A Great Week

The week began at the Colleyville Rotary Club. I was invited by a former student, Mark Bauer, who now makes his home in Colleyville. We agreed that the club members would enjoy a program on Texas Gunslingers, which involves 19th-century life and death conflict in the Lone Star State and a collection of replica weapons and gun rigs. A bonus for me is the fact that my daughter, Dr. Berri O'Neal Gormley - who is instrumental in putting together this blog every week or so - and her family live in Colleyville. I drove up a day early so that I could spend a little extra time with Berri, her husband Drew, and my three youngest grandchildren, Addison, Reagan, and Nolan. Berri also accompanied me to the lunch meeting of the local Rotary club, and we all had a lively time.  
 

 

 

With Colleyville Rotary Club President, Kay Allen

On Wednesday afternoon in Carthage, I was invited to the First Baptist Church, which was having a blood drive competition with a church in another community. FBC's Music Minister, David Yarborough, thought it might stimulate donor attendance to have several local authors on hand to sign books for those who came to donate blood. I had a fine time visiting with Carthage friends, eating homemade ice cream provided by the church, and signing books. I had just received the first box of copies of the UNT Press softcover reprint of my 2006 book about the Regulator-Moderator War: War in East Texas, Regulators vs. Moderators. It was the first time the book had been available in more than a decade, and I was delighted that so many readers wanted a signed copy.  

My book table at MASH BASH blood drive
at the First Baptist Church of Carthage.

 

On Saturday I drove to Athens for the annual meeting of the Awards Committee of the Otis Lock Foundation of the East Texas Historical Association.  I've been a member of this committee for a decade and a half, and I've served as chairman  for the past few years, since the passing of Archie McDonald. We determine cash awards for book award winners, research grant applicants, and educators of the year. We met at a Mexican food restaurant, and before we could even order lunch we found ourselves discussing the merits of various books that had been nominated. By the time we finished our meals we had made our decisions, which will be announced at the Fall Meeting of the ETHA at the Fredonia Hotel in Nacogdoches. Scott Sosebee, Executive Director of the ETHA, was on hand to lend advice, and aside from the committee chairman, a set of new members was present: Debbie Liles, Jessica Wranosky, and John Lundberg, accomplished authors all.

 

The Lock Award Committee, L to R: Scott Sosebee, Debbie Liles, Jessica Wranosky, State Historian, John Lundberg

We concluded out business at two o'clock, and I immediately began driving toward Houston. I had agreed to speak at the annual Awards Banquet of the Sons of the Republic  of Texas, Lone Star Chapter #58, which serves Montgomery and The Woodlands. This award-winning group is an outstanding chapter and I've twice had the privilege of addressing them at past events. The banquet was held at a superb restaurant in North Houston, the Steamboat House, which is richly decorated in Texana and features an eye-catching statue of Sam Houston in the parking lot. 

A statue of Sam Houston outside the Steamboat House Restaurant

 

Texana décor dominates every room of the Steamboat House Restaurant.

The SRT Awards Banquet registration table



There were almost 100 men and women in the picturesque banquet hall. The impressive program included the tolling of a "Passing Bell" for members who had been lost during the year, as well as the presentation of $1,000 cash awards to Educators of the Year.  The recipients were two seventh-grade Texas History teachers from the Conroe ISD:  Penny Williams of York Jr. High, and Brenda Craig of Moreland Jr. High. I especially enjoyed hearing  a detailed recounting of the chapter's Year in Review and the miscellany of historic activities staged by the chapter.

 



Penny Adams (left) and Brenda Craig were named Educators of the Year.

 

The gathering crowd (which finally numbered nearly 100)
in the banquet room

Bugle tribute, Il Silencio, beautifully played by Michael D. Wilson

In the past I had spoken to this chapter on Sam Houston and on the San Jacinto Campaign, so we decided that for the Banquet topic I would describe the Regulator-Moderator War. This first of a great many blood feuds in Texas occurred in 1840-1844 during the heart of the Texas Republic era. It was a Texan embodiment of the American Regulator Moderator tradition that began in the 1760s and 1770s, and it produced more casualties than any other blood feud in Texas history. And by a happy coincidence a shipment of my books on this blood feud came in just a few days earlier, and I was able to provide autographed copies for the SRT members.  In all it was a wonderful evening, a fitting climax to a delightful week of Texas history events. 

Chapter President Ron McAnear

 

Holding forth about the Regulators and Moderators