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Enola Gay Mathews
We made it through the cold spell in pretty good form here in town. The MLK holiday kept many indoors on Monday.
School was called off due to weather on Tuesday, thanks to wise guidance of school administrators who ordered the extra day at home for safety’s sake.
For those in the county who care for livestock, well, there are no holidays. Difficulties were certain in the necessary care, feeding, and watering, all in a day’s work for local farmers and ranchers, and the many 4-H and FFA youngsters who are caring for livestock projects right now.
The Northeast Texas Junior Market Livestock Show, or NETLA show, will be held Feb. 22-24 in the Hopkins County Regional Civic Center Arena.
We watch a lot of rodeo at my house. The Cowboy Channel is the best way to see and hear about everything happening in the rodeo world. I’m thrilled that the Western way of sports is not diminishing, but increasing in scope and popularity. As Denver’s National Western Stock Show wraps up, the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo (this thing is legendary!) already is under way in the ‘Taj Mahal’ of the sport, Dickies Arena, a four-year-old, 14,000seat multipurpose center located within the Will Rogers Memorial Center.
The Cowboy Channel’s coverage of major PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association) winter rodeos in our state is called The Texas Swing. From now through March, viewers can see all rodeo events in the Fort Worth, Houston (once called the Fat Stock Show), San Antonio and San Angelo stock shows and rodeos, and Rodeo Austin livestock events during the weeks of the Texas Swing, and pay only a one-time $99 annual subscription fee to enjoy all the PRCA action delivered by great commentators.
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association is approaching 90 years old. Once a PRCA cardholder, Garland may be an 'armchair bull rider' by now, but the good side of that is, there’s no travel, no injuries, and he doesn't miss a single performance! And, next time you’re in Fort Worth, do like we did: check out the Cowboy Channel studios located in the stockyards.
I’m honored to be invited to the “Miss Fay Day” celebration in Brashear, Texas, this weekend.
Fay Hagan Robinson is having her 100th birthday. She told me she was born in Burkburnett, Texas, on Jan. 20, 1924, and that her children have been trying to give her a party for a long time. They’d suggested an 80th and then a 90th, but she has refused until now.
Even after becoming widowed, she continued to keep up the farm, teach Sunday school, and sing in church. Fay and I became friends during the Ms. Hopkins County Senior Pageant in 2014. That year, as a contestant, she received the second runner-up title, and over the next couple of years, her graciousness, intelligence, and inner beauty gained her many new friends; she also earned Best Interview, Best Philosophy of Life, first and second runner-up trophies.
This lovely woman’s sweetest earthly reward may be yet ahead, though, when she sings a solo at Brashear Baptist Church on Sunday with her five children, extended family, church family, and a multitude of friends in attendance.
Happy birthday, Fay!