Around Town

April 10, 2026 - BOM Bank in Timpson celebrated its new renovation with a ribbon cutting event on Friday, April 10, 2026.
Ken Hale, BOM Bank President, shared brief history of the bank and his familial connection including that he is a fifth-generation descendant of his grandfather Wardlow who was a part of the bank’s inception.

“I'm actually the fifth generation of my family to work at BOM, my family helped found the bank in 1903 in a little town called Montgomery, Louisiana,” said Hale.
Hale went on to introduce his wife Shannon, daughter Reagan who works for the bank, and a son that works for the bank as the sixth generation representatives of his family.
“We're proud, and excited when we were able to partner with Mark [Lowery, BOM Bank Texas Regional President] and buy some of the American State Bank branches, and I'm a big believer in giving back to the community. It's just the way I was raised. The town I was raised in was 600 people,” said Hale.

Hale shared he was raised by his grandparents who instilled values in him which included helping people. His grandfather was president of the bank when it began and he was also mayor of Montgomery, Louisiana.
Hale described the bank building as a well-built structure; however, he described that it was in dire need of refurbishment due to being dingy and having an odor. Hale enlisted the services of his wife to remodel the branch, as he explained she is well practiced in doing for all of their bank branches.

“I said, 'Shannon, we've got to do something over there. It just needs to be updated, you know smell a little nicer and just look a little better,' and so as I would come by and visit it would look better, and better, and better each time and man it turned out really, really nice. So, you know thanks to the staff here we got a lot of our staff here from all over Texas and Louisiana, so thank y'all everybody, I’m very humble,” said Hale.
Hale thanked everyone for attending and he encouraged anyone to send business their direction.

Paul Smith, Timpson Area Chamber of Commerce President, announced, “On behalf of the city of Timpson and Chamber of Commerce and our community, and we've got a lot of community leaders here today. Thank y'all so much for coming and investing in our community. We're happy that you're community-minded, and we think we'll be community back to you and do all we can to support you.”
Following the festivities, a drawing was held for door prizes.
BOM Bank in Timpson is located at 830 N 1st St, Timpson Texas and the number is (936) 254-2484.



April 10, 2026 - T.J. Belin, a 2025 Graduate of Center High School, was honored on Wednesday, April 7, 2026 during Wiley University's Honors Convocation which is a celebration of the academic achievements of its students.
Belin received a Certificate of Honor in recognition of receiving the President's Scholar Fall 2025 Semester for having a 4.0 GPA his freshman year at Wiley University.
T.J. is the son of Travis and Tracey Belin.
Click here to view the Honors Convocation's digital Program.

April 10, 2026 - The Fannie Brown Booth Library and the Friends of the Library are ready for you to come to the 2026 Spring book sale! The book sale will take place from Tuesday, April 28, to Saturday, May 2, during the library's regular hours. In the attached picture, you can see there will be hundreds of books of all kinds. We will also have lots of children's books. Hardback books are $1.00, paperback books are 50 cents, and children's books are 3 for $1.00. Support your library by purchasing some good books at bargain prices!

April 8, 2026 - Climate Closet celebrated its grand opening on Wednesday, April 8, 2026 with the Chamber of Commerce and its ambassadors. Everyone gathered together to cut the official chamber ribbon and mark the special occasion.
Ambassador President Andi Foster welcomed everyone, "On behalf of the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce and the ambassadors, I want to thank everyone for coming out today and supporting as we celebrate the grand opening and ribbon cutting for Climate Closet. And congratulations to them on their new venture and for choosing to once again invest in our community. We're excited to have you, the Climate Closet, as part of our chamber family. We look forward to watching this grow and thrive in our community as well in Shelby County."

Foster then invited owners, Collin Mathews and Taighen Mathews May, to speak. Collin Mathews shared, "We truly appreciate the chamber and also the community for its continued support. With the Climate Closet, we're here to provide, or our goal is to provide secure, reliable, and convenient storage with 24/7 access and climate controlled units. We're proud to invest in Shelby County and we're thankful to continue to be here and again, we thank you so much for showing up and showing your support for us."

Taighen May added, "I see a lot of familiar faces. We are so excited to be joining the chamber today as well as the addition of climate controlled storage here in our area. It is a need that we felt needed to be filled and we are so excited to see it come to life today. This is a community that I grew up in, I came back to, and to even have a small part of the growth and progress here makes it all the more special."
May gave thanks again to everyone and special recognition for the project, "Projects like this don't happen overnight and they definitely don't happen without a lot of behind the scene work. This was a project that has been in the works for several years and was definitely a labor of love. We had a lot of hands that helped make it what it is today. I'll give a special shout out to Pam [Hall] because she did a lot and made a lot happen."

A unique feature of some of the storage units was described as a 'walk through' unit. Walk through units have an access door on both the front and back side which makes accessing what is inside even easier.
Climate Closet is conveniently located at 171 Loop 500, Center, Texas and features climate controlled units, security camera monitoring, keypad entry and a spacious parking lot. There are 56 storage units ranging in size from 8x8 to 15x12, including 10x15 and 10x20 walk through units. Climate Closet offers an easy online registration system with options of convenient automatic payments and text message account updates. To reserve a storage unit go to www.theclimatecloset.com, or contact Pam Hall at 936-598-7800.

April 7, 2026 - The Deep East Texas Branch of National Association of Social Workers (NASW) - Texas honored Sheila Woodard, a Shelbyville native, during their Annual Social Work Month Banquet and Awards Luncheon on March 31, 2026 in Nacogdoches.

Sheila Woodard
Woodard was recognized as an outstanding individual and received the Public Citizen of the Year award. This award is given to a non-social worker for their outstanding community service and unwavering dedication. The award stated, “Sheila [Woodard] is honored as Public Citizen of the Year for her tireless work uplifting youth and families, fostering connections, and creating meaningful change both locally and beyond.”

Sheila Woodard graduated from Stephen F. Austin with a degree in Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies. Sheila taught Kindergarten for 16 years, and a Reading Interventionist for 1 year. She has volunteered with Nac-in-Action, Nac Can Coalition, BeYOUtiful Gurlz, and currently United Way. Sheila is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. Sheila has traveled to Ghana, West Africa and distributed backpacks with school supplies, books, and computers to a local elementary school in a village in Salt Pond. She started a Parent Advisory Committee in Shelby and Nacogdoches Counties to provide free events for youth and families to spend quality time with each other and have fun! Sheila is on the board of 21/7 where they collaborated with CIP (Community Improvement Plan) and NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) to administer a $20,000 grant to help serve families in Nacogdoches. With this grant, she has helped provide 250 brown bag lunches for students that were out of school for a break, and gave backpacks with school supplies to students both in school and college. Sheila is part of Hunger Free Nac Coalition, a committee to address food insecurities in Nacogdoches County. She currently works at Deep East Texas Council of Governments for FAYS (Families and Youth Success Program) as a Family Support Specialist. Sheila is driven by the passion of working with at risk youth and their families to create a positive change in our community. Her dedication to volunteering and helping others is truly commendable.

Woodard’s award was one of nine awards given during the awards banquet. Also, recognized were Elected Official of the Year Award – Angela Spencer; Media Award - Dr. Evelyn Sauceda, LSSP, NSCP, RTSBA; Organization / Agency of the Year Award - Christian Women’s Job Corps (Jasmine Hassan); Student of the Year Award BSW - Keaton Hill; Student of the Year Award MSW - Megan Whiteside, MA; Student of the Year Award Doctoral - Jane Michelle Thompson-Janis, MSW; Social Worker of the Year Award - Karmen Kopriva, LMSW; and Lifetime Achievement Award - Robert Hamilton Jr., LBSW.
NASW-TX Deep East Texas Branch covers the following counties: Angelina, Houston, Jasper, Nacogdoches, Newton, Polk, Sabine, San Augustine, San Jacinto, Shelby, Trinity, Tyler.

April 6, 2026 - Focused Care of Center hosted an Easter Egg hunt on Friday, April 3, 2026, at their location on Timpson Street.
Participants in the Easter Egg hunt gathered at the front of the facility and could be seen thoroughly enjoying the event.
After the hunt, the children and residents each enjoyed a variety of goodies.







April 2, 2026 (Photo Album) - The Shelby County Children’s Advocacy Center gathered along with the community for the 15th Butterfly Release on Wednesday, April 1, 2026 on the Historic Downtown Square despite the forecast of rain. Gusting winds didn't stop the fun activity of releasing the waking butterflies from their blue envelopes to carry a message of hope for a future without child abuse.
In front of the Shelby County Chamber of Commerce office, Collin Mathews, President of the Board of Directors of the SCCAC, thanked everyone for attending and shared the importance of shining a light on something which is often kept in the dark. He added, "It is about hope, healing, and resiliance for the children that we serve."
Bro. Rob Merriman from Shelbyville First Baptist Church then shared a prayer of protection over the children and the Children's Advocacy Center. He asked for comfort for those in pain and comfort for the families, as well as hope for the future. He also gave thanks for the Advocacy Center and the job they do.

The Shelby County Children's Advocacy Center Team
The microphone was then passed to City of Center Mayor David Chadwick who is also the Farmers State Bank President. Farmers State Bank is the sponsor for the butterfly release.
Mayor Chadwick addressed the crowd describing this year being unique because of the event happening during a Holy Week with Easter being on Sunday and the relevance of it in relation to the children. Mayor Chadwick then instructed everyone to let their butterflies out of the little blue triangle envelopes so they could wake up and fly!
Resources:
- Shelbycountycac.com - Shelby County Children's Advocacy Center
- CACTX.org - Children's Advocacy Centers of Texas
- Childwelfare.gov - National Child Abuse Prevention Month
- Preventchildabuse.org - Child Abuse Prevention Month
April 1, 2026 - The Senior Nutrition Site will be closed on Thursday, April 2 and Friday, April 3, 2026. The site will reopen on Monday, April 6.
Activities for Next Week
- Wednesday, April 8: Bingo at 10:00 AM
- Thursday, April 9: Bingo at 1:00 PM
- Friday, April 10: Praise and Worship with the Dudleys
Lunch Menu
- Monday, April 6: Chicken and Dumplings, Rolls, Veggies, Salad, and Dessert
- Tuesday, April 7: Lasagna, Garlic Bread, Spinach, Salad, and Dessert
- Wednesday, April 8: Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Carrots, Rolls, Salad, and Dessert
- Thursday, April 9: Cheesy Potato Soup, Cornbread, Veggies, Salad, and Dessert
- Friday, April 10: BBQ Chicken, Baked Beans, Potato Salad, and Dessert

March 31, 2026 - Due to the weather, the Shelby County CAC Butterfly Release has been moved up one day to April 1st.
March 16, 2026 - Join the community for Shelby County Children's Advocacy Center's 2026 Butterfly Release sponsored by Farmers State Bank on Wednesday, April 1, 2026 on the downtown Center Square at 4:30pm. The release is in recognition of April's National Child Abuse Prevention Month.

March 27, 2026 - Pine Grove held a five star car show event in conjunction with a celebration of 30 years of nursing care.
The event was attended by a variety of vehicles and musical entertainment provided by Jacob Wheeler, Tera Jo Osborne Wilburn, and Wyatt Akridge and the Good Time Band.
Deborah Chadwick, Shelby County Chamber of Commerce President, presented the facility with a plaque in honor of their achievement and she offered an opening speech for the event.

“They honestly say the character of a community is measured by how it treats its fellow citizens, especially our senior citizens, and if that’s the yard stick then Center Texas truly stands tall. Stands tall thanks to the amazing legacy here at 246 Haley Drive. When we look back at the history of Pine Grove Nursing Center, we are not just looking at a facility, we are looking at a 30-year promise. Since that first official step into the Medicare program back in November 1993, this ground has been more than just a plot of land.
"It has been a sanctuary for our parents, our grandparents and our friends and neighbors. Why was this place built? In the early 1990s the visionaries of this community realized that our seniors should not have to leave the shade of the East Texas pines just because they needed a little extra care. They built a bridge between medical necessity and hometown values. As the years passed Pine Grove evolved from a formal business incorporation in 2007 to its partnership with the Liberty County Hospital District Number 1 and Stonegate.

"The leadership has changed, but the heartbeat and core values have not wavered. We have seen it grow from a simple nursing home into a top-rated rehabilitation powerhouse, one that is consistently ranked as the jewel of Shelby County, but as we all know the true VIP’s of Pine Grove are not the board members, nor the officials, the VIP’s are the long term staff members who have walked these halls for decades. The ones who know exactly how a resident likes their coffee without having to ask, the ones who know the residents and their families, the RN’s, the LVN’s, the CNA’s, social services, dietary, housekeeping, PT, OT, and if I missed anybody I’m sorry.
"The VIP’s are the stylists in the on-site beauty salon who ensure that every lady and gentleman feels like a million bucks before a special Sunday visit. The VIP’s are the residents who turn these studio rooms into personal galleries of a life well lived. The VIP’s are the family members who have put their faith and trust into the staff of Pine Grove who care for their family members. In closing, to the team at Pine Grove, you are the stewards of the Pine Grove history and legacy you take the stories of Center and you give them a safe, dignified place to live and thrive at 246 Haley Drive, it’s not just an address on a map it is a cornerstone of our community. Thank you for your 30 years of excellence and here’s to the next 30."

Peggy Hughes said a prayer at the event.












