Rich With Opportunity - Images of Beaumont and Jefferson County

Photography by Joy Pruitt 

Text by Rogayle Franklin 

Images of Beaumont 

and 

Jefferson 

County 

A PUBLICATION OF THE GREATER BEAUMONT CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

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Images of Beaumont 

and Jefferson County 

Photography by Joy Pruitt 

Text by Rogayle Franklin 

A publication of The Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce 

Historical Publishing Network 

A division of Lammert Incorporated 

San Antonio, Texas

★ 

Crawfish farmer. 

First Edition 

Copyright © 2011 Historical Publishing Network 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, without permission in writing 

from the publisher. All inquiries should be addressed to Historical Publishing Network, 11535 Galm Road, Suite 101, San Antonio, Texas, 78254. Phone (800) 749-9790. 

ISBN: 978-1-935377-38-2 

Library of Congress Card Catalog Number: 2011922872 

Rich with Opportunity: Images of Beaumont and Jefferson County 

photography: Joy Pruitt 

text: Rogayle Franklin 

design: Glenda Tarazon Krouse 

contributing writer for sharing the opportunity: Joe Goodpasture 

Historical Publishing Network 

president: Ron Lammert 

project manager: Larry Sunderland 

administration: Donna M. Mata 

Melissa Quinn 

book sales: Dee Steidle 

production: Colin Hart 

Evelyn Hart 

Omar Wright 

PRINTED IN CANADA 

RICH WITH OPPORTUNITY: Images of Beaumont & Jefferson County 

2

Contents 

4 CHAPTER 1 Rich Heritage: Spindletop, Diverse 

Culture, Art & Education 

18 CHAPTER 2 Rich with Events & Community Spirit 

32 CHAPTER 3 Rich with Leisure 

46 CHAPTER 4 Rich with Enterprise 

62 CHAPTER 5 Rich with Faces 

75 SHARING THE OPPORTUNITY 

133 SPONSORS 

134 ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER 

135 ABOUT THE WRITER 

CONTENTS 

3

Chapter One 

RICH HERITAGE: 

Spindletop, Diverse Culture, 

Art & Education 

For centuries rich natural resources have drawn diverse cultures to the Beaumont and Jefferson 

County area. But in those early times, nobody knew another natural resource blessed the region— 

an economic bonanza waited to be discovered far below the surface. 

Twelve thousand years ago indigenous prehistoric inhabitants hunted the lush Southeast Texas 

Coastal Plains and forestland. 

Thousands of years later, the fearsome “Attakapas,” or in Choctaw language “the maneaters” 

discovered this Garden of Eden in Texas and carved out their no-visitors territory. They settled where 

the Neches and Sabine Rivers flowed into the Gulf of Mexico. The Attakapas complemented their main 

diet of freshwater and saltwater aquatic life with the bounty of game in the towering forest upriver. 


4

By the 1700s French trappers had found 

the territory rich in wildlife—black bear, 

beaver, and muskrat fur. For more than a 

century, the trappers traded for pelts with 

the Indians. 

The natural resources along the Neches 

and Sabine Rivers also stopped many Anglo- 

American settlers. They halted their planned 

pioneer trek mid-journey. Why go farther? 

This land had an abundance of freshwater, 

a forest full of game to hunt and logs to 

build homes. 

In a later century, the endless water 

resources, spiraling forests and the vigorous 

grassy, flatlands of the Coastal Plains lured 

lumbermen, ranchers and farmers. Southeast 

Texas was one of the rich areas of the state 

before the discovery of Spindletop. 

★ 

Opposite: The 

Babe Didrikson 

Zaharias Museum on 

Interstate-10 honors 

Mildred (Babe) 

Didrikson Zaharias, 

a former Beaumonter. 

The Babe’s athletic 

abilities still stand at 

the top for both men 

and women athletics. 

She gained world 

fame with two 

Olympic Gold Medals 

in track and field, 

and all American 

status in basketball. 

The list of 

achievements 

continue in tennis, 

softball, roller skating 

and bowling. The 

Babe was chosen in 

an Associated Press 

poll the world’s 

greatest woman 

athlete in the first 

half of the twentieth 

century. 

Above: Saint Anthony 

Cathedral Basilica. 

CHAPTER ONE 

5

★ 

Landscapers want their city to be beautiful in front of the Julie Rogers Theatre. 


6

★ 

The Jefferson County 

Courthouse stands 

as an impressive 

historical art deco 

building and is one of 

the city’s crown jewels 

on the walking tour 

of Beaumont. 

CHAPTER ONE 

7


8

In 1901, Patillo Higgins and Anthony 

Lucas drilled for oil, and when the Lucas 

Gusher blew in at Spindletop in a petroleum 

volume never imagined, it sent “Black Gold!” 

headlines around the world. 

The oil discovered in Beaumont at 

Spindletop and its incredible magnitude 

suggested oil could be found in significant 

amounts to be a new energy for the world. 

Financial centers in the United States and 

Wall Street predicted the day of universal fuel 

oil consumption had arrived. 

The population of Beaumont soared from 

about 9,000 to 50,000 people. Later the 

boomtown stabilized at about 20,000. Some 

of today’s major oil companies started in 

Beaumont and wealth poured into the area. 

Farmers, ranchers and other land owners 

also became oil men and went on to head 

rich family dynasties. 

By the height of Beaumont’s second oil 

boom, wealthy families had traveled the 

world, and they wanted for Beaumont the 

education, performing arts and visual arts 

they had seen in America and abroad. 

★ 

Opposite: Walkway 

through the courthouse. 

Above and right: Ladies 

nurture wounded wild 

birds like this owl into 

healthy birds they hope 

to put back in the wild. 

CHAPTER ONE 

9

★ 

Above: The Edison 

Museum, one of the 

downtown museums 

visitors can reach by 

walking a few blocks, 

is a tribute to the 

many inventions of 

Thomas Edison. 

In 1923, the residents and city organized 

the Beaumont Music Commission; they also 

realized the dream of a public library in 

the downtown First Baptist Church building, 

bought by Captain W. C. Tyrrell for the 

public library. 

The support of residents and the 

sponsorship of the great companies they 

influenced brought world-famous vaudeville 

and other performing artists to Beaumont’s 

grand Jefferson Theatre, built in 1927. 

At the time, the Jefferson Theatre was the 

finest theatre in the South and included a 

refrigerated air system that cost one-hundred 

thousand dollars. Today, the fully restored 

Jefferson is among only a few operating 

Right: Old firetruck 

at the Texas 

Fire Museum. 


10

grand art deco movie houses 

in the nation. It seats fifteen hundred and has 

a rare, fully operational pipe organ. 

The Jefferson’s curtain rises for classic ballets, 

country-western stars, bands, gospel singers 

and various showmen. The theater’s annual 

classic movies series is a local favorite. The 

founders of the popular Beaumont Community 

Players, a group of multi-talented thespians, 

singers, dancers, stage designers and set artists 

chose the Jefferson for its initial home. 

Today the players have a home of their own, 

the Betty Greenberg Center for Performing 

Arts. They present musicals, such as “Chicago,” 

which had recordbreaking attendance, and 

comedies, dramas and other live performances 

in their black box and stage theaters built 

by donations from generous sponsors and 

dedicated volunteers. 

★ 

The Texas Fire Museum is a block from the 

Edison, and it is the official Fire Museum of 

Texas. In addition to antique fire apparatuses, 

the museum has a history of Texas’ worst fires. 

If you have ever wanted to follow a fire truck, 

these accounts are fascinating to read, Did you 

know before hoses, early water buckets to fight 

fires were made of leather? You can see these 

leather buckets and other early firemen’s 

equipment, along with the old fire wagons pulled by 

horses and led by Dalmatian dogs, considered from 

early times to be the fire dog. Did the Dalmatian dog 

have an affinity for fires? Probably, not, but the excitable 

dog carried on with such barking and exuberance in 

front of the fire wagon that people far ahead heard 

and were able to get out of the wagon’s way. 

Inset: Following the success of the movie 101 

Dalmatians, Disney donated this giant fire hydrant 

to the park area in front of the Texas Fire Museum. 

CHAPTER ONE 

11

★ 

Right: The original 

First Methodist Church 

in Beaumont was the 

town’s first Christian 

denomination to have 

its own pastor in the 

city. Other denominations 

had visiting 

priests and ministers 

for their congregations. 

After a few different 

church buildings, the 

First United Methodist 

Church built this 

building, and local 

citizens named it the 

“the steeple church.” 

Opposite: In 1842, 

a Connecticut trader 

named John Jay French 

arrived, saw the 

thriving herds on the 

prairies and thought 

of shoe leather and 

leather jackets. He 

built a tannery and 

French Trading Post. 

His wares included 

whiskey, tobacco, 

and other trading 

post necessaries. 


12

Beaumonters’ early enthusiasm for 

supporting the visual arts has earned 

the city the nickname of the 

“Museum Capital of Texas,” because 

it offers a huge selection of permanent 

and traveling exhibitions in its 

largest museums—Art Museum of 

Southeast Texas, Babe Didrikson 

Zaharias Museum, Chambers House, 

Dishman Art Museum, Edison Museum, Fire 

Museum of Texas, John Jay French Museum, 

McFaddin-Ward House, Spindletop-Gladys 

City Boomtown Museum, and the Texas 

Energy Museum—all attracting diverse locals 

and listing signed-in visitors from around 

the world. 

In these times, tomorrow’s needs must 

be seen well in advance and living in a 

world economy requires a futuristic view of 

education. Lamar University is approaching 

its eighty-eight birthday from its beginning 

as South Park Junior College in 1923. 

Lamar University became a member of 

the Texas State University System in 

1995 and offers undergraduate 

degrees, master’s degrees and 

doctoral degrees in engineering, educational 

leadership, deaf studies/deaf education 

and audiology. 

One of Lamar’s most coveted features for 

students is a high teacher to student ratio— 

teachers who will talk to them. And the 

students in Lamar University-Beaumont, 

Lamar University-Port Arthur, and Lamar 

University-Orange in various departments 

can become learning, working and even a 

performing part of the community. Lamar’s 

thespians, bands, visual artists, dancers, and 

choirs are featured on stages and in shows 

CHAPTER ONE 

13

★ 

Left: The antique rose garden at the 

McFaddin Ward House Museum is 

trimmed annually and rose gardeners 

can collect cuttings. 

Below: The McFaddin Ward House 

Museum spans the city’s ranching and 

oil boomtown days. 


14

★ 

Today’s Mildred 

Apartment building 

was the guest house 

of the Yount mansion 

during the area’s 

second oil boom. 

It was named the 

Mildred after 

Yount’s daughter. 

Inset: An image of 

Mildred’s young face 

is carved into the 

ornate moldings 

of the apartment 

building’s trim work. 

CHAPTER ONE 

15

★ 

The one-on-one 

opportunities for 

students to talk with 

their professors makes 

Lamar University a 

favorite among students. 


16

throughout the region, while its budding 

resident and foreign engineers practice with 

the oil and chemical industries. The medium 

sized university also has an enviable record of 

a higher percentage of its pre-med students 

being accepted by medical schools. 

Lamar Institute of Technology, a separate 

educational system, offers a long list of 

technical degrees and medical careers 

that correctly boast—“LIT puts people to 

work today.” 

LIT works closely with employers in 

the area to fill skilled jobs and local 

employers also contribute to and benefit from 

students’ training. 

★ 

Clockwise from the top: 

Madri Gras celebrations are part 

of the Southeast Texas heritage. 

The stained glass windows at the 

Temple Emmanuel are a national 

treasure and revered internationally. 

The temple offers tours and music 

by cantors to the public 

on occasions. 

Each year the Neches River 

Festival crowns a king and queen. 

CHAPTER ONE 

17

Chapter Two 

RICH WITH EVENTS 

& Community Spirit 

Festivals and ultrafine neighbors mean more FUN in Southeast Texas events. Anywhere 

neighbors, volunteers, or even strangers gather in Southeast Texas, there’s an anticipation of 

pleasure. That party-attitude catches smiles and laughter and bundles them into an irresistible 

spirit of fun for everyone. Even hard working volunteers for charities and civic organizations have 

a special gleam in their eyes doing something for their community. 

Festival, dance, or money raising event—it’s a community party nearly always enhanced by 

a delicious ethnic food. Beaumont having the fourth busiest port in the U.S. helps. English may 

or may not be our common language but good chow—Afro American, Anglo, Asian, Chinese, 

French, Greek, Italian, Mexican or Native American and all combinations (like Louisiana Cajuns) 

of ethnic origins found here—have their special dishes. 


18

★ 

Opposite: A semitropical 

environment 

keeps outdoor 

Beaumont cameraready 

most of the 

year. Photographers 

in the Beaumont 

Camera Club and 

their families find 

most days good days 

for their hobby. 

Above: Beaumont is 

home for the African 

Violet Society of 

America, Inc., 

organized November 

8, 1946. Violet 

enthusiasts have 

nurtured their plants 

and association into a 

thriving international 

group that has grown 

to be the largest 

society devoted to a 

single indoor plant in 

the world. 

Left: An 

African Violet. 

CHAPTER TWO 

19


20

★ 

Opposite: It’s not everyday you can feed a chinese dragon. 

Above: The cultural blend in the city draws community participation 

for all sorts of ethnic appreciation and celebration. 

CHAPTER TWO 

21

★ 

Above: Parents have 

reviewed Dishman 

Elementary School 

in the Beaumont 

Independent School 

District and given it 

five stars in a five 

star rating. 

Opposite, top: 

Beaumont is a great 

place to sing high 

praises. 

Wow! 

visitors say, usually with 

partially full mouths. 

Opposite, bottom: In 

a city of fine families 

this happy clan 

received the Family of 

the Year plaque. 

It also shows gourmands taste buds why 

an old country covered dish dinner—where 

amateur cooks bring their best dishes— 

can be an epicurean party here. And, if 

you don’t know what it is good that you 

are eating, ask the proud amateur chef. 

Food talks. 

Generally, festivals draw traveling food 

vendors and lots of local booths filled 

with volunteers raising money for their 

churches, charities and favorite organizations. 

Beaumont’s community spirit is wellknown 

among vendors, “In Southeast Texas 

they like to keep their money at home.” 


22

CHAPTER TWO 

23

★ 

Above: Buckets 

of contributions 

come in when the 

local firemen throw 

a fundraising event 

for a statue shown in 

the inset. 

With semi-tropical weather almost 

any month has a schedule of outdoor events. 

Favorites across Jefferson County are Boys 

Haven Crawfish Festival, Buddhist Lotus 

Garden & Bamboo Festival, Independence 

Day Celebration, Texas-Style Hot Summer 

Nights, Kids Fest, Mexican Fiesta, Texas 

Pecan Festival, Texas Rice Festival, India 

Fest, CavOILcade, A Very Merry Main Street 

Market, Beaumont Christmas Holiday 

Festival, Mardi Gras of Southeast Texas, 

Nederland Heritage Festival, YMBL South 

Texas State Fair, Mercado Days Latino Fest, 

and Neches River Festival. 


24

★ 

Clockwise, starting from the top left: 

Mayor Becky Ames’ dog is not camera shy and is always 

ready to pose with its city leader. 

Officer Matthew Fortenberry and the city’s animal control 

department officers want to find as many animals as 

possible good homes. 

Costumed events are fun even if you have to pose on dry 

land like this little mermaid. 

Keeping the city moving with a smile. 

CHAPTER TWO 

25

★ 

Above: The Healing Hoof 

helps youths through 

bonding with four 

legged friends. 

Right: Runners get ready 

for the Gusher Marathon. 


26

★ 

Habitat for Humanity keeps busy helping families in need become homeowners. 

How does the 111,000 population of 

Beaumont gather so many crowds for events 

during the year? 

Beaumont has a MSA of more than 

360,000—one million people live within an 

hours drive—and the city offers easy access to 

its entertainment centers. 

★ 

Always a smile and always 

a wave are what you receive 

when you drive by Marshall 

Middle School. He’s fondly 

called “The Waver.” 

CHAPTER TWO 

27

★ 

Above: The annual Homecoming for 

Port Neches High School lights up a 

Friday night. 

Right: Children and elders celebrate 

the opening of Waldman Park. 

Opposite, clockwise, starting from top: 

The Junior League Christmas Market. 

The Magnolia Garden Club beautifies 

the city with their volunteer work at 

the Southeast Texas Art Museum. 

Pretty girls dress up for Halloween. 


28

CHAPTER TWO 

29

★ 

Top and middle: Boy 

Scouts gather to experience 

another biking event with 

motorcycle supporters. 

Right: The community 

supports Lamar University’s 

sports programs. 


30

★ 

Left: Area Veterans 

gather to discuss past 

and present wars. 

Below: Appreciation 

for veterans runs high 

in Southeast Texas. 

Bottom: The Jimmy 

Simmons Band. 

CHAPTER TWO 

31

Chapter Three 

RICH WITH LEISURE 

★ 

Ladies like to hold 

hands dashing into 

the Gulf of Mexico 

near Beaumont. 

This region of Texas has outdoor temperatures that rarely drop below the low 30s and a rainfall 

that keeps bountiful fresh water filling lakes, rivers and bayous. It’s a water wonderland, 

crisscrossed by enough water ways to boggle the minds of freshwater and saltwater sport 

fisherman and other watersports enthusiasts. In south county, the Intracoastal Canal crosses 

Jefferson County, and the county ends on the beach of the Gulf of Mexico. 

With water everywhere, Beaumont represents a very green side of Texas, with a doorway into 

one of the earth’s rare biospheres—the Big Thicket National Preserve. The thicket begins twentymiles 

from Beaumont and covers ninety-seven thousand acres. This rare spot in the world draws 

nature lovers, scientists, bird watchers, photographers, canoeist and hikers from around the world. 

The Thicket has the largest bird count in the nation, 620 documented species, mainly because 

three of the four major bird flyways—eastern, central and mountain—funnel through it and the 

unique biosphere is an excellent wild host for many species. 


32

★ 

Beaumont golfers stay ready for tournaments with year round outdoor weather. 

Riding to the Big Thicket National Preserve outside of Beaumont is only half the fun. 

The second thrill for these thicket explorers will be the amazing plant and wildlife. 

★ 

CHAPTER THREE 

33

Other green escapes are Anahuac National 

Wildlife Refuge, Village Creek State Park, Sabine 

Pass Battleground State Historic Site, Cattail 

Marsh in Tyrrell Park, Beaumont Botanical 

Gardens & Warren Loose Conservatory, and 

McFaddin and Texas Point National Wildlife 

Refuges. A new addition to this beautiful 

wildlife panorama is an educational cruise 

on the Cardinal Neches River Adventures, 

a Lamar University Environmental Learning 

and Research Center. 


34

★ 

Opposite, top: 

Seniors keep in shape 

at the Best Years 

Senior Center. 

Those who have not visited our green 

abundance, might be surprised that our 

beaches, lakes, marshlands, rivers and forests 

entertain more than two-million people 

annually. Waterfowl hunting, watersports, 

boat racing, sailing, swimming and water 

skiing, and both fresh and saltwater fishing 

are among the top of daytime leisure 

activities. The watersport opportunities here 

keep boat retailers busy. In fact, our dealers 

usually top Texas’ boat dealer’s sales charts. 

Opposite, bottom: 

Seniors hone their 

pool playing skills at 

the Best Years Senior 

Center and enjoy 

friendly competition. 

Above: Tournaments 

at the Bridge Club are 

a challenge to players 

and fun for all. 

CHAPTER THREE 

35

★ 

Blueberry pick-yourown 

farms are all 

around the area 

and special local 

blueberry recipes 

make blueberry time 

a delicious season. 


36

★ 

Residents come out 

to eat shrimp gumbo 

and raise money to 

support Girls Haven, 

a place in Beaumont 

that cares for girls 

in need of family 

and help. 

CHAPTER THREE 

37


38

★ 

Opposite, clockwise, 

starting from the top: 

Kids love bumpers and 

in a pool, you can’t get 

bumped too hard. 

Gator Country on the 

outskirts of Beaumont lets you 

visit and thrill to the goingson 

of these dangerous critters. 

Weekends and afternoons parts 

of the Neches River buzz with 

the sounds of different types 

of motorized watercraft. 

Children in homemade racers, running at downhill speeds 

in the annual Soap Box Derby, makes contestants’, 

parents’ and observers’ hearts race faster. 

Above and below: The South Texas State 

Fair draws a huge crowd each year and the 

excitement of its carnival rides runs down the midway. 

CHAPTER THREE 

39

★ 

Right: Lamar University basketball 

games always draw a big crowd. 

Below: Girls outdoor soccer fields 

stay busy and ground was recently 

broken in the West End of the city 

for a new indoor soccer field. 

Opposite, clockwise, starting from 

top left: 

The Julie Rogers Theatre for the 

performing arts hosts popular stars 

in concert, classical stars and the 

grand Symphony of Southeast 

Texas with equal eloquence. 

The Jefferson Theatre is the 

historical jewel of Beaumont’s 

many stages for the performing 

arts. It was built for vaudeville 

shows and motion pictures in 1927 

near the height of area’s second oil 

boom. Today it is one of only a few 

art deco theaters in the nation. 

The Jefferson also played a big 

role in the country music scene. 

Country Music Legends such as 

Tex Ritter and George Jones grew 

up loving the sound and Mark 

Chesnutt, Tracy Byrd, Clay Walker 

and others began their climb to 

fame singing at the Jefferson. 

The great weather also brings out all kinds 

of enthusiasts for sports on dry land. Golfers 

appreciate the 20 golf courses in the area with 

less wait and less cost for a round of golf. The 

city has 30 tennis courts, more than 30 basketball 

courts and 25 softball diamonds. And, 

out of the city limits, the area has rifle and 

pistol ranges, and trap and skeet shooting. 

Toward sunset the leisure scene gradually 

changes to a different array of entertainment, 

dining, dancing to live bands, special concerts 

and other stage shows. 

Beaumont’s Texas Energy Museum 

opened in 1990. It originally was 

made from two museums—the 

Western Company of North 

America Museum in Fort Worth 

and the Spindletop Museum of 

Lamar University in Beaumont. 

The 1901 outdoor re-creation of 

the Gladys City Boomtown near 

Lamar University is a sister 

attraction to the Texas 

Energy Museum. 

Quilting serves as a relaxing hobby 

for many locals and shows in the 

city and surrounding areas draw a 

crowd of quilters, plus those who 

can only admire the art. 


40

CHAPTER THREE 

41

★ 

Above: People start gathering early for the annual downtown Jazz Festival. 

The music fest draws people from Southeast Texas and Southwestern Louisiana 

and keeps the smooth music going until late into the night. 

Right: The Jefferson County 

Singles Club has live music 

two nights a week and a 

large following of fifty-plus 

singles who like to dance 

to Country Western, Cajun 

Pop and old favorites. 


42

The people in Beaumont and Jefferson County 

never tire of making the most of their leisure time. 

Local menus range from adventurous, like 

when you dine surrounded outside by live 

alligators, or have to face the piercing black 

eyes of the live lobster the restaurant intends 

for your order—but fresh food does taste better 

and Beaumont has it. 

Almost any kind of fish or shellfish you 

choose to order may have “slept in the Gulf,” 

the same day. If not in the Gulf of Mexico, 

in local aquaculture farms carved from rice 

fields, which today raise live crops of 

crawfish, catfish and shrimp. 

The Crockett Street Entertainment Complex 

in downtown Beaumont offers a variety of 

casual restaurants, dancing and live concert 

and stage shows—all with convenient, free 

parking. In South Jefferson County, near the 

Jack Brooks Regional Airport, the Jefferson 

County Singles Club, which welcomes married 

couples Sundays, has live bands Friday nights 

and Sunday afternoons. 

★ 

Above: Marathon 

runners get a good 

start all together. 

Below: The weather 

fair and its not ever 

too cold for the annual 

Christmas Parade. 

CHAPTER THREE 

43

★ 

Clockwise, starting 

from top left: 

The unusual 

Pitcher plant. 

The area’s joggers take 

to park trails early in 

the morning and later 

in the evening. This 

trail runs through a 

stand of tall, stately 

pines at Wuthering 

Heights Park. 

In the fall, Village 

Creek State Park 

delights visitors and 

is a paradise for 

photographers 

and canoeists. 


44

★ 

Clockwise, starting 

from top left: 

The exquisite Sun 

Dew plant. 

Walking dogs along 

the Sun Dew Trail 

in the Big Thicket 

National Preserve 

brings sensual 

experiences to both 

humans and animals. 

While the dogs are 

alert to wildlife sounds 

and scents, their owner 

can appreciate the 

Pitcher and Sun Dew 

plants below her 

elevated boardwalk. 

These carnivorous 

plants are no danger 

for persons or dogs but 

insects, beware. 

Historically, the creek 

was part of the Indians’ 

canoe waterway south 

to the Neches River 

and the Gulf of Mexico. 

Today Village Creek 

State Park lines the 

creek near Beaumont. 

CHAPTER THREE 

45

Chapter Four 

Rich with Enterprise 

The economic development needs and advancement of established and new businesses come 

first with the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce. The progressive Chamber’s organization 

efforts with the city and its allies are structured to move ahead an economy that’s already booming 

with a trained and available workforce and measures in place to keep it growing. 

The entrepreneurial spirit is living well in Beaumont and Jefferson County. It has $13.4 billion 

investments for new industry—four major refineries are expanding—one doubling in size. A 

petrochemical plant is building a new coker unit, three liquid natural gas companies are putting 

in terminals, each costing $1 billion and a local company has a turn-key contract to build one of 

the $1 billion LGN terminals. In 2010, a new salt dome storage will open and another in 2011. 


46

★ 

Opposite, left: The Jack Brooks 

Regional Airport has five 

Continental commercial flights 

daily to Houston, connecting 

business and pleasure travelers and 

air freight to the world. Corporate 

jets and private planes also use the 

regional airport on a daily basis. 

Opposite, right: The Entergy 

Building not only adds to the 

good looks of the city but from 

its seventeenth floor it offers a 

magnificent view of downtown and 

the Neches River. 

Left: The BBVA Compass Bank 

building is one of the first you see 

entering downtown. 

Below: The AT&T building serves 

as a high-speed hub for business 

and industry communications 

around the world. 

An economic development study showed 

the Beaumont area to be a hot location for 

any company related to the energy industry, 

including bio-energy. 

The area would also be a great asset for 

an advanced materials company, such as 

composite plastics or other new products 

being researched now at Lamar University. 

The county’s location puts it in the ideal 

place for businesses related to the highly 

developed health care industry. Beaumont is 

the regional medical center east of Houston 

and west of New Orleans. 

CHAPTER FOUR 

47

★ 

The Stedman building 

wins awards for its 

reuse and renovation 

of the old Stedman 

Fruit Company 

building downtown. 


48

★ 

Above: The Rogers Brothers Statue in 

downtown is a tribute to these men of 

vision. They started Texas State Optical 

in Beaumont and shared TSO’s and 

other enterprises success with the 

community in many philanthropic ways. 

Together and individually with their 

families, they helped the needy and 

made Beaumont a better place to live. 

Left: The Greater Beaumont Chamber 

of Commerce presents the annual 

Spindletop Award. 

CHAPTER FOUR 

49

★ 

The Crockett Street Entertainment District is one of the places Beaumonters 

come together downtown, year round. The District is a city 

block of renovated century old buildings that now 

pulse with activity—good food, 

live music and dancing. 

★ 

The Live Work Play 

Downtown mottos 

decorate the street lights. 

★ 

The Beaumont CVB. The Beaumont Convention and Visitors Center 

greets people as they enter the downtown area. 


50

Tax abatements from the City of Beaumont 

are in place to lower the significant costs with 

expanding or locating a new business in 

various communities. The types of business 

slated for abatement are industrial and 

manufacturing, distribution, and central 

administrative office services. Other entities 

include those subject to Texas Commission on 

Environmental Quality Voluntary Cleanup 

Program Agreement, business and industries 

associated with advanced materials, specialty 

foods, pharmaceutical manufacturing, medical 

devices, and specialty resins and polymers. 

Jefferson County also offers business incentives 

and tax abatement to certain sectors on a case 

by case basis. 

The City of Beaumont has a small business 

revolving loan fund that makes low-interest, 

fixed–asset and working capital loans to small 

and minority-owned business for total project 

costs of less than $100,000. 

★ 

Above: CHRISTUS 

St. Elizabeth Hospital 

provides its patients 

quality medical care, 

as well as loving care 

for the whole person 

in body, mind and 

spirit. 

Left: The popular 

World Gym opened a 

second location in 

Beaumont’s West End 

near Parkdale Mall. 

CHAPTER FOUR 

51

Baptist Beaumont Hospital is dedicated to providing 

quality health services in a Christian environment 

using the latest technologies 

and services. 

★ 

The region has a Foreign Trade Zone at 

the Port of Beaumont and the Jack Brooks 

Regional Airport where U.S. Customs consider 

foreign and domestic merchandise to be 

outside its territory. Foreign and domestic 

goods can be placed in the zones without 

formal U.S. Customs entry, payment of duties 

or quota limits. 

Industrial or manufacturing projects can 

receive tax exempt financing for land and 

depreciable property through the Industrial 

Revenue Bond Program. 

Beaumont and Jefferson County businesses—both 

large and small—with the concern 

and support of the Greater Beaumont 

Chamber of Commerce and its alliances—are 

set to sail into a new decade of prosperity. 


52

The Community Bank building is 

one of the new additions to the 

West End. 

★ 

★ 

The research at Lamar University serves Beaumont industries. 

CHAPTER FOUR 

53

★ 

Crawfish farming came to the southeast part of Texas when 

local rice farmers began suffering increasing losses in the world’s 

rice markets. The Texas Department of Agriculture introduced 

aquaculture and crawfish farming to families that had been rice 

farmers for generations. They already had the low land with 

the levees, the pumps and the water to raise crawfish. 


54

★ 

Chef Chuck Harris 

delights in giving 

Spindletop Steakhouse 

diners great 

presentations of his 

delicious menu items. 

CHAPTER FOUR 

55

★ 

Monster trucks bring excitement and a roar from the crowd to the Ford Park Arena. 

★ 

Left: Alligators have found a home 

at Gator Country as the number one 

attraction for inquisitive children; an 

unusual thrill for adults, and on the 

Gator Country restaurant menu as 

a tasty entree. 


56

★ 

When Cowboy Harley-Davidson opened, locals dubbed 

the handsome building “The Castle.” It’s one of the biggest 

dealerships in Texas and loaded with a variety of shiny 

Harley-Davidson motorcycles and gear. Throughout the 

year the dealership and Harley-Davidson clubs hosts 

charity events and help teach youngsters 

bike safety. 

CHAPTER FOUR 

57

★ 

At the Port of Beaumont on the Sabine-Neches Waterway, already one of the nation’s largest ports, 

increased traffic and revenues have set in motion a $52 million capital improvement project 

that will set a new standard in port efficiency and security. 

The port also enjoys a stellar working relationship with the 

U.S. military. A new $5.4 million, 2,700-square-foot 

headquarters building is home to the 842nd 

Transportation Battalion. 

★ 

Below: Barnacles on scrap. 


58

★ 

Left: In 2009, the Port of 

Beaumont purchased this 

Liebherr LHM 500S crane for 

the Beaumont harbor. It is the 

most powerful harbor mobile 

crane on the Gulf Coast. 

Below: Expanding across the 

Neches River onto more than 

400 acres, the port anticipates 

enough space to accommodate 

an additional 350 railroad 

cars—part of a $16 million 

deal between the port and the 

three railroads that serve the 

Port of Beaumont. 

CHAPTER FOUR 

59

★ 

Left: Workforce Solutions 

of SETX gears up for 

new employment. 


60

★ 

Above: Oil is still king in Southeast Texas. 

CHAPTER FOUR 

61

Chapter Five 

RICH WITH FACES 

★ 

If watermelon drools 

down your arms, its 

better when it happens 

among friends. 

An array of emotions plays on the faces of Beaumonters and other hard-working, fun-loving 

people in Jefferson County. Their reactions show like a kaleidoscope turning 24/7 on happy, 

nostalgic, amused, mocking and proud faces. You name it; you’ll see images of it somewhere on 

these pages. Their feelings may be attached to what they are doing…working, volunteering or just 

playing around. Whatever—it’s caught and kept by the camera. 


62

★ 

Top: Boy Scouts ready and able for their next bike adventure. 

Above: Swimmin’s cool at the pool if you hang around the 5-foot marker. 

CHAPTER FIVE 

63

★ 

Below: Thrilled to live 

in Beaumont. 

Right: Big Mardi Gras 

crowns bring cheers 

and jeers. 


64

★ 

Above: You can skate along 

the Neches River if you are 

careful not to fall in the water. 

Right: Plenty of fire plugs 

and doggy fashions make the 

annual Dogtoberfest a upscale 

barking success. 

CHAPTER FIVE 

65

★ 

Above: Winning Best of Show at 

Parkdale Mall puts a big smile 

on this student’s face. 

Left: A blade and stick and this 

master whittler captivates his 

amazed audience. 


66

★ 

Above: At Lamar 

University students 

have hands-on 

learning experiences. 

Left: Dr. Alvin 

Williams guides us 

about happiness. 

CHAPTER FIVE 

67

★ 

Clockwise, starting from the top: 

Arranged ice skating happens in downtown 

Beaumont when Christmas comes. 

Wedding bliss for a handsome couple. 


68 

A little one after those water spouts that keep 

popping up at the children’s fountain at Rogers Park.

★ 

A muddy soccer practice is okay if you share it. 

★ 

Annual Crab Festival 

doesn’t pinch if you play with fake crabs. 

★ 

Girls on the red team ready to bat one over the fence. 

CHAPTER FIVE 

69

★ 

Above: Three men ready 

to serve their country. 

Right: What Lamar 

Institute of Technology 

teaches puts people 

to work. 


70

★ 

Top: Soccer is okay. But gathering wild flowers 

around the field is super. 

Above: The masked pink bandit is ready to ride 

at the Pecan Festival. 

Left: The monthly Family Day at the Southeast 

Texas Art Museum brings on creativity 

from children and parents. 

CHAPTER FIVE 

71

★ 

Clockwise, starting from the top left: 

Boy in a denim jacket. 

“What’s out here?” Rogers Park is fun for children and parents have lots of photo opportunities. 

“Oh!” 

One-on-one with loving teachers, children learn at the Shorkey Center. 


72

★ 

Clockwise, starting from the top: 

Family love lights up faces. 

Thumbs up! 

Kids faces say it all. 

Two Port Neches Groves High School “Indians” with pointed heads. 

CHAPTER FIVE 

73

BEAUMONT - RICH WITH OPPORTUNITY 

74

Sharing the Opportunity 

historic profiles of businesses and organizations 

that have contributed to the development 

and economic base of Beaumont 

ExxonMobil-Beaumont Complex .......................................................76 

Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas .................................................80 

MCM Eleganté Hotel and ICA ..........................................................84 

Strong Pipkin Bissell & Ledyard, L.L.P. .............................................88 

Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce ..........................................91 

CommunityBank of Texas ................................................................92 

Beaumont Convention & Visitors Bureau ...........................................95 

City of Beaumont...........................................................................96 

CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth & St. Mary.................................................98 

Port of Beaumont.........................................................................100 

Lamar University.........................................................................102 

Lamar Institute of Technology........................................................104 

Beaumont Independent School District.............................................106 

Jefferson County Title Company .....................................................108 

Sabine Neches Navigation District ..................................................110 

Conn’s........................................................................................112 

Provost Umphrey Law Firm, LLP ....................................................114 

Maverick Communications, Inc.......................................................116 

M&I Electric American Electric Technologies, Inc. ............................118 

Good Value Home Improvement Center ............................................120 

First United Methodist Church .......................................................122 

American Real Estate ...................................................................124 

Moore Landrey, L.L.P....................................................................125 

American Valve & Hydrant Company ..............................................126 

Germer Gertz L.L.P. .....................................................................127 

Benign Essential Blepharospasm Research Foundation ........................128 

Gulf Coast Electric Company .........................................................129 

MehaffyWeber A Professional Corporation........................................130 

Texas Coffee Company ..................................................................131 

Joy Pruitt Photography .................................................................132 


75

EXXONMOBIL- 

BEAUMONT 

COMPLEX 

★ 

Left: With Magnolene Auto Oil and an 

umbrella, these passengers are ready for a 

leisurely drive in Beaumont, c. 1910. 

COURTESY OF THE TYRRELL HISTORICAL LIBRARY. 

Right: The “A Shift workers” at Security 

Refinery (later Magnolia) from 1903-1908. 

Shown are (from left to right) William L. 

McGillioray (standing), Charles H. Clark 

(lying, left) and J. H. Koster (lying, right). 

Fred Driehs (inset) was instrumental in the 

startup of the refinery in 1903, and its 

operations for many years. The “alien 

scare” immigrant backlash of 1917 caught 

Driehs, who was of Prussian descent but 

Magnolia put up a $500,000 bond to keep 

him on the job. 


Since its beginnings in the chaotic excitement 

of the 1901 Spindletop oil boom, the 

history of ExxonMobil in Beaumont has paralleled 

that of the region and the worldwide 

petroleum industry. The oil discovery at 

Spindletop gave the world a vast supply of 

petroleum. This single event prompted the 

area’s forward-thinking pioneers to create a 

manufacturing infrastructure that heralded in 

the age of liquid fuel. 

After the Lucas Gusher blew in on January 

10, 1901, the giant Standard Oil Company 

saw the critical need for a refinery to serve 

the new field. Standard Oil interests, wary of 

anti-trust complications in Texas, quietly 

recruited Colonel George A. Burt, a New 

York construction engineer, and sent him to 

Beaumont in November 1901 to build a refinery. 

Burt, a big, hearty man with a loud laugh, 

quickly won the confidence of town society. 

Meanwhile, he discreetly paid $45,000 for an 

eighty-nine acre tract centrally located to 

Beaumont, the Spindletop field, the Kansas 

City Southern Railroad, and the Neches River. 

Erecting an eight-foot fence around the site 

and swearing his Mexican, German, and 

Pennsylvania Dutch workers to secrecy, he 

began construction on January 10, 1902. The 

work proceeded in spite of sixty-three 

consecutive days of rain, seas of mud, and a 

smallpox epidemic. The German workmen 

arranged with one of the Mexican saloons to 

have their cold schooners of beer hoisted 

over the fence. One, Fred Driehs, a burly 

ex-Prussian with a booming voice and 

a Hohenzollern moustache, would be 

instrumental in the startup of the refinery and 

in its operation for many years. He was said to 

gauge the quality of the refined oil by its feel 

and smell. Fred and Dan Weller, a pair of tall, 

tobacco-chewing brothers from West Virginia, 

would be the first to superintend operations. 

It was an open secret that the refinery was 

built with Standard money. According to the Oil 

Investors’ Journal “…there is no doubt…it’s a 

Standard Oil Baby and quite a good-sized 

kid….” Beaumonters knew of Standard’s 

involvement and were delighted with the boost 

to the economy. 

Abruptly, Burt sold the refinery and left 

Beaumont in April of 1903. The buyer was the 

Security Oil Company, consisting of Standard 

Oil interests. On May 15 the Security 

Refinery, the third largest in the country, was 


76

put “on stream,” employing 250 men. The site 

included 50 shell stills, 3 steam stills, 2 boiler 

houses, 2 pump houses, earthen tankage for 

10 million barrels of crude, a laboratory, a twostory 

office building, a stable, and employee 

living quarters. The refinery pumped products 

through pipelines to a loading dock at Sabine 

Pass where it was then loaded onto oceangoing 

tankers. 

In those days, employees walked or rode 

bicycles to the refinery and men on the night 

shift worked by oil lamps. Every Sunday was 

payday, and the men “whooped it up” in 

Beaumont, sometimes holding buggy races 

down Pearl Street. 

In 1909 the refinery hired its first female 

employee, Sudie Reynolds, to work for $80 a 

month as secretary to the plant manager, 

Oliver Cromwell Edwards (an austere man 

who wore striped pants and cutaway coat to 

work everyday.) 

That year the state of Texas forced Security 

Oil to relinquish control of the refinery 

because of its close connections with 

Standard, and a group of Texas investors, 

including Galveston’s John Sealy, Jr., bought 

the refinery. 

On April 24, 1911, John Sealy and 

Company reorganized as the Magnolia 

Petroleum Company. The name was suggested 

by one of the organizers, Henry Clay Folger, 

who admired the stately blossom-laden trees 

seen from the windows of the company’s 

Beaumont office. Magnolia grew along 

with Beaumont, benefiting from the 1908 

construction of a deep-water port. The first 

ocean-going vessel to sail up the channel, the 

Vesta, docked at Magnolia’s new concrete 

wharves, and sailed for New York carrying 

37,000 barrels of gasoline. 

During World War I, the refinery greatly 

increased its output. The 1917 “alien scare” 

caught worker Fred Driehs, but Magnolia put 

up a $500,000 bond to allow him to stay on 

his job. By 1920, Magnolia was Beaumont’s 

largest industry, employing more than 2,000 

and presenting the appearance of a small city. 

The refinery sponsored the Magnolia Band, 

directed by the resident dentist, Dr. Harry 

Cloud, and began a new in-house publication, 

Magpetco in 1921. The plant’s own radio 

station premiered from the company cafeteria 

in 1924, starring Assistant Superintendent 

John Newton as “Magnolene Mike,” the 

master of ceremonies. The station’s call letters, 

KFDM, stood for “Kall For Dependable 

Magnolene,” the Magnolia brand of motor oil. 

A second oil find at Spindletop in 1925 

coincided with Magnolia becoming a wholly 

owned affiliate of New York-based Socony. By 

this time, employees were enjoying improved 

safety measures, a cafeteria, a community hall 

and various athletic programs including 

baseball, basketball and volleyball. Magnolia 

also expanded its Beaumont plant. Its 

products now included gasoline, kerosene, 

lubricating oils, and paraffin wax. 

★ 

Below: Yard Engine #2 was bought in 1913 

by H. H. Ziller, the purchasing agent for 

Magnolia. Signs indicate which one is 

“Petroleum Pete” and which is the mule. 

COURTESY OF THE TYRRELL HISTORICAL LIBRARY 

Bottom: Radio began in Beaumont when 

KFDM, owned and operated by Magnolia 

Petroleum Company, went on the air in 

October 1924. Broadcasts of Harry Cloud’s 

Magnolia Band originated from the refiner’s 

cafeteria. The band is shown standing in 

front of Beaumont High School. 



77

★ 

Right: Women drove trucks, operated 

cranes, and filled other vital positions 

vacated by Magnolia’s male refinery 

workers, drafted during World War II. 


Below: These sleek towers are part of the 

manufacturing process for Mobil 1, the first 

synthetic automotive engine lubricant. 

ExxonMobil’s Beaumont chemical plant is 

shown in the background. 

COURTESY OF DWAIN COX. 

Through careful management, Magnolia 

weathered the Great Depression and brought 

labor unions into full partnership. In 1931, 

Socony merged with the Vacuum Oil Company 

of New York to form the Socony Vacuum 

Company (later Socony Mobil Oil Company) 

and the merger brought the famous Flying 

Red Horse trademark to 

Magnolia. By the mid- 

1930s, the Beaumont refinery 

was processing 90,000 

barrels of crude a day and 

employing 2,250 men. 

In 1938, Magnolia 

would be the first to 

utilize the catalytic cracking 

process to manufacture 

higher-octane fuels, needed 

by aircraft for speed and 

power. Squatty brick and 

tin buildings gave way 

to the lean steel structures 

of the cracking units. In 

1939 the first commercial 

cracking unit in the 

world went on stream 

at Magnolia. That year, 

European countries were 

ordering petroleum products 

for the war effort. 

During World War II, Magnolia saw a 

tremendous increase in production, but its 

chief contribution lay in the speed, spirit, and 

skill its workforce employed in producing 

petroleum products for both the war and 

home fronts. To fill in for drafted male 

employees, the refinery hired over a hundred 

women to operate cranes, drive trucks, and 

perform other vital tasks. 

In 1950, Magnolia began manufacturing 

jet fuels for use in the Korean War, and, in 

1959, it became the Mobil Oil Company. 

Postwar years saw new developments in 

techniques, processes, and products. 

In the 1960s and 1970s, Mobil expanded its 

Beaumont refining base to manufacture plastics 

and produce the worlds first synthetic 

automotive engine lubricant, Mobil 1. The 

company weathered the fuel crises of the 1980s 

to emerge in the 1990s as a leader in the 

petrochemical industry. On December 1, 1999, 

in a historic merger, Mobil Oil joined Exxon 

(an outgrowth of Humble, another century-old 

Spindletop company) to form ExxonMobil, the 

largest petroleum company in the world. 

Today, ExxonMobil’s Beaumont presence has 

expanded from Burt’s original eighty-nine acre 

tract to an integrated petrochemical complex 

for refining, lube blending and chemical 

manufacture. ExxonMobil’s long-term success 


78

★ 

Left: In the Barrel House at Magnolia 

Refinery in the 1950s, the lost art of rolling 

drums was performed to perfection. 


lies in its talented workforce and in its ability 

to evolve with the changing times. 

As it has from its birth in the oil-soaked 

fields of Spindletop, ExxonMobil remains in 

the vanguard of the petrochemical industry 

and continues to play a vital economic and 

social role in the place of its century-old roots, 

the Southeast Texas community. 

Below: The lights of ExxonMobil’s Beaumont 

Complex come to life under a Southeast 

Texas sunset. 

COURTESY OF DWAIN COX. 


79

BAPTIST HOSPITALS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS 

★ 

Above: Baptist Hospital, c. 1949. 

Below: Current facilities of Baptist 

Beaumont Hospital. 

For over sixty years, Baptist Hospitals 

of Southeast Texas has been dedicated to 

providing quality health services and 

Sacred Work in a Christian environment. Our 

Partners in Caring—our physicians, our nurses 

and staff, practice a philosophy that inspires 

an environment of teamwork, respect, encouragement, 

opportunity and trust. Our efforts 

continue each day as we strive to offer newer 

and better programs, services and technologies 

for the members of our community. 

Genesis of our not-for-profit hospital 

system began in February 1945 when L. E. 

Stagg, Sr., a Beaumont businessman and 

Baptist lay leader, led the effort to build a 

$1,365,000 “City of Healing” to address the 

serious hospital bed shortage in the area. 

Ground was broken and nineteen months 

later, the first patient was admitted on 

October 15, 1949. During the first year of 

operation, 3,287 patients were admitted. 

In 1954 the Alice Keith Nurses Home and 

Educational Building was founded. The only 

nursing program in Southeast Texas boasted 

366 nurses between 1957 and 1964. The period 

from 1958 through the 1960s brought a number 

of facility improvements. Two five-story hospital 

wings, the area’s first psychiatric wing, a 

radiation center and the new Baptist’s Women 

and Children’s Hospital were added. A five 

story addition was completed in 1977, which 

housed surgery, the emergency department, 

cardiac intensive care and medical/surgical beds. 

With a commitment to exceed customer 

expectations through distinguished quality, 

safety, customer service, spiritual values, 

operational excellence and innovation in 

meeting the healthcare needs of those being 

serviced, plans for additional services became 

a reality. Cancer services for Southeast Texas 

began in 1990 when the Julie & Ben Rogers 

Cancer Institute was dedicated, providing 

outpatient chemotherapy as well as inpatient 

and outpatient radiation therapy services. 

The twenty-first century brought continued 

growth and improvements including 

construction of the new Baptist Beaumont 

Hospital, which would include approximately 

160,000 square feet to the existing East 

Campus. The innovative addition would 

include additional intensive care and telemetry 

rooms and a new emergency department that 

increased the number of patients who can 

be served to 90,000 per year. The new 

construction also included new surgery suites, 

endoscopy, catheterization labs, imaging 

department, outpatient holding area, hospital 

cafeteria, chapel, pharmacy, and gift shop. 

Another 52,000 square feet of renovations 

were completed providing new gastrointestinal 

labs, a new laboratory, rehabilitation unit, 

pulmonary functions lab and day surgery units. 


80

With the completion of the “New City of 

Healing” in 2003, the expansion of services 

was at the heart of the organization. Focusing 

on the smallest members of the community, 

the Children’s Unit at Baptist Beaumont 

Hospital originated—proving caring for kids 

is just the right size at Baptist Beaumont 

Hospital. Meeting the unique needs of 

children, the first Certified Child Life 

Specialist was added to help children from 

infants to teens and their families cope with a 

hospital experience. The Child Life Specialist 

provides emotional and developmental 

support while giving honest information 

geared to a child’s level of understanding and, 

of course, plenty of child’s play! 

With over 40 million people feeling 

exhausted because they are experiencing a 

sleep disorder, Baptist Beaumont Hospital 

proudly announced the Sleep Center located at 

the main campus. Chronic sleep disorders can 

disturb family life, affect productivity at work 

and even result in death. The Sleep Center was 

established to provide comprehensive care to 

patients who are experiencing sleep problems. 

Some of the most common disorders include: 

sleep apnea, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome 

and insomnia. 

Baptist Beaumont Hospital’s Wound Healing 

and Hyperbaric Center provides comprehensive 

outpatient wound care services, including 

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. The center 

utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to wound 

care by coordinating the efforts of multiple specialties 

trained to treat patients with chronic or 

non-healing wounds. The center is staffed by 

physicians in the following specialties: Family 

Medicine, Infectious Disease, Podiatry, and 

Thoracic/Vascular Surgery. The certified program 

is compliant with the most stringent standards 

of performance. By utilizing the rigorous 

standards and clinical practice guidelines, 

superior care is provided to the community. The 

Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Center has 

received the Gold Seal of Approval in Disease 

State Management from the Joint Commission 

on Accreditation of Hospital Organizations. 

Over the next few years, additional 

programs and services such as the Stryker 

Navigation Technology have been added to 

complement the services provided at Baptist 

Beaumont Hospital. The Stryker Navigation 

System offers a technology option that helps 

facilitate accurate implant alignment and 

proper ligament balancing, which are the most 

important prerequisites for the artificial knee 

joint stability, durability and sufficient range of 

motion. Navigated total knee replacement is 

an extremely successful way to treat qualifying 

patients with severe knee pain. The new 

surgical navigation technology that is now in 

place greatly enhances the ability to restore 

range of motion, overall function and returns 

patients to normal activities. 

★ 

Above: Courtyard fountain. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF ROBERT AMES COOK. 

Below: Julie & Ben Rogers Cancer Institute. 


81

★ 

Above: PetPartners is one of many 

programs designed with our patients 

in mind. 

Below: Emergency Department’s RP-6 

mobile robot system. 

At Baptist Beaumont Hospital, the newest 

arrival to Women’s Services is the “Hugs and 

Kisses” Infant Protection System. Located in 

the Pediatric and Women’s Services Unit, an 

advanced system has been implemented for 

ensuring the safety of babies, helping to ensure 

that a baby is matched with its own mother 

when brought to a room from the nursery 

and that only authorized individuals move a 

baby through the units. The VeriChip radio 

transmitter is placed on the baby’s ankle. With 

a wireless system in place throughout the area, 

“hugs” polls the baby’s motions every seven 

seconds to determine the exact location of the 

infant in relation to an electronic floor plan 

that is observed by hospital staff. 

In May 2006 the new Dauphin Cancer 

Screening and Prevention Center partnered 

with the Julie & Ben Rogers Cancer Institute 

opened to the community. A first in Southeast 

Texas, the Center offers screening tests for 

prostate cancer and breast cancer along with 

prevention programs. The Dauphin Center 

was the first in the area to offer digital 

mammogram in Southeast Texas. 

In 2007 the Texas Nurses Association 

(TNA), a statewide professional organization 

of registered nurses, announced the new 

additions to the list of hospitals in Texas to 

earn the Nurse-Friendly hospital designation. 

Awarded only twice a year, the TNA’s Nurse- 

Friendly hospital designation now belongs 

to the Baptist Beaumont Campus. The newest 

recipients join only thirty-one other hospitals 

from the state’s 581 in attaining the three-year 

designation. This award tells the community 

that Baptist Beaumont Hospital is committed 

to the highest quality of patient care and it 

tells nurses that the hospital provides the type 

of environment that allows nurses to practice 

excellent patient care. Later the same year, 

the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce 

recognized Baptist Beaumont Hospital for its 

long-time commitment to Southeast Texas 

when it announced the Beaumont facility 

had been recognized as the recipient of the 

2007 Spindletop Award. Recognition was 

given for the accomplishments with the 

new expansion and the level of healthcare 

provided to the community. 

Baptist Hospital’s award-winning care is 

complemented by being certified as an 

Advanced Primary Stroke Care Center by the 

Joint Commission for Disease-Specific Care. 

The Stroke Program at Baptist Beaumont 

Hospital has been recognized for exceptional 

efforts to foster better outcomes for stroke 

patients. The Stroke Program has partnered 

with local vendors, medical personnel and 

physicians to establish the new StrokeWise 

Support Group designed to provide stroke 

survivors and their families a way to meet 

other stroke survivors or caregivers. 


82

Baptist Beaumont Hospital’s focus on 

innovation implemented the Medivance’s 

Cooling Technology. The Arctic Sun Therapeutic 

Temperature Management Device, the only one 

in Southeast Texas, is a precise noninvasive 

patient cooling device that is used at more than 

seventy percent of the nation’s top hospitals. The 

newest member of the Emergency Department 

is the RP-6 mobile robot system, made by 

InTouch Health, the robot allows doctors to 

“virtually” consult with patients, family 

members, and healthcare staff at a moment’s 

notice, even if miles away from the hospital. The 

RP-6 will allow physicians immediate access to 

patients in situations where time is critical. The 

hospital was also recognized by the Texas Health 

Care Quality Improvement Program with the 

Award of Excellence. Other awards include 

the Press Ganey Compass Award presented to 

Baptist Beaumont Hospital for outstanding 

improvement in patient satisfaction. Most 

recently, the VHA awarded Baptist Beaumont 

Hospital with the Leadership Award for clinical 

excellence in cardiac care. 

With the addition of a fifty-two bed patient 

tower, a convenient care clinic, a new 64 slice 

CT Scanner and MRI that allows physicians 

new innovations in technology, and the newly 

established Infant Transport Team, Baptist 

Beaumont Hospital continues to carry its 

commitment to Southeast Texas into the 

twenty-first century. 

Since 1949, Baptist Hospitals of Southeast 

Texas has continuously invested in the 

latest medical instruments, equipment and 

technology to assure the right healthcare for 

Southeast Texas is right here. In the hands of our 

highly skilled Partners in Caring—our doctors, 

nurses and technicians—these “instruments”: 

• Bring new hope to countless cancer and 

heart patients; 

• Assure that healthcare for kids is just the 

right size; and 

• Help us safely deliver the next generation of 

sons and daughters and brothers and sisters. 

As a part of the commitment to the 

Beaumont community, Baptist Hospitals of 

Southeast Texas offers a variety of classes and 

activities. These events range from courses 

designed to help patients cope with various 

health problems to childbirth preparation, and 

from infant CPR and safety to a driving safety 

course for mature adults. The strongest and 

most unique aspect of Baptist Hospitals 

continues to be a dedicated staff of employees, 

physicians and volunteers helping the 

community to heal, providing compassionate 

care and services. Together, we continue to 

assist the community in meeting our vision of 

providing high quality healing healthcare in a 

Christian environment. 

Additional information is available on the 

Internet at www. mhbh.org. 

★ 

Above: Children’s unit is specifically 

designed for kids. 

Below: Outpatient physical therapy 

department focuses on helping individuals 

with disabilities, pain relief and much more. 


83

MCM 

ELEGANTÉ 

HOTEL AND 

ICA 

Starting in 1969 with two used cars on a 

small lot in Midland, Texas, and branching 

into the manufactured housing business, 

John Bushman, with the help of his wife 

Carol, has weathered the inevitable business 

cycles of over three decades and continued to 

grow and expand his business interests in a 

variety of fields. 

John is the founder, CEO, and Chairman of 

Investment Corporation of America (ICA), 

which does business as MCM Eleganté Hotel, 

ICA Homes, ICA Energy, CBS–7, UPN–16, 

ICA Properties, ICA Realty, MCM Ice, Pace 

Insurance, Motor City USA, Getaway Spa, 

MCM Grande, Airline Mobile Home Park, and 

ICA Wholesale. 

The manufactured housing business laid 

the foundation upon which A-1 and then 

ICA companies grew and expanded, leading 

off a winning record of successful businesses 

that has grown and expanded to include 

finance, hospitality, insurance, real estate, 

energy and broadcast. 

Key individuals in the early days include: 

• Ed Lasater, president of ICA, who joined 

John in 1975, at the age of twenty-two. 

Exhibiting the core values of ICA, Ed is an 

example of the loyalty and respect that 

John both gives and receives, as evidenced 

by Ed’s climb from a salesperson to the 

president of ICA. 


84

• John Nichols, who joined ICA in 1982, 

and is chief financial officer of all the 

ICA companies. 

• Mike Irons, who joined ICA Energy in 

1984 and has converted this oil and gas 

company from a lender against proven 

reserves into a development company 

involved in the exploration and recapture 

of energy properties primarily in Texas, 

New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. 

• Barry Marks, who first joined ICA in 1985, 

has managed a number of the operations 

listed, and currently operates three 

television network stations in the Odessa- 

Midland market. 

• Roy Allen, who has overseen management 

of ICA Properties since 1996 and Music City 

Mall since 2001. ICA owns approximately 

sixty percent of all primary business office 

space in Odessa, Texas, in addition to shopping 

centers, developed and undeveloped 

land, and miscellaneous other properties in 

twenty cities and six states. 

• Terry Richards, who has been with ICA 

since 1995 and has actively managed all 

office buildings and strip shopping centers 

in Odessa-Midland metroplex on a day-today 

basis since 2001. 

• Donna Simmons, who started with John in 

the accounting department in 1995 and 

took the reins at Pace Insurance Agency 

the following year, selling and issuing 

policies for manufactured homeowners. 

Pace currently writes over thirteen hundred 

policies annually. 

• C. D. Smith, who took over as manager 

of Motor City USA in 2003, after John 

Bushman reentered the automobile business 

in 1997. 


85

• Jim Gerard, who has been with ICA since 

1996 and manages the manufactured 

housing operation with wholesale lots in 

Odessa and Fort Worth. 

• Jim Kirk, with ICA since 1984, who 

operates retail lots in California and Arizona 

under the name of Homes America. 

Individuals who have been key to growth 

of the company’s hotel operations include: 

• Marca Washburn, manager of the eightstory, 

191-room MCM Eleganté in Odessa 

since 2000. 

• Don Walts, who since 1983 had managed 

the former Holiday Inn Center in Odessa. 

He remained as manager when the 

property was purchased in 2004 and 

renamed MCM Grande. 

• Bill Bianchi, manager of the MCM 

Eleganté in Beaumont, who assumed 

that post when ICA acquired the property, 

the former Beaumont Hilton. During 

Hurricane Rita, this was home to the 

area’s emergency management operations. 

Among the many community and 

charitable activities in which the MCM 

Eleganté in Beaumont is involved is the 

Julie Rogers Gift of Life. 

• Shannon Mullan, manager of the MCM 

Eleganté in Albuquerque, New Mexico, 

formerly the Holiday Inn, since its 

purchase by ICA in early 2005. 

• Joann Schibi, manager of the MCM 

Eleganté Suites in Abilene, Texas, a 

property formerly known as the 

Ambassador Hotel. 

The most recent Eleganté purchased by 

ICA is the former Radisson Hotel in Dallas, 

Texas. Perry Hughes remained as manager 

after the purchase in mid-2007, and is still 

handling its management. 


86


87

STRONG PIPKIN 

BISSELL & 

LEDYARD, 

L.L.P. 

★ 

Left to right: David W. Ledyard, Michael 

Hendryx, Michael T. Bridwell, John G. 

Bissell, Michael L. Baker, and 

John W. Bridger. 

Strong Pipkin Bissell & Ledyard, L.L.P., 

established in 1935, celebrated its seventyfifth 

anniversary in 2010. The law firm enjoys 

a diverse, statewide legal practice from offices 

in Beaumont, Houston, and Lubbock in civil 

trial law, including personal injury, products 

liability, toxic tort, environmental, employment, 

transportation, bankruptcy, construction, 

mediation, and commercial litigation, in 

state and federal trial and appellate courts. 

Strong Pipkin serves a variety of clients, from 

individuals and small businesses to multinational 

corporations. Many clients are represented 

on a statewide and national basis. 

Beeman Strong, who was previously 

appointed by Governor Hobby as judge of the 

Commission of Appeals, came to Beaumont 

in 1925 as general counsel of the Yount-Lee 

Oil Company. In 1935, when Yount-Lee Oil 

was sold to Stanolind Oil, he started a 

law firm with his son, Ewell Strong, and his 

friend, A. D. Moore. Strong Moore and Strong 

formed in August 1935 with offices in the San 

Jacinto Building. 

The firm remained in the San Jacinto 

Building until 1950 when the entire building 

was leased to Sun Oil and they were forced 

to move. They returned to the San Jacinto 

Building in 1962, where the firm has 

now occupied offices for a total of sixtyfour 

years. 

The firm has experienced numerous 

partnership and name changes in its long 

history. Louis Nelson became a partner in 

1947, and the firm became Strong Moore 

Strong & Nelson. 

Charles Pipkin, a Baptist minister’s son 

who received the Silver Star for bravery in 

World War I, opened a law office in Beaumont 

in 1923, served for a time as U.S. Attorney 

for the Eastern District of Texas, and then 

returned to private practice. In 1954 he 

joined the firm, which became Strong Moore 

Pipkin Strong & Nelson. During that era, the 

firm’s clients included First National Bank, 

U.S. Steel, Stanolind Oil, Missouri Pacific 

Railroad, and Travelers Insurance Company, 

among others. 


88

During the 1960s and 1970s, the three 

original partners passed away. All had been 

active in civic and community service and 

professional associations and had held many 

prestigious positions in the community. 

Before Pipkin died in 1989, he became the 

first recipient in Jefferson County of the 

Blackstone Award, awarded for unsurpassed 

legal ability, integrity, and courage. 

Other partnership changes during that era 

included the addition of Ken Parker (1968), 

Pike Powers, Jr., (1970), John Bissell (1975), 

and David Ledyard (1979). Powers withdrew 

from the firm in 1979, and the firm became 

Strong Pipkin Nelson Parker & Bissell. 

Ken Parker, forty-seven, died unexpectedly 

after a brief illness in 1982. The firm, which 

then had fourteen attorneys, added two new 

partners, Michael Baker and Daniel Ducote. 

Representative clients in the early 1980s 

included Ohmstede Machine Works, Texas 

Metal Works, Gulf Oil, Goodyear, The Port of 

Beaumont, The Travelers Insurance Company, 

Union Carbide, and Johns-Manville. 

The firm continued to grow and by the 

early 1990s had twenty lawyers. Michael 

Bridwell and John Bridger became partners 

in 1991. Greg Dykeman became a partner 

in 1993. 

In 1997, John Bissell moved to Houston to 

establish the firm’s presence there, and the 

name was changed to Strong Pipkin Nelson 

Bissell & Ledyard. The Houston office grew 

quickly. John Bridger joined Bissell there in 

1998, and Michael Hendryx, a Port Arthur 

native and a longtime name partner in 

another Houston firm, joined Strong Pipkin 

as a partner in 2001. 

In 2002, Louis Nelson, a noted trial and 

business lawyer, withdrew after sixty years 

with the firm, and the name was changed to 

Strong Pipkin Bissell & Ledyard, L.L.P. 

John Bissell is celebrating his fortieth year 

with the firm. He serves as local, regional and 

national trial counsel for numerous Fortune 

500 companies and has tried cases across 

the United States. He has defended companies 

in cases involving welding consumables, 

occupational and environmental exposure, 

asbestos, medical devices and pharmaceuticals, 

tobacco, antitrust and contract matters. 

David Ledyard has represented companies 

in a wide range of litigation across Texas and 

in other states, including Louisiana, Arkansas, 

California and Maryland. He has served as 

lead trial counsel in commercial, toxic tort, 

premises liability, products liability, maritime 

and Jones Act cases. He tried a complex 

commercial fraud case which was the longest 

civil trial in Jefferson County history. Ledyard 

is celebrating his thirty-fifth anniversary with 

Strong Pipkin. 

Michael Baker’s practice has focused 

primarily in Gulf Coast and East Texas state 

and federal courts. He has defended 

individuals or business entities in virtually 

every type of civil case where plaintiffs are 

seeking tort damages. Most notably, he 

successfully defended a foreign business 

entity in the largest consolidated multiplaintiff 

asbestos case ever tried in Texas. In 

recent years Baker’s practice has focused on 

the defense of various business entities in 

chemical exposure litigation. Daniel Ducote, a 

successful trial lawyer before becoming the 

★ 

Left to right: Greg M. Dykeman, Daniel C. 

Ducote (seated) and H. Tracy Richardson III. 


89

★ 

Above: Left to right, Michael L. Baker, 

David W. Ledyard and Michael T. Bridwell. 

Below: The firm occupies four floors of the 

San Jacinto Building. 

firm’s full time mediator, has successfully 

mediated over 2,000 lawsuits in Beaumont 

and Houston. Ducote is considered one of 

the preeminent mediators in Southeast Texas. 

Both partners have been with the firm over 

thirty years. 

Michael Bridwell represents oil, gas and 

pipeline companies locally and is among the 

national trial counsel for a major product 

manufacturer, handling cases all over the 

country. Greg Dykeman 

represents primarily local 

business clients and 

obtained one of the largest 

franchise litigation verdicts 

in the history of Jefferson 

County. He has been the 

firm’s managing partner for 

the last eleven years. 

H. Tracy Richardson 

III, recently selected as 

Pro Bono Volunteer of the 

Year, became a partner in 

the firm in 2005. Vickie 

Thompson was also elected 

to partnership in 2005, 

and Dan Mabry and H. 

Scott Alexander became 

partners in 2007. 

Today, with thirty 

lawyers and fifty support 

staff, the firm occupies four floors 

of the San Jacinto Building in 

Beaumont, one floor in The 

Fulbright Tower in Houston, and 

offices in Lubbock. Representative 

clients include Chevron, Chevron 

Phillips Chemical Company, Cooper 

Industries, Enterprise Products, 

ExxonMobil, Illinois Tool Works, 

Lincoln Electric, Lubrizol, National 

Service Industries, Occidental 

Chemical, Sherwin-Williams, Texaco 

and Union Carbide. 

The firm has a heritage of leadership 

in the community and the bar. 

Six Strong Pipkin partners have 

served as president of the Bar 

Association, and six members have 

been president of the Young Lawyers 

Association. Several of its members 

have served on the Board of Directors of the 

Texas Bar Association and the Texas Young 

Lawyers Association and two have served in 

the ABA Young Lawyers Division. Seven of its 

lawyers have been named Jefferson County’s 

“Outstanding Young Lawyer.” The Texas 

Board of Legal Specialization today certifies 

most of its partners in their practice areas. In 

addition, Bissell, Ledyard, Baker, Hendryx, 

Bridwell, Bridger and Dykeman have been 

elected to membership in the prestigious 

American Board of Trial Advocates. These 

same partners have been featured in Texas 

Monthly Magazine as Texas Superlawyers. 

The firm’s members have also served as 

officers and directors of countless civic and 

charitable organizations. 

Strong Pipkin has talented and experienced 

litigators who have proven themselves 

in the courtroom. The firm’s focus is to put 

the clients’ interests above all else to help 

them achieve their business goals. Each 

partner shares a common commitment to 

each client: understand the clients’ needs, 

develop a clear strategy and appropriate 

budget, and assemble the right team to meet 

the objectives and get results. 

Strong Pipkin’s tradition of service to 

clients, the community, and the legal 

profession over the last seventy-five years 

remains its focus as it enters the new decade. 


90

The Greater Beaumont Chamber of 

Commerce received a four star accreditation 

rating from the United States Chamber of 

Commerce, making it one of the top chamber 

organizations in the State of Texas. President 

Jim Rich explained, “Accreditation is a 

measurement of quality and compliance with 

national standards and having the whole 

organization judged by top professionals.” 

Since its organization in 1903, the chamber 

has worked to create a business climate and help 

businesses—whether established companies or 

newcomers—have success. With a membership 

over one thousand companies, the strength and 

successes of its programs have become models 

for other chambers. Meeting national accreditation 

goals, the Greater Beaumont Chamber of 

Commerce has its sights on achieving the 

highest accreditation rating of five stars. 

The chamber added “Greater” to its original 

name through its expanding programs and 

efforts to unite the whole Southeast Texas 

region. The Chamber has put a successful 

twist on its SBAlliance Capital Program, which 

is a small business loan program funding 

expansions and creating new jobs. 

“We are one of only two chambers in the 

whole country that are certified by the Small 

Business Administration to market, package, 

and service SBA 504 loans,” Rich said. “In 

most cases getting long term financing is the 

largest hurdle facing entrepreneurs. We have 

been able to grow the program to the threshold 

of $30 million in outstanding loans.” 

“The other thing that we are proud of is 

our assistance to small businesses for 

hurricane recovery. After Hurricanes Rita and 

Ike, our lending programs became a model for 

disaster recovery efforts. 

One of the chambers’ future strategies is to 

make Lamar University a center for research 

and business development. The university has 

a legacy for providing a solid education 

foundation for its graduates, but now its 

research, recruitment of graduate level talent, 

and ideas for future commerce are vital. The 

chamber wants to foster the businesses of 

tomorrow using the ideas and Lamar experts 

to help regional industries.” 

On another future project Rich recently 

visited Washington with others to further 

efforts to improve the Sabine Neches 

Waterway, a project essential to the long term 

growth of Beaumont and Southeast Texas. 

“We have completed the feasibility studies 

and answered the environmental questions,” 

Rich said. “Deepening the channel is now a 

national priority since we serve as America’s 

energy gateway.” 

The Greater Beaumont Chamber of 

Commerce also plans to have the best possible 

training for tomorrow’s leaders—the fortieth 

anniversary of Leadership Beaumont will 

be celebrated in 2011. New programs 

targeting senior and young professionals are 

under consideration. 

GREATER 

BEAUMONT 

CHAMBER OF 

COMMERCE 


91

COMMUNITYBANK OF TEXAS 

★ 

Above: The bank’s headquarters on Dowlen 

and Delaware in Beaumont reflects warm, 

southern hospitality and its solid 

community roots. 

Top, right: This 1908 bank vault, a 

distinctive feature in the main lobby, holds a 

secret. The signatures of the bank’s directors 

and employees are permanently inscribed 

on the inner vault walls behind the steel safe 

deposit boxes. 

Below: The founders of CommunityBank 

of Texas (from left to right): John Eddie 

Williams, Glen Morgan, Walter Umphrey, 

J. Pat Parsons, Wayne Reaud, Joe Penland, 

George Simonton, and Ray Moore. 

When a business idea is born, it is usually 

nurtured into reality solely to create an opportunity 

for its founders. Such is the nature 

of entrepreneurship, you might say: see an 

opportunity for profitable business and work 

to make it happen. Usually, that is. Sometimes, 

however—and not often enough—it is conceptualized 

for an entirely different purpose…that 

of serving others. It was in this way 

that CommunityBank of Texas began. 

A group of civic-minded community leaders 

came together with a single vision—that of 

bringing real hometown banking back to their 

communities. For too long national banks had 

dominated the area, leaving their friends and 

neighbors with little other choice than to 

become nothing more than an account number. 

But a banking relationship should be much 

more than that, the founders believed. They 

trusted that hometown banking with hometown 

bankers who truly believe in highly personalized 

customer service would be able to restore banking 

relationships back to what they should be… 

relationships. They trusted that the best way to 

make lending decisions for the good of the individual 

and the community is to make those 

lending decisions right here in the community. 

Through local ownership, a locally based bank 

could more flexibly serve the banking needs of 

its community, retaining this area’s capital and 

investing it to better the lives of its citizens. 

In 2007 some of the mammoth corporate 

banks were still riding high and setting themselves 

up for their fall from grace. So, in hindsight, 

was the period right before the recession 

that soon followed an opportune time to 

start a local bank? Perhaps it was actually the 

best opportunity possible. After all, the megabank 

customers were seeing things they didn’t 

like and didn’t trust. Now, finally, they would 

have somewhere safe and trustworthy to turn. 

The full-service CommunityBank of Texas 

officially opened its doors in August of 2007, 

complementing the acquisition of County Bank, 

which traces roots back to its original chartering 

date in 1926. CommunityBank of Texas founders 

approached County Bank for the acquisition 

because its philosophy and culture made it a 

natural fit for their own goal of expanding 

strong, local, independent banking throughout 

Southeast Texas. Through the process, 

CommunityBank of Texas Senior Chairman of 

the Board Walter Umphrey and CEO and 


92

Chairman of the Board J. Pat Parsons, along with 

a core group of investors, wanted to preserve the 

local, family feel of County Bank. Just one of the 

many ways they did this was to retain as president 

Carlos Vacek, who already had been serving 

as County Bank’s president. And so, beginning 

with assets of $140 million and seven 

CountyBank locations in several southeast Texas 

counties, the bank was met with such positive 

response that it expanded its geographic footprint 

and doubled its locations in less than a year. 

In fact, virtually as soon as the new bank 

opened its doors, CommunityBank of Texas 

added to its locations in Orange, Jasper, 

and Newton Counties with several new 

locations in Jefferson County, including 

highly visible branches in Port Arthur, 

Nederland and Beaumont, where the bank 

would be headquartered. 

In keeping with the bank’s deep community 

heritage, and a bit of nostalgia, the new home 

office in Beaumont was built around an original 

1908 bank vault. In addition to housing the 

bank’s safe deposit boxes, this vault holds a 

secret as well. Before the vault’s steel walls were 

installed during construction, the directors and 

employees of CommunityBank each signed 

their names on the vault liner, indelibly becoming 

part of the bank’s past, present and future. 

As more and more customers and local 

families joined the CommunityBank of Texas 

family, another opportunity arose for expansion. 

In December of 2008, CommunityBank 

of Texas acquired Crosby Bancshares, the 

holding company for Crosby State Bank. 

Again, the CommunityBank of Texas leadership 

team recognized the importance of continuity 

to the acquired bank’s customers and 

to the community, so it did everything it 

could to facilitate a seamless transition by 

maintaining the management team of Crosby 

State Bank, including the late Mark Mulloy 

and Brent Hughes, who had served as 

CEO/Vice Chairman and President, respectively. 

After all, these were the people, along 

with their staff members, who knew their own 

communities best and who could best provide 

local market expertise. Upon the completion 

of the merger, assets for CommunityBank of 

Texas exceeded $1.1 billion, and its branch 

★ 

Top, left: The Garth Road branch in 

Baytown projects a western-style influence 

with a distinctive clock tower. 

Top, right: Modern steel beam architecture 

distinguishes the Memorial area banking 

center in one of the most exciting 

redevelopment markets in Houston. 

Bottom, left: The Lumberton branch 

is typical of CommunityBank’s 

de novo branches. 

Bottom, right: At the corner of two major 

highways servicing the Beaumont and Sour 

Lake markets, this branch was expanded 

during construction to accommodate preopening 

requests by customers. 


93

★ 

Top, left: Located in a historic 

redevelopment in downtown Beaumont, the 

Stedman branch was built to resemble a 

turn-of-the-century bank, including teller 

“cages” and a stamped tin ceiling. 

Top, right: This office building was 

completely renovated in 2008, providing a 

striking banking center for customers in 

the Port Arthur and South Jefferson 

County area. 

Below: The interior of the Community 

Tower branch in Port Arthur features 

comfortable and open spaces with a threestory 

atrium lobby. 

network boasted 25 banking centers throughout 

Southeast Texas and the Houston area. 

CommunityBank of Texas CEO and 

Chairman J. Pat Parsons, who previously 

served for 14 years as president of 

Community Bank and Trust, looks at the success 

the bank has had as a natural outgrowth 

of its founding philosophy. “The idea that 

local people know how to take care of their 

own better than anyone else is what community 

banking is all about,” he says. “Nobody 

else knows this community better than the 

people who live and work here.” He continues 

by explaining that each expansion gave 

the bank the opportunity “to bring back all 

the positives associated with having local 

owners making local decisions and developing 

personal banking relationships in 

Southeast Texas.” Parsons believes that bringing 

more services, more choices and more 

locations to people who live and work in 

the area is the strength of a good regional 

independent bank. “It’s all about the people,” 

he says. “That’s the heartbeat of our bank.” 

And all the founders agree. From that founding 

group, which included Walter Umphrey, Joe 

Penland, John Eddie Williams, Wayne Reaud, 

J. Pat Parsons, Glen Morgan, Ray Moore and 

George Simonton, they cultivated a team of 

locally grown, capable and caring managers and 

staff who are groomed to serve those in their 

own hometowns. And now those employees, 

having built a foundation of trust with those 

they serve, number more than three hundred, 

helping to make CommunityBank of Texas one 

of the fastest-growing banks in Texas. 

Today, CommunityBank of Texas has realized 

their vision of bringing true local decision-making 

and personal banking relationships 

back to individuals and businesses. 

With the operating philosophy that no one 

knows a community better than the people 

who live and work there, “Bank Where U 

Live” proved an idea whose time had come 

and one that continues to prove itself, as evidenced 

by the bank’s solid and stable growth. 

Even with assets growing above $1.3 billion 

and 27 locations throughout East Texas and 

the greater Houston area, they still claim their 

roots as an independent community bank, 

proudly supporting local business and workforce 

initiatives, in addition to numerous 

civic groups, charitable organizations and 

youth programs. 

So what’s in store for CommunityBank of 

Texas? Well, the opportunities are boundless. 

When asked what is CommunityBank’s mission, 

what they strive to be now and in the 

future, Parsons simply says, “To be the bank of 

choice in every market we serve.” He knows 

they can’t do that by being the biggest. They do 

it by being the best. 

Please visit www.communitybankoftx.com 

for more information. 


94

Chosen by fortune for glory, the world first 

knew Beaumont through “Spindletop,” the oil 

field that changed the world. Traces of those 

days of great oil wealth remain in an abundance 

of elegant homes, a dedication to the 

performing arts, a plethora of museums, and 

a university system working in partnership 

with industry. 

Today, the Beaumont Convention & Visitors 

Bureau works year round to bring in and host 

meetings, sports events, tour groups and visitors—offering 

up the best of Texas charm and 

Louisiana Cajun flair. Visitors from all over the 

world come here to experience the city’s legendary 

history, entertainment and hospitality. 

Commonly referred to as the ‘Museum 

Capital of Texas,” Beaumont is peppered with 

about nineteen museums specializing in everything 

from honoring the great female sports 

legend, Babe Didrikson Zaharias, to celebrating 

the work of its fire fighters with the Fire 

Museum of Texas. The Spindletop-Gladys City 

Boomtown Museum and The Texas Energy 

Museum are two must-see history museums 

that highlight the oil and gas industry. 

The McFaddin-Ward house, built in 1906, 

takes visitors back to a period of debutantes, 

timeless beauty and extravagant grace. The 

house contains original furnishings that offer 

an intimate look into the life of a family that 

accumulated considerable wealth in the 

business of cattle, rice farming, milling and, of 

course, the famous oil industry. Two other 

fascinating historic house museums are The 

Chambers House and John Jay French House. 

Both represent a treasure trove of artifacts and 

changing period exhibits. 

Outdoor lovers seek the natural pleasures 

of the internationally renowned Big Thicket 

National Preserve and Village Creek State 

Park, a hot spot for canoeing, fishing, birding 

and hiking. The Neches River, which runs 

through downtown Beaumont, is one of the 

last wild rivers in Texas and is accessible to 

tourist onboard the Cardinal River Boat. Part 

of the Great Texas Birding Trail—Big Thicket 

Loop, Beaumont is a birder’s paradise. In 

addition, Pleasure Island, Sea Rim State Park 

and High Island are home to countless bird 

species and wildlife. 

Beaumont and the southeast Texas region 

are famous for eclectic cuisine. Bordered by 

Louisiana, Beaumont’s Cajun influences are 

mixed with tasty Tex-Mex and savory southeast 

Texas tradition. Local 

favorites include barbecue 

crabs, boudain, 

crawfish, seafood 

gumbo, dock-fresh 

gulf seafood, legendary 

pulled pork 

sandwiches, and 

smoked BBQ brisket. 

With so much to see, 

do, and enjoy, one can 

see Beaumont truly is 

Texas With a Little 

Something Extra. 

BEAUMONT 

CONVENTION & 

VISITORS 

★ 

Above: The McFaddin-Ward House 

Museum is a 1906 Beaux-Arts Colonial 

Mansion that showcases the collections and 

lifestyles of the prominent family that lived 

in the house for seventy-five years. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF DWAIN COX. 

Bottom, left: Visitors enjoy watching the 

world’s only replica gusher really “blow” 

water over 120 feet into the air during the 

historical re-enactment at the Spindletop- 

Gladys City Boomtown Museum. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF TOM WILLAMS. 

Bottom, right: Named “Best Restoration in 

Texas”, the beautiful historic Jefferson 

Theater in downtown’s museum and 

cultural district offers a variety of live 

entertainment, shows and performances. 

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF DWAIN COX. 

BUREAU 


95

CITY OF 

BEAUMONT 

More than a century after the Spindletop 

gusher put Beaumont on the map, the area 

continues to be one of the world’s largest 

petroleum refining centers. Surrounded by 

some of the most precious natural terrain, 

plants and wildlife in the country, steeped in 

the Cajun culture of the region, and nestled 

along the Neches River, Beaumont is also a 

popular destination for visitors, new residents 

and businesses of all kind. 

Downtown at the 

Heart of the City’s Future 

With a population of around 110,000, and 

a greater metropolitan area that boasts nearly 

half a million residents, Beaumont is the 

hub of Southeast Texas. Its rich history—and 

its long history of oil riches—produced deep 

cultural traditions along with commercial 

architecture, museums, and performing arts 

buildings of remarkable quality. Today, the 

city’s cultural and civic landmarks remain 

rooted in its downtown. 

The restored Jefferson Theatre, which in its 

heyday hosted everything from Vaudeville 

acts to the world premier of the classic film 

It’s a Wonderful Life, is still a great place to 

see a show. Nearby, the stunning Julie 

Rogers Theatre is home to the Symphony of 

Southeast Texas, as well as performances by 

the Beaumont Civic Opera, the Beaumont 

Civic Ballet and the Beaumont Ballet Theatre. 

A more contemporary venue, the Beaumont 

Civic Center is a coveted destination for 

everything from concerts to conventions. 

Once dubbed the “Museum Capital of 

Texas” due to the sheer number of museums 

here, the city is home to amazing arts and 

education venues, including the Art Museum 

of Southeast Texas. AMSET’s permanent and 

visiting collections include approximately 

1,000 works of art of the 19th, 20th and 21st 

centuries, with an emphasis on American 

art, and a growing collection of folk art. For 

a different experience, the Texas Energy 

Museum provides a state-of-the-art look at the 

history, science and future of oil exploration, 

production and refining. 

With world-class theatrical venues, nearly 

a dozen museums and the Crockett Street 

entertainment district firmly established, 

Beaumont leaders initiated an extensive 

and ongoing revitalization effort to 

make surrounding streets more appealing. 

Downtown’s significant assets are 

complemented by thoughtful landscaping, 

benches, brick sidewalks and other aesthetic 

features, infrastructure improvements, and 

new development, all with an eye toward a 

clean, beautiful and welcoming downtown 

district. Businesses, residents and the city’s 

four-year university have responded, with 

restaurants and retailers establishing 


96

themselves downtown, developers building 

urban-style housing, and residents choosing 

the convenience and amenities of downtown 

living. Lamar University, a member of the 

Texas State University System, has its small 

business center and continuing education 

program downtown, and private investors 

have restored grand but crumbling structures 

to their former glory, and repurposed them for 

living, office and retail space. 

Thanks to ongoing efforts by city leadership, 

Beaumont’s downtown is thriving, but the city 

is not resting on its successes. Plans include a 

new Event Center and Park, a roughly sixteen 

acre property with a large lawn, jogging trail 

and a small lake fronting a 19,000-square-foot 

event center. 

Quality of Life at the 

Heart of the City’s Success 

Beaumont’s downtown is its crown jewel, 

but the city’s hallmark is the tremendous 

quality of life enjoyed by its residents. 

No matter where you live—or work—in 

Beaumont, there is a beautiful park nearby. 

Downtown workers eat lunch or stroll along 

the Neches in Riverfront Park. Dog owners 

and their pets socialize and exercise at Ida 

Reed Park’s off-leash area. Walkers, cyclists, 

runners and skaters flock to the 3.5-mile hike 

and bike trail on the city’s west side, and 

similar trails are planned throughout the city. 

Tyrrell Park, the city’s largest and most 

popular park, boasts a golf course, botanical 

garden, walking trail and horse stables, 

along with a wetlands area and trail for 

bird-watching. 

The Beaumont Farmers Market, dedicated 

bike lanes, movie festivals, a thriving 

recreation department and a host of other 

amenities give residents—no matter what 

their interests—a reason to love their city. 

Those residents gather throughout the year 

for city-sponsored festivals and social events. 

Traditional holiday celebrations include the 

annual Fourth of July parade, complete with 

fireworks over the Neches River, and the 

Christmas parade, which includes a lighted 

boat parade along Riverfront Park. Neighbors 

and Concerts in the Park events are always 

popular and well attended, and the annual 

Jazz + Blues Fest draws amazing talent and big 

crowds downtown for a daylong celebration 

of music that rivals events in larger cities. 

Behind the scenes, the city has innovative 

programs to help citizens and businesses 

navigate its services. The One-Stop-Shop, 

located in City Hall, helps contractors and 

homeowners with the permitting process. The 

3-1-1 service line provides citizens with an 

easy way to request city services or report 

code violations. The service ensures prompt 

response to citizen concerns, tracks the 

progress of each request, and allows citizens 

to play a vital role in keeping their city clean 

and its infrastructure in good repair. 

The City of Beaumont remains focused on 

creating and maintaining a beautiful city with 

contemporary amenities for its citizens—as it 

extends a helping hand to commerce and a 

warm welcome to visitors. 


97

★ 

CHRISTUS 

HOSPITAL- 

ST. ELIZABETH 

AND ST. MARY 

Above: A representation of the three 

pioneering Sisters who responded to the call 

of Bishop Claude Marie Dubuis in 1866: 

“Our Lord Jesus Christ, suffering in the 

persons of a multitude of sick and infirm of 

every kind, seeks relief at your hands.” 

Below: The CHRISTUS Hospital- 

St. Elizabeth campus is located at 2830 

Calder Street in Beaumont. 

CHRISTUS Hospital-St. Elizabeth and St. 

Mary, one of the largest facilities in the 

CHRISTUS Health system, has a heritage of 

compassionate and innovative care dating 

back more than 110 years, and is recognized 

locally and nationally as the healthcare leader 

in Southeast Texas. 

One hospital with two campuses (St. 

Elizabeth in Beaumont and St. Mary in 

Port Arthur), CHRISTUS provides a Catholic, 

faith-based ministry and continues to fulfill 

the original mission of the Sisters of Charity of 

the Incarnate Word: To extend the healing 

ministry of Jesus Christ. 

In 1866, three pioneering Sisters arrived 

in Texas from France in response to the call 

of Bishop Claude Marie Dubuis asking for 

help in establishing a hospital in Galveston. 

Following the establishing and staffing of 

hospitals in Galveston and San Antonio, the 

Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word 

agreed to establish a hospital in Beaumont. 

Hotel Dieu Hospital, or the House of God, 

was constructed on the banks of the Neches 

River and opened in 1898. In 1934 the Sisters 

acquired Beaumont General Hospital and 

named the facility St. Therese Hospital. 

Over time, the need for a larger, more 

modern hospital to serve Beaumont and the 

community of Southeast Texas was becoming 

evident. Construction of St. Elizabeth 

Hospital began in September 1959. This 

project was made possible by the benevolent 

efforts of citizens and the generosity of 

Mr. and Mrs. John Henry Phelan, Sr., who 

donated their property. 

St. Therese served the community until the 

day St. Elizabeth opened its doors on May 19, 

1962. The administration of Hotel Dieu 

consolidated with St. Elizabeth in 1970. 

In May 1930, with assistance from 

residents and the medical community, St. 

Mary Hospital was opened in Port Arthur. The 

campus recently commemorated a milestone 

anniversary by “Celebrating 80 Years of 

Incredibly Good Health” in 2010. 


98

The health ministry that was begun by 

the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word 

in Southeast Texas so many years ago merged 

to become one hospital in 2005. 

As the largest Magnet Hospital between 

Houston and Baton Rouge, CHRISTUS 

Hospital-St. Elizabeth and St. Mary is the 

regional leader in spine and orthopedics, cardiology, 

oncology, general surgery, birthing, 

neonatal care, bariatrics, and emergency services. 

The hospital is also designated as a Primary 

Stroke Center by the Joint Commission and 

has earned the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of 

Approval for Heart Failure Certification. 

CHRISTUS Hospital-St. Elizabeth is a Cycle 

III Certified Chest Pain Center, one of only 

twenty-two in the state, and is the only Level 

III Trauma Center in the area. Nationally 

recognized physicians work at the forefront 

of research, clinical trials and treatment. The 

nursing staff has received the American Heart 

Association’s Get With The Guidelines Awards 

for Heart Failure and Coronary Artery Disease, 

as well as numerous other recognitions. 

The campus also features the Kate 

Dishman Rehabilitation Hospital and the 

Spine and Orthopedic Specialty Center 

within St. Elizabeth, the Wilton P. Hebert 

Health and Wellness Center, and the Mamie 

McFaddin Ward Cancer Center. The 

CHRISTUS Outpatient Pavilion offers a convenient, 

coordinated setting for digital imaging, 

pain management, hyperbaric medicine 

and wound care treatment, and outpatient 

surgery. It is also home to the 

region’s only Joint Commissioncertified 

diabetes education 

program and the CHRISTUS 

Healthy Living Spa, a Murad 

Inclusive Health Center. 

CHRISTUS Hospital-St. Mary 

is the only provider of statedesignated 

trauma services in 

South and Mid-Jefferson County. 

Highly-skilled physicians utilize 

advanced technology and members 

of the nursing staff have 

received national recognition, 

including the American Heart 

Association’s Get With The Guidelines Award 

for Heart Failure. 

The CHRISTUS Outpatient Center in Port 

Arthur provides convenient diagnostic, lab, 

physical therapy, diabetes education, and 

other services. The region’s first Women’s 

Imaging Center, located in the Outpatient 

Center, offers a relaxing, spa-like environment 

for advanced diagnostic imaging. 

Today, citizens throughout Southeast Texas 

continue to expect and benefit from a higher 

standard of healthcare provided by CHRISTUS 

Hospital-St. Elizabeth and St. Mary. As 

advancements and changes take place, there 

remains one constant: CHRISTUS Physicians, 

Associates and Volunteers remain committed 

to the original mission of the Sisters of Charity 

of the Incarnate Word. 

To extend the healing ministry of Jesus Christ. 

★ 

Top: The CHRISTUS Hospital-St. Mary 

campus is located at 3600 Gates Boulevard 

in Port Arthur. 

Above: Sister Maryann Shanahan and 

Sister Aloysius Mannion continue the work 

of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate 

Word as Patient Advocates. 


99

PORT OF 

BEAUMONT 

★ 

Above: Aerial view of the Port of Beaumont, 

looking southeast. The port is developing 

property it owns in Orange County, and 

continues to grow on its Jefferson 

County site. 

Below: Ships of all sizes and representing all 

nations of the world call at the Port 

of Beaumont. 

Opposite, top: Port of Beaumont harbor 

mobile crane lifting an M1-A1 military tank 

that just returned from service in the 

Persian Gulf. Beaumont is America’s busiest 

port for military cargo. 

Opposite, bottom: Beaumont is a leading 

port for wind turbine equipment that 

produces clean energy at wind farms 

throughout North America. These windmill 

blades were imported from North Europe. 

The Port of Beaumont on the Sabine- 

Neches Waterway serves Beaumont, the 

region and the world as the fourth largest port 

in the United States in domestic and foreign 

tonnage. It is the nation’s number one military 

port and number two military port in the 

world. (Al-Shuaiba. Kuwait is number one.) 

In the beginning the ambitions for 

Beaumont’s port were modest but early 

Southeast Texas businessmen saw the potential. 

In the 1840s the Neches River at Beaumont was 

known by captains of sailing ships to be sixty 

feet deep but that was no help to those who 

wanted to sail in from the Gulf of Mexico. The 

sand bars at the mouth of the Sabine Lake, 

where it joined the Neches River, blocked 

marine traffic from the Gulf to Beaumont’s port. 

After the United States annexed Texas, a 

privately financed one-million dollar project 

began in 1897 to dig a canal through the sand 

bar. In 1906 the completed canal was given to 

the federal government for preservation and 

maintenance. Since that time, the Port of 

Beaumont has grown to be an important part 

of America’s marine highways and vital to our 

nation’s security. 

John Roby, director of customer service, 

says in addition to exports of grains and 

wood products the port handles a lot of 

cargo imports for customers. The Port of 

Beaumont’s location inland in the middle 

of the gulf coast is like a funnel. Everything 

that comes in here logically moves up through 

the central United States. 

In the last few years the land-property 

owned by the port has doubled in size and 

now its twenty-first century expansion plan— 

based on global customer needs and area 

economic development—is fully underway. 

In November 2009 the Port of Beaumont 

dedicated its new $22 million deepwater wharf 

on the east bank of the Neches River: a 

significant milestone in the port’s almost 100 

year history and the first port facility built on 

the Orange County side of the Neches River on 

the port’s property there. The port owns some 

455 acres in Orange County stretching from 

I-10 south to the river. Three major railroads 

run through the middle of the property, 

providing rail service to all of North America. 

The BBC Colorado was berthed at the new 

dock November 8 and began discharging its 

cargo of steel billets the following day for use 

at the Gerdau Ameristeel Beaumont plant. 

The billets were shipped from a steel mill in 

Brazil and will be used by the Beaumont mill 

to make wire rod. 

The deepwater wharf is part of a total of 

$62.5 million in capital improvement projects 

underway or recently completed at the Port 

of Beaumont. Other projects planned for 


100

the Orange County site include construction 

of open cargo storage lots and road and 

rail infrastructure. 

The Port has received $4 million in 

funding from the Economic Development 

Administration towards a $5.5 million project 

to link the port’s property to existing 

railroads. Another $4 million will be spent to 

construct an access road connecting the new 

wharf to Interstate 10. That project received 

$2.5 million under the Surface Transportation 

bill in a measure jointly sponsored by U.S. 

Congressmen Kevin Brady and Ted Poe. 

All told, the port owns some 828 acres of 

property in Orange County and construction 

of the new wharf was financed with port 

revenues and revenue bonds. 

In its initial phase the Orange County 

facility will offer four and one-half acres of 

improved hard surface storage and will 

probably be used for bulk, project and 

iron/steel steel cargoes. The port plans 

eventually to enter public-private partnerships 

to develop the other property on the site. 

The port’s rail improvement project 

recently awarded a $10.5 million contract for 

rail improvements. In the works for ten years, 

this project will add about 40,000 feet of 

railroad track to the port, while about 9,800 

feet will be retired; about 4,000 feet of 

track will be upgraded and modernized. The 

addition of new switches, turnouts and 

running track will improve the efficiency and 

safety of the port’s rail handling facilities. 

A key component of the project is the 

removal of existing interchange tracks and 

relocation of the interchange facilities to the 

inside of the port terminal. Currently, the 

interchange of railcars between the port and 

the three class one railroads that serve it takes 

place in a small, narrow rail yard north of the 

port. Moving cars in and out of the existing 

interchange yard snarls rail and street traffic 

in the downtown area. 

The new project will retire the existing 

interchange yard, and eliminate the need to 

pull cars across the main line tracks. Most rail 

traffic will access the port over a new turnout 

that leads directly to interchange facilities 

located inside the terminal. This will eliminate 

traffic congestion and reduce greenhouse 

gases. Safety and velocity will improve in the 

larger interchange yard; security, particularly 

for military cargo, will improve. For vehicles 

the number of loading ramps will be tripled. 

Once complete, the project will allow the 

port to receive and dispatch entire trains as a 

unit for greater efficiency and economy for 

shippers and the railroads. 


101

LAMAR 

UNIVERSITY 

Lamar University’s motto—“Texas roots. 

Infinite possibilities.”—has never been more 

appropriate and its role never more important 

than in today’s constantly evolving, technologydriven 

economy. 

Located in Beaumont, Lamar University 

is a comprehensive regional university with 

more than 14,000 students, world-renowned 

programs leading to more than 100 undergraduate 

and graduate degrees, and Division I 

athletics. Students from Southeast Texas and 

beyond are drawn to LU’s small class sizes, distinguished 

faculty, and the high level of scholarship 

that has become the standard under 

university president Dr. James Simmons. 

With its close proximity to the core of the 

nation’s petroleum and chemical industries, it 

is little wonder LU has established itself as 

a global leader in engineering. Chemical & 

Engineering News has consistently ranked 

Lamar University as one of the top schools 

in the country for master’s-level chemical 

engineering graduates. Lamar now offers a 

PhD in Chemical Engineering and the doctor 

of engineering degree in all five disciplines in 

the College of Engineering. 

The high-quality research programs at 

Lamar have gained the attention of such 

agencies as the National Science Foundation, 

National Institutes of Health, U.S. 

Department of Education, U.S. Department of 

Energy and U.S. Department of Defense, 

among others. 

Perhaps lesser known is Lamar’s vanguard 

role in advancing programs for the deaf and 

hearing impaired. The Department of Deaf 

Studies and Deaf Education offers a bachelor’s 

degree in American Sign Language (ASL) 

and master’s and doctoral degrees in deaf 

education, addressing a critical shortage of 

doctoral-trained educators of the deaf. The 

Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences 

serves students and the community with 

clinical programs for its master’s degree in 

speech language pathology and doctoral 

degree in audiology. 

The university’s five academic colleges and 

ten research centers contribute to the growth 

and development of Southeast Texas through 

programs that provide special benefits 

to small businesses and dedication to 

continuing education for area educators. 

Lamar University’s Small Business 

Development Center (SBDC) offers assistance 

to small businesses—whether starting out, 

experiencing growing pains, or striving to 

move to the next level. The SBDC has 

innovative programs and one-on-one 

counseling to assist clients in attracting 

customers, developing strategies, and 

increasing sales and profitability. 

Lamar’s internationally accredited College 

of Business also offers a competitive, 

affordable and convenient evening MBA 

program that many area professionals 

find attractive. 


102

In distance education, LU 

is on the cutting edge. For 

just one-third the cost of a 

traditional program, Lamar 

offers an online master’s 

degree program reaching more 

than 4,000 teachers across 

Texas through an innovative 

partnership with Higher Ed 

Holdings. The partnership is 

expanding to include an 

online bachelor of applied arts 

and sciences (perfect for 

returning students seeking 

degree completion) and high 

school co-enrollment courses, 

both available statewide. LU 

also offers the complete core 

curriculum and many upperlevel 

courses online. 

LU’s professional working 

environment for its 1,200 

employees earned national 

recognition in The Chronicle 

of Higher Education’s Great 

Colleges to Work For survey in 2009. LU was 

one of thirty-nine colleges nationwide named 

to the Honor Roll, the only public college in 

Texas on the list. 

The university contributes greatly to the 

region’s quality of life with its many 

opportunities to enjoy cultural enrichment 

and sporting events. The Dishman Art 

Museum, a teaching facility on campus, 

offers an impressive permanent collection 

and a variety of exhibitions ranging from 

international pieces to the work of nationally 

respected faculty and former students. 

The Lamarissimo! concert series showcases the 

talent of LU’s music students and faculty. 

Lamar also adds to cultural life with theater 

and dance performances and academic 

lectures throughout the year. 

The Lamar Cardinals give sports fans 

plenty to cheer about with more than a dozen 

NCAA Division I sports. The nationally 

ranked golf team practices on the campus’ 

regulation-size driving range and the area’s 

twenty golf courses. The baseball, volleyball 

and cross-country teams are perennial 

powers in the Southland Conference. Men’s 

and women’s basketball games in the 10,000- 

seat Montagne Center are anxiously awaited 

events in the community. 

Then, there’s the return 

of football…absent since 

1989, Lamar University 

football resumed play in 

2010 under head coach Ray 

Woodard, who has reloaded 

with several promising 

players and renewed a great 

rivalry with McNeese State. 

The campus is buzzing 

with construction projects 

to enhance both athletic and 

academic programs. These 

include a new athletics complex, 

renovated stadium, 

new soccer field, expansion 

of the Cherry Engineering 

Building, as well as expansion 

and extensive renovation 

to the music building. 

From engineering energy to innovative 

education, from nursing to football, Lamar 

University is rich with possibilities. 


103

LAMAR 

INSTITUTE 

OF TECHNOLOGY 

★ 

Above: LIT’s Welding program has increased 

in size due to an increase in need for 

welders skilled in new techniques. 

Opposite, top: The Regional Fire Academy, 

located at Lamar Institute of Technology, 

educates the majority of the firefighters in 

the Southeast Texas area. 

Opposite, bottom: Lamar Institute of 

Technology’s Department of Allied Health 

and Sciences is home to the Respiratory 

Care program, as well as Dental Hygiene, 

Health Information Technology, Medical 

Radiologic Technology, Diagnostic Medical 

Sonography, Diagnostic Cardiovascular 

Sonography, Occupational Safety and 

Health, Child Care and Development and 

Nurse Aide. 

With more than fifty programs offering 

degrees and certificates, Lamar Institute of 

Technology, a member of the Texas State 

University System, remains a valuable resource 

for Southeast Texas and the surrounding areas. 

LIT’s educational programs are divided 

up into five areas: Allied Health & Sciences, 

Business Technologies, General Education 

& Developmental Studies, Public Service & 

Safety, and Technology. 

The Allied Health & Sciences Department 

includes degrees and certificates in Child 

Care and Development, Dental Hygiene, 

Diagnostic Medical Sonography, Diagnostic 

Cardiac Sonography, Health Information 

Technology, Medical Radiologic Technology, 

Certified Nurse Aide, Occupational Safety and 

Health, and Respiratory Care. 

LIT’s Business Technologies Department 

features degrees and certificates in Accounting 

Technology, Computer Information Systems, 

Computer Networking and Troubleshooting 

Technology, Management Development, Office 

Technology Administration, and Real Estate. 

The Department of General Education & 

Developmental Studies is home to LIT’s 

general education offerings. This department’s 

classes ensure that LIT graduates have a 

breadth of knowledge in a variety of studies. 

The Developmental Studies program is 

designed to help students acquire basic 

skills in reading, writing, and mathematics. 

The Department of Public Service & Safety 

contains LIT’s two service academies, the 

Regional Fire Academy and the Regional 

Police Academy, as well as the Criminal 

Justice, Emergency Medical Technology, and 

Homeland Security programs. 

LIT’s Department of Technology awards 

degrees and certificates in Advanced 

Engine Technology; Computer Drafting 

Technology; Commercial and Residential 

Construction; Heating, Ventilation and 

Air Conditioning; Industrial Mechanics 

Technology; Instrumentation Technology; 

Process Operating Technology, Restaurant and 

Institutional Food Management; Utility Line 

Technology; and Welding Technology. 

LIT also has a Workforce Training and 

Continuing Education Department, which 

works with local business and industry to 

develop curricula for their training needs. 

The college traces its roots back to March 

8, 1923, when the South Park School District 

in Beaumont authorized its superintendent to 

proceed with plans to open a “junior college 

of the first class.” 

On September 17, 1923, South Park Junior 

College opened with 125 students and a faculty 

of fourteen. Located on the third floor of the 

South Park High School building, the college 

shared the library and athletic facilities with 

the high school. In 1932 separate facilities were 

provided and the name of the institution was 

changed to Lamar College to honor Mirabeau 

B. Lamar, second president of the Republic of 

Texas and the “Father of Education” in Texas. 

On June 8, 1942, as a result of a public 

campaign, a new campus was purchased, and 

classes were held for the first time on the 


104

present-day campus in Beaumont. After 

World War II, the college grew to 1,079, and 

a bill to make Lamar a state-supported senior 

college was introduced in the House of 

Representatives. The legislature approved the 

Lamar bill (House Bill 52) on June 4, 1949, 

creating Lamar State College of Technology, 

effective September 1, 1951. Lamar retained 

much of its traditional community college 

mission, particularly in vocational programs. 

Vocational subjects were among the first 

courses offered by Lamar and played an 

important role in the development of Lamar. 

A Division of Vocations was established in 

1946 and became the Lamar School of 

Vocations in 1955. In 1970 the name was 

changed to the School of Technical Arts, and 

in 1972, it became the College of Technical 

Arts. During 1971 the college began awarding 

Associate of Applied Science degrees in 

certain two-year programs. 

The Lamar University System, established 

in 1983, was abolished in 1995 and the 

components became members of The Texas 

State University System. 

The Texas Higher Education Coordinating 

Board recommended in 1990 that all two-year 

programs at Lamar University-Beaumont be 

combined into Lamar University Institute 

of Technology. The programs in the former 

College of Technical Arts—Allied Health, Office 

Technology, and Restaurant/Institutional Food 

Management—were placed in the new institute. 

On September 1, 1995, the Institute of 

Technology was established as an educational 

center of Lamar University and a member 

of The Texas State University System. The 

Texas Legislature changed the name of the 

institution to Lamar Institute of Technology 

in 1999. 

On December 4, 2000, the Southern 

Association of Colleges and Schools granted 

separate accreditation to Lamar Institute 

of Technology. 

Lamar Institute of Technology continues to 

be a vital force in business and industry in 

Southeast Texas and beyond. Its commitment 

to providing the area with graduates prepared 

to make a different from their first days of 

employment impacts all residents of the 

Golden Triangle. 


105

BEAUMONT 

INDEPENDENT 

SCHOOL 

DISTRICT 

The public school system of Beaumont is 

nationally acclaimed for its many successes on 

the academic, operations and extracurricular 

fronts. Students, teachers, programs and 

schools are often commended for excellence. 

The Beaumont Independent School District’s 

success story is directly attributed to the 

community’s expectation for quality education, 

to the sound decision making and planning 

of the District’s Board of Trustees, superintendent 

and staff, and to the students’ thirst 

for excellence. 

Visionary leadership has made BISD a 

nationally acclaimed model for academic 

success. The National Association of School 

Boards has featured the District’s strategies 

and procedures in the publication Team 

Leadership for Student Achievement. Both state 

and national education organizations have 

named the trustees “Outstanding Board of 

the Year,” the highest honor a board can 

achieve in the state. The superintendent, 

Dr. Carrol A. Thomas, has also been 

recognized as “Superintendent of the Year” 

on both the state and 

national level. He and 

the Board earned recognition 

for successfully 

fulfilling the District’s 

goals, which include 

management of diversity 

among students in 

schools, providing a 

safe, orderly and disciplined 

school climate in 

state-of-the-art schools 

and commitment to close achievement gaps. 

Students who apply themselves graduate from 

BISD schools with a solid academic foundation, 

analytical abilities, useful skills and good 

work ethics. 

The Beaumont ISD encompasses 153 

square miles and covers all of the city of 

Beaumont. Established in 1983 through the 

merger of the former Beaumont School 

District (founded in 1883) with the South 

Park Public Schools (founded in 1891), BISD 

is a Texas Education Agency “Recognized” 

school district. The city’s population 

represents the independent spirit of Texas 

pioneers, Spindletop wildcatters, seafaring 

merchants and modern-day technocrats. Over 

the years, these persons have expressed 

differing views on the best educational 

delivery system to Beaumont’s children. 

Today’s Board of Trustees dedicates itself to 

providing a high quality education to all 

children of the district. 

Approximately 20,000 students, who 

represent a diverse population, attend classes 

at the District’s thirty-four campuses. Scores on 

the state-mandated achievement tests continue 

to improve and two-thirds of the schools are 

rated either Recognized or Exemplary by the 

Texas Education Agency. The U.S. Department 

of Education has recognized several campuses 

as Blue Ribbon Schools. Graduates represent 

the District at the most prestigious colleges 

and universities, as well as at national 

military academies. BISD students are always 

represented when listing state and national 

honors in fine arts, academics, career/ 

technology and athletic competitions. Our 

high schools have won championships and 

broken state and national records in a number 

of sports. From NBA stars such as Kendrick 

Perkins to MLB stars such as Jay Bruce, BISD 

continues to produce top athletes and 

professionals in a multitude of disciplines. 

The District’s educational programs are 

designed to reach every student from early 

childhood to special education and continuing 

through the regular and advanced curriculum 

through high school graduation. Academic 

offerings also include career and technology 

options, summer enhancement classes, young 

adult night school, adult/community education 


106

and up to thirty hours of collegiate credit. Via a 

number of strategic grants for systemic change, 

BISD is setting state and national student 

achievement precedents in reading, math, and 

science and technology education. The first 

year of participation in the internationally 

acclaimed Jason Project involved 4,500 

elementary and middle school students 

interacting with scientists throughout the 

world. The Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, 

After School Centers for Education, the Sally 

Ride Academy and the ExxonMobil Reasoning 

Mind program are just a few of the special 

curriculum and/or training programs in BISD. 

Furthermore, BISD offers unique learning 

opportunities at its own planetarium and 

outdoor education center as well as hands on 

field trips for students 

The District enjoys a supportive 

relationship with the business community 

through an extensive volunteer and school 

partnership program which represents a 

significant contribution in thousands of 

dollars worth of resources, finances, talent 

and time. The support helps the Beaumont 

Educational Foundation, Inc., to award grants 

to teachers and students for innovative 

classroom projects each year. 

Parents and patrons have confidence in 

their school system and have input into 

decision making through the public comment 

portion of the monthly school board meetings 

and via the superintendent’s open door 

policy. Parent-teacher conference nights, PTA 

meetings and annual, campus-based special 

events encourage parental involvement and 

community participation in the school. With 

a neighborhood school policy, and a liberal 

transfer option, BISD is known as a “District 

of Choice.” 

BISD is one of Jefferson County’s largest 

employers with some 3,000 employees. The 

staff has garnered awards and recognition 

for excellence or outstanding achievement in 

the areas of finance, administration, pedagogy, 

communications, transportation, nutrition 

and more. This successful school system is 

an integral part of the economic success and 

stability of the region. 

Included in the boon to Southeast Texas’ 

strong economy is the District’s $389 million 

facilities improvement program that is providing 

ten new state-of-the-art, energy efficient 

schools and a premiere multipurpose facility 

that features a natatorium, football stadium 

and athletic arena for the community. 

The superintendent and Board of Trustees 

have expressed “the District has come from 

the edge of a precipice to a mountaintop 

where the view of the future is breathtaking.” 


107

JEFFERSON 

COUNTY TITLE 

COMPANY 

Golden Triangle Title Services, Inc., d/b/a 

Jefferson County Title Company was formed 

on June 1, 1997, by the merger of Jefferson 

County Title Company, Inc., and Service Title 

Company of Jefferson County, Inc. Their charter 

was issued on June 11, 1997, with the 

stockholders being G. Austin Dishman III, 

Larry W. Crocker, and Jennifer J. Cohenour. 

Golden Triangle Title Services, Inc., purchased 

the assets of Accurate Title Co., Inc., 

which was chartered in October 1985 having 

been originally chartered as Jefferson Abstract 

& Title Co., Inc., in September 1970 and 

owned by Raymond E. Buck. In early 2009 

Beaumont Title Company, a division of First 

American Title Insurance Company was 

merged into Golden Triangle Title Services, Inc. 

The two Beaumont offices of Beaumont Title 

Company were closed and the Port Arthur 

Office’s name was changed to Jefferson County 

Title Company. The firm is currently licensed to 

do business in Jefferson County, Texas, by the 

Texas Department of Insurance and write title 

insurance for Fidelity National Title Insurance 

Company, First American Title Insurance 

Company, Title Resources Guaranty Company, 

Alliant National Title Insurance Company, and 

Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation. 

Jefferson County Title Company was originally 

formed as Jefferson County Abstract in 

1890 and became Jefferson County Abstract 

Company, a Texas Corporation, in 1911 being 

incorporated by Leon R. Levy, Guy W. Junker, 

J. S. Edwards, and Charles R. Reynolds. The 

company was later purchased by Ernest L. Nall, 

William H. Burges, Earl Singleton and Mrs. Earl 

Singleton. Upon the death of Ernest L. Nall in 

1938, Mrs. Lola A. Nall became an owner of the 

corporation and upon her death in 1953 her 

ownership interest went to Agnes Nall Parks. 

This same year the ownership interest of 

William H. Burges went to his wife after his 

death. In December 1956 the Burges interest 

was purchased by Earl Singleton and Agnes 

Nall Parks and upon the death of Earl Singleton 

in 1960 the ownership was in Mrs. Earl 

Singleton and Agnes Nall Parks. By 1963 Lee K. 

Broussard and Burton Holton had joined the 


108

company and the Singleton stock was placed 

into a trust for their benefit with J. R. Beck as 

the trustee. The name of the Company became 

Jefferson County Title Company in 1963 and by 

1970 it was under new ownership with the 

stockholders being Sam O. Smith, M. L. Lefler, 

Jr., Edwin Terry, Mack Fullbright, and Helen 

Shoemake. During the next ten years the stock 

in the company changed hands several times 

and in January 1981 the company was rechartered 

as Jefferson County Title Company, 

Inc., when the assets of Jefferson County Title 

Company were purchased by G. Austin 

Dishman III and two partners. G. Austin 

Dishman III eventually became the sole stockholder 

of Jefferson County Title, Inc. As a side 

note, Jefferson County Abstract was split off 

from the title company in May 1973 and 

became Jefferson County Abstract Company, 

Inc., being owned by Sam O. Smith. 

Service Title Company of Jefferson County, 

Inc., was originally formed as Texas Abstract 

Company in the early 1900s and became 

Security Title Company of Jefferson County, 

Inc., in January 1958 when it was purchased 

by Raymond E. Buck. The company was later 

re-chartered as Security Title Company of 

Beaumont Texas in March 1975. In 1976, 

Larry W. Crocker, nephew of Raymond E. Buck 

joined the company as a vice president and 

escrow officer. After Buck’s death in 1982, the 

assets of Security Title Company of Beaumont 

were purchased by Larry W. Crocker and two 

partners in April 1983 and chartered as Service 

Title Company of Jefferson County, Inc. Larry 

W. Crocker and Jennifer J. Cohenour bought 

out the two partners in June 1984 to become 

the sole stockholders of Service Title Company 

of Jefferson County, Inc. 

Jefferson County Title’s offices are located 

at 80 IH 10 North, Beaumont, Texas 77702, 

(409) 833-9191, fax (409) 833-3865; 1425 

Wellington Circle, Suite A, Beaumont, Texas 

77706, (409) 860-5200, fax (409) 860-5154; 

and 3536 Highway 365, Nederland, Texas 

77627, (409) 729-2600, fax (409) 729-2888. 


109

SABINE NECHES 

NAVIGATION 

DISTRICT 

The Sabine Neches Navigation District 

(SNND) promotes and oversees the viability 

of one of America’s most vital waterways, 

the Sabine-Neches Waterway (SNWW). The 

waterway is critical to the energy supply of 

the nation, essential to the war effort and it is 

the life source of more than 83,000 related 

jobs of the 150,000 jobs in Jefferson County. 

The waterway has not been upgraded since 

1962, more than forty-eight years ago. 

The Sabine-Neches Waterway silts up with 

sediments from the river water and the channel 

‘shoals’ in with mud. As it fills in the ships 

cannot come in as deep as they want; only the 

shallow draft ships can come over the 

shoaling in the channel and that means less 

product for the refineries to refine. The same 

is true for industries other than refineries 

that depend on the SNWW for raw materials 

or product transportation. If any industry 

loses viability by being here, it will leave. The 

importance of the Sabine-Neches Waterway 

cannot be overstated: 

• SNWW is the number one U.S. crude oil 

import port. 

• SNWW will soon be the number one U.S. 

LNG import terminal and will host over 

forty percent of the nation’s liquefied 

natural gas (LNG) import regasification 

capacity by 2010. 

• SNWW supports fifty-five percent of the 

nation’s strategic oil reserves. 

• SNWW is home of the nation’s number one 

commercial military outload port. 

• SNWW refineries produce sixty percent of 

the nation’s commercial jet fuel and the 

majority of U.S. military jet fuel. 

• SNWW plants refine about fifteen percent 

of America’s gasoline. 

• SNWW is the nation’s fourth largest waterway. 

With nearly $20 billion in new energyrelated 

investments planned or being constructed 

along the waterway, the SNWW 

urgently needs to upgrade in order to continue 

to serve its essential and expanding role as 

America’s Energy Gateway. 

When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers 

completed its study in December 2009 the 

objectives were: “Improving the navigational 

efficiency along the Sabine-Neches Waterway 

and maintaining the ecological value of 

coastal and estuarine resources within the 

project area.” 

From that study the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers recommended and locally preferred 

plan includes: 


110

• Deepening the SNWW from 40 to 48 feet 

and the offshore channel from 42 to 50 feet 

in depth; 

• Extending the 50-foot-deep offshore channel 

by 13.2 miles, thereby increasing the total 

length of the channel from 64 to 77 miles; 

• Deepening and widening Taylor Bayou 

channels and turning basins; and 

• Easing selected bends on the Sabine- 

Neches Channel and Neches River Channel 

and constructing new and enlarging/deepening 

existing turning and anchorage 

basins on the Neches River Channel. 

The fundamental economic benefits of 

improvements to the SNWW are a reduction 

in transportation costs by use of more fully 

loaded vessels, more efficient use of existing 

vessels, reductions in transit times, and 

lower cargo handling and tug assistance costs. 

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, 

Galveston District economic analyses 

performed during the study, reported an 

estimated total average annual project benefit 

of $115,074,000. The national benefit to 

cost ratio for the project is 1.3 to 1. 

The Sabine Neches Navigation District is 

responsible for preserving the Sabine-Neches 

Waterway by maintaining and deepening it 

and for more than ten years has been working 

with the federal government to fund the 

necessary SNWW improvements. 

If the federal government decides not 

to improve the waterway, 83,000 jobs in 

Jefferson County would be affected. 

Waterway traffic in the channel is forecast 

to increase by forty-eight percent in the 

next five years. When this channel was 

improved in the 1960s it was designed 

for about 2,800 deep draft vessel transits a 

year. The waterway transits are expected 

to surpass the 2,800 mark in the next 

few years. 

When refineries complete the expansion 

projects they have began constructing and the 

LNG Terminals fully come online, the waterway 

could have already surpassed its capacity 

for deep draft vessels. 

Improvement of the SNWW is a must for 

the viability of Jefferson County, and for the 

Sabine-Neches Waterway to continue as a 

leader in U.S. energy production. 


111

CONN’S 

★ 

Bottom, left: Conn’s first storefront at 

268 Pearl opened in downtown Beaumont 

in 1940. 

Bottom, right: Conn’s added refrigerators 

and stovetops to their already established 

plumbing inventory in 1937. 

Conn’s theme of “Helping Make Your 

House A Home” represents the company’s 

most important goal: to offer products to 

customers that make their lives more 

comfortable and enjoyable. 

Conn’s history dates back to 1890, when 

Eastham Plumbing and Heating Company was 

founded in Beaumont. First National Bank of 

Beaumont took over the company in 1931, 

and renamed it Plumbing and Heating, Inc. 

A freeze that same year burst pipes throughout 

the area. Frank Yount, a Spindletop oil 

pioneer, bought the company to fix the pipes 

in his mansion in Beaumont when he had 

trouble finding a plumber to do the repairs. 

Yount hired C. W. Conn, Sr., who was 

selling appliances for the local gas company 

at the time, to run the plumbing company 

in 1933. Conn bought the business in 1934, 

changing its name to Conn Plumbing and 

Heating Company. 

In 1937, Conn began selling refrigerators, 

and soon added gas ranges to his inventory. 

He purchased a storefront and moved the 

company to 268 Pearl Street in Beaumont in 

1940. The company’s second store opened 

in 1959 on Eleventh Street. By 1966 the 

company had four stores and $4 million in 

total sales volume. Lake Charles, Louisiana, 

was the site of Conn’s first out of state store, 

opened in 1969. By 1975, Conn’s operated 

ten locations in the Golden Triangle, Baytown, 

and southwest Louisiana. 

Conn, early in his retail career, began surveying 

every one of his customers to determine 

the company’s customer satisfaction. In 

1965, two of Conn’s executives, C. W. Conn, 

Jr., and Tommy Frank, proudly announced a 

ninety-five percent customer satisfaction 

score to C. W., Sr., Conn demanded that C. W. 

and Tommy contact the five people who were 

not satisfied and make them happy that they 

were customers of Conn’s. 

Conn died in 1975, and his son, C. W., 

became chairman of the board. The company 

continued to grow and opened stores in 

Houston in 1983 with sixteen others to follow 

in subsequent years. Conn’s sales volume 

hit $100 million in 1993 and opened its first 

store in San Antonio, Texas, in that same year. 

Thomas Frank, Sr., became chief executive 

officer and chairman of the board in 1994. 

Under his leadership, the company became 

a major player in the home appliance and 

consumer electronics industry. In July 1998 

the company reorganized and The Stephens 

Group, Inc., of Little Rock, Arkansas, become 

a majority stockholder adding financial 

capabilities that led to the company’s future 

growth. Conn’s is now publicly traded 

and listed on the NASDAQ under the 

symbol CONN. 

Tim Frank was named president and chief 

executive officer in June 2009 after serving 

as the company’s president for two years. 

Tim embraced many of Tommy’s business 


112

principles and reinforced the company’s 

commitment to a culture defined by humility, 

hard work and results. 

Today, Conn’s operates seventy-six stores in 

three states: Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma. 

Its product mix has grown to include 

appliances, flat panel televisions, consumer 

electronics and computers, furniture and 

mattresses, and lawn and garden equipment. 

Conn’s consists of the parent company and 

numerous subsidiaries and divisions that 

provide support in the areas of credit, delivery, 

service, insurance and other related services. 

The company’s business model differs from 

most retailers. For most, sales become the 

driving force. Conn’s, on the other hand, 

relies on its credit, distribution, service, and 

merchandising divisions to drive sales with 

training being an essential ingredient in its 

recipe for success. 

Conn Credit Company is responsible for 

offering financing to Conn’s customers. 

Opportunity Finance assists those who need 

to build their credit history with a means of 

financing their purchases. 

The company operates four regional 

warehouses in Houston, Beaumont, San 

Antonio, and Dallas. Each day Conn’s home 

delivery organization successfully completes 

hundreds of deliveries and installations to its 

customers throughout Texas, Louisiana, and 

Oklahoma…most the day after the purchases 

were made in its stores. 

Conn’s service organization completes 

thousands of service calls each month, 

both in-home or in one of its regional 

service centers. More than 100 service 

vehicles are on the road six-days-a-week 

repairing customer product. 

One of the largest regional appliance and 

consumer electronics retailers in America 

today, Conn’s employs more than 3,000 

associates. It has grown to this position 

by constantly focusing all of its resources 

on its customers. While it has changed 

dramatically over the years, one thing remains 

the same and that is Conn’s commitment to 

“Helping To Make Your House A Home.” 


Internet at www.conns.com. 

★ 

Above: Conn’s locates stores strategically 

throughout each market. 

Below: Conn’s representatives assist each 

customer with their individual needs. 


113

★ 

Left: Walter Umphrey. 

Middle: Paul “Chip” Ferguson, Jr. 

Right: Bryan O. Blevins, Jr. 

PROVOST 

UMPHREY 

LAW FIRM, 

LLP 

At the heart of every successful team is a 

tenacious leader with a competitive drive to 

win and a commitment to the pursuit of excellence. 

The Provost Umphrey Law Firm exemplifies 

that definition and the leader is Walter 

Umphrey, senior managing partner, who at the 

age of seventy-four still arrives at the law 

offices at 6:30 am each morning, not because 

he has to, but because that is the man he is. 

As the adopted son of a Port Arthur Justice of 

the Peace, Walter acquired a love for the law and 

a drive to win evident by the time he graduated 

from Thomas Jefferson High School with a 

football scholarship to Southern Methodist 

University. He completed his undergraduate 

studies at Baylor University and earned a law 

degree in 1965 from Baylor Law School. He then 

joined the Jefferson County District Attorney’s 

Office as a prosecuting attorney and ultimately 

became Chief Felony Prosecutor. 

He cofounded the Provost Umphrey Law 

Firm in 1969 with two lawyers and a vision of 

safer work places and products for the working 

men and women of Texas. Today, Walter directs 

thirty-one lawyers in Texas, Arkansas, and 

Tennessee representing victims throughout the 

United States, Canada and Latin America. 

Walter is board certified in Personal Injury 

Trial Law and Labor & Employment Law by 

the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and 

Civil Trial Advocacy by the National Board 

of Trial Advocacy. The Supreme Court of the 

United States admitted him to the Supreme 

Court Bar in 1973. He is a Fellow of the 

International Society of Barristers and listed as 

one of “The Best Lawyers in America.” In June 

of 2000, Walter was recognized as, a “Legal 

Legend,” one of the top Texas Lawyers of the 

twentieth century for his role in shaping Texas 

law. He has been routinely recognized as one of 

the most successful trial lawyers in America for 

the last thirty years. The Jefferson County Bar 

Association recognized Walter’s contributions 

to the legal community; he was presented 

with the Blackstone Award in May 2010. The 

Blackstone Award, named for Sir William 

Blackstone (English jurist and author— 

Commentaries on the Law of England), is the 

most prestigious award or recognition that a 

Bar Association can bestow upon one of its 

members. The Blackstone Award is based upon 

the lawyer’s legal ability, integrity and courage. 

For its special anniversary issue, Texas Lawyer 

named him as one of the twenty-five greatest 

Texas lawyers of the past quarter-century. Texas 

Lawyer names lawyers who have made outstanding 

contributions within the twenty-five 

years the newspaper has been published. 

Walter pioneered labor and personal injury 

law in Texas, where the world’s petrochemical 

industry was born. The firm’s efforts have 

resulted in landmark decisions. Walter’s first 

Federal jury trial resulted in a $4 million 

verdict in 1972. It would be the first of many 


114

significant cases tried by him involving 

toxic exposures, industrial accidents and 

explosions, maritime and employment law. 

Walter and the firm tried and won the nation’s 

first class action/consolidation trial involving 

asbestos exposure—$1 billion involving more 

than 2,000 Texas asbestos victims. 

Walter was the lead attorney for the 

State of Texas against the tobacco industry, 

which resulted in a historical civil litigation 

settlement—$17.6 billion. Today, Walter is 

leading the firm back into tobacco litigation 

over the deceptive marketing and sale of 

“light” cigarettes to consumers expecting a 

safer alternative. 

In 2009, Walter, as General Counsel to 

the Texas AFL-CIO, Texas Building and 

Construction Trades, was recognized by the 

AFL-CIO as “a superb General Counsel and 

a friend in good and bad times.” On March 1, 

2010, the United Steel Workers Union— 

Canadian Local 6500 made Walter an 

honorary member. In 1995, Walter developed 

an Emergency Response Team to assist the 

Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union 

respond to industrial explosions and other 

fatal accidents across the United States. This 

program has been so well received by Union 

leadership and its members that it has been 

passed forward as the OCAW merged with 

PACE and ultimately the United Steel 

Workers. Today, Walter serves as Special 

Counsel for Toxic Tort Litigation and 

Emergency Response to the United Steel 

Workers International Union. 

As a distinguished alumnus, Walter’s 

dedication to Texas and the law is exemplified 

by his generations of support for Baylor Law 

School. In 1999, Walter was Baylor Lawyer of 

the Year and in 2000 his family donated $10 

million to help build the new Shelia and 

Walter Umphrey Law Center educational 

facility to serve more than 400 law students. 

Beyond the practice of law, Walter serves 

as Senior Chairman of the Board for 

CommunityBank, has served as a Board 

Member of the National Wildlife Association, 

Director of Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower 

Center and a Vice Chairman of Texas State 

Parks and Wildlife Commission. His donation 

of land at Mesquite Point-Pleasure Island, 

Texas, was central to the development of a 

coastal marsh exhibit at the Texas Department 

of Parks and Wildlife’s Sea Center. His gifts to 

Lamar University in Beaumont include the 

Sheila Umphrey Recreational Sports Center, 

Provost Umphrey Stadium and the return of 

NCAA football to the university. 

Without doubt, Provost Umphrey—led by 

Walter—has upheld his love for the law and 

excellence with great success and selfless giving. 

Provost Umphrey Law Firm is located at 

490 Park Street in Beaumont and on the 

Internet at www.provostumphrey.com. 

★ 

Left: James E. Payne. 

Middle: Joe J. Fisher II. 

Right: David P. Wilson. 


115

MAVERICK COMMUNICATIONS, INC. 

A commitment to excellence is the key to 

success for Maverick Communications Inc., 

which installs and terminates fiber optic cables, 

data cable, coax cables, surveillance video 

cameras, phone systems, PBX, wireless, control 

access phone cabling, overhead and 

underground cables, and phone cable. 

Maverick strives daily to fulfill its mission of 

providing customers with quality products 

installed by certified employees and finding 

new and innovative products to benefit their 

customers. The company is also committed to 

educating its employees about the products 

they install. Certification of Maverick 

employees by the manufacturer of the products 

they install is another way the company 

ensures the highest quality work on every job. 

Founded in 1987 by Benny G. Blackmon 

and Brad Keneson, Maverick began with some 

notes written on a napkin at McDonald’s in 

Orange, Texas, as the two men ate lunch. Both 

Blackmon and Keneson were employed by a 

company involved in downsizing and they felt 

that one, or both, of them might be laid off. 

“I said I had been thinking about starting my 

own business, and Brad said he had been 

thinking about the same thing. We decided if one 

of us was laid off, the other would join him and 

we’d be partners. We wrote down our ideas, and 

even came up with our slogan,” Blackmon says. 

On December 31, 1986, Keneson was laid 

off, and on January 2, 1987, “He talked a lady 

employed at DuPont plant in Orange, Texas, 

into hiring us as contractors.” In April 

Blackmon resigned and the partnership began. 

One after another, new customers hired 

Maverick on the basis of recommendations 

from others who had used their services. The 

company did no advertising during its early 

years, and even now limits its advertising 

primarily to telephone directory listings. 

The partnership structure changed to a “C” 

Corporation in the late 1980s and to a 

corporation in the mid-1990s. Brad left the 

company for other ventures. 

Their first office was a mini-storage unit, 

where they had a desk and stocked supplies for 

their telephone installation, cabling and repair 

business. Then they added data cabling. 

Maverick was the first to install data over twisted 

wire, the first to begin installing fiber optic 

cable, and the first to install video over twisted 

wire in Southeast Texas. 

With two sites, 720 Chamberlin Drive in 

Beaumont and 2500 Maplewood Drive in 

Sulphur, Louisiana, Maverick currently has 

20 employees and annual sales of $2.5 

million. Its customer base includes doctors, 

lawyers, hospitals, schools, small businesses, 

chemical plants, and oil refineries. This 

diversity has enabled Maverick to set new 

records year after year. 

The commitment to excellence has earned 

Maverick a reputation as one of the top 

communication companies in Southeast Texas 

and Southwest Louisiana. With over one 

hundred years of combined experience in 

telecommunications, it can meet almost every 

communication need, whether for telephones, 

computers, indoor and outdoor copper cable, 

fiber optics, cameras, or many other services. 

Brett Blackmon, the company’s vice 

president, says Maverick strives to stay on top 

of evolving technology, continuously sending 

its technicians to training classes. A member 

of BICSI, the company staffs a registered 

communications distribution designer, 

certified Northern Telcom, Key and PBX 

installers, NEC, Lucent, and numerous other 

telecommunications certifications. 

Maverick has teamed up with some of 

the principal manufacturers in the communications 

market. 


116

“All of these manufacturers have proven 

track records with quality products, services 

and warranties,” Brett Blackmon says. 

“Maverick will provide, upon request, a copy 

of current jobs and status, along with a list of 

references. Our strict drug policy and 

random drug testing, emphasis on safety, 

and the use of high-quality products ensure 

that customers receive the best services 

available. All Maverick-installed equipment 

comes with a one- to five-year warranty, 

and certain provisions provide a twentyyear 

warranty.” 

“We’re not out to rip anyone off,” Ben 

Blackmon says. “If something doesn’t work, 

we’ll fix it or they don’t have to pay us.” 

As he completed a questionnaire a few 

years ago, he paused at the request to list a 

customer Maverick had lost in the past. 

“I couldn’t think of one,” he says. “Our 

customers have stayed with us.” 

A committed supporter of the communities 

it serves, Maverick provides consultant work 

without charge to public entities and makes 

charitable donations to many nonprofit 

organizations’ fund drives. 


117

M&I ELECTRIC 

AMERICAN ELECTRIC TECHNOLOGIES, INC. 

American Electric Technologies, Inc.–M&I 

Electric is the premium global supplier of 

power delivery solutions to the traditional 

and renewable energy industries. 

Founded in 1946 as M&I Electric Industries, 

Inc., in Beaumont, Texas, American Electric 

Technologies, Inc., (AETI) has provided electrical 

products and services to the Gulf Coast 

marine and industrial markets for more than 

sixty-four years. 

The current management team acquired 

the company in 1984 with its established 

reputation as the leading provider of reliable 

and innovative power distribution and 

control equipment for critical oil and gas 

marine and industrial applications. 

The company initiated its first international 

operation in 1994, by forming a joint venture 

with Oakwell Industries of Singapore. The 

joint venture, called M&I Electric Far East 

PTE Ltd. focuses on offshore and marine 

electrical systems in Singapore and the 

Southeast Asia market. In 2008, M&I Electric 

Far East expanded by opening operations in 

Jakarta Indonesia. 

In 2003 the company introduced an 

innovative, liquid-cooled high horsepower 

AC variable frequency drive product, 

optimized for space-constrained marine 

markets, which along with its customdesigned 

marine switchgear completed the 

turn-key electrical power equipment vessel 

offering. In 2003 the company also entered 

the water/wastewater market. 

In 2004, M&I acquired Contec Electric 

and formed its South Coast Electric subsidiary 

in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, to service the 

Gulf Coast marine and vessel market in the 

Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama regions. 

In 2006 the company continued its push 

to bring innovative products to market 

introducing Low Voltage and Medium Voltage 

IEC (International Electric Code) switchgear 

for international markets, and shipped its first 

liquid-cooled AC Variable Frequency drive 

product. The company also acquired the 

assets of Hill Hayes Corporation and the 

rights to their analog drive product line. 

In 2007 the company took the next step 

in its international expansion plans with 

the announcement of a joint venture with 

China National Petroleum’s drilling rig 

subsidiary, BBOMCO, called Bomay, to focus 

on manufacturing, sales and service for the 

fast-growing China oil and gas markets. 

In May 2007, M&I Electric announced a 

merger with American Access Technologies, 

Inc., based in Florida to become American 

Electric Technologies, Inc., and began trading 

on the NASDAQ capital Market under the 

symbol “AETI.” 


118

AETI announced its plans to enter the 

renewable energy markets in 2008, and has 

recently announced products for the wind 

power market and the solar power market. 

Signaling the transition for the next phase of 

the strategic growth plan, Charles M. Dauber 

was appointed president and CEO of AETI and 

James J. Steffek was appointed president of 

M&I Electric, a wholly owned subsidiary of 

AETI, in September 2009. Arthur G. Dauber, 

who had served as president of M&I Electric 

since 1984, was named Chairman. 

The company’s goals keep it at the 

forefront of the power distribution and 

control products industry to be the premium 

global supplier of power delivery solutions 

to the traditional and alternative energy 

industries. Its customers include traditional 

oil and gas companies, including off-shore 

and land drilling, production operators, 

marine vessels, pipelines and refineries. AETI 

also serves traditional power generation, 

transmission, co-generation and alternative 

energy markets, including wind, geothermal, 

biomass and solar, earning an overall 

customer base with total global revenues of 

more than $100 million annually. 

AETI continues to offer its customer base 

new power delivery solutions. At the end 

of 2009 the company announced it could 

provide the marine industry with an arcmitigation 

switchgear system to allow vessel 

and workboat operators to create safer marine 

environments, comply with new electrical 

regulation for the marine workplace, and 

better protect lives and assets. 

AETI has made great progress in wind 

energy and solar power and it is in the early 

stages of a major new initiative that may 

produce big results for the company. Recently 

in the wind energy industry, AETI has 

leveraged its sixty years of experience in 

deploying custom-designed power distribution 

equipment in the world’s harshest environment 

with the company’s wind farm services 

experience to introduce new 40KV wind farm 

switchgear designed specifically for the wind 

power industry, breaking new ground in wind 

farm safety, performance and reliability. And 

their solid core of experienced engineers are 

continuing to utilize the company’s existing 

technology as a foundation for creating what it 

expects will be a new generation of renewable 

energy products. 

As a step forward in communication, AETI 

has launched a new version of the AETI website, 

www.aeti.com, which better describes the depth 

and breadth of its offerings and the market 

segments in which the company participates. 

Management recently completed a new investor 

presentation posted on the website that it will 

continue to update and refine. The presentation 

describes growth strategies and consideration 

for investing in AETI. In addition, the company 

will continue to host the quarterly earnings calls 

that it initiated in 2009. 

CEO Dauber said one bright spot in the 

global economy is several international markets 

are experiencing rapid growth and AETI is 

already positioned in those markets to provide 

key systems and services for 

many years to come. 

AETI is headquartered in 

Houston and has global sales, 

support, and manufacturing 

operations in Beaumont, 

Texas, Keystone Heights, 

Florida, and Bay St. Louis, 

Mississippi. In addition AETI 

has minority interests in three 

joint ventures, which have 

facilities located in Brazil, 

Xian, China, Singapore and 

Jakarta, Indonesia. 


119

GOOD VALUE 

HOME 

IMPROVEMENT 

CENTER 

★ 

Above: Good Value Home Improvement 

Center moved to 7225 FM 1122 in 

July 2006. 

Below: Good Value staff, 2010. 

Good Value Home Improvement Center’s 

superior service begins when you walk in 

our door and are met by a customer service 

representative to help you. We specialize in 

all wood cabinetry—not particle board 

boxes with wood faces—and our kitchen and 

bath cabinetry, doors and flooring sell for 

less than the big chain stores. Also, we use 

20/20 design software, the same computer 

design service the chain stores use, 

but we offer onsite local measuring 

for cabinets, doors and flooring. 

Our quality all-wood products at 

discount prices and personal service 

are the reasons Good Value Home 

Improvement has grown rapidly. 

We opened with two employees in 

August 2005 and now have ten 

employees including an outside sales 

representative. Our hotel cabinetry 

business has increased with sales to Best 

Western Hotels, Baymont Inns & Suites, and 

Homewood Suites. 

We started business offering five different 

styles of cabinets and now offer more than 

twenty. Our main cabinet vendor, Sunco, 

offers superior KCMA Certified cabinets at 

a great price from its factories in the United 

States and China. 


120

We also offer interior door units, flooring 

(laminate, carpet, ceramic, and vinyl), toilets, 

faucets, trim (crown, base board, and casing), 

and locksets. The arch top pine interior doors 

are a solid wood knotty pine door unit that 

is popular in southeast Texas and regional 

areas of the United States and Canada. We 

sell a fair amount of flooring to do-it-yourself 

customers. Our prices are unbeatable. 

Good Value Home Improvement has an easyto-use 

website, www.goodvaluecenter.com. Our 

customers say they prefer shopping online with 

us because they also have the opportunity to 

visit our store and physically see and touch 

the products they want to buy. After customers 

make their decision, they can order in the 

store or use our website that provides them 

with a shopping cart and the ability to order 

online and have it shipped to their door. We 

ship cabinets and doors throughout the United 

States and around the world. 

Good Value is locally owned and run 

by Michael and Amy Carson of Lumberton, 

Texas. Good Value focuses on the needs of its 

customers and supplies them with quality 

wood products. 

★ 

Good Value sells all wood cabinets in a 

variety of finishes at discount prices. 

Antique white cabinets pictured. 


121

FIRST UNITED 

METHODIST 

CHURCH 

This year marks the 170th anniversary of 

the birth of this Methodist congregation; a 

designated official United Methodist historic 

site and one of the most vital institutions 

in Beaumont. 

The remarkable story of First United 

Methodist Church began in 1840 in Beaumont’s 

infancy when families gathered to worship God 

with Reverend Henry Stephenson, a Methodist 

missionary. This earliest congregation first met 

in a brush arbor near today’s Calder Avenue. 

They continued to meet camp style and in 

private homes for a number of years until 

1852, when they built a modest structure on 

Pearl Street across from the Jefferson County 

Courthouse under the direction of their first 

resident minister, John Fletcher Pipkin. The 

Methodists’ simple building was used for 

more than worship, serving as a schoolhouse 

and a hospital for Confederate soldiers during 

the Civil War. 

When a hurricane destroyed the church 

building in 1864, another church with a small 

bell tower and two front doors—one for men 

and one for women—was built on the corner 

of Main and Fannin Streets in 1877 by the 

joint efforts of Methodists and Baptists. In 

1885 the Baptists moved to a new location, 

and the Methodists bought their interest in 

the church. 

On the same site, the Methodist congregation 

built a larger building in 1890 known as the 

Steeple Church, which was enlarged and 

remodeled in 1894. After the discovery of oil 

at Spindletop in 1901, a congregation of 505 

members built a new church on the corner of 

Broadway and Pearl Streets. 

An African-American congregation, the 

St. James Methodist Episcopal Church, bought 

and relocated the Steeple Church building. 

First Methodist sold the Main and Fannin 

Street land, providing the money to build the 

Dome Church in 1906, which housed the 

congregation for sixty years. 

The present day downtown Spire Church, 

built under the leadership of Reverend Dr. 

John Wesley Hardt (now Bishop Hardt), has 

served the congregation since 1968, reflecting 

First United Methodist Church’s commitment 

to remain in the heart of the city. 

Music has long played an important role 

in this church. The congregation frequently 

hosts Lamar University choirs, ensembles, and 

soloists, and serves as a performance venue for 

the area Interfaith Choral Society. The Leland 

Best Council for the Arts sponsors a yearly 

concert series. The church’s own music ministry 

encompasses the Chancel Choir, two children’s 

choirs, and a handbell choir. Each year the 

Chancel Choir offers choir scholarships to 

Lamar University music students. 

Multimedia ministries are on the rise, with 

“live streaming” and on-demand services 

available online, as well as a church presence 

on social networking sites like Facebook. 

First Methodist offers three worship 

services each Sunday to meet the spiritual 

needs of its diverse members and visitors: an 

informal but traditionally patterned service in 

Longe Chapel; a traditional sanctuary service 

led by the forty-voice Chancel Choir; and 

a contemporary praise service in Rothwell 

Hall led by a talented team of approximately 

sixteen musicians. 


122

Children and youth play an important role 

in congregational life. In addition to Sunday 

School classes, children participate in worship 

services through “Children’s Moments” each 

Sunday, and each year the youth plan and lead 

the sanctuary worship service on Youth 

Sunday. Children’s programming includes the 

annual Vacation Bible School and Second 

Friday Friends, a parents’ night out program. 

Youth participate in various service projects as 

well as fellowship, and almost every summer 

go on mission trips with U.M. Army and Big 

House. First Methodist is a Safe Sanctuary 

Church where everyone working with children 

and youth receives specialized training to 

guarantee a safe, non-threatening atmosphere. 

First Methodist is a place where everyone 

is welcomed and embraced. Six generations 

currently bless our congregation, from its 

youngest being a few months old, to our most 

senior member approaching 102 years of age. 

We are a church composed of different races 

and cultures, founded under one Lordship of 

Jesus Christ. 

Church-wide service projects and mission 

efforts are a hallmark of the congregation. 

First Methodist supports such ecumenical 

ministries as Some Other Place, the Rainbow 

Room, and Habitat for Humanity. The church 

also began a homeless outreach ministry in 

Beaumont called Kairos Kitchen. Each summer 

church members “Pack a 

Backpack” for students in the 

Beaumont Independent School 

District, delivering over 100 

full backpacks to local elementary 

schools. The church also 

enthusiastically supports the 

Methodist Home in Waco, 

Methodist Family Services in 

San Antonio, Lon Morris 

College in Jacksonville, the 

Seafarers’ Center, and the 

United Methodist Committee 

on Relief (UMCOR) known in 

Southeast Texas for its efforts in 

hurricane relief. Whenever a 

worthy appeal is made, First 

Methodist responds generously 

with monetary donations and 

its members’ time and talents. 

The First Methodist congregation is truly 

a family. Many will testify to the solace, 

support, and assistance they have received 

from fellow church members in times both 

difficult and joyous. This historic, dynamic 

church has exemplified for over a century the 

United Methodist slogan, “Open Hearts, Open 

Minds, Open Doors,” and it will continue to be 

a beacon in the community for years to come. 


Internet at www.firstbeaumont.org. 


123

AMERICAN 

REAL ESTATE 

★ 

Above: Yvonne Ritter, president of American 

Real Estate, BA, MA, CRB, CRS, GRI, ABR. 

Below: Lou Huber, vice president of 

American Real Estate, CPM, GRI. 

American Real Estate, the oldest and 

largest real estate group in Southeast Texas, 

celebrated its sixtieth anniversary in 2010. Its 

successes as an independent, full-service real 

estate company with a record $232 million in 

production in one year made it a local icon. 

Yvonne Ritter, president of American Real 

Estate, distinguishes her company from its 

competitors by emphasizing, “We are an 

independent, locally owned company, 100 

percent invested in Southeast Texas. Every dollar 

generated stays in our local communities. We 

pay no state, national or international franchise 

fees, but we have access to extensive training, 

and advertising and marketing programs 

through our networks.” Lou Huber, vice 

president adds, “As members of Leading Real 

Estate Companies of the World we’re part of a 

650 office network, so that we can refer clients 

anywhere in the world to other prominent 

companies that have remained independent.” 

American Real Estate does residential sales, 

leasing and property management. “Our 

property management department handles 

more than 1,200 units—apartments as well as 

single-family homes. We manage numerous 

homeowners’ associations as well as office 

buildings and strip malls,” Ritter said. 

American’s Commercial Department also 

does sales, leasing and property management. 

The Relocation Department has a large 

inventory of corporate, HUD/Investment 

and foreclosure properties. The department 

manages the relocation of individuals and 

corporate clients nationwide. 

“We believe in giving back to the community 

that has supported us” Ritter said. “The 

company and our associates are involved in 

most civic and social organizations in the area. 

Several years ago we established a scholarship 

at Lamar University that now helps provide an 

education for an engineering student.” 

“Unlike today’s corporate climate, we’re 

family oriented and supportive of our people. 

We enjoy remarkable tenure for a real estate 

company and many of our associates retire at 

advanced ages after thirty or more years of 

service,” Ritter said. 

Longevity and permanence show in 

American’s history of expansion across 

Southeast Texas. Two local companies merged to 

form American Real Estate and four years later 

the Mid-Jefferson County office opened, 

followed by a second office in Beaumont’s West 

End. In 1996 the Hardin County office opened 

and in 2001 the two Beaumont offices moved 

into the present location in Tuscany Park at 

3550 Dowlen. Two years later, the Orange 

County office opened and in 2004 a sister 

company began operation in East Texas. 

American Real Estate’s dedication and service 

to its clients, the community, and its own 

associates have kept it in the forefront of the real 

estate industry in Southeast Texas for sixty years. 


124

MOORE 

LANDREY, 

L.L.P. 

Moore Landrey, L.L.P., located at 390 

Park Street, Suite 500, Beaumont and on 

the Internet at www.moorelandrey.com, is 

a Texas registered limited liability law 

partnership, which practices a broad range 

of civil law, including commercial law, 

construction law, business litigation, 

personal injury trial law, oil and gas law, 

bankruptcy law, consumer protection 

law, employment law, real estate law, family 

law, and probate law. 

Founded in 1968 by Ray M. Moore and 

Floyd A. Landrey, the firm initially operated 

as a diversified commercial law firm serving 

the legal needs of individuals, businesses, 

banks and other lending institutions in 

Southeast Texas. In 1985 the partnership 

expanded its services to include personal 

injury trial law. The firm takes pride in 

providing legal services to its clients in a 

professional and cost-effective manner. All 

areas of practice are handled with a thorough 

attention to detail. All lawyers are active in 

professional and community organizations. 

The firm has a branch office in Austin. 

The lawyers in the Beaumont office are: 

• Moore, who serves of counsel to the 

firm, received his law degree from The 

University of Texas, was admitted to 

the State Bar of Texas in 1955, is licensed 

to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. 

• Landrey received his law degree from 

Baylor University. He practices in all 

areas of commercial, real estate, probate, 

bankruptcy, and domestic relations law, 

including business litigation. 

• Jon B. Burmeister, a graduate of The 

University of Texas School of Law, is Board 

Certified by the Texas Board of Legal 

Specialization in civil trial, personal injury, 

and appellate law. He serves as managing 

partner of the firm. 

• Kerwin B. Stone, who received his law 

degree from The University of Texas, 

practices primarily in business transactions, 

construction, real estate, employment, and 

commercial law. He is active in church 

and veterans organizations. 

• Tommy L. Yeates, a graduate of Texas 

Tech University School of Law, practices 

primarily in personal injury, civil trial, and 

consumer litigation. He is Board Certified 

in personal injury law and civil trial law. 

• Dan Ducote, Jr., a graduate of South Texas 

College of Law, practices primarily in 

personal injury, civil trial, and consumer 

litigation. He is Board Certified in personal 

injury trial law by the Texas Board of 

Legal Specialization. 

• Anthony Malley, a graduate of South Texas 

College of Law, practices primarily in 

personal injury, civil trial, and consumer 

litigation, along with toxic torts, medical 

malpractice and contract actions. 

• Everett H. Sanderson, who is Board 

Certified in personal injury law by the 

Texas Board of Legal Specialization, serves 

of counsel to the firm. 

Moore Landrey, L.L.P., has a respected 

place in the history of Beaumont and 

Jefferson County, serving the legal needs of 

clients for more than fifty years. The firm 

looks forward to its future as a successful 

advocate for the residents, businesses, and 

communities of Southeast Texas in the 

prosperous decades ahead. 


125

AMERICAN VALVE & HYDRANT COMPANY 

American Valve & Hydrant has its 

origins in the Darling Valve Company of 

Williamsport, Pennsylvania, which was 

founded in 1888. In the late 1950s, Mabry 

Foundry, located on Hollywood Avenue 

in Beaumont, began producing cast iron 

valve and hydrant components for Darling 

Valve. In 1967, Darling Valve purchased 

the Beaumont foundry and machine shop 

facilities from the Mabry family. Then in 

1969, American Cast Iron Pipe Company 

(ACIPCO), located in Birmingham, Alabama 

purchased the entire waterworks division 

from the Darling Valve Company, including 

the Beaumont facilities. 

As a subsidiary of ACIPCO, American Valve 

& Hydrant (AVH) recently celebrated forty 

years as part of the Beaumont community. 

A culture of honesty and integrity that was 

established in 1905 by ACIPCO’s founder, 

John Eagan, has carried forth to the Beaumont 

operation. Eagan led his management team on 

the premise that a company could be managed 

by practicing the principles of the Golden 

Rule: “Do to others whatever you would have 

them do to you.” 

Van Richey, current president of ACIPCO 

and Tim Sudela, president of AVH, consider 

the 180 American Valve & Hydrant employees 

to be the company’s greatest asset. Employees 

receive technical and quality management 

training to enhance their productivity in 

operating state-of-the-art equipment. They 

recognize the role that they play in supporting 

the company quality policy, “American Valve 

& Hydrant will deliver its products on time, 

defect-free, and at a competitive price by 

continuously improving our processes, 

products, and service.” 

Having ceased the foundry operations, 

AVH now purchases the valve and hydrant 

components from several business partners. 

AVH employees perform machining, painting, 

assembly, testing, and packaging operations 

for the valves, hydrants, and accessory 

products for the waterworks industry. AVH 

offers customers two to sixty-six inch 

diameter resilient seated gate valves, tapping 

sleeves, resilient seated swing check valves, 

and a complete line of both industrial and 

municipal fire hydrants. 

Through continuous improvement efforts, 

and by operating under the principles of 

the Golden Rule, dedicated employees are 

committed to serving customers globally with 

a quality, cost-effective product. In addition 

to serving customers, AVH employees are 

also committed to serving each other and 

the community in time of need. They are 

dedicated to supplying quality products to 

the water works industry, while making 

Beaumont and the surrounding area a great 

place to live. 

American Value & Hydrant is located at 

3525 Hollywood in Beaumont and on the 

Internet at www.acipco.com. 


126

GERMER GERTZ 

L.L.P. 

Germer Gertz is proud to be one of the 

leading law firms in Texas and to have been 

recognized for the past five years as one of 

the state’s “Top 50” firms. 

Established in Beaumont in 1994 by Larry 

Germer and Paul Gertz, the firm has grown to 

accommodate client demand and expanded 

its reach statewide with the addition of offices 

in Houston and Austin. With nearly sixty 

attorneys, Germer Gertz is the largest firm in 

the Eastern District of Texas, as well as the 

state’s largest firm based outside of a major 

metropolitan area. 

Germer Gertz has diligently worked to 

assemble a diverse team of respected attorneys 

with strong academic credentials and practical 

experience. Consistent with those efforts, eleven 

of the firm’s attorneys are board certified in 

their respective areas of practice by the Texas 

State Board of Legal Specialization, some with 

multiple disciplines. The firm’s peers have 

recognized the excellence of its attorneys, voting 

Germer to the American College of Trial Lawyers 

and members of each office to the American 

Board of Trial Advocates. Several partners have 

the distinct honor of being among “The Best 

Lawyers in America.” Additionally, many of the 

firm’s attorneys have been named as Texas Super 

Lawyers or Rising Stars by Texas Monthly 

magazine. Significantly, in 2008, the firm named 

its first female managing partner, Karen Bennett. 

The attorneys of Germer Gertz are also 

dedicated to service within their local and state 

bar, as well as their communities. Many of the 

firm’s attorneys are present or former officers 

of their respective County Bar Associations, 

the State Bar of Texas, the Texas Association 

of Defense Counsel, the Defense Research 

Institute, and countless other organizations. 

The firm is also proud to have among its ranks 

two municipal court judges, a city prosecutor 

and a former mayor. 

Germer Gertz’s attorneys practice in many 

areas of litigation, including commercial, 

products liability, personal injury, employment, 

insurance, intellectual property, class action, 

professional liability, healthcare, construction, 

premises liability, railroad, real estate, 

pharmaceutical, toxic tort and family law 

litigation. Germer Gertz also has attorneys 

experienced in handling both state and 

federal appeals. 

The attorneys of Germer Gertz have 

successfully defended a number of significant 

cases involving high stakes, including patent 

infringement and class action lawsuits. 

In addition to litigation services, Germer 

Gertz has attorneys with extensive experience 

in business organizations and transactions, 

including HUD-insured multifamily construction 

financing and refinancing, hospital systems, 

estate planning and probate, real estate, tax planning, 

public law, mortgage and bank financing, 

and Securities and Exchange Commission work. 

Many partners in the firm’s business section serve 

as Outside General Counsel for governmental 

agencies and publicly traded companies. 

Germer Gertz is located at 550 Fannin, 

Suite 400 in Beaumont and on the Internet 

at www.germer.com. 

★ 

Partners of Germer Gertz. 


127

BENIGN ESSENTIAL BLEPHAROSPASM 

★ 

Mattie Lou Koster, founder of the 

Benign Essential Blepharospasm 

Research Foundation. 

RESEARCH FOUNDATION 

The Benign Essential Blepharospasm 

Research Foundation (BEBRF) was founded 

in 1981 by Mattie Lou Koster, a long-time 

Beaumont, Texas, resident. Stricken with 

this rare neurological sight-robbing malady 

in her sixties, Mattie Lou spent several 

frustrating years searching for a diagnosis. 

Finally learning the name of her disorder 

“blepharospasm,” meaning “spasms of the 

eyelids,” she established an organization to 

find other blepharospasm patients, educate 

and promote research about the disorder. 

Dr. Bill Scales, senior minister at Trinity 

Methodist Church, was appointed first vice 

president, Peachie Keith was the secretarytreasurer, 

and Mattie Lou was president of the 

three-member, newly formed Foundation. 

Terry Garth, attorney, and Rubin Blackman, 

CPA, assisted in writing the articles of 

incorporation and bylaws. On July 23, 1981, 

BEBRF received its charter. Several years later 

Meige syndrome, spasms of the lower face 

and hemifacial spasm, spasms on one side of 

the face, were included. 

Starting with no money, but an iron will 

and awesome persuasive powers, Mattie Lou 

convinced many Beaumont friends and 

newly discovered patients and doctors 

across the United States to help her fund 

the fledgling Foundation. Volunteer service 

by the Trinity Methodist Church Friendship 

Class was a mainstay during the Foundation’s 

formative days. 

Twenty-nine years later, the Foundation, 

still located in Beaumont, is thriving. It 

has funded over a million dollars worth of 

research grants in the quest to find the 

cause and cure for blepharospasm/Meige. 

BEBRF keeps up with the thousands of 

patients and doctors all over the world, 

supplying free educational literature and 

support. Notable among former board 

members, now retired, is former Beaumont 

Mayor Maury Meyers, who was influential in 

helping the Foundation. 

The mission of BEBRF, established by 

Mattie Lou in 1981, continues to be the 

mission statement in the twenty-first century: 

“…to fund and promote medical research in 

the quest to find the cause and a cure for 

blepharospasm/Meige; to provide support, 

education and referrals to persons with these 

disorders, also hemifacial spasm; and to 

disseminate information and serve as an 

authoritative resource to the medical 

community and the general public.” 

Though it has worldwide vision and 

influence, BEBRF is still very much a 

Beaumont organization. Six of fifteen current 

members of the board of directors, including 

the president, Mary Lou Koster Thompson, 

Mattie Lou’s daughter, are from Beaumont. 

For additional information on Benign 

Essential Blepharospasm Research Foundation, 

visit www.blepharospasm.org. 


128

Gulf Coast Electric Company is now 

approaching its sixtieth year of business with 

its fourth generation of family serving the 

Golden Triangle’s industrial, commercial, and 

residential and telecommunication needs. 

Lee Picard, Sr., and his wife Rose S. Picard 

started Gulf Coast Electric Company, Inc., on 

430 Adams Street in the South Park area of 

Beaumont. After two moves, they built at the 

company’s present location on the corner of 

Fourth Street and Pecos. 

The company founders, Lee Sr., and Rose, 

were later joined in the electric company by 

their only child, Lee Picard, Jr., and his wife 

Grace T. Picard. After the retirement of Lee 

and Rose, their grandson Sid Picard joined his 

parents in running the business. When Lee Jr., 

and Grace retired, Sid’s wife Monty Picard 

joined the ranks. 

Sid and Monty are the present owners. 

Monty serves as president of the company and 

Sid as vice president. The 

company’s service manager, 

their son Kevin, was recently 

brought in after completing 

his business degree at Lamar 

University and seven years 

of experience in the field. 

Other sons Jimmy and Jerry 

serve as board members. 

The company’s commitment has always 

been loyalty and respect for its customers 

and employees. Gulf Coast Electric is 

always striving: 

• To continue updated training as the industry 

continues to change, using the most 

modern technology. 

• To provide its customers with the most current 

energy efficient products and technology. 

• To train its employees so they can provide the 

professional services needed for the future. 

These plans correlate closely with the 

company’s Mission Statement: “To provide the 

most current electrical service to our customers 

at a competitive price with professionallytrained 

employees; to conduct business honestly 

and with integrity, being accountable to 

those we serve.” It ends with a quote from II 

Corinthians 8:21: “Providing honorable things, 

not only in the sight of the Lord, but in the sight 

of men.” 

GULF COAST 

ELECTRIC 

COMPANY 

★ 

Top, left: This photo, taken in the 1960s, 

shows the owners and staff of Gulf Coast 

Electric, including Lee Picard, Sr., (far left 

in white shirt), Lee Picard, Jr., (far right in 

hardhat), and Carl Leggett (second 

from right). 

Above: Lee Picard, Sr., c. 1970s. 

Left: The Picard family and Gulf Coast 

Electric Company, Inc., employees celebrate 

the company’s fiftieth anniversary in 

May 2001. 


129

MEHAFFYWEBER 

A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION 

MehaffyWeber is a broad-based regional law 

firm with a strong emphasis in litigation 

including commercial, personal injury, premises 

and products liability, intellectual property, 

environmental, labor and employment and 

pharmaceutical cases. In addition, the firm 

handles probate, family law, real estate and 

corporate transactions offering a range of 

services for our clients. MW attorneys practice 

in state and federal courts throughout Texas as 

well as other states. 

MehaffyWeber was founded in 1946 by two 

trial lawyers, Lamar Cecil and Quentin Keith. 

Lamar Cecil left the firm to become a United 

States District Judge for the Eastern District of 

Texas and a decade later Quentin Keith became 

an Associate Justice for the Ninth Court of 

Appeals. James W. Mehaffy and O. J. Weber 

joined the firm soon after its founding, and the 

firm proudly carries their names today. MW 

has a reputation for trying and winning cases 

in difficult jurisdictions. Its attorneys include 

two fellows of the American College of Trial 

Lawyers 1 , seven members of the American 

Board of Trial Advocates 2 , five attorneys 

recognized in Best Lawyers in America ®3 , fifteen 

attorneys named in Texas Super Lawyers ®4 by 

Law and Politics, four women named Top 50 

Female Texas Super Lawyers ®5 by Law and 

Politics, as well as nine attorneys with board 

certifications recognized by the 

Texas Board of Legal Specialization 6 . 

Bob Black, the firm’s managing 

shareholder was voted the presidentelect 

of the State Bar of Texas and will 

become president in 2012. 

MehaffyWeber continues to hold 

as core values the ethical, efficient and 

innovative practice of law. The firm 

supports diversity, collaboration and 

best practices to achieve successes for 

the firm and our clients. 

Today, MW combines the 

traditional values upon which the 

firm was established with a 

proactive approach to the practice of 

law. We understand that not all 

cases or clients’ situations are alike. 

We tailor our approaches to best suit 

the individual needs of our clients. 

We are proud of our successful 

record of winning cases in tough 

jurisdictions, but we also know that 

not all cases should be tried; 

therefore, when appropriate, we 

work closely with our clients to 

achieve advantageous settlements. 

1 

American College of Trial Lawyers: Dewey Gonsoulin and M. C. Carrington. 

2 

American Board of Trial Advocates: Ernest “Butch” Boyd, M. C. Carrington, Patricia Chamblin, Sandra Clark, Roger McCabe, Louis Scofield, and Michele Smith. 

3 

Best Lawyers in America ® , 2010: Robert Black, Joseph Broussard, M.C. Carrington, Patricia Chamblin, and Sandra Clark. 

4 

Texas Super Lawyers ® , 2010: Arthur Almquist, Barbara Barron, Robert Black, Ernest “Butch” Boyd, Joseph Broussard, M. C. Carrington, Patricia Chamblin, Sandra Clark, 

Darah Eckert, Susan Jacks, James Martingano, Elizabeth Pratt, Louis Scofield, and Michele Smith (not pictured: Keith Foley), Rising Stars, 2010: Eric Adams, Jonathan 

Allen, Wade Carpenter, Konor Cormier, Maryalyce Cox, Frank Domino, Matt Marchak, Molly Moore, Corey Seel, Jeremy Stone, and Dawn Tezino (not pictured: Brian 

Armstrong, Aimee Bolton, Trey Sandoval). 

5 

Top 50 Female Texas Super Lawyers ® : Barbara Barron, Patricia Chamblin, Sandra Clark, and Michele Smith. 

6 

Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization: Civil trial and personal injury trial law - Arthur Almquist, M. C. Carrington; personal injury trial law - Patricia 

Chamblin, Sandra Clark, Roger McCabe, Michele Smith; estate planning and probate law - Joseph Broussard; business bankruptcy law - Susan H. Jacks; labor and 

employment law - Elizabeth Pratt. 


130

With a $1,800 investment, a Ford Model-T 

truck, and a few pounds of coffee, Charles J. 

Fertitta created a business now operated by 

the third generation of his family. 

Seaport and TexJoy products are known 

around the world—a remarkable fact 

considering our family-owned coffee roasting 

and spice production plant has been in 

Beaumont, Texas, since 1921. Now in our 

third generation, every product we roast, 

blend, bottle and sell is steeped in the rich 

tradition of quality; from the choicest coffee 

beans and herbs, to the perfect roast, grind 

and seasoning blend. 

Our founding fathers pioneered vacuum 

packing and all Seaport and TexJoy products 

are as fresh as they are refreshing. Our loyal 

customers count on us to deliver a premium 

product at an affordable price. 

Texas Coffee Company coffee and 

seasoning blends are served in restaurants 

such as Jason’s Deli and Saltgrass Steakhouse 

and can be found in Texas retail grocery 

stores such as Market Basket and H.E.B. 

and national chains Wal-Mart and Kroger. 

They are purchased for hotels, hospitals, 

governmental entities and schools. Champion 

Chefs, like “Bad Byron” cook award winning 

barbeque recipes with his special seasoning 

we blend for him. 

The company’s future now 

rests on our family’s third 

generation, Carlo J. Busceme 

III, president, Joseph F. Fertitta 

Jr., vice president/secretary/ 

treasurer, and Donald P. Fertitta, 

vice president/general manager, 

mentored by the wisdom of 

their fathers Carlo Busceme, Jr., 

and Joseph “Pep” Fertitta and 

other predecessors. 

The aroma of fresh roasted 

Seaport Coffee has surrounded 

our plant for over eighty years. 

We import 100 percent Arabica 

coffee beans from the best 

growing regions. Our master 

roasters bring out the finest 

flavor—a true Southeast Texas 

roast. We were the first company 

ever to package our coffee in 

a vacuum seal brick, leading the industry and 

sealing in absolute freshness. And, now we have 

a new easy-open top for added convenience. 

TexJoy All-Purpose Steak Seasoning, the 

customers’ favorite of all our famous spices 

and seasonings, was developed forty years 

ago by our grandfather for family recipes. 

It proved so popular he began marketing it. 

He created it for steaks and hamburgers, 

but it improves beef, chicken, pork, seafood, 

salads, vegetables, pasta—even popcorn. 

Our president loves it on tart apples. 

TexJoy and Seaport are proud to be 

culinary staples in kitchens, restaurants, and 

cafés for all these years. We are constantly 

adding new flavors to our family of products 

as we continue our tradition of great tastes. 

We sincerely want you to enjoy our coffee and 

spice blends, and hope to be a fixture in your 

kitchen pantry. 

The Texas Coffee Company has someone 

special to thank for these many years of spicy, 

savory success—you, the customer. In the 

world of food and friends, we have the best 

customers and we are greatly appreciative. 

Our customers are very much a part of the 

history and pride that is TexJoy and Seaport, 

and we are honored to include them as part of 

our family. 

TEXAS COFFEE 

COMPANY 


131

JOY PRUITT 

PHOTOGRAPHY 

★ 

Above: Joy Pruitt and family. 

Artistic, eclectic and distinctly custom 

images balanced with exemplary service is the 

mission of Joy Pruitt Photography. 

“Exemplary customer service is essential to 

building a successful business. If one person is 

happy, they pass my card along to a friend and 

before long; I not only have repeat customers, 

but sometimes even new friends. The friends 

I’ve made through my business are a blessing.” 

Southeast Texas photographer Joy Pruitt says 

her passion for photography grew from a 

simple love for capturing memories, especially 

those of her children’s milestones. Now, in her 

growing business, she is genuinely dedicated to 

her clients’ changing and individual needs. 

Having lived in many places throughout Texas, 

Oklahoma and other parts of the United States, 

Joy recognizes that every family has its own 

traditions, culture, and other preferences, so 

she strives to better serve her clients by learning 

about them before a shoot. Joy also continues 

her professional growth by taking courses and 

attending major trade shows where she learns 

the newest technology and trends in digital 

photography. She then applies her new skills to 

her own out-of-the-box style. Because there is 

more to photography than just taking pictures, 

Joy also seeks out anything new she can learn 

about marketing, branding, and accountability. 

She has found her website, www.joypruitt.com, 

as well as Facebook, very effective in promoting 

her work. When she cannot make it to a trade 

show or class, she picks up photography books 

and reads, reads, reads, so that she is always 

learning better ways to please her clients. 

Joy specializes in family and high school 

senior photography but also freelances for 

local publications as well as covering major 

community events, parties, and social 

engagements. Although families are her specialty, 

she enjoys the freedom that comes with 

freelancing for parties and other events because it 

provides opportunities for “in the moment” shots 

that can be turned into fun and artistic pieces. 

“I like to create visual poetry, something 

that tells more than just what’s on the surface, 

something that encourages my audience to look 

deeper, feel the emotions and come to know the 

subject in the image.” 

Eventually Joy hopes to take her camera on 

the road, traveling to new exciting locations 

with China and Africa being at the top of the 

list and continuing to seek out new, exciting 

subjects for her photography passion. 

Joy Pruitt currently resides in Lumberton, 

Texas, with her husband, three awesome 

children, dog, and two cats. 


132

Sponsors 

American Real Estate...........................................................................................................124 

American Valve & Hydrant Company......................................................................................126 

Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas ........................................................................................80 

Beaumont Convention & Visitors Bureau ...................................................................................95 

Beaumont Independent School District ....................................................................................106 

Benign Essential Blepharospasm Research Foundation................................................................128 

CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth & St. Mary ........................................................................................98 

City of Beaumont ..................................................................................................................96 

CommunityBank of Texas........................................................................................................92 

Conn’s ...............................................................................................................................112 

ExxonMobil-Beaumont Complex...............................................................................................76 

First United Methodist Church ..............................................................................................122 

Germer Gertz L.L.P. ............................................................................................................127 

Good Value Home Improvement Center....................................................................................120 

Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce..................................................................................91 

Gulf Coast Electric Company ................................................................................................129 

Jefferson County Title Company.............................................................................................108 

Joy Pruitt Photography.........................................................................................................132 

Lamar Institute of Technology ...............................................................................................104 

Lamar University ................................................................................................................102 

Maverick Communications, Inc. .............................................................................................116 

MCM Eleganté Hotel and ICA .................................................................................................84 

MehaffyWeber A Professional Corporation ...............................................................................130 

M&I Electric American Electric Technologies, Inc.....................................................................118 

Moore Landrey, L.L.P. ..........................................................................................................125 

Port of Beaumont ................................................................................................................100 

Provost Umphrey Law Firm, LLP ...........................................................................................114 

Sabine Neches Navigation District .........................................................................................110 

Strong Pipkin Bissell & Ledyard, L.L.P. ....................................................................................88 

Texas Coffee Company .........................................................................................................131 

Sponsors 

133

About the Photographer 

J OY 

P RUITT 

Joy Pruitt is an event and custom photographer who services the Beaumont, Texas, area. Primarily self-taught in art, photography and 

graphics, Joy’s impromptu and edgy style reflect her desire to capture the essence and reality of her subjects. She shoots a wide variety 

of subjects including families, babies, high school seniors and spot news, but her favorite niche is in event photography, capturing people 

enjoying life and their surroundings. 

Joy has a strong business and marketing background and utilizes maverick and out of the box methods for marketing her business. 

She is a member of the Professional Photographers Association and the Beaumont Camera Club. She regularly attends workshops, classes 

and conventions as well as stays up to date on all current trends and technologies in photography. She uses these tools to constantly 

grow and evolve her business with the goal of delivering her clients images they love. 

Joy’s love of photography began while watching her father, an amateur photographer, create artistic and sometimes whimsical images 

of her childhood. A native Texan and a mother of three school-age children, Joy has inspiration surrounding her life. Married for eighteen 

years to her loving and supportive husband, Chris, she has been blessed with being able to devote herself to her photography. 

“It is exhilarating to be behind the camera, capturing moments in time that can be enjoyed again and again. I feel truly at home when 

I’m shooting; there’s nothing like it.” 


134

About the Writer 

R OGAYLE 

F RANKLIN 

Internationally published journalist Rogayle Franklin now lives in the Beaumont area of Southeast Texas. As an author and versatile 

freelance business and travel writer, her writing has introduced readers to major cities around the world—London, Amsterdam, Paris, 

Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Honolulu—including cities in America, Mexico and Central America. 

When she was business editor of the Beaumont Enterprise, the National Federation of Press Women chose a business news story 

Rogayle wrote as the best story of the year. The same year, the Texas Press Women awarded her a first place in writing advertising copy. 

And during her career with the Beaumont newspaper, she was one of six columnists in Texas who reviewed new automobiles. 

For more than four years, Rogayle was a contributing editor for Texas Business Magazine. Since that time, her feature articles have 

appeared in more than thirty-five national magazines including Travel Holiday, National Parks, Southern Living, Coastal Living, Continental’s 

Inflight magazine, Victorian Homes, Dolls and AAA magazines. 

McLennan House published Rogayle’s first novel, a suspense thriller, Leopard’s Prey, which later became part of the European Readers 

Mystery Club Collection. The author brought her writing home with Beaumont: the Right Side of Texas, and she continues to celebrate 

the Lone Star State as a contributor to guidebooks for Trailer Life Campgrounds, Michelin Guidebooks and the 2008 GPP TravelDay Trips 

From Houston. 

About the Writer 

135

For more information about the following publications or about publishing your own book, 

please call Historical Publishing Network at 800-749-9790 or visit www.lammertinc.com. 

Albemarle & Charlottesville: 

An Illustrated History of the First 150 Years 

Black Gold: The Story of Texas Oil & Gas 

Garland: A Contemporary History 

Historic Abilene: An Illustrated History 

Historic Alamance County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Albuquerque: An Illustrated History 

Historic Amarillo: An Illustrated History 

Historic Anchorage: An Illustrated History 

Historic Austin: An Illustrated History 

Historic Baldwin County: A Bicentennial History 

Historic Baton Rouge: An Illustrated History 

Historic Beaufort County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Beaumont: An Illustrated History 

Historic Bexar County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Birmingham: An Illustrated History 

Historic Brazoria County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Brownsville: An Illustrated History 

Historic Charlotte: 

An Illustrated History of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County 

Historic Chautauqua County: A Bicentennial History 

Historic Cheyenne: A History of the Magic City 

Historic Clayton County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Comal County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Corpus Christi: An Illustrated History 

Historic DeKalb County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Denton County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Edmond: An Illustrated History 

Historic El Paso: An Illustrated History 

Historic Erie County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Fayette County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Fairbanks: An Illustrated History 

Historic Gainesville & Hall County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Greene County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Gregg County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Hampton Roads: Where America Began 

Historic Hancock County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Henry County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Hood County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Houston: An Illustrated History 

Historic Hunt County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Illinois: An Illustrated History 

Historic Kern County: 

An Illustrated History of Bakersfield and Kern County 

Historic Lafayette: 

An Illustrated History of Lafayette & Lafayette Parish 

Historic Laredo: 

An Illustrated History of Laredo & Webb County 

Historic Lee County: The Story of Fort Myers & Lee County 

Historic Louisiana: An Illustrated History 

Historic Mansfield: A Bicentennial History 

Historic McLennan County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Midland: An Illustrated History 

Historic Montgomery County: 

An Illustrated History of Montgomery County, Texas 

Historic Ocala: The Story of Ocala & Marion County 

Historic Oklahoma: An Illustrated History 

Historic Oklahoma County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Omaha: 

An Illustrated History of Omaha and Douglas County 

Historic Orange County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Osceola County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Ouachita Parish: An Illustrated History 

Historic Paris and Lamar County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Pasadena: An Illustrated History 

Historic Passaic County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Pennsylvania An Illustrated History 

Historic Philadelphia: An Illustrated History 

Historic Prescott: 

An Illustrated History of Prescott & Yavapai County 

Historic Richardson: An Illustrated History 

Historic Rio Grande Valley: An Illustrated History 

Historic Rogers County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Santa Barbara: An Illustrated History 

Historic Scottsdale: A Life from the Land 

Historic Shelby County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Shreveport-Bossier: 

An Illustrated History of Shreveport & Bossier City 

Historic South Carolina: An Illustrated History 

Historic Smith County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Temple: An Illustrated History 

Historic Texarkana: An Illustrated History 

Historic Texas: An Illustrated History 

Historic Victoria: An Illustrated History 

Historic Tulsa: An Illustrated History 

Historic Wake County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Warren County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Williamson County: An Illustrated History 

Historic Wilmington & The Lower Cape Fear: 

An Illustrated History 

Historic York County: An Illustrated History 

Iron, Wood & Water: An Illustrated History of Lake Oswego 

Jefferson Parish: Rich Heritage, Promising Future 

Miami’s Historic Neighborhoods: A History of Community 

Old Orange County Courthouse: A Centennial History 

Plano: An Illustrated Chronicle 

The New Frontier: 

A Contemporary History of Fort Worth & Tarrant County 

San Antonio, City Exceptional 

The San Gabriel Valley: A 21st Century Portrait 

The Spirit of Collin County 

Valley Places, Valley Faces 

Water, Rails & Oil: Historic Mid & South Jefferson County 


136

LEADERSHIP 

SPONSORS 

ISBN: 9781935377382

Rich With Opportunity - Images of Beaumont and Jefferson County

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