Lifestyle
El Campo Leader-News • Wednesday, September 23, 2015
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Who Will Be Crowned? Louise High School will crown their King and Queen during a half-time ceremony Friday at Hornet Stadium. Nominees pictured left to right are LHS seniors Blaine Machicek, Nikki Bain, Jase Bill, Breona Long, Nicole Valcik, Tyler Collins, Valerie Cardenas and Fabian Cardenas.
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Louise High homecoming nominees announced Nikki Bain Favorites: Volleyball and Wharton County Youth Fair. Favorite subject: Ag classes. If chosen homecoming queen ... “If I was chosen homecoming queen it would mean the world to me to be able to represent our school and also to feel honored and blessed that my high school classmates chose me to be queen.” I enjoy being a student at LHS because ... “I enjoy the small classes and the opportunity to have one on one time with the teachers.”
Valerie Cardenas Favorites: Powerlifting; I love to do hair and make-up. Favorite subject: Science. If chosen homecoming queen... “To be nominated is a privilege, but to be Queen would be an honor.” I enjoy being a student at LHS because ... “I’m a senior and I love the friends I have and everybody who goes to Louise.”
Breona Long Favorites: Spending time with animals, reading, watching movies, riding horses. Favorite subject: AP biology. If chosen homecoming queen ... “Considering that I didn’t really expect to be nominated, it’s meaningful. It’s a good feeling to know that my peers think so well of me.” I enjoy being a student at LHS because ... “Majority of everyone gets along with each other, and our senior class is pretty fantastic.”
Nicole Valcik Favorites: Cheer, softball. Favorite subject: Animal science. If chosen homecoming queen ... “Being chosen Queen to me would mean that people see me as a role model. It would make me feel that people see me in a positive way.” I enjoy being a student at LHS because ... “I enjoy being a student at Louise High because it’s a small school, we are big on sports, and the teachers are nice and helpful.”
Jase Bill Favorites: Playing football, hanging out with my friends and listening to music. Favorite subject: Science. If chosen homecoming king ... “It would be a special experience and I would be honored to represent the class of 2016.” I enjoy being a student at LHS because ... “It is pretty cool how our school is so small that everybody knows everybody.”
Cristian Cardenas Favorites: Football. Favorite subject: Spanish. If chosen homecoming king ... “I would be one step closer to being a legend.” I enjoy being a student at LHS because ... “I have opportunities to become successful in my future.”
Tyler Collins Favorites: Football, baseball, hunting and fishing. Favorite subject: Ag Mechanics. If chosen homecoming king ... “It would mean that I am looked at as a good representative for my school and community.” I enjoy being a student at LHS because ... “The fact that the community is involved in everything the school does.”
Blaine Machicek Favorites: Sports, hunting, fishing. Favorite subject: History. If chosen homecoming king ... “Whether I win or lose, I’m still a hooper (basketball player).” I enjoy being a student at LHS because ... “Everyone knows everyone and gets along.”
Louise High School will announce their 2015 Homecoming Court during Friday’s halftime festivities when the Louise Hornets take on the Tidehaven Tigers. Kick off is 7:30 p.m. The Homecoming pep rally is 3:10 p.m. Friday in the High School Gym. Vying For Queen Nominees for Queen are Nikki Bain, daughter of Mark Bain; Valerie Cardenas, daughter of Robert and Isabel Cardenas; Breona Long, daughter of Shelia Long and Nicole Valcik, daughter of Melissa Garza. Who Will Be King? King nominees are Jase Bill, son of Joe Bill and Crystal Bertrand; Fabian “Cristian” Cardenas, son of Fabian and Lorena Cardenas; Tyler Collins, son of Craig Collins, Amie Collins and Steve Chanek and Blaine Machicek, son of Joseph and Cheryl Machicek. Prince/Princess Nominees for Junior Princess and Prince are Shelby Koudela, Amanda Lutringer and McKenna McCown and Tariq Barron, Carlos Garcia and Brandon O’Neal. Duke/Duchess Sophomore Duchess and Duke nominees are Brenda Alvarez, Sanae Brandes and Kirsten Vajdos and Will Ermis, Robert Martinez and Aidan Pressler. Lord/Lady Nominees for Freshman Lady and Lord are Madison Bartlett, Leslie Briano and Gabriella Rodriguez and Aaron Cardenas, Collin Gonzales and Kristian Munoz.
High school sweethearts tie the knot after 60 years Couple rekindle love relationship By QUALA MATOCHA lifestyle@leader-news.com
Together Again Engaged to each other 60 years ago, Vada (Morton) and Marvin Machart went their separate ways after she broke off their engagement. After failed marriages, their paths met again and their love was rekindled. The couple recently married and are happy to say they were meant to be together ... even after 60 years. The Macharts live in the home Vada grew up in on FM 1300.
It took Marvin Machart 60 years to propose to his high school sweetheart again. Back in the mid to late 50s, Vada Morton and Machart were serious about each othMarvin Machart er, dated for five years 19 years old and then he asked her to marry him. It was she who broke off the engagement and they went their separate ways. “I have regretted it ever since,” she said. The couple finally made those vows a reality as they married in her childhood home on FM 1300 where they now live together. Marvin and Vada weren’t childhood sweethearts, but they were friends in the beginning. “His family used to drive by our home and he waved to me as they passed by,” she said. “His siblings always teased him about waving to his girlfriend.” This was in the mid to late 40s. She was around seven or eight years old at the time
Vada Morton 16 years old
and he was 11 or 12. But how did they become a couple, the first time that is? “Years later, about 1953, we were destined to meet in a little country church just three miles down the road from my home,” Vada recalls. “One of his favorite memories is buying my box lunch at a church social. We began dating
soon afterward.” She was 14, he was 17; she was a freshman and he was a senior. Their’s was a unique relationship; they didn’t do the usual date-type activities, like going to the movies or a dance. “Our dates included simple and fun things such as grape picking, frog gigging, coon hunting, pecan thrashing, fishing, swimming in rice canals...not what you’d call your typical dates. The age of innocence flowed over into our relationship,” she said. (See COUPLE BECOME, Page 7-B)
El Campo Leader-News • Wednesday, September 23, 2015
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– Couple become reacquainted, marry after six decades him, ‘you won’t believe this but I just shredded all your love letters about three weeks After Marvin graduated ago.’” in 1955, Vada said her dad However, the couple rewould not allow them to get cently found a sealed and married, so Marvin forgotten box of some of joined the Navy. his love letters in the at“I was in love, wanttic of the home she grew ed to get married and up in, the same home raise a family,” he said. they now share as man “Because Vada’s Dad and wife. wouldn’t let us get Over the following married, I volunteered months and numerous for the draft and was phone conversations, the drafted into the Navy couple rekindled their instead of the Army. I love. Both were also dimight be too young to vorced by then. get married, but I’m not “Our love for one antoo young to fight in the other was always there... Korean War.” though hidden in a life of The two kept a longjust existing,” she said. distance relationship for “Over the years, he had awhile. never forgotten me, nor I “During those two him. There is just someyears, letters passed bething about your first tween us and our love love, your true and forfor one another grew ever love, your soul mate, stronger, and we got enthat you never forget,” gaged,” she said. she said. “After his two-year So why get married so hitch, he returned home late in life? a more mature person. “Life is too short to Sadly, you could say, just go though the mohe had outgrown this tions, even though I had county girl,” she said. a good life and great fam“Three months prior to ily, there was always an our wedding date, my unfillable void,” Vada 18th birthday on Aug. said. 29, 1958, I made a bad What do you admire call by returning his enabout each other? gagement ring.” “I admire his boldness “I was disappointed for life and his spontaneand very sad,” Marvin ousness,” she said. “We said. “My life was at a share a love for many of turning point, but I had Contributed Photo the same things and he to go on.” Prom Date makes me complete. He Even though she Vada Morton and Marvin Machart pictured at the El Campo High School admires my accomplishbroke up with him, she prom during the 50s. They were engaged and kept a long-distance relationments, good looks and had “hoped he’d change ship while he was in the Navy, but she broke off the engagement, regretting personality and the abiland want to get back that decision for years. Now the couple have reunited, married recently and ity to carry on a meantogether, but that never live off of FM 1300. ingful conversation.” happened. We both lived “After all the empty to regret that decision years of not being able to only to forever carry a get her out of my mind, I feel love for one another, deep in had four children and she about their love story. “One of his younger sis- my dreams have come true each of our hearts, wonder- too worked several jobs and ing ‘what if’ and is he or she operated a few at-home busi- ters was once married to my and my life is complete,” Marnesses. cousin,” Vada said. “It was vin said. happy?” As years passed, their at this cousin’s funeral on a They went their separate ways, marrying and pursuing paths eventually crossed chilly, overcast day that our eyes met after 57 years. While jobs, raising a family. Marvin again. “After my 50th class re- waiting for the hearse to arworked as a DJ for KULP Radio, had numerous jobs, union in 2008, a former class- rive, we talked of memories, owned some businesses and mate and I partnered up to regrets and possibly working ended up in the construction write and publish eight books. together on writing our story. Marvin’s oldest sister kept We both teared up when I told business. (Continued from Page 5-B)
“His unhappy marriages ended in divorce after coming to terms with the fact that he still loved me,” she said. Vada and her husband
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El Campo Leader-News • Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Come On In
Page 13
Blue-collar bar more family gathering place than watering hole
“Here, if somebody doesn’t show up, we call and check on them. It’s like family,” he said. “You can’t get that feeling on the Internet.” A free shuttle service is available by reservation too. Like most places, the SunnySide crowd varies based on the hour – older folk come early while the younger ones stay late. Weekdays tend to be for the working folk or those who still putter around. “We get younger on the weekends, but it’s not a real young crowd – it’s more mature,” Holub said, guessing the average patron age would be near 40. And they like it like that.
By SHANNON CRABTREE news@leader-news.com “Anybody can drink at home, but what fun is that?” Sheldon Holub says as he waves to folks he refers to as friends and neighbors more than customers. Spotting someone new, he’s quick to introduce himself, say thanks for coming to SunnySide Saloon and let me introduce you around. His 1214 S. Mechanic bar sells beer and set ups, although Holub says there’s not many that bring liquor in – instead sodas and water mostly sell to be consumed “as is” just like the bottled tea. “A lot of people don’t drink. They come in and drink cokes,” Holub said. “You don’t have to drink to come in here. It doesn’t hurt us at all.” SunnySide is a stereotypical old-fashioned bar from the neon signs on the walls and low lights to the juke box and pool tables. All that’s missing is the haze. Smoking was relegated to a back room about a year ago balancing city regulations for restaurants with barroom traditions and battered lungs. “It hurt us in the beginning,” Holub said. “But now,
Bar Keep with the smoke room back there, we’ve gained more people.” People are what makes SunnySide special, Holub said,
Allison Bundick is behind the bar most days from opening to closing. She’s a quiet, petite gal with long brown hair and a few tattoos. Bundick doesn’t say much aside from asking what you’d like, but she listens. And, listening is something the men at the bar seem to appreciate. Most are veterans more than willing to share war (See REGULARS, Page 14)
BAR SCENES: The SunnySide Saloon crew (top l-r) of manager Allison Bundick along with Sheldon and Karen Holub welcome visitors; at left: Sheldon offers a visitor a cold one; above: dominoes ready to play; and at right: Kutch Albrecht decides which rock to play next. L-N Photos by Shannon Crabtree
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Page 14
El Campo Leader-News • Wednesday, October 28, 2015
—Regulars like family
(Continued from Page 13) stories. All are blue collar – farmers, carpenters, tradesmen, oilfield workers and machinists. “During the day, it’s the local retired people. As the day goes along the crowd gets younger and younger,” Bundick said. “They’re all good hard-working people.” Several have come to SunnySide for decades and talk about “the old place” like it just moved over a few weeks ago rather than in 1993. Ask them about how often the place sees trouble and you get blank stares before caps come off and the head scratching starts. There was some, sometime, they said, “But it’s been awhile.” The group consensus is years. It’s just not that kind of place. “It’s a friendly crowd. It’s how we made it to be,” Bundick said. The Regulars
“We just come in and talk about our day,” one dark-headed fella said, sitting at the bar nursing a beer and absolutely not wanting to give his name. Sam Crippen and Floyd Shimek nodded in agreement. “We don’t talk about politics or religion,” Crippen said. A former oil field worker originally from the Lockhart/Luling area, the retired Crippen now walks with a cane and says proudly he comes in most days – more to visit than anything else. Shimek is a contractor by trade and can build a house from the ground up.
But at 84, his knees have about given out. Now he makes window screens, trouble-shoots issues on rental houses and plays dominoes. As the glass door swings open they turn that way, generally offering at least a nod to all who come through. Most know one another, but they’re not a bashful group, quickly turning to subjects like the weather or long days just to get a conversation going when the guy or gal addling up to the bar is someone new. Most SunnySide tables, like the bar, are long – the better to get folks to sit in a group. The domino tables are right up front, you can’t miss DOMINO TALK: A regular at the Sunday domino tournament, Lillie Kutach reminisces as she looks them. The stage is to the left for her next count. L-N Photo by Shannon Crabtree and pool tables to the back. On the right hand wall is fore, but it was a grocery store first.” a bulletin board full photographs, wedDomino Days Mostly, Kutach said, she comes ding announcements and even funeral Sunday – for dominoes, conversation programs, part of the collective memory Lillie Kutach’s eyes light up when and, just maybe, a beer. “There’s not of a place in counting its anniversaries she’s asked about SunnySide and domi- too many places like this left. They’re in decades. noes. Clutching her’s like a hand of closing down a lot. It’s hard times for A recipe book for sale at the bar recards, she looks around the table at fac- people. But here, everybody’s nice here. cords the patrons favorites – many of There’s no trouble.” which have been brought up on a Sun- es she’s seen for decades. She’s known Pausing a moment to sit her rocks the owner since he was a little boy. day for all to share. aside, she grasps hands – the better to “I’ve been going here for the longest “The people make it worthwhile,” (See HURRICANE, Page 15) time. There was a beer joint here beHolub said. “It’s really heartwarming.”
JUST ANOTHER DAY: Sam Crippen (above left) visits with bar manager Allison Bundick during the early afternoon. He comes most days, he says, just to visit for a bit. Politics and religion aren’t covered at SunnySide, the talk tends more toward family,
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El Campo Leader-News • Wednesday, October 28, 2015
Page 15
—Hurricane gives birth to bar (Continued from Page 14) look you straight in the eye. “I’m going to be 93 in December,” she says with a Cheshire Cat grin. “They’re going to throw me a birthday party. You wanta come?” She wears bright red today, festive. She’s here to play in the weekly Sunday tournament. “All I know how to play is straight, 42, Moon,” Kutach said. “I love to come here.” Walter Selzinsky, a hay cutter in his 80s, is there for the game Sunday too. He “don’t drink no more,” but still enjoys the competition. Everyday, any day, is a domino day at SunnySide if a foursome can be found. Georgia Meyer plays on a Thursday afternoon next to Raymond “Kutch” Albrecht, the now almost blind man who once ran the establishment. “I had it one year (1964),” he said. “The atmosphere hasn’t changed. It’s a friendly bunch of people. Some of the oldtimers have passed off and some young ones have come in.” Albrecht moved to El Campo in 1955, worked for the power company and ultimately retired from there. Like most of the men, he’s a veteran too. The regulars rank Albrecht among the better
players – even if he struggles with being able to see the dots. Other players shout out what goes down – two, five; blank, six; double six. Somehow, he keeps it in his head as he determines his next move, the next count. “I’m blind. I can’t hear. But I can still feel,” he said, running his fingers over the hollowed out dots on a rock. They met, Meyer said, in a Louisiana casino. She had run out of money, wanted simply to watch for a while. Al-
PLAYING FOR THE HOME CROWD: Recently returned from Alaska, Keith Junot (top) performs for the crowd on a recent Saturday. The fiddle player has won multiple competitions for his ability - just like his father; at left: Russell Junot sings along with his brother Keith; below: Ace St. Clair takes a turn on the dance floor with his mom Melody. L-N Photos by Shannon Crabtree
brecht asked why she wasn’t gambling, handed over $200 and told her to play. The act of kindness, led to friendship, and, ultimately, to Meyers moving to El Campo two years ago. She recites the tale with a smile while and the rest of the players nod and, at times, inject a detail she skipped over – it’s just that kind of place. History Lesson SunnySide opened its doors in 1961 with Jerome Holub, Sheldon’s father, running the place. “It was after Hurricane Carla,” Sheldon said. “I’m guessing they had a tough year.” Crops throughout Texas were destroyed by the monster storm with just Wharton County damage measuring in the millions (in 1961 dollars).
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His father needed to supplement the family income, so he worked in the oilfield and opened the place in an out-ofbusiness grocery store two doors down from the current site. “It got to be too much, so it was leased out to different owners,” Sheldon Holub said. Back then SunnySide opened at 8 a.m. to welcome shift workers from plants like El Campo Aluminum who weren’t quite ready to go home after a full night’s work. Instead they came for a beer, dominoes or even a coffee and kolache breakfast. “There was a lot more shift work then,” he said. Talk to a half dozen people and you’ll get eight stories about how many bars and restaurants were in El Campo then, but most remembered going to SunnySide. “It was a family place back in the day,” Holub said, adding whole families came. Albrecht recalled that too, saying he and the Holub family go way back. “Sheldon Holub? I knew his dad and mother before he was born,” he said, adding he and Holub’s father were hunting buddies. Sheldon Holub graduated El Campo High School in 1976 and ultimately married his Markham girl, Karen. Their son Chase farms fish in Blessing. The couple has two grandchildren. Karen Holub runs Mosaics by Karen across the road. He’s is a farmer, but decided to take over the business in 2007 after the tenant dropped out and he lost his milo (See WALKING IN, Page 16)
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Page 16
El Campo Leader-News • Wednesday, October 28, 2015
—Walking in like ‘coming home,’ saloon owner says (Continued from Page 15) crop. “We (he and Karen) were here 24/7,” he said. “We were open 2 p.m. to 2 a.m., then we had to clean and then the delivery trucks showed up.” “Sometime in ‘08, I found Allison Bundick,” Holub said. ”She’s been a blessing.” From Van Vleck, 33-yearold Allison Bundick has a fan club among the patrons – everybody wants to tell you how good a job she does, how much they like her and that the place wouldn’t run without her. Bundick just gives a lopsided grin and makes the rounds of the L-shaped bar dispensing what drinks are needed before going back to stocking the cooler. “Karen and Sheldon went to church with my mom and stepdad. They talked me into (coming to work at SunnySide).” She works six days a week. The bar is closed on Monday. “I’m always here,” she said. “The people I work for? They’re awesome. They’re like parents.” The jukebox – an Internetbased one that will play just about any song you can think of – turns on and whispers more than belts a song from a few decades ago, loud enough to hear, but soft enough not to break up conversations. “It’s real laid back,” Bundick said. “It’s all like a big family.”
MEMORIES ON THE WALL: Sheldon Holub points out individuals on SunnySide’s board, a site containing everything from party photos to wedding, graduation and funeral notices. Visitors are more than just customers, he says.
L-N Photo by Shannon Crabtree
The overall feel of the place remains that of a classic watering hole – so long as your version of that includes the wife, husband, mom, dad and/or the neighbor next door. “It’s really family-oriented, neighbor friendly,” Karen Holub said. “The same people come in for years and years and years. How About Some Entertainment? Bikers come sometimes, but they could be anything from
police officers and attorneys to architects and mechanics behind the weekend leathers. Pool tournaments have quickly become a tradition with the American Pool Association group there. The crowds may be the largest when there’s a Saturday tournament, Bundick said. But the live music packs folks in too. Recently back from Alaska, El Campo native Keith Junot brings his brothers and his fiddle up there every month to six weeks.
“It’s like a high school reunion,” Brian Shimek said as Junot played on a recent Saturday night. “I know just about everybody here, but some I haven’t seen since high school.” Mostly Shimek comes with his dad Floyd to play dominoes on Sunday afternoon. But he graduated from El Campo in 1976, the same year as Sheldon. Junot graduated in 1978. Hearing a classmate was going to sing and play was more than he and many others from the same Ricebird class
—Rice farmers (Continued from Page 9) ments to its sales and service business in the late 80s and a second Mr. Tire Auto Service Center was opened in Bay City in January 2015. “Tires are doing good,” Little said, adding the bulk of their fuel business is farm diesel. “A lot of irrigated wells have been changed to natural gas because it’s cheaper. That’ll cycle. It always has.” Due to increased competition with large industries, the coop got out of the
could resist. “I’m enjoying the hell out of it,” Junot said. “All my people are coming. Before, I was out on the road, just everywhere.” Junot plays a right-handed fiddle with his left, just like his dad, Ed, the Cajun Fiddler who died in 1987. Both father and son have won scores of fiddling contests including the famed Fiddler’s Frolics in Hallestville. SunnySide served as a movie set in 2012 with many of the patrons taking the roles of extras, doing what they’d be doing anyway if all that production equipment wasn’t in the way. The film – Homebound – is set in El Campo and features SunnySide as a focal point of the community, a family place going generations back. Sound familiar? Don’t Call It Work Sheldon Holub and his wife Karen are the owners, but, for Sheldon, it’s more than just a business. “It’s a sentimental thing,” he said. “It’s kind of tough at times, any business is. “I take it to heart. So many people come through those doors. So many times I hear my grandpa came here or my dad. It’s home.”
fertilizer blending business in 2003. Land adjacent to its current facility was recently purchased with plans to build a new tire and auto service center as well as a new retail fuel facility. “There’s got to be something we can do to help the farmers,” Little said. Little plans to be around for a few more years, retiring when he’s 70, he said. “We’ve been fairly successful or we wouldn’t be in business 75 years,” Little said, adding he contributes that to the loyalty of the farmers and his employees. “I love doing what I do,” Little said. “I want to carry on the dreams of the guys who built this thing.”
TEAM WORK: Rice Farmers Coop, Mr. Tire General Manager Bobby Little takes a set of keys from customer service worker Kristen Whitlock. RFC is celebrating 75 years in business this year.
L-N Photo by Jody Larimer
IN BUSINESS SINCE 1982
33 YEARS
IN BUSINESS SINCE 1902
1 13 YEARS
Community Banking Since 1902. Founded in 1982, BLS Construction, Inc., is locally one of the most experienced and respected providers of commercial construction services. BLS Construction, Inc. approaches each project with a cooperative mindset, and works with clients, architects and subcontractors toward the common goal – successful project delivery. Through technical skill, preconstruction and construction management, we anticipate project challenges, develop solutions that meet clients’ objectives and ultimately deliver quality projects. We hire professionals to manage all aspects of the job to ensure it’s being completed on schedule and to your satisfaction. Over the past 33 years, BLS Construction, Inc. has been involved in helping build the local community. This has contributed to our success and we have enjoyed seeing each project positively influence the town. We appreciate the continued support and look forward to many more years of making history in El Campo.
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At NewFirst, our people have made a difference and will continue to make a difference in our community. Offering over 113 years of private ownership and banking experience. 202 E. Jackson St. • El Campo, TX 979-543-3349