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Welcome Home WINTER TEXAN • • • November 10, 2021
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We’re just connecting the dots.
VOLUME 7 • ISSUE 5 • November 10, 2021 • • • your official connection to the rio grande valley • • •
hello FROM KRISTI
What fun I’ve had over the last week seeing so many familiar faces and getting to know some new ones! As some of you may know, November is the month we spend with our resort activity directors. We host them at a trade show, where they can learn all about service providers, events, and attractions and make great contacts to bring back to your resorts. We also take many of them on what we call our “Boot Camp,” so they can learn, see, and do and then tell you, first hand, what they think. We call it Boot Camp for a reason--boy, is it exhausting! But the benefit of it all is the camaraderie we share after going through it together!
I can honestly tell you that each and every one of our activity directors goes into the season with wide eyes of excitement, ready to make your season full of things to do, places to go, and people to see. • We’re just connecting the dots,
Kristi
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T
he red poppy flower is a sign of remembrance and hope, primarily for those who have served in the military. Its symbolic origins rose to prominence when poppies began to sprout in the upturned soil of the battle fields of World War I. Traditionally, this symbol is more common in Europe, but one local artist --and veteran--is bringing the poppy to the forefront. After the passing of a veteran friend, Albert Tijerina dreamt about designing a poppy in his friend’s honor. This is how he works out problems…in his
H Story and photos by Eryn Reddell Wingert H
dreams. “Everything I do comes to me in a dream,” Tijerina said. “If I’m going to build a storage shed, I’ve dreamt it three times before I start.” Tijerina is unassuming and modest. He hails from the small community of Linn-San Manuel, just north of Edinburg, and enlisted in the Army in 1978, straight out of high school. If he’d had his way, he would have signed up sooner, but Tijerina’s mom had words with the recruiter and
insisted her son finish school first. “I graduated May 27, and by June first, I was already doing push-ups,” he shares, grinning. It was a calling, he says. A destined, patriotic calling, one he says he felt in his heart. After a 20-year military career, he became a juvenile corrections officer closer to his hometown. Nearing retirement age, his current focus REMEMBRANCE AND HOPE CONTINUED ON PAGE 4 >>