Local News
Ten members of the Gainesville High School Class of 69 started kindergarten together in 1956. Julia Anna Taber taught the class, which was sponsored by the Gainesville Lions Club and was held in the old city hall, now the 416th Bomb Group Archive at Harlin Drive and Fourth Street. Four younger kids, members of the GHS Classes of 1970 and 71, also participated. Front row, from left: Debbie Landers, Diane Dreckman White, Beth Taber Peters (Class of 71). Second row: Sue Ann Luna Jones, Roger Luna and Billy Tevebaugh (both graduated elsewhere), Pam Usrey McGinnis and Katherine Sims Coffman. Third row: Kathy Cowart, Stan Taber, Mike Breeding and Rick Sims (Class of 1970 and honorary members of the Class of 69), Sheila Daniel (graduated elsewhere), Vicky Usrey Evans, Bill Walker, Janet Ebrite Taber and Larry Wade (Class of 1970, honorary Class of 1969).
Those of us who grew up in small rural communities like Gainesville, Bakersfield, Dora, Theodosia – and even smaller places like Thornfield, Romance and Rockbridge – may be teased sometimes as small-town hicks. But we have a wealth that only a handful of big-city natives can claim.
We have each...
The Feeding Frenzy food truck (built on a pontoon base) is open for business Saturdays at Lake Bums Brew Co in Pontiac. The PPPVFD also uses the food truck for its own fundraising breakfasts Sunday mornings. Servers and cooks pictured here, from left to right, are Addie Brunson, Carol Butler and Lola Wade.
The newest food establishment in Pontiac, the Feeding Frenzy, fits in well with the lake-loving community.
Built on a pontoon boat and trailer, the food truck is located at Lake Bums Brew Co, 112 Parrothead Lane in Pontiac, and is currently serving up an ever-changing summertime menu. Hours are...
Doyne Byrd
After working in the Ozark County school system for 26 years, Bakersfield High School Principal Doyne Byrd retired this past spring and has taken on a new role as administrator at Mountain Home Christian Academy a private school in Mountain Home, Arkansas. Byrd was hired following the retirement of...
A drawing of the up-and-coming Gainesville School sports complex, done by 4Most Sport Group, a Pennsylvania-based sports field design company, shows how the ball fields will look on the former airport property, across High School Drive from the Gainesville High School.
The Gainesville School district is moving forward with plans to build a new baseball/softball complex across from the high school on the former airport property.
Gainesville Superintendent Justin Gilmore shared architect renderings of the complex with the Ozark County Times, and the superintendent...
When I retired from teaching and came home to the Ozarks from Texas in 2020, I visited the Lutie Cemetery where my father and his Jones/Ledbetter family members are buried. I am embarrassed to admit this, but somehow I always thought we just didn’t know much about his side of the family, as if it...
This picture of Old Theodosia, a composite created from old photographs in 1992 by Wichita artist Carolyn Hendryx, was commissioned by Doyle Kelley so that prints could be sold as a fundraiser for the Friend Cemetery near Isabella. Kelley's great-grandfather Samuel Pellham's grave there was one of hundreds that were moved to higher ground by the Corps of Engineers between 1947 and 1951 so they wouldn't be submerged beneath the newly impounded Bull Shoals Lake. The prints were sold out long ago; the project generated about $20,000 for the cemetery's maintenance-and-repair fund.
Sue and Estel Robirds are old enough (87 and 88, respectively) to remember a vivid image representing when the old village of Theodosia disappeared 70-plus years ago and the new Theodosia was born. The image in their memories is of deep water lapping against the sides of a 12-foot-high bridge below...
High School Drive in Gainesville, pictured above, runs in front of the Gainesville High School. The city council gave permission to the Gainesville School District to install crosswalks, lighted signage (similar to the sign above, right) and speed bumps across the city street to make it safer for students and others to cross.
Gainesville School Superintendent Justin Gilmore submitted a proposal to the Gainesville City Council requesting permission to paint two crosswalks, install lighted signage (similar to that pictured above, right) and install five speed bumps across High School Drive, the roadway that runs in front...
The Gainesville City Council met for its regular monthly meeting June 13. Council members Treva Warrick, Lana Bushong, Dana Crisp, Seth Collins and Renee Schmucker were present. Councilman Ken Crawford did not attend this month’s meeting. Mayor Gail Reich was present also.
In addition to an update...
Michael Wallace took this photo of his dad, Maynard Wallace, and Michael's sons Cale, Casey and Riley, as they returned from a sucker-grabbing trip on Bull Creek several years ago.
By Sue Ann Jones
sueann@ozarkcountytimes.com
Editor's note: Some of the information in this story is adapted from "Old log cabin represents Mahan and Wallace families' deep roots on Pondfork Creek" in the May issue of Old Mill Run, the quarterly newsletter of the Ozark County Genealogical and...
Jose Mendiola, who owns Jason’s Mexican Food restaurants in Willow Springs and Alton, is operating a food truck location of the restaurant on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
Gainesville’s food options have increased once again as Jose Mendiola offers up a full Mexican food menu at his bright red food truck, Jason’s Mexican Food, parked next door to Eddie’s Tackle Box near the intersection of Highways 160 and 5 North. The Gainesville food truck is open for lunch and...