week. Monday morning, I noticed they decided to snack on some sunflowers I planted at the edge of the garden about a month ago that were just starting to explode with growth.

The Schulenburg High School class of 1958 celebrated its 65th year reunion on Saturday, June 24. Classmates and guests gathered at Robert’s Steakhouse in Flatonia with registration beginning at 2 p.m.

The Bluebonnet Master Gardener Association held its 2023 Kids Kamp in Fayette County during the week of June 20-22. Campers enjoyed topics of Plant Evolution & Adaptation, Terraniums, and Butterflies.

Alyssa Jade Otto of Schulenburg graduated Magna Cum Laude with Department Honors from Texas A&M University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in College Station on May 11. Her bachelor of science degree is in animal science. While at Texas A&M she was a member of Texas Aggie Cattlewomen and Saddle & Sirloin Club. Alyssa completed internships at P Bar Whitetails in Bullard in the summer of 2021 and at Deseret Cattle & Timber in Wewahitchka, Fla. in the fall of 2022. She will matriculate into the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine this fall to pursue her DVM. Otto is a 2019 valedictorian graduate from Schulenburg High School. She is the daughter of Keith and Stacy Otto of Schulenburg, granddaughter of Harvey and Gloria Oeding of La Grange, the late Nolan L. Bruns Jr. of Schulenburg, Barbara Otto of Shiner, and the late Kenneth R. Otto of Shiner.

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The Fayette County Retired Teachers’ Association met on Monday, June 12, at the La Grange First United Methodist Church Fellowship Hall. Fellowship Time was hosted by the FCRTA Chapter members, and the raffle item (to benefit the Childrens’ Book Project) was given by Lisa Slinkard.

W The Winchester Round Table book club will meet Tuesday, July 18, at 7 p.m. at Zilss Hall.

The RT-C administrative offices will be closed July 3-7. After that, they will be open through Aug.

James S. (Smith or Seaton) Lester was born in Virginia in 1799. He was well educated, studied law, and became a Virginia lawyer in 1831. He came to Texas in 1834 and received a land grant of one-half league (about 2,214 acres) in what would become Fayette County. Soon after his arrival, he served with the area’s famed Indian fighter, Colonel John Henry Moore, in expeditions against raiding Indian tribes. Lester served as a delegate to the General Consultation of 1835 and was on the committee that created a provisional government for Texas independent from Mexico. In early 1836, he served in Mina (Bastrop) as a recruiter for the Texas army, seeking volunteers to send to San Antonio de Bexar to join the men who would attempt to defend the Alamo against the advancing army of Mexican dictator General Lopez de Santa Anna. A colorful band of 13 heavily armed marksmen from Tennessee rode into Mina, led by a buckskin-clad former United States Congressman named David Crockett. Knowing that the Army desperately needed all the sharpshooters it could find, Lester sent them on their way to the Alamo.