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Gloria Evans, Miss Texas, Mother of Barbara Evans

July 26, 1922-December 24, 2011
Gloria Evans was a drum major on the Red Hussars Drum and Bugle Corps at Port Arthur High School. On a "spur of the moment" decision and with one day's notice, she entered the Miss Port Arthur beauty pageant sponsored by a local shoe store (Boston Shoes) and received a $6.00 bathing suit as payment for representing the store. At the age of 17, she won the title and competed for Miss Texas in Mineral Wells. Gloria performed a drum major dancing routine for the talent portion of the contest. This performance earned her the title of "Miss Texas," and she competed in the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City. She spent much of that year entertaining the troops at USO, Red Cross, military, and other training bases throughout Texas.
The following year, the Miss Texas pageant was canceled due to the start of World War II. Gloria was asked to represent the state of Texas again in the Miss America pageant. During the competition, she was stricken with strep throat and was unable to finish the final portion of the contest. She was later invited to audition for the Radio City Rockettes in New York but declined due to illness and her desire to return home and continue her education.
In 1995 Texas state pageant authorities belatedly awarded her the second crown representing her second year as Miss Texas. Gloria Evens is the only person ever to hold the title of Miss Texas two years in a row and the only person from Port Arthur ever to win the state title.

Tracy Byrd

Born: Dec. 17, 1966 in Vidor, Texas
Tracy Byrd graduated from Vidor High School in 1985. He grew up surrounded by country and western swing music. His first college was Lamar University, in Beaumont, Texas. While attending Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, he began to play in local clubs. Eventually, Byrd dropped out of college to pursue music full-time. He formed a band called Rim Fire and started playing in southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas. In January of 1990, he walked into Cutter's in Beaumont, which had recently produced another local country musician, Mark Chesnutt. Byrd landed the gig at Cutter's, and set a goal of making it to Nashville. He worked at the club with Chesnutt for about ten months and became their featured singer when Chesnutt left for Nashville.
Once he had enough music to showcase, Byrd headed for Music City and landed a recording contract with MCA Records. His debut album Tracy Byrd was released in 1993. Byrd's first single "Holdin' Heaven" went to #1 that same year. His second album, No Ordinary Man, yielded three hits: "Lifestyles of the Not So Rich and Famous," "Watermelon Crawl," and "The First Step.” The fourth single, "The Keeper of the Stars," became Byrd's second #1 and was a Top 5 nominee for CMA's Single of the Year, was named "Song of the Year" at the ACM Awards, and helped push No Ordinary Man to two million sales.
In 1998, he released a greatest hits album titled Keepers. Byrd has charted more than thirty hit singles in his career, including eleven additional Top Ten hits. He has also released ten studio albums and two greatest-hits albums, with four gold certifications and one double-platinum certification from the RIAA. Until 2006, Byrd produced at least one album every year. In June 2016, Byrd returned to the studio to work on his first project in ten years. This album, recorded at Rosewood Studios in Tyler, Texas, was self-produced and promoted. Byrd wrote 8 of the album's ten tracks himself. The album was released in October 2016.
In addition to music, Byrd has a passion for the outdoors and philanthropic endeavors. He gives back to his community with the annual Tracy Byrd Homecoming Weekend held in March. This event includes a fishing tournament, concert, and golf tournament, which raises money for the Children's Miracle Network.

The photos listed below are located in "Most Recent Photos"

See Photo Gallery in Site Links

Richey twins (2021)
Ron and Betty (Bernauer) Waedemon and family (2021)
Meredith and Mike Lawson 2021
Ron and Ernie Bullion & Laura and Bart Darby meeting up together in Houston (2021)
Rose Hill Manor is getting renovated.

William Clifford "Will" Hogg, director of various subsidiaries of Texaco

William Clifford "Will" Hogg, was born in 1875, and later attended school in Quitman, and Tyler, Texas before entering Southwestern University at Georgetown. At Southwestern he contemplated entering the Methodist ministry but finally decided to study law at the University of Texas, where he received his LL.B. degree in 1897. Hogg practiced law for a few years in San Antonio and then joined his father in the firm of Hogg, Robertson, and Hogg at Austin. With his father's death in 1906 Will took charge of all the Hogg interests. He became assistant to Joseph S. Cullinan of the Texas Company (later Texaco), was made chairman of numerous advisory committees, and was a director of various subsidiaries of the company.

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During World War I, Will served as a as a "dollar-a-year" man in the special intelligence service in Washington, DC. After the war the Hogg's organized the family properties and investments, which included land and mineral rights in West Columbia, Texas. In 1918, he undertook a major remodeling project of his home located near the Brazos River in West Columbia. Will Hogg died on September 12, 1930, while vacationing in Europe with his sister, Ima Hogg.