Valiant Yachts

Susan and Marvin Watley were in the southern latitudes on a round-the-world cruise when the barometer started falling and the seas began to rise. Marvin was down, injured from a fall a few days before, and that left Susan to manage the ocean-sailing yacht alone.

Hangers On

An estimated 3.5 billion wire hangers go into U.S. landfills every year, and they sit there for over a hundred years. That does not count the 1.25 million hangers in my closet at home. Leave it to American ingenuity to identify a problem and turn it into an advertising campaign. A New York company, EcoHanger®, is making a 100%-recyclable, biodegradable clothes hanger made of paper.

Light Starch, High Tech

One. It’s the number of stars in the Texas flag. It’s the number of U.S. Presidents who have conducted the OU-Texas pre-game coin toss. And it’s the number of shirts lost by Texas Laundry in the last six months. For a business that handles upwards of 1,000 garments per day, the statistic is unbelievable.

Whitewright, Texas

Just 17 miles southeast of Sherman on US 69 and SH 11 in extreme east Grayson County, Whitewright is a prototypical Texas town with one foot in the past and the other firmly planted in the here-and-now. Settlers from Kentucky established the area in the late 1800s. Whitewright was a land rich for cultivation and cattle, a wilderness of grasses, flowers and forest.

Buffalo Bill’s Wild West

William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody was born in LeClaire, Iowa, in 1846. During his early life he herded cattle and worked as a driver on a wagon train, went on to fur trapping and gold mining, then joined the Pony Express in 1860. After the Civil War, Cody scouted for the army and gained the nickname “Buffalo Bill” as a hunter.

Remote Possibilities

As pilot Bruce Lemoine brought his Japanese Zero in for a landing, everyone watched anxiously. The war birds have a tendency to tip over on the propeller, fellow pilot Dan Eshelman said as the plane closed on the runway. Lemoine lined up his plane for a landing on the grass next to the runway to soften the blow to the prop in case the WWII bird tipped, but the extra precautions were unnecessary.

Farewell Norman

Julie Ellis Starr and Dr. Rebecca Bryant hosted a reception for Norman Bennett at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Sherman. Bennett, long a Sherman teacher and one of the stalwarts of the Sherman Community Players, is moving to West Texas to be closer to family. Starr, Bryant, and members of the Sherman High School Classes of 1966 and several others were on hand to say good-bye to their long-time friend and mentor.