Rotary in Tomball Texas

While my team was working the Riley Road Fire down out of Magnolia (couple of posts ago) I met one of the local fire chiefs. Chief Randy Parr is from the city of Tomball in Harris County. He was assisting the local Type 3 management team when we arrived, and continued working with us while we were there.

I arranged with my commander to do a "political mission" at the Tomball Rotary meeting on Wednesday morning. After getting a big "affirmative" from the boss, I called Chief Parr and got directions. It was about a 45 minute drive, which is just around the corner here in Texas. The club meets at the Tomball Community Center in downtown. As a city, Tomball is probably something between Susanville and Auburn in size. A very attractive community, and the club has about eighty members. The club actively supported the firefighting efforts by serving coffee every morning, and throughout the day. One of the members owns a "Starbucks like" coffee business called "Pip's". Their motto is "Just good coffee!" and it sure was. Rotarians also served breakfast to all the firefighters one morning.

Chief Parr Prepares to dig in!

Of course I was not allowed to pay for my lunch, and spent the first fifteen minutes meeting folks and chatting. Finally, someone said "Let's eat!" The meal was buffet style and catered by a local restaurant. They served fried chicken, green beans (pronounced "GRAIN BAINS"), mashed 'taters, green salad and banana cream pie for desert! Of course we washed it all down with sweet tea ("SWAIT TAY"). Delicious, I should have taken a picture of the food line, but I am still learning how to be a good cub reporter.

We opened the meeting with a prayer, the pledge to "Old Glory", the pledge to the flag of Texas,and  a rousing rendition of "My Country 'Tis of Thee". I remember singing that one often in grade school. Finally, we recited the Four Way Test, and got on to the meeting.

The President rings the bell to start the meeting.

The room was large, and nicely decorated with Rotary regalia. Flags, banners, a display board documenting club activities, and a poster advertising their big annual "Fish Fry" next April. They didn't really do fines, it was Happy Dollars, so people stood up and "fined" themselves. One interesting part of the meeting was "Pickem". This activity only occurs during football season, and consists of members picking the winners of the upcoming football games for the week. Pro, college, and high school games are included, about 10 games weekly. Each week they read off how folks did, with the winner getting to hang on to a football for the week, and the loser (worst percentage) getting the "Plunger" award. This is a highly decorated "plumber's friend" with a role of toilet paper on the handle. Not sure what the ultimate prize is, but the whole thing looked like a load of fun.

Coach Kaiser was very inspirational.

The program was the local high school football coach, Tommy Kaiser. The local high school has a freshman, Junior varsity, and varsity team. Last year they had so many freshman players (105!) that they actually fielded two freshman teams. A slug of players from this division move on to play for major college division 1 teams. They grow 'em big and fast down here.

Coach Kaiser was a dynamic speaker, and he gave a talk on what it takes to be a great team member. He went over eight characteristics of a great team member. They were:

1. Be Adaptable
2. Be Committed
3. Be Dependable
4. Be Communicative
5. Be Enthusiastic
6. Be Prepared
7. Be Selfless
8. Be Tenacious

Club displays were nice.

I won't go into the details, but by the end of his speech, I was ready to play football for this man. What great principles to be teaching our young people. It saddens me that in many of our local schools, budgets make it impossible to hire professional coaches. We resort to volunteers, usually parents. This can work, but its a real "crap shoot" and quality control is non-existent. OK, off the soap box! It was a great program!

The club is preparing for a nice community service project around Thanksgiving. It is called "Families Feeding Families". It is in partnership with some local church groups, and other civic organizations and is just a huge community potluck. All are invited, and there is no cost. It's not exclusively for those in bad economic straits, but also just for the entire community to come together and break bread. Nice idea!

After the meeting I had a ton of folks come up to me to express their gratitude for the work the firefighters are doing. Moments like that bring purpose and meaning to being here! I followed the Chief back to his department after lunch to take a look at what's going on with the Tomball FD.

Chief Parr and one of their newer engines.

Its a small but very nice station. They are funded through a portion of State sales taxes, and are just converting from a volunteer based department. Chief Parr is rightly proud of his people and equipment. He showed me a new engine they had just purchased for around $675,000. It was veeeeeery nice. My favorite piece of apparatus though was the 1948 Ford, Howe fire engine that they have restored for parades and PR. It was beautifully done! All it needs is a nice shiny wooden ladder, the aluminum one is just a little out of place. It is a truly a showpiece.

My favorite! A 1948 Ford Howe Fire Engine
beautifully restored.

I asked the chief where the name Tomball came from. Apparently, Thomas Ball was an industrialist with vision who transformed the town from a sleepy intersection at some dirt roads, to a bustling city with a main rail line running through it. As I left town, I went to the old railroad terminal where they have restored the building, and made a very nice park adjacent to the "old town" area. There, sitting on a bench, with his dog Spike, was a bronze statue of old Tom Ball. It was a great end to a great visit. 

The restored depot at Tomball.

Tom on the left, with trusty "Spike" the railroad dog on the right.

That's All!