Flying Contest on Memorial Weekend. It was a beautiful day to fly. We had 17 entries, ages 5 years to adult. We had participants from Fort Worth, San Antonio, Lufkin and Austin – even a couple from Nebraska.

A big ‘Thank You’ to Doug Smith and his family and friends for all the help. Fun was had by all!

Thank you, James & Shirley Harper