High points from El Camino Real

Folks along El Camino Real are smiling as winter slowly but surely lets loose of its hold on us. The trees are starting to bud out and everything is turning green. Everything just bursts out at once and shades that have been gone since October start to appear again under trees like folks gathering for a homecoming. Ugly things piled around peoples’ houses and in pastures are suddenly hidden behind green leaves, not to be thought about until winter returns again. Springtime on El Camino Real is a wonderful thing. I’ve got a good bit to tell you about this week, so I better get right to your eight bits’ worth.
We were saddened to hear that we lost our life-long friend and cousin Judge Charles Holcomb on Friday. He was 86 years old. He served many roles in the legal profession during his life. He was an attorney -- in 1959 he was city attorney for Deer Park and Orange; he taught government at Lamar University; was the county Court at Law judge for Orange County; the county attorney in Cherokee County for two terms; and then he became the Cherokee County District Attorney for 10 years. Charlie wasn’t done yet -- he was elected to the 12th Court of Appeals in Tyler. He ran and won a seat on the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in 2001.

In 2008 he was turning 75. The law in those days said that you couldn’t serve as an active judge after you turned 75 years old. This was no problem for Charlie. That year the Texas Constitution was amended to allow judges who turned 75 to finish out their terms. Judge Holcomb retired from the bench in 2010.

I just knew Charlie as the father of my friends James, Katrina, and Sherry. He was master of ceremonies at the Holcomb family Reunion. His wife Anita was a first grade teacher here in Alto for many years. Charles was a quiet kind man who loved to laugh, play dominoes in the basement of the courthouse, and play lots of golf -- lots and lots of golf. Please keep Anita, Katrina, Sherry, and all the rest of his family and friends in your prayers as we grieve the passing of a good man. Services are 11 a.m. on Thursday at A. Frank Smith United Methodist Church in Alto.
I stopped by the wall by the red light on Saturday to visit with the artist Marc Eckel. He has to go back to Indiana for a week or so to preach and see his family and then he will be back to finish the last picture. He has really been a blessing to our community and I think many are going to miss him when he is gone.

I wonder if I could get him to paint my face on the water tower before he leaves again. His artwork is spectacular and he has really brought the wall to life. A big thanks to Ron Rose for bringing Marc here to minister and paint.

The Alto Thursday Study Club is having its Stella Hill Memorial Library patron drive and that means it’s time for you to make your donation to keep the greatest little library on El Camino Real going. Please send your donations to PO Box 98, Alto, TX 75925. Stella Hill Memorial Library has grown in leaps and bounds since it became a goal in the minds of a few wonderful ladies many years ago. Please help keep it going and growing by sending in your donation today. Dan and Vivian Cates of the Cold Springs Community, west of Alto, are planning a celebration at their Mound Prairie Ranch Sunday afternoon March 15. The occasion is to celebrate Dan’s 85th birthday. Both their sons, Daniel (Alto ’89) and David (Alto ’92), plan to be home that weekend. A buffet lunch is planned to begin around 1 p.m. for those who wish to come earlier in the day or just come later in the afternoon for dessert until around 4:30 p.m. RSVPs for lunch are desirable, but not necessary, to get a general number for the food. Their phone number is listed in the Alto section of the phone books. 

“Through the years it has been sort of a “tradition” for the elderly in the community to have a birthday party open to the community when they reach some landmark year,” Vivian Cates said. “Dan was born and reared here. To be 85 and in reasonably good health is a landmark year and we have never held a party. We survived the tornadoes of April 13. We lost our four-bedroom custom built house, two vehicles, a pole barn and an 8x40 shipping container storage shed and almost all our yard trees and lots of pasture fence. We are looking forward to celebrating our 54th wedding anniversary next summer.”
A big happy birthday to Dan Cates. I hope this year goes a whole lot better than last year did. Things got rough on the Mound Prairie and I’m glad we are still celebrating birthdays.
While I’m on the subject of birthdays, we have one every Sunday in March. Our middle son, Grant’s was March 1; grandson, Sawyer’s is March 8; and our oldest son, Garrett’s is March 15. We do love our boys. March is full of lots of great memories with lots more to come. Happy birthday boys!
The dreaded time change is upon us and on Saturday night you’ll have to move your clock forward an hour and wake up and hour earlier on Sunday. Days will be longer but you’ll be too sleepy to get anything done until you get use to the change. We’ll get through it, we always do, but it sure takes some doing. They keep talking about doing away with it but nothing ever happens.
This makes 1,160 columns for me -- 23 years of bringing you the news along our little stretch of the King’s Highway. I was counting up the weeks and columns and I’ve only missed about 36 weeks in 23 years. That’s less than two a year that I’ve missed for the past 23 years. I don’t know whether you’d call that dedication or insanity, but either way I’m still doing my best. I’ve always tried to be a cheerleader for our little town and I hope I’ve done some good over the years. I’ll see ya next week! And remember, Standing alone is better than standing with people who don’t value you.