The Naples Monitor (Naples, Tex.), Vol. 126, No. 16, Ed. 1 Thursday, May 31, 2012
Business Economics and Finance - Communications - Newspapers Business Economics and Finance - Journalism Business Economics and Finance - Advertising Places - United States - Texas - Morris County Morris County (Tex.) -- Newspapers. Naples (Tex.) -- Newspapers. Naples (Tex.) -- Periodicals.
Weekly newspaper from Naples, Texas that includes local, state and national news along with advertising.
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The Portal to Texas History
The Monitor Naples, Texas 75568-0039 Thursday, May 31, 2012 Page 4

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THROUGH THE PAGES OF THE MONITOR

-1 9B2

Virginia Shirey, Sandra Nance, Pamela Wommack, Patricia

Hampton, Joan Vaughn, Jean Vaught, Carolyn Merriman, Debbie

Shaddix, Sue Tidwell and Darline May celebrated their high school

graduation with a trip to Galveston ... Gary Thomas of Naples wanted

to sell tame rabbits for pets ... A new physics and chemistry laboratory

for Pewitt High School had been approved by the trustees ... Joe

Starett was elected sheriff of Morris County ... A driver-less school bus

eased away from its parking place and plowed into the new Pewitt

band hall... Mrs. Don Nance of Marietta honored her son, Mark, on his

first birthday with a party at their home ... A three-pound can of

shortening was 690 at Boozer's Food Store in Omaha.

-1 967

Jeanette Purifoy Hanes was installed as Worthy Matron of

Naples Chapter 907, Order of the Eastern Star... A bath-sized bar

of soap was only nine-cents at Foster' Grocery ... A daylight burglary

at McKellar's Department Store in Omaha netted the thieves $306.17

in cash ... Reconstruction of Highway 77 from Naples to Dalton had

been postponed until July ... The city streets and vacant lots in Naples

were to be kept mowed on a regular basis after the city council

contracted with Joe L. May for the job ... A large loaf of bread was 250

at Boozer's Food Store in Omaha ... John Kirk of Omaha had the best

grades of any freshmen student in the college division at Schreiner

Institute.

-1 9 72

Linda Williams and Gary Gibbs were the recipients of the

Paul H. Pewitt awards at annual graduation ceremonies ... The

Reverend James Cheatham, former pastor at Bryans Mill, was to

return there to conduct a week-long revival... J. L. Vickers of Omaha

had failed-but just barely-in his bid to unseat Joe Starrett of Daingerfield

as sheriff of Morris County ... Mrs. Willie Stiggers of Omaha was

featured in the Cook Book Nook column of The Monitor ... Yellow

onions were seven-cents a pound at Foster's Grocery in Naples ...

"Such Good Friends" was showing at the Morris Theater in Daingerfield.

-1 982

Kami Tomberlain of Omaha and Richard Bird of Naples were

the recipients of the coveted Paul H. Pewitt awards ... An informal

coffee at the State Bank of Omaha was to give area residents the

opportunity to meet and talk with Sam W. Russell, candidate for state

representative of District 8 ... Margie Hargrove was a candidate for the

office of Morris County clerk ... Mrs. Emmett Riner III was named

president of the Jonquil Garden Club, with Mrs. Bill McLeckie as vice

president, Mrs. Herman Young as recording secretary and Mrs. Gene

Falls as treasurer... Emma Lea Jacobs celebrated her fourth birthday

with a party.

-1 987

Holly Ann Kumrow had been awarded an associate degree

in dental hygiene from Tyler Junior College ... Lorita Shepherd of

Omaha was the valedictorian of the Pewitt graduating class and Sally

Collins was the salutatorian ... Paula Johnson and Daryl Turner were

honored at the all-sports banquet at Pewitt as the most valuable senior

athletes ... Candace Keener of Naples was awarded an associate

degree in applied science of nursing at Texarkana College and was to

be employed at Titus County Memorial Hospital... Charles Johnson

of Naples had been selected at the "outstanding farmer" of the

Sulphur-Cypress Soil and Water Conservation District... Dry cured

hams were 980 a pound at Kwik-Stop in Naples ... "Raising Arizona"

was showing at Cinema IV in Mt. Pleasant.

-1 992

Emily James had been named as valedictorian and

Wendy Mitchell as salutatorian for the Pewitt eighth grade gradu-

ating class ... Daingerfield law enforcement had made an arrest in a

double murder case in which an elderly couple had been robbed and

murdered in their home ... Pewitt High School graduate Misty Thomas

was to tour the Russian commonwealth states, the trip was part of the

American-Soviet Youth Exchange Program ... Robin Knowles, a 1993

graduate of Pewitt, received an American Associate of Endodontists

award ... A five-pound bag of russett potatoes was only 590 at Kwik-

Stop in Naples ... Danna Ellington was honored as "student of the year"

at Marietta School... "Straight Talk" was the premiere presentation at

the Morris Theater in Daingerfield.

-1 997

Sandra Brown was celebrating her 55th birthday and the only

presents she wanted were hugs, hugs and more hugs ... Brooke

Elizabeth Clair, daughter of Michael and Leigh Clair of Omaha, had

arrived and weighed 9 pounds and 3 ounces ... "Top Ten" for the

graduating class at Pewitt High School included Lara Abston, Carrie

Duncan, Joshua Smith, Sonya Shirey, Stephanie Shirey, Joshua

Green, Tanyaka Holley and Dusty Matthews ... Adam Cobb had been

awarded a bachelor of arts degree in theater with a minor in commu-

nications at Sul Ross State University ... Karla Joyner, a Pewitt School

eighth grade student, was the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation

state champion ... Katy Loffer and Holly Crockett were named honor

graduates for the Pewitt eighth grade graduating class ... "Anaconda"

and "Breakdown" were the feature presentations at the Morris Twin-

Cinema in Daingerfield.

2002

Tiffany Anthony, a 1991 graduate of Pewitt High School, was to be

the guest speaker for the commencement exercises at her alma

mater and her mother was tickled pink ... Alicia Gonzalez and Ashley

Bertholomey were the valedictorian and salutatorian for the Pewitt

High graduating class ... Ellis Shirey was to be honored on his 90th

birthday ... Zachary Welch was the salutatorian for the Pewitt eighth

grade graduating class ... John Meade had been welcomed as a

salesman at Elliott Motors in Mt. Pleasant... "The Scorpian King" and

"High Crimes" were showing at the Morris Twin-Cinema and

"Spiderman", "Enough" and "Sum of all Fears" were features at

Cinema V ... Senior Russell Kelley was the only Pewitt baseball player

named to the all-district first team. Seven others were picked for other

all-district spots. Kelley was also named for the Fielding Huddleston

Memorial Scholarship award at the annual sports banquet... Dwight

Gray hung up his badge and retired from the highway patrol division

of the Texas Department of Public Safety ... Vroom, vroom — the

parking area in front of the Community Christian Church of Naples was

filled with motorcycles and riders during a week end Northeast Texas

Bikers gathering hosted by the church.

2007

Erica RaeAnn Mares and John Michael Davis were honored with

the annual Paul H. Pewitt Awards at graduation time ... After

serving a dozen years as president of Northeast Texas Community

College, Dr. Charles Florio was retiring ... "Disturbia" and "The

Invisible" were showing at the Morris Twin-Cinema and features at

Cinema V included "Shrek the Third", "Spiderman 3" and "Knocked

Up" ... Receiving their diplomas at NTCC were Stacey Forsyth,

Quenique Gilmore, Norma Sperry, Michael Clark, Michelle Nicholson

and Barbara Smith ... Members ofthe MCA were planning the annual

Marietta Fall Festival... The Pewitt Alumni Association was to host the

yearly Alumni Gala ... A tri-color afghan was the prize for a drawing

hosted by the Naples Public Library ... Cole Smith was picked by the

American Legion to attend the Boys State convention in Austin ...

Plans were in the making for a website featuring Naples ... The annual

Riddlespurger family reunion was planned in June.

MEN'S COMMUNITY BREAKFAST

AT NAPLES METHODIST CHURCH

Meetings are at 6:45 a.m., on Wednesdays at the fellowship

hall ofthe First United Methodist Church in Naples.

AH area men are invited to attend.

Guest speakers are featured each week.

m

t

m

The Wilder family home

A young Myrtle Wilder sat in the family buggy while J. B. Wilder held the bridle to one of the horses. Behind

the fence, the family cook holds Lucile Wilder and Sallie Conly Wilder stands beside the cook. Outside the

fence, near the fireplace chimney, is the family butler. Jim B. Wilder and Sallie were the grandparents of the

late James Richard Moore, whose mother, Lucile Wilder Moore, died in the flu epidemic of 1918. He was

reared by his beloved Myrtle "Maw" and husband, C. C. "Con" Davis, in the Wilder home. The house was

located in Naples at the site ofthe present Morris County National Bank property. The photo was furnished

by Martha Moore, a former resident of Naples. O&Y photo

by Bartee Haile

Texas tanker vanishes in Bermuda Triangle

On May 27, 1963, a Coast Guard board of inquiry wrapped up a six-

week investigation into the mysterious disappearance of a Texas

tanker in the Bermuda Triangle.

The "SS Marine Sulphur Queen" began life in 1944 as the "New

Haven," an oil transport owned and operated by Esso, the foreign face

of what Americans know today as Exxon-Mobil. For the next decade

and a half, the 504-foot, 7,240-ton colossus crisscrossed the oceans

of the world.

Then in 1960 the Marine Transport Company of New York bought

the "New Haven" and had her refitted for a revolutionary new cargo -

liquid sulphur at a piping hot 255 degrees. The first tanker of its kind

was renamed "SS Marine Sulphur Queen" and leased out to Texas

Gulf Sulphur, which ran a plant near Beaumont that extracted sulphur

from the salt dome at Spindletop.

Certified for service in January 1961, the "Sulphur Queen" stayed

busy making no fewer than 63 round-trips to ports up and down the

Atlantic coast from its home base in Beaumont. It was not, however,

smooth sailing for the tanker which was plagued by problems that

included accidental spills ofthe hazardous cargo and frequent fires in

sulphur-soaked insulation.

The "Sulphur Queen" set out for Norfolk, Virginia on the evening of

Feb. 2, 1963 with a full load ofthe molten yellow liquid and a full crew

of 39. The routine voyage was supposed to take five days, unloading

another two and the return trip five more putting the tanker back in

Beaumont on Valentine's Day.

At 1:25 a.m. on Feb. 4 and approximately 200 miles off Key West,

a seaman used the ship-to-shore radio to place an order with his

stockbroker in Florida. That was the last time anyone heard from the

"Sulphur Queen."

When the Texas tanker was a no-show at Norfolk on the night of

Feb. 7, the Coast Guard initiated its search with an "All Ships Urgent

Broadcast." This request for any information from other vessels that

may have seen the "Sulphur Queen" or had been in radio contact with

her turned up nothing.

Under the direction of the Coast Guard, planes from the Navy,

Marines and Air Force took to the sky on Feb. 8 to scour the sea from

Beaumont to Norfolk for signs of the missing ship. But a meticulous

survey of 350,000 square miles of water over a five-day period proved

frustratingly fruitless.

On Feb. 14, the families ofthe three dozen crewmen received the

telegram they all had been dreading. The chairman of Maritime

Transport Company informed them the Coast Guard had suspended

the search and that "present indications indicate probable loss" of all

hands.

A naval torpedo retriever came upon a floating flea market of debris

12 miles southwest of Key West on Feb. 19. A number of life jackets

and rings pulled from the drink bore the label "Sulphur Queen."

A second and more focused air-sea search was immediately

launched, but the seven ships and 48 aircraft had no better luck than

their predecessors. The hunt for the "Sulphur Queen" was officially

called off on Mar. 14.

By that time, the Coast Guard investigation was already in its third

week with three more weeks to go. The exhaustive hearings featured

a long list of expert witnesses, who testified about everything from the

volatile nature of sulphur in liquid form to teeth marks on a life

preserver that suggested an attack by "predatory fish," a scientific

euphemism for sharks.

Speculation centered on the possibility the "Sulphur Queen" broke

in half in rough seas as had three tankers ofthe same vintage over the

past 11 years. But even that catastrophic theory could not explain why

there had been no SOS since the other vessels had stayed afloat long

enough for most ofthe crews to safely abandon ship.

Other causes considered were a freak wave that capsized the

tanker, an explosion resulting from a leak in one ofthe sulphur

compartments and a "stray mine."

When it was all said and done, the board of inquiry basically punted,

to use a football analogy. Speaking for his fellow officers, an admiral

admitted they could not say with any certainty what really happened

to the "Sulphur Queen" much less when or where.

Relatives ofthe missing and presumed dead crewmen filed a

wrongful-death lawsuit claiming reckless overloading was the cause

ofthe unspecified disaster at sea. After almost a decade, a federal

appeals court ruled in their favor and awarded the grieving plaintiffs

millions of dollars in damages.

In 1974 author Charles Berlitz immortalized the "Sulphur Queen" in

his international best-seller "The Bermuda Triangle." The book, which

sold 20 million copies in 30 different languages, fired the public

imagination but came no closer to solving the mystery ofthe missing

Texas tanker than the Coast Guard.

===== bhntm =====

Do you have your copy of "Tornadoes, Hurricanes & Other

Disasters," the latest "Best of This Week in Texas History" column

collection? Order today at twith.com or mail a check for $14.20 to

Bartee Haile, P.O. Box 152, Friendswood, TX 77549.

GRADUATION TIME!

SIGH!—HO

MORE CHEERING FOR

HIM IN SPORTS/ NO MORE

HELPING HIM WITH HIS

HOMEWORK NO

MORE...

.NO

MORETAX

DBPUCTION!

- *

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Naples, TX 75568

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