COVER PHOTOGRAPHY BY Les Hassell CONTACT US (903) 984-2593 • news1@kilgorenewsherald.com
Gaston Museum helped share history of Joinerville area, East Texas Oil Boom
YOU HAVE Grit
TO HAVE Grit
story by LUCAS STROUGH | photos by LES HASSELL
Kilgore first began to thrive in the East Texas Oil Boom nearly 100 years ago but, these days, the city is home to a diverse variety of businesses small and large. Local business owners make the city a better place to live and their success translates to success for the city at large.
Verenice Ordorica is one of these business owners, and her story paints a picture of what is possible for a small business owner in East Texas. Taking over her family’s business of Edgars’s Big Taco was just her first step. She now owns and operates the historic Circle Cafe and has her eyes set on the future and more accomplishments.
“My dad started the taco business back when I was 9 years old, so it was 1995,” Ordorica said, describing how she first got involved in entrepreneurship.
“And before that we had another family business that had closed, it was the end of that chapter. On my mom’s side of the family, they’re pretty much all entrepreneurs and it was normal for someone to have a business. No one on her side of the family really thought of a career as working for someone else.”
This early foundation set Ordorica up for future success and she found that the friendly and family-focused environment of Kilgore was the right location for her goals and lifestyle.
“If you want to balance owning a business with having a family, there is still that culture here in Kilgore where family life is important. You have that freedom on Sundays to attend church or have family time. Although, when you’re selfemployed, sometimes on Sundays you’re not really off! Once you’re established, you get to enjoy those Sundays off. Sometimes I’ve had a situation where we are closed to attend a graduation.
Verenice Ordorica took the business acumen she learned growing up and became a Kilgore success story |
"Don’t hold yourself back"
The culture in Kilgore really understands that it’s OK if you’re closed because you’re supporting your kids at a school event you need to be a part of.”
Ordorica’s responsibilities began when she was very young. She had to step up to help her mother and father with business responsibilities, including translating for them when they interacted with others. While this was a major responsibility, Ordorica says it was a chance for her to grow and develop a strong belief in herself.
“At a young age, I had to translate for my dad and my mom, as well. There’s an eight year gap between my brother and I, so once he went to college, I was the next one in line to translate. Whether it was with paperwork or verbally, anything. When it came to contractors or vendors or banks or even meeting with the president of the bank, I had to be there. It taught me to have confidence at a young age to not be intimidated. It also taught me at a young age when one person might tell you no or a bank might say no or a contractor might say no, you don’t give up. You go and find someone else who will say yes,” she said.
These early experiences showed her the importance of sticking with it and how to develop an often overlooked component of entrepreneurial success: grit.
“You have to have grit,” Ordorica said.
“Basically, you have to find your own way, so you have to have ambition and set goals. You have to understand there will be seasons where it’s good, right? And you will also have seasons where it’s hard. You have to save your money and have responsibility. No one is telling me to get up early. You have to set the tone for your staff as well. I’ve noticed that if the boss has a great work ethic, the rest of the environment will have a great
work ethic as well.”
Serving as a role model and inspiration for employees helps her businesses run smoothly. By demonstrating the value of hard work, she can teach others how to take those lessons and apply them in their own lives. This is key to a successful business, she said, noting a business owner must be able to meet employees where they are and adjust to different personalities.
“Understanding different personalities and how to handle them is important. With some personalities, you have to verbally remind people how great they’re doing and they like that. Some of the staff don't want to be seen. You just leave them alone and they do their work and they’re content!”
Knowing that another graduating class of seniors recently picked up their diplomas at Kilgore High School, Ordorica offered some advice for those who seek to set out on their own path, whether in a career or in entrepreneurship:
“Don’t hold yourself back,” she advised.
“If your friends and families aren’t business owners, they might discourage you, but if you have a strong feeling to pursue a business or a career, go for it! If you need a loan from one bank and they say no, go to another bank or figure out how to get a yes. A lot of times, we want reassurance from people around us to do something, but a lot of times people get stuck in their comfort zone and discourage us.”
She said she felt encouraged by the business environment in Kilgore, where the city has added more downtown events, drawing more people to the area to shop, dine and spend money.
“I think we’re trying to become more friendly towards businesses. I know we’re trying to have more festivals in the area, like Oktoberfest, which is a big, big hit downtown. Those kinds of events can really attract people to downtown, which helps the businesses and helps keep businesses in the downtown area.”
While she has been achieving her goals since a very young age, she is not slowing down or stopping anytime soon. In fact, she has her eyes set on new goals: stepping into the world of city and county government. She believes her solid grounding in the business world has equipped her with the skills needed to ascend to this next level and to serve the community in a new and exciting way.
“I’ve been doing the restaurant very intensely for the last 10 years,” she said.
“I’m very active and I’m ready to meet the next challenge. I’ve delegated a lot of responsibilities to my staff, so I have more time now. I’m in the Rotary Club, I’m in the Lions Club, I’ve been
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attending every city council meeting since January, so I’m involved in that. I’m a new board member for the Fuller Center. I’m going back to school as well to get a certificate in public management. I’m trying to get my foot in the door to work for the city or the county. It’s something different. The business world that I’ve been doing for a long time and at the city and county level, the numbers may be different, but you’re still dealing with money and budgeting. You’re still dealing with PR and you have to deal with people, communication is important. I feel like they intertwine in some sense.”
She added that she highly values education and, in fact, earned a degree from Texas A&M but ultimately decided her real passion was “to go back to those family roots, the family business.”
Verenice Ordorica is the owner of Edgar’s Big Taco and the Circle Cafe in Kilgore. Learn more or place an order at www.edgarsbigtaco.com and https:// circlecafetx.com.
THE GLORY GIVING GOD
story
On a sunny Tuesday morning in une, Fred Meissner, 90, sits down in his Brookdale Henderson apartment to make a wooden cross. He saws, whittles and glues the little pieces with wellpracticed hands, attaching a snipped off paperclip as a hook at the top. The whole process takes no more than 15 minutes, leaving a dusting of wood chips across his desk and carpet.
“I have a little trouble keeping my floor clean. I don’t know what my problem is,” says Meissner with a smile.
became an obsession.”
Calling it a mere routine or hobby would be vastly understating it. This is Meissner’s life calling, one he found after a long career in engineering, working as a defense contractor and at NASA during the height of the space race, as well as in dairy farming and serving as a volunteer hospital chaplain. Guiding him through it all was an enduring Christian faith that he says brought him answers when he needed them and saved lives, including his own.
GLORY Henderson man expresses faith through his wooden crosses GIVING GOD
The cross is one of over 100,000 Meissner has crafted over the last 36 years. He doesn’t keep exact track, often estimating by the number of paperclip boxes he goes through or the amount of wood. The real total could be as high as 130,000.
“I made my first cross when I was 55 years old for my mother,” says Meissner. “My second when I was 62. In making crosses, it
Meissner fondly recalls many times in his life where he didn’t always have the technical knowledge or experience needed for a problem he was tasked with solving, but somehow, the solution always came to him. Even the little things he saw as a sign of God’s work.
Once, while working as structural test
by AUDREY BLASCHKE | photos by LES HASSELL
engineer for Aerojet General Corporation, his department manager asked him if he’d recorded a handful of 10-digit serial numbers for components they needed, not expecting Meissner to have them. Without hesitation, Meissner wrote down all 12 sets of numbers on a piece of paper as fast as he could write, all from memory.
“He looked at me like I was crazy,” says Meissner. He never remembered those numbers again, and his manager came back a week later laughing that Meissner had perfectly recalled every digit save for just one.
Meissner ran a lab at NASA with responsibilities like working with oxygen systems, liquid helium and liquid nitrogen, as well as running tests on vacuum chambers for the Apollo 11 and Apollo 13 missions. His technicians often came to him problems he couldn’t immediately figure out, but by talking it through together, they managed.
There was a time a technician showed him a circuit that was mysteriously nonfunctional, and Meissner quickly spotted the problem thanks to a glint of sunlight on just the right spot of the card.
“It’s always surprising how things just happened to work out that made things easier for me. More accurately, how God answered my prayers to make our lab look good!” Meissner wrote in his 2022 memoir.
One of the most stirring experiences in his professional career was being called to Mission Control during the Apollo 13 crisis and witnessing the “tremendous miracle” of all the astronauts making it home alive thanks to the efforts of NASA’s crew working round the clock on the ground. For their part, Meissner’s lab fortunately had a liquid oxygen tank online that could use oxygen at the same rate they were using it on Apollo 13 for monitoring.
“How they brought them fellas on the line, it utterly amazes me to this day,” says Meissner, who notes that the Apollo 13 film released in 1995 is “very accurate.”
Meissner’s experiences with seeing the power of prayer came not only through his technical career but throughout his time as a chaplain in Midland. As a young man, he wanted to be a preacher but didn’t have the means. However, Meissner says that worked out for the best because he feels the path he took has touched more lives than he ever could have in front of a congregation.
While praying at the bedside of ailing patients, he’s witnessed a man calm down after nearly suffocating from a panic attack and another one who was thought to be brain dead who later fully recovered.
Faith steadied Meissner when two of his young sons were injured in a school bus accident. His older son, Alvin, survived, but his youngest, Dwyane, succumbed to his injuries five days later.
“The nurse told me that when I visited Dywane, my visit gave him peace,” Meissner wrote in his memoir. “On the fifth morning
when I visited with Dywane, I saw a halo above his head. I knew the Lord would very soon take him home.”
Meissner called it a miracle when he had his own serious health scare in 1993 — a stomach and throat infection — that he only survived due to a brand-new medication. He’s certain that timing was the Lord’s work and no coincidence.
That new lease on life triggered Meissner’s passion for making crosses so he could share his faith with others. Once he got started, he felt he needed to make as many as he could.
The woodcarving skillset was always there. Meissner’s father handed him a pocketknife when he was 5 years old. He was meant to return it, but he loved whittling and making things and kept it for years.
The cross designs range from simple to intricate, small to large, and no two crosses he’s made are the same. One of Meissner’s most common designs is a small cross with carved triangles painted black. These “shaded triangles” represent the “black times” in people’s lives. He paints three white bars on these crosses as well to represent the Holy Trinity and the purity from asking for forgiveness and committing one’s life to the Lord.
He’s used more than 80 different kinds of wood since he started, most of which were donated to him. He knows which types are harder to work with than others. Which woods dull tools faster. How softer woods have turned into his prettiest crosses. He doesn’t have a favorite, and whichever type he uses depends on his mood or what he has on hand, but one of his life’s honors was to work with Cedar of Lebanon, a wood used for construction in ancient Jerusalem.
“That seed was brought to the United States in the late 1800s and got to Midland some way or another — they planted a nursery. A doctor bought some of the trees, and his son was my sister’s doctor, and they knew I made crosses,” says Meissner, who was originally born near Midland, Texas and lived there at the time. “They offered me a limb from the trees.”
Meissner made approximately 600 small crosses from that
limb and has one that he’s kept for himself. The rest, like most of the crosses he’s made over his lifetime, he gave away. Over 200 adorn the walls of the First United Methodist Church in Henderson, where he moved in 2019 after the death of his second wife, Paula, to be closer to his eldest daughter, Loretta. Some of his crosses have gone all over the world, including countries like Mexico, Uganda and as far as Russia. Many have been gifted to people along with a small piece of paper explaining the cross’ design with Meissner’s contact information.
That’s the most important part of all this, for Meissner.
“When you make that many [crosses], you give God the glory. And don’t worry about your name. I feel so honored that God called me to make crosses to bring other people to Christ,” he says. “I have heard some very amazing stories from people who’ve gotten one of these crosses and my write-ups about how they’ve turned their lives to the Lord.”
Top left, Fred Meissner shows off a wooden cross he says was sent to him from the queen of Uganda in his room at the Brookdale Henderson senior living home. Top right, memorabilia from his days as a NASA engineer hang in Meissner's room at the Brookdale Henderson senior living home.
Meissner tells a story about a 35-year-old man with a severe alcohol problem who discovered one of the crosses in a geocache by the side of the road. Meissner’s daughter had placed it there.
“He figured it was dope in there. He was so interested that he opened it up, and it had one of them crosses and a writeup in there. So, he gave his life to the Lord. He called me because he had my telephone number,” says Meissner. “It gives you a real sense of accomplishment in a way. But the miracles I’ve seen from the crosses, the miracles that I’ve seen where God gave me answers in the technical world… I just thank the Lord for these blessings.”
He works at a slower pace than he did in his younger years, but Meissner says he’ll keep making crosses as long as he’s able, and always asks God to bless the person who receives them in the way they need most.
TRADE DAYS
Henderson market draws shopping crowds, food trucks each month
story by AMBER LOLLAR | photos by MEREDITH SHAMBURGER
What started as a community-centric dream and a plot of land has become one of Henderson's most highly attended monthly events. From a chance encounter with a local craftsman using his talents to make ends meet, Henderson Trade Days founder Francisco Corral pictured an artisan paradise and set forth to make his dream a reality.
Purchasing a parcel of land along U.S. 259 was the first step in his quick journey to small-town success on a grand scale.
"I see towns all around us with these Trade Days and flea markets and people come from everywhere to go to them. I never understood why we didn't try that here," said Corral, explaining the start of his flea market fantasy. "We have so many people in this community that make unique things and have no place to sell them."
"We have people that make delicious food that don't have a place to set up a food truck," he continued. "I wanted to change that."
While booth rates at larger markets such as Canton's enormous First Monday range from $60 into the triple digits, Corral has decided to keep his rates low, opening the gates for unique vendors with interesting items at a rate that allows them to return month after month.
Third-weekend slots start at $25 for a 10-by-10 space with no utilities, $45 with electricity, and $55 with electricity and water.
"With costs rising on pretty much everything, I wanted to help regular people, people like you and me, have that place to set up and
A trip into Henderson Trade Days' jam-packed grounds is a monthly treat for more than 2,500 visitors at each third-weekend event, with many making their way to Henderson from points as far as Waskom and Dallas.
"Because I'm at every Trade Day, I get to see who comes and goes," said Corral. "When I see new faces I make it a point to ask where they're from and I've heard more and more people saying they've come in from the Dallas area. I was excited to have visitors from Waskom since I've expanded my marketing into Louisiana, and to see people coming in from that direction shows me it's working."
With more than 150 regular vendors from Rusk County and the surrounding areas, there's something to be found in the wellstocked booths to meet every need and satiate every palate.
If you're looking to beat the summer heat, grab a refreshing agua fresca, pair it with a sweet treat from Snow Cones Monterey, La Antigua Artisan Ice Cream, or one of the delectable Nutellastuffed pancakes from Postres Las Comadres, and take a break in the shaded areas scattered throughout the grounds. If you're searching for something more substantial to fuel your shopping tour of Corral's Trade Day experience, there's no better spot to fill an empty stomach than the Food Truck Park with its wide variety of options and the cozy, landscaped outdoor dining area.
With meal-sized options available from Jared's Tacos, Ruby's Food Truck, Lilly's Tacos, Doña Lupita and Patiños Mariscos. While tacos, especially the award-winning birria tacos, and tortas will forever be a crowd favorite, you can find designer dishes, such as the Super Michelada, a sometimes-boozy creation similar to a Bloody Mary lined with perfectly seasoned shrimp and cucumbers, and seafood nachos.
Once those appetites are satisfied, feel free to sit back and enjoy a show as Corral regularly hosts live music, dancers and comedians.
An early idea associated with Henderson Trade Days was a weekend Food Truck Park. Following big-city models, Corral's plan was to offer affordable spaces to mobile food vendors from surrounding areas, creating a safe space for local foodies to grab a fun and unconventional meal with diverse flavor profiles.
While the weekend Food Truck Park has been a slow start, Corral continues to encourage food truck operators to set up shop on the Henderson Trade Day grounds and be a founding member of a local food truck movement.
Making good use of his bachelor's degree in business administration, this dynamic entrepreneur continues to expand his repertoire of community-conscious businesses.
He founded Corral Auto Group, where he sold reliable used vehicles and later expanded into the Bintelli scooter and ATV market.
"There are so many people that can't walk into a dealership and come out with a car," said Corral. "Whether it's bad credit or very little money for a down payment, I wanted to be able to help those people."
And help he did. He was quickly named East Texas's leading Bintelli dealer and the influx of scooters and mopeds merging with Henderson traffic was undeniable. Customers sang the praises of these low-cost two-wheelers and cheered about the legendary efficiency of these cool, little rides, with Bintelli products getting 100 miles to the gallon.
The community-centered scales were well balanced, until key pieces of his stock were stolen, and many more damaged, in a recent theft and inflation priced him out of the market.
"It's great to help somebody and still make a little bit of money," he said. "It's even OK to break even, as long as you helped someone else, but as prices rose I found I was losing money and that's not a working business model. I took a huge hit when those ATVs were stolen; that's hard to recover from."
Corral is currently seeking to liquidate his remaining stock of Bintelli scooters and side-by-sides with massive sales at the Henderson Trade Day location.
Never one to give up on a goal, Corral has added the sale of sheds, carports, and cabins to his growing repertoire. Like
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everything else into which Corral dips his entrepreneurial toe, this new endeavor is once again aimed at helping members of the community attain affordable storage and even housing. With CLD (Corral Land Developers) Carports & Buildings, Corral's hard-working staff will finish out one of the affordable cabin shells, complete with electricity, and plumbing built on-site for an affordable $68,000 with 10% down. Rent-to-own options are available for any building under $25,000, with approved credit.
To view CLD Carports and Buildings inventory visit cldcarports.com or make the short trip to the Henderson Trade Days grounds located at 3169 U.S. 259 in Henderson.
Keep an eye on Henderson Trade Day special events by following them on Facebook or their website at hendersontradedays.com.
Henderson Trade Days will be open on the third weekend of each month with the following schedule throughout the rest of the year:
• Aug. 20-21
• Sept. 21-22
• Oct. 19-20
• Nov. 16-17
• Dec. 21-22
Foxhole ministry turns manuel labor into ministry Works of Faith
story by AUDREY BLASCHKE | photos by LES HASSELL
For most people, an ideal Saturday morning is spent sleeping in, enjoying a late breakfast and decompressing after a long work week. But for a group of like minded friends in Mt. Enterprise, Saturdays are the most productive day of the week — physically and most importantly, spiritually. They’re known as the Foxhole, men who’ve banded together as a nonprofit to give a helping hand to their neighbors, often in the form of cutting down and removing trees that have fallen in yards or onto roofs. In the last three years since they got started, they’ve cleared trees, repaired roofs, replaced floors and built fences — all hard labor with their own equipment and by their own hands.
What they ask for in return is the opportunity to share the gospel and to speak with the people they help about their faith in Jesus Christ.
“One hundred percent that’s the goal. We bring that to the forefront every time we stop and sit down and every time we pray before we go, every time we meet with someone,” says Kenneth Wilson, one of the early members of Foxhole. “Obviously, there’s a lot of work that goes into it, but as a whole, our goal is to represent Jesus and to be an ambassador for Christ, as the scripture says. When I go in first to speak to someone, I give them that upfront. And then we do the work. When you do the work like that, this is a different way of being a witness. It’s one
thing to tell somebody about Christ. It’s another to show them through works — through what we do in serving them.”
Wilson often takes a leading role for the group, but he doesn’t claim any leadership title. It’s a group effort, held together by their shared mindset. That’s where the Foxhole name comes from: a group of men in a foxhole that trust each other completely, that share the same goals and are mentally, spiritually and physically resilient.
“Resilient is the word we use often,” says Wilson. “They’re not impacted in life by normal circumstances. Their faith is strong enough to push them through it. They maintain their families and they take care of things the way they should.”
The men of Foxhole come from different walks of life. They are sales managers, weather analysts, oil field workers, healthcare practitioners and so on. Most live in Mt. Enterprise, and their friendship was born out of a Bible study group.
First thing Saturday mornings, they meet up in front of Mt. Enterprise’s Landmark Missionary Baptist Church to discuss their most recent project, reflecting on how they were able to help someone and what they’re going to do next. They pray together, asking God to keep them safe as they do their work and giving thanks for these opportunities. Then, they hop in their trucks full of tools and haul their tractors out to the next project where they’ll labor the rest of the morning. Most jobs they’ve done are around Mt. Enterprise or Laneville, but they’ve also traveled beyond Rusk County when able.
Eric Matlock says it all started when a tree fell on his neighbor’s roof and he called Wilson and Tad Titlow for help. Titlow showed up with his tractor, and they all got the tree off the roof together.
“A couple of these guys — it’s what they like to do. They’re just geared that way. So, it kind of just came together naturally,” says Matlock. “As often as we’re having tornadoes and other weather events, it was what we could offer. That’s what it turned into.”
Matlock’s favorite experience with the group was helping his former lunch lady at school growing up. She’d always worked long, hard hours, arriving early to cook breakfast and staying to do janitorial work after the kids had gone home. One day, after she’d retired, he heard that her roof had leaked into her living room. The Foxhole guys replaced her whole living room floor, repaired the roof and put in a new front porch.
Being a part of something like Foxhole means a lot to Matlock after being raised by a single mom who got by with help from the church.
“It feels like it’s come full circle to do things like this and give back,” says Matlock, though he notes that Foxhole isn’t about inviting people to church. “We love it when they go to church, but that’s not the end goal… The great commission is to go out into all the world, share the gospel, baptize and make disciples… A lot of people go to church to sit in church, sit in the pew, and then do nothing during the week. This is what church is for us.
Top left, Foxhole Ministry volunteer Danny Spann poses in the hollow trunk of a fallen tree. Top right, Josh Boyett, in red, leads Foxhole Ministry volunteers in a prayer before they begin work to clear a tree that had fallen during recent storms at Landmark Baptist Church in Mt. Enterprise.
It’s going out and loving your neighbor.”
For Caleb Cooley, the most moving experience he’s had so far was just a week earlier when a couple of them drove out to Richland to help a man who’d suffered major storm damage on his property after Hurricane Beryl. A massive tree fell on his roof and a work crew gave him a $10,000 bid to remove it — a sum the man couldn’t afford.
“He had nowhere to go. Two other crews had come by that do disaster relief and they said they can’t do it. And then we got up there and just did it. We impacted him so much,” says Cooley. “It was almost like the devil was working on this guy the entire time that the Holy Spirit was trying to work on him, because his exwife was coming across the street and saying these guys are never going to get it done today. The neighbors were like, ‘Are these even tree people?’ And even one of the other crews was like, ‘You’re never getting this done today.’ Everything was making this guy super anxious. And then at the end, when it finally came together, he broke. He truly broke down and accepted Jesus in him.”
“Our greatest memories are always those where we were able to impact and hopefully lead somebody to Christ,” says Titlow. “That’s always the biggest end goal out of this whole deal. But it’s also rewarding to be able to help people who maybe don’t have the means or funds…God throws those things out there in front of us to be at the right time and place and all that.”
Wilson adds that they do find people who aren’t always receptive to Foxhole’s message. They’re anxious like the man in Richland or just hesitant. But attitudes change once people see them doing the work.
“That seems to be the norm. When we do go out and work hard for others and serve them in this way, it tends to open a door of acceptance — them being willing to listen with an open heart and open mind,” says Wilson. “That’s what we found and that’s why we are so committed to the task of working… And they can see our hearts. It’s really hard to see somebody’s heart in a fiveminute conversation. After they’ve watched us work and sweat for two hours and then we come and tell them exactly why we’re here, it’s a much more impactful thing.”
That applies to the members of the group, as well.
“Men are good at helping people and men suck at accepting help, which is also a pride issue,” says Cooley. “One of the guys that we helped take down a tree for, is one of the guys in our group… That tree in particular meant a lot… He was so bad off that he was just so thankful for it. He still talks about it. That was a good one too that wasn’t just somebody being directly led to Jesus but who truly needed love at that point.”
Cooley notes that men can sit in a circle and talk about their feelings, but they want to connect shoulder to shoulder first. It’s how newer members have gained respect and trust for the others. And often, it’s the newer members, like Danny Spann, who keep everyone’s energy refreshed. As one of the more
eccentric Foxhole guys, Spann enjoys singing from the rooftops wherever they work.
Spann is a newcomer to the area, having moved to Mt. Enterprise in December. He’s led a tough life, surviving a four-year-long drug addiction and two serious accidents and he’s had a year of chemotherapy and radiation for stomach cancer. As much as he’s gone through, Spann feels he’s been kept alive for a reason, and joining Foxhole three months ago has changed his life for the better.
“I look forward to Saturdays,” he says. “I used to like going fishing a lot. I still like to go fishing, but this is better. More meaningful.” “His life’s completely different now than it was a year ago,” adds Matlock about Spann. “It’s been this group. I mean, he loves church, loves the music, but it’s been this group, being involved and having accountability that’s kept him grounded.”
Keeping each other accountable is one of the pillars of Foxhole — developing and growing as individuals.
“If I can develop one man further and make him more of what God wants him to be, he will impact the world around him wherever he goes. And beyond that we are impacting the people we serve in the process, so it’s working on both ends,” says Wilson.
Foxhole can’t be everywhere they’re needed, of course, and they’re protective of the mindset they all share. Wilson says it would be inaccurate to characterize them as a humanitarian group, as their mission is very specific to being ambassadors for Christ. That means they don’t bring in just anyone as new members. Wilson adds, however, that they’d be happy to give advice to anyone who wants to start a similar nonprofit in their own communities.
HALLMARK OF HALLOWEEN
Kilgore Lions Club’s annual carnival has entertained children for more than 75 years
story by LUCAS STROUGH | ROUTE 259 file photos
“It’s a Kilgore tradition.”
That’s how longtime Kilgore Lions Club Treasurer and city councilmember Randy Renshaw describes the longrunning Lions Halloween Carnival. First held by the local Lions in 1949, the annual festival, which features prizes and games, has continued for 75 years.
“It’s the longest-running Halloween festival in Kilgore, as far as I know,” Renshaw said of the festival. He estimates it may be the longest-running annual event in Kilgore altogether, except for the Christmas parade. He remembered attending the event in the late 1950s at about 10 years old and got excited for it every year.
“When I was a kid growing up, it was the only Halloween function in Kilgore that I can recall. We would always look forward to it every year. It was mostly for the kids, but there were two bingo games for the adults.”
Renshaw looked through some old programs and bulletins, reminiscing about the festival he attended as a young child and then helped to host when he joined the Kilgore Lions Club. He described how some notable Lions, including Kilgore teacher Hyman Laufer, dedicated their time and effort to bringing the beloved festival back year after year.
In those days, the festival was larger than it is today. It featured cork-gun shooting galleries and prize wheels, a fishing booth, a bottle rack and balloons which attendees could try to pop with darts.
“There were about 18 or 19 different booths at that time,” Renshaw recalled.
“Most of them were for the kids. There was a ham bingo, which is now a ham and turkey bingo and there was a prize bingo. Of course, there was a food booth and a drinks booth.”
The festival also featured a variety of games for kids and adults. While attendees enjoyed the fun atmosphere, the Lions also turned the event into a charitable cause, using proceeds from the festival to fund their yearly drives which continue to this day.
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“It was a fun event but it was also the basic fundraiser for the Christmas project. That’s where most of the money came from to buy clothes for the kids that needed it the most. At that time, Gregg County had a social worker and she determined which families needed it the most. We put together food baskets and Lions Club members bought toys. Last year, we purchased clothes for about 120 kids.”
While the festival is now held at the Lions Clubhouse on Rusk Street, it used to be held in another location to accommodate the many games and booths.
“The carnival was held, as long as I can remember, at the parking lot of R.E. St. John Stadium. The street was blocked off and that’s where the cakewalk was held. At that time, we had kiddie rides and they were in the street and in the parking area of the Little League baseball park.”
The carnival was a mainstay in this location for years before tragedy struck and changed the course of future events.
“The carnival was held on the football stadium parking lot and South Martin Street. All the booths were made out of one-byfours and they were stored in a tin building off Woodlawn Street on the south side. That’s where the Scout hut was. Somebody set everything on fire, burned everything up that was stored in that building, back in the ‘90s. That’s the reason we built the building that we’re in now. Part of it was for the Scouts and later the Lions met there. That building was first used in ‘95.”
Undeterred, the Lions continued their efforts, preserving the local event for future generations of Halloween revelers. However, the event was no easy feat to maintain year after year.
“It was a lot of work,” Renshaw allowed.
“We would get up early in the morning and load up two flatbed trailers with all the booths and we would set everything
up to be ready for the carnival at 5:30. Then, the next day, we’d take everything down and pack it back up, and that was what was amazing to me as a kid. You’d go by there the next day and everything was gone and put up. But then I later found out how much work it was! We had 100-plus members and everybody was younger then. It was a lot of work but it was fun. Of course, things change, you know. Now we have 56 members and the average age is higher.”
He recalled one year when a large rainstorm filled up potholes in the parking lot with water and the Lions had to work quickly to drain and patch the potholes so the carnival could be set up in time.
Despite noble efforts by the Lions to build new metal booths after the fire, the club eventually had to downsize the event and change the location to ensure that it could continue.
“We had five or six booths but it just didn’t work out. So, now we have the cakewalk, the ham and turkey bingo and the prize raffle. Most of the proceeds come from the prize raffle, which we have tickets for that we sell every year. We try to get the tickets to the members around the first of October and the drawing is on Halloween night.”
The Lions Club Halloween Carnival will return this October and local Lions will begin selling raffle tickets several weeks beforehand. To learn more, visit www.facebook.com/ KilgoreLionsClub.
GASTON MUSEUM helped share history of Joinerville area, East Texas Oil Boom
story by MEREDITH SHAMBURGER
ROUTE 259 file photos
It was announced earlier this year in April that the Gaston Museum, chronicler of the former school and surrounding area’s history, would be closing its doors for good.
Board members made the decision citing a lack of funding and manpower. Re-homing the carefully curated exhibits has begun, with reporter Amber Lollar noting in April that interest had been shown by Henderson’s Veterans of Foreign Wars post, the Depot Museum and Kilgore College’s East Texas Oil Museum.
“This will be a long process,” said longtime Museum Director Stephanie Osteen in April. “There are a few items that we know of that will be accessioned out of the museum for the Depot, but the remainder will not even start until after September. This will be a 12 to 18 month project getting everything to its new homes.”
Gaston played an outsized role in the East Texas Oil Boom. Literally: Gaston ISD was the largest rural school district in the world, according to the Henderson paper at the time. The Gaston band carried a banner proclaiming, “World’s Largest School in
the World’s Largest Oil Field,” Sandy Warren, writing in the June 21, 1998 issue of the Kilgore News Herald, noted.
“Prior to the boom, the settlement of Cyril consisted of a cotton gin, and the school, about 70 students. In the early boom days, the name of the community was changed to Joinerville, a hospital and a hotel quickly sprang up, and 700 children lined the oil road to enroll in the small wooden schoolhouse.
“Two community schools consolidated to form GastonMiller and Mt. Hope. Mrs. Irene Gaston, a teacher in the school, and her family donated land to build a small school in 1925. The school was named Gaston in her honor,” Warren reported.
And in 1998, the school’s ex-students gathered to break ground for a new museum building, “much to the ‘devil’s delight,’” Warren wrote, playing off the school’s Red Devil mascot.
“In the 1930s, Gaston was one of the richest school districts in the world. At that time, most of Gaston’s students were children of oil field workers, the lives of whom are chronicled
“Gastonians won state, regional and district titles in football, basketball, journalism, literary and other competitions for many years. ‘To get those poor struggling farm boys to get up there and stand in front of people and debate and go to state meets, that’s just something. It was very unusual.’”
During its tenure, the Gaston Museum helped spread that history to new generations – sometimes with hands-on experience. Reporter James Draper, in 2017, watched as middleschoolers from Laneville ISD, West Rusk CCISD and Full Armor Christian Academy took part in “Education Day,” including using a vintage push mower and doing washing by hand.
The Education Day is an effort to teach those kids, to show them hands-on what it was like to live in the early ‘30s, officials told Draper.
“In addition to trying their hands at the lawn mower and touring a carefully-maintained tent house, the students also went elbow-deep in Gaston’s ‘old school’ washtub this week,” Draper reported.
"’Those kids, when I started doing this, they went wild,’ docent Barbara Vinson said, putting her charges to work at the oilfield-era laundry and reminding them, ‘They didn’t have all the stuff that we have.’
“The students truly enjoyed the experience, Laneville ISD instructor Jean Kelly said. Granted, seventh-grader Deandre Thomas found the oilboom-era outhouse a bit underwhelming.
“‘They had a bathroom like that?’; he said incredulously.”
