KILGOROUND
LINDA BALLARD

"I am so blessed to be back in the community that gave so much to my family when I was growing up," said Rhonda Nobles Loomer. A little over two years ago, with a boost from Hurricane Catrina and a push from the illness of a grandmother, she started her trek back from the lumber mills of Oregon to the piney woods of East Texas where she is raised.

Rhonda's father, Bill Nobles, was a band director and taught throughout East Texas, beginning in Daingerfield and then on to Tyler. Kilgore College Ranger Band director, Wally Reid, convinced him to come to Kilgore High School. Rhonda's mother taught the twirling teams and Rhonda at the age of 3 won her first competition as Little Miss Majorette. At age 5, she won Advanced State Champion and at age of 7 was twirling in her father's band and was often on the KC field with the

Ranger Band.

During the fall of 1967, Nobles was enticed to join Selmer Company, a division of Magnavox, (later Phillips Petroleum), where he got his feet wet with oil. He taught what he had learned to his son whom has become one of the largest purchasers of royalties in the United States.

Rhonda followed in the early footsteps of her parents and became a teacher of baton twirling. She taught in the Dallas area until the disappearance of a child broke her heart and she stepped away for a few years. Her family moved to Oregon, where she has two children still attending the University of Oregon. When her grandmother, who lived in Etoile, Texas, became ill, she moved back to be near her and her mother. When the disaster caused by Hurricane Catrina took place, she used her knowledge as a grant writer and worked profusely to be of help to the victims of the hurricane.

"After a while," said Rhonda, "When you live in disaster, you become disaster. To understand another's loss, you become a part of that loss. One day God spoke to me and told me it was time to return to happiness. I was traveling along a road between Etoile and Lufkin and saw a little girl in her front yard jumping and twirling a baton. I actually stopped the car and watched. That was happiness…and that was when I knew I had to return to my teaching. I had taught twirling for over thirty years when I stopped; now it was time to begin again."

Rhonda has already set up a twirling camp in Kilgore. It is set for June 16 through 20 at Tap-N-Toe Dance Studio. "If it outgrows the studio, we will have alternative places to go," said Rhonda. "I so look forward to working with the kids, the bands and the schools again, especially here; it is like coming full circle."

"We are so proud of Rhonda," said her father. "Even her mother, who has taught and been around twirling throughout the years, says Rhonda is the best she has ever seen. Her students will do well."

What about Bill? Oh, he is hidden on Lake Sam Rayborn and doesn't mind telling you. And if you want to know the real reason gasolione is so high, just give him a call -- he will gladly tell you about that, as well as the reconstruction of the bands and chorus lines across the states. He may be hidden, but, he keeps up.

+++

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TODAY to Mrs. Alvin Lewis, Gail Woodard, Joyce Odom, D'Anna Conway, Michael Waggoner, David McDonald, Calvin Coleman, Ray Nettles, Ali Wright

+++

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TODAY to Vernon and Brenda Brown, Daniel and Becky Crabtree, Mr. and Mrs. Don Peters (50yrs 2004)