We’re just connecting the dots.
VOLUME 8 • ISSUE 4 • November 2, 2022
hello FROM KRISTI
•••
T he
season has officially started, and we are incredibly excited to welcome you all home! November is a hectic month for us at Welcome Home RGV as we entertain your activity and tour directors, showcasing all the Rio Grande Valley has to offer. Each November, we host an event specifically for your resort managers and activity directors, then host field trips to different venues so they can see them first-hand and bring details about their adventures back to you. This season, we’re taking things to a new level and offering group tours, funfilled day tours throughout the Valley, like Rocket Ranch, a Los Fresnos wine tour, a trip to Alpaquita Ranch, and a whole lot more! We will also offer overnight excursions to places like Galveston, Corpus Christi, and San Antonio for those who want to get away for a few days. All of this is being done in an effort to make your winter experience the best it can be! We are so glad you’re here, and we can’t wait to see you this winter! ~We’re just connecting the dots. •
Kristi THANK YOU TO OUR 2022-2023 SEASON SPONSORS
An Honorable o t e t u l a S l l e w e Far k w a H y t t i K S S U e th
Story by Gretchen Losi Photos by Eryn Reddell Wingert
In the midst of the Vietnam War,
two young men started a lifelong friendship serving aboard the USS Kitty Hawk. Some 55 years later, the old friends proudly stood together, sending her off with a final salute as she entered the Port of Brownsville to be scrapped. “I can’t put it into words,” said Arnold “Arnie” Mincey of Lubbock, Texas. “I’ve been on several ships in my life, but with her, it was an emotional investment. With her I served my country.”
Arnie and Eugene “Gene” Keelean from Cadillac, Michigan, both served as USN yeoman in the ship’s Operations Office. It was their shared time at war aboard the ship that ignited their friendship, which spans over five decades. So they both agreed; they wouldn’t miss being together for her final voyage--for anything. They did so aboard the charter Getaway out of South Padre Island, all thanks to Breakaway Cruises and Welcome Home RGV. These two companies partnered to make this once-in-a-lifetime moment possible
for some 100 lucky patriots from all over the country. It was on this adventure that the two friends made a new special connection with a retired USN senior chief, who proudly served on the gray lady some 30 years after their tour. Joleene “Jo” Bolzle may not have been aboard during Vietnam, but she still made history. She was among the first crew of females to serve aboard combat vessels in the U.S. Navy. And it was Lady Kitty Hawk she first called home. HONORABLE FAREWELL SALUTE CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 >>