Fishing Club News
By Ray Smith

         

Happy New Year! Here's hoping that 2009 will treat you Fine! A good way to start it off is to attend the first CFC meeting of the New Year. We have some fun things lined up for you. 'Nuff said, you have to attend to learn more.

The "Election Bet Loser - 2008"

We had a Super Christmas Party! We're not sure how many attended, but the room was full.  Each person came bearing gifts: Toys for the kids and food for the food bank. Our donations, two van loads, were given to the Presbyterian Children's Home Services, in Kilgore.
 

Guess who won 2008 CFC Christmas Party?

Plenty of food (and then some!)

Before the evening was complete everyone was full of some of the best food ever. We devoured hundreds of sandwiches, dips, chips, salads, etc., etc. and put a major crimp in the Texas and Louisiana shrimp population. Four huge tables of food and deserts disappeared in the blink of an eye. Everyone ate their fill and we even had enough left over to make a contribution to the Highway 80 Mission.

Musicians from Kilgore College provided Christmas Music for our entertainment.

Don Pinkerton invited a fine group of musicians from Kilgore College who played Christmas music through out dinner. There is little doubt that they added a lot of class to our Fishin' meetin'.  We did have a few serious minutes wedged in between all the frivolity. As we do each year, we took time to honor and show our appreciation for our fellow CFC members that have given so much of their time and support to this club and to our community.

We honored Charles Skinner with a service award for his many years of dedication and for serving two years as our Social Director. Charles has assured me that he will still be active in our club and ready to serve as usual.
 

Service award winners for 2008 were: Charles Skinner, Lee and Emma Scott and Eddy and Wendy Gomez.

We handed out two Member Appreciation Awards, the recipients were: Lee and Emma Scott and Eddie and Wendy Gomez. These folks are noted for always being there when we needed them. These are the kind of members that make our club successful.
 

Nita Smith presents appreciation award to Joe Travis.

Last but certainly not least, we honored Joe Travis. We don't normally single out officers of the club for honors, we feel that "that's their job," and we'll recognize them when they hang it up. Time for that pattern to be broken, so we showed Joe how much he means to our club by giving him a small token of our appreciation, a $100 gift card to Academy. Now, I know Joe, and I can tell you that the tribute that our Secretary, Nita, read to him and the standing ovation the members gave him, meant a lot more than the token gift. The only other show of applause that rivaled the one for Joe, was when I announced that I would not be telling any of my jokes that night.
 

Lucky Door Prize Winners

The last item on the agenda was our "Annual Christmas Door Prize" drawing. As his last official duty, Charles really out did his self. He put together about $500 worth of prizes. Each person received one free ticket as they signed in, nothing to buy. I did overhear one lady ask, "Can somebody take it away from me?" Sounded to me like she has been to too many KFT parties. Here were the winners: Wendy Gomez, Maggie Reynolds, Yvonna Pinson, Gloria Hammon, Carol Staiti, Carolyn Matter, Annita Estes, John T. Smith and Martha Anderson. Oh yeah, Gene "Cowboy" Ables, donated a hand-crafted sheath knife as one of the door prizes. It was a work of art.

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Cherokee Water Company, Inc.