Library News:
POC Library Hours: Phone Number: 361-983-4365
Sunday – Monday: Closed
Tuesday – Friday: 10:30 AM – 5:00 PM
Saturday: 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
*Note: Closed for Thanksgiving holidays on November 23-25th

What are the advantages of having a library card? Ask Delilah Alford, winner of the Library Card Sign Up Month! She was thrilled with the wonderful basket that our Library Director, Dina Sanchez, made for her. With a library card, you get free access to books, movies, magazines, newspapers, study tools, Internet access, board games, and more. It’s the most valuable card in your wallet! Thank you to everyone that visited the Port O’Connor Library to get a library card.

Visit the Kids Corner and check out the new AWE Computer and take a peek outside at the new bike rack purchased and donated by The Friends. Both are such popular resources already!

Thank you to Sam Burnett for making these adorable Halloween candy boxes and to Susan Wallace for purchasing them from the Farmer’s Market and donating them to the Port O’Connor Library Branch!

Wednesdays:
8:00-9:00 AM – Coffee & Conversation – Coffee with a group of neighbors and friends is a perfect “blend.” Please join us!
*Special Note: No meeting on November 22nd
9:30–10:30 AM – Bingo – The fun follows the 8 AM coffee event on Wednesday! Special thanks to the generosity of the noted sponsors.
● November 1: sponsored by Trinity Shores
● November 8: sponsored by Bethany Senior Living
● November 15 sponsored by Calhoun Home Health
● **Special Note: No meeting on November 22 due to the Thanksgiving holiday
● November 29: sponsored by Victoria Hospice
1:00-3:30 PM – Mah Jongg – Ever felt like you’ve played enough Mah Jongg? Neither have we, Join us for a game today.
Thursdays: 1:00-3:30 PM – Bridge – Please join us. No matter which direction you sit, the cards will always go your way.

Another thank you goes to Sylvia Ragusin for hosting an impromptu game of Loteria after Bingo on October 25th and bringing prizes!! We appreciate your generosity.
Friends of the POC Library:

The Friends collaborate closely with the library in order to help support the needs of the community and meet the needs of library management. This group of people are passionate about the library and support many people in the community with events.

Join us on November 20th from 7:00 – 9:00 PM for A Night of Poetry. Poetry, a literary genre full of sound devices, is meant to be read ALOUD. All are welcome to attend this FREE event and participate as well. Attendees will have a chance to read original poetry or something by a favorite author. Each attendee who wishes to participate will be given an allotted amount of time to read their selection. Time will be adjusted depending on the number of attendees participating. All are welcome.

So much Halloween fun was had at the October Children’s Program. We played Bingo, tried not to drop the “eyeball” from the Spoon Race, participated in Spider Toss, Hat Toss, and a Bean BagToss. We pinned the Spider on the Web, too. We collected points while having fun, fun, fun!

On November 4th another Children’s Program took place with numerous Thanksgiving crafts! We started with Thanksgiving Bingo and had centers for creating turkey headbands, woven placemats, Thanksgiving wreaths, and coloring mats with cool markers.

Be sure to mark your calendar and save the date for the next Super Saturdays Children’s Program, Cookies for Santa, on December 2nd.

Submitted by Darla Miles
Friends of the Port O’ Connor Library, Publicity Committee/Historian
www.friendsofportoconnorlibrary.org
Facebook Page: Friends of the Port O’Connor Library, Inc

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Norma “Lou” Reed Guice of Seadrift, Texas gained her angel wings on October 13, 2023. Lou was born on July 25, 1942 in Lambert, Mississippi to James and Mable (Caine) Reed.

Lou’s favorite place to be was in her kitchen. She was known for her wonderful baking and delicious meals. A person never left her house hungry. When not in her kitchen you could find Lou on her lawnmower zipping through town. Lou also enjoyed decorating for the holidays and she usually had a yearly garden behind her house. Lou loved life, her family, friends, pets, and her community.

Lou was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 53 years, Gene Guice; and her parents and grandson Joshua Foster. She is survived by one brother Harold “Fuzzy” Reed (Sue) of Locke Station, Mississippi and one sister, Judy Reed Massey (Charlie) of Houston, Texas. Three children: Daughter, Karrie Guice of Stonewall, Louisiana, Daughter, Rebecca McCullough of Spring Ridge, Louisiana, and Son Rodney Gene Guice Sr. (Robin) of Seadrift, Texas. Lou also leaves behind seven grandchildren: Ashley Hadwin (Derek), Lauren Baker (Jason), Rodney Guice Jr., Vanessa McCullough, Daniel Foster, Emily Foster, and Sara Guice-Garza (Noel) and six great-grandchildren and a host of nieces and nephews.

Service were held on Saturday, October 21, 2023 at Richardson Colonial Funeral Home in Port Lavaca, Texas.
Lou’s last request was for her and Gene’s ashes to be blended together and placed beneath a big oak tree on their land in Spring Ridge, Louisiana.

Thoughts and memories may be shared at www.richardsoncolonial.com.

This is a hard one to write, that is if I’m going to be honest in this space.

It’s a couple weeks or so until Thanksgiving at the time of writing and the next two months plus will be the Christmas holiday season, maybe even sooner as the ads on television seem to think it started at midnight on Halloween.

So I can take the high road or the low road and I really have no idea who will come to clarity before the other depending on which path they take.

On the high road we have this is a time of thanks, of peace, of love, be it they buy into the true message or not (not to mention they can love and promote peace year around too, but shhh I think it’s a secret), it just is, if I truly chose love over hate, then it should be an easy path to walk.

That low road though, it’s so honest, it speaks of days passing by without purpose, it shows how the cupboards are empty more than anytime before in my life, shows how many things I just don’t want but I need, from basics like clothing or a haircut to other ‘basics’ like a hug or a real moment with someone in front of me in real life I can ‘feel.’

These are not the whims of some Christmas list but real needs.

Some things are byproducts of the past, like anyone’s life, some are new avenues of being brought on by the last couple years of struggle…at times I chafe on the material, I pull on the chain in worry or fear, I want to vent it all out but I can’t most times for fear of being exposed, which would be unwise as a plan for survival.

I want that high road, I need it. I try to not step onto the lower road, I give my gratitude for having what is here, it could indeed be worse. I try to conduct myself in a manner that impedes or hurts no one, but nothing is perfect of course.

I’m also no fool in knowing much work is to be done and even if I had all the basics and even more I’d still have so much to do before I’d feel honest in declaring this life to be lived rather than mostly being a waste.

So I am grateful, I am loving…I do even choose myself even though in some ways I’m very much a stranger to myself, especially when it comes to acceptance and love for that man which I admit may take time as I’m kinda new at that and the weather has been pretty rough lately.

Which roads are you on?

Do you ride the curb this season, do you choose to take the best path you can?

We all step off the road at times, but what is your ultimate destination?

Can you give thanks for the road regardless, can you be so free as to feel this upcoming holiday season, actually feel it rather than just saying it or worse still, trying to buy it?

Richard “Ricky” Irving Kolar, 70, of Seadrift, passed away on November 2, 2023. He was born on October 29, 1953, to Irving Louis Kolar and Claudia Wyatt Kolar. He is survived by his wife, Andrea Wiggins Kolar, son, Harley Louis Kolar, brother, Martin “Marty” Kolar, sister, Linda Kolar Rivera (Augie Rivera), and many nieces, nephews, and cousins. He was preceded in death by both of his parents. Richard was a graduate of Calhoun High School.
He was a retired construction worker who traveled to many states, erecting radar towers. Richard was a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church of Seadrift. He had battled cancer but had been cancer-free for many years. Ricky was a devoted Tennessee Titans fan who enjoyed watching football and cheering for his team. He loved taking trips to Louisiana to gamble with his family and spent many hours on the bay: fishing, water skiing, hunting, shrimping, oystering, swimming, and tin boat racing during his earlier years.

Richard will be cremated, and there will be no visitation or service. His cremains will be interred at the Dewville Cemetery alongside his parents and at his favorite fishing spot on San Antonio Bay in a private service.

How do you sign off your letters? Maybe you end them with “love,” or “sincerely,” before signing. As a teenager I ended most of them “Signed Sincerely, Jack,” referring to a song I loved back then. A bit redundant, but it held meaning for me as a teen!

The Epistle to the Romans, also known as the Book of Romans, is the longest of Paul’s epistles. It holds many critical readings necessary to understanding the depth of the Christian faith, and it’s believed to serve a specific purpose: to explain that salvation is offered through the Gospel. Romans is a powerful read, and one that’s filled to the brim with messages of salvation, transformation, and – hope.

Paul signs off multiple times through the epistle- sometimes with words resembling a benediction, and other times with an urge or a request. But the one that calls my attention today is found about halfway through Romans 15. In verse 13, Paul writes, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” And what a sign-off that is! A necessary one these days.

Anxiety rates are rising, and there’s no surprise why. We’re fed constant streams of bad news and tragedy online; the world’s becoming more expensive by the year; and division all over makes it more difficult for us to feel connected in peace and joy. But Paul’s sign-off gives us a different perspective that lifts my heart and fills me with hope and joy. He didn’t tell us we’d receive these blessings from just anywhere, but somewhere – someone – specific. As it says: “may the God of hope fill you” with the blessings above.

God used Paul, and this letter, to inspire hope for all back then, and today. Something as simple as signing off on a letter still sparks positivity and light thousands of years later. How much more can God use us today to spread these messages of hope, joy, peace, and more? We could encourage one another in conversation, on social media, or any number of places by reminding one another that our hope comes from the Lord – from the God of Hope. I pray you’ll give it a shot in your own life this week!

“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13

Jack Cochran
Pastor – Seadrift UMC
Please join us on Sundays at 11:00 a,m,