HISTORY OF
PORT NECHES ASSEMBLY
Port Neches Assembly #159 was
instituted Friday, May 24, 1946 in the Masonic Temple at Port Neches. Sister
Edna Oakley, Grand Officer of the Order of the Eastern Star had been
appointed deputy by Sister Martha Marie Whitfield to Institute the Assembly.
The first Worthy Advisor was Carol Jean Sanders and Mrs. Avonelle Cockran
was Mother Advisor.
Our first Grand Assembly was in Amarillo, January 24, 1947. There were seven
that went by the train.
The first Grand Officer was Carol Jean Sanders, Jr. Member of the Grand
Credentials Committee. Grand Assembly was in Dallas. At this Grand Assembly
Rev. W. Mark Sexon, the founder of Rainbow was present.
In 1948 there were seven that went to El Paso by train, to Grand Assembly.
At a Christmas party in 1948, the Assembly voted to have an informal hen
party after the meeting and to bring a gift not more than 50 cents.
We have had a lot of money making projects, including donut sales, selling
toothbrushes, lampshades, and aprons in the early years. In 1950, when the
Recorder called the roll, each girl present would answer with some good deed
she had done or how Rainbow had helped her.
In 1952, 97 girls attended church service wearing hats and lambskin aprons.
In 1961, our own Rainbow girl, Vivien Powers, was elected Grand Worthy
Advisor and served as Grand Worthy Advisor in Austin at our 1962 session.
We have enjoyed many Charity, Socials, and Service projects over the
years. We had a special day for Mrs. Marie Youngblood, Past Mother Advisor
and Grand Visitor on her 80th birthday, she was like a Grandmother to all of
us.
In 1980, Mr. & Mrs. Jacobs were on vacation in
Missouri and at a festival they bought a funnel cake, so when they got back
to Texas, Mrs. Jacobs started looking through old cook books and found a
recipe. Mrs. Jacobs took the recipe to the Advisory Board and Rainbow
Girls obtained a space at the next POW WOW Festival in Port Neches the
Rainbow Girls used the recipe for the funnel cake. They started
with a canopy with electric skillet to sell the funnel cakes and it rained
on that year. The next year, 1981, Mr. Gerald Cook loaned his
fireworks stand to Rainbow Girls at the POW WOW Festival.
In 1982, we started selling funnel cakes at the
Nederland Heritage Festival.
We built a new booth and it was finished March 1997 for the Annual Heritage
Festival. This is the biggest fund raiser that we held annually and
all the girls, parents, grandparents, friends, and board members helps in
getting the booth ready. Heritage Festival is held during spring break
in Nederland and it is a blast for everyone.
Another of our fund raising method is to host a
chicken Spaghetti dinner which is usually held on Friday. Many parents sells
these dinners at their workplace to their co-worker and also to businesses
in the area.
At Grand Assembly in 1996 our girls were delighted to meet Katherine Reese
Jones, composer of our beautiful song, "My Rainbow,".
We participated in a drill for Grand Chapter, Order of the Eastern Star in
Beaumont in 1996.
We have had over 170 Worthy Advisors, over 22 Mother Advisors, 13 Grand
Floor Officers, 1 Grand Worthy Advisor, over 24 Grand Representatives and 13
other Grand Appointments. We are thankful for the last 50 plus years.
We would like to thank Port Neches Order of the Eastern Star #677 for
sponsoring us for over 60 years and Port Neches Lodge #1163 for allowing us
to have our meetings in their Lodge.
We have Rainbow girls whose service projects
were sewing heart pillows for the Heart Association, donating their hair to
the "Lock of Love" foundation, and collecting pet food and accessories for
the local Humane Society.
Over the years our Rainbow Assembly has enjoyed good fellowship
and activities with DeMolay
In May of 2008, our assembly has started a
Pledge Group with the initiation of 6 new girls and the new Pledge Group
name is Port Neches Pledge Girls # 18.
In June 2008 at the Grand Assembly in Waco,
Sister Kathren Lee was appointed to the position of Grand Patriotism
(2008-2009) and Sister Lindsey Darby was appointed Ms. Service to Rainbow
(2008-2009) for her brilliant work.
In June of 2009, the Port Neches Pledges Girls
#18 was invited to the Rainbow Grand Assembly in Frisco, TX and they
participated in the banner contest and won FIRST place.
