The Jordan World Circus, of the top traveling circuses in North America is coming to the Oil Palace in Tyler on Saturday Feb. 20 at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. Owners Jody and Patsy Jordan of Las Vegas bringa unique talent-filled show for a two-hour presentation as they travel coast to coast.

Acts include Deiter Galambos, the Well Balanced Man, Wild West Bears Wiz In, Aerial Aristry Aloft and The Toscano Troupe. The Acts however, do changed based on locations of the shows.
Prior to coming to Tyler, the Circus will take place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Lawton, Texas, Sulphur Springs, Texas as the performers will be in Utah and work their way east to East Texas. Following their stop in Tyler, they will head to Texarkana and then up north to Ada, Oklahoma for a day and Tulsa, Oklahoma for two more days.

Tickets to Tyler’s show will be sold at the box office one hour before each show and doors will open one hour before the show begins. Anyone who has further questions can call the Oil Palace at 903-566-2122. More information about the Jordan World Circus can be found at www.thejordanworldcircus.com.

Yesterday, I, among hundreds of others attended the funeral of James Kilkenny where we said goodbye a great man who leaves behind a great legacy.

It hasn’t sunk in for me and I don’t think it ever will. Mr. Kilkenny was a man of integrity and he cared so deeply about others. He was extremely easy to talk to about anything. He actually had a pretty good sense of humor as well.

I believe my last conversation with him was at my brother’s wedding. We were waiting in line outside to get into the building where the reception was about to be held and in the meantime, I slipped into a sports bar right next door to catch a glimpse of the Rangers game. Mr. Kilkenny walked in with me and we just sat there for a few minutes, watched the game and shot the breeze. I didn’t talk to him on a regular basis but it took no time at all to catch up. He was real personable. He asked me where I was working and when I told him, he said he wanted to read something I had written. I agreed that I would love that but sadly, I never got around to sending him anything. I guess I figured there would still be time.

Another memory I have occurred late in my college career. I had only a couple months or so until I graduated and I came home to watch a high school basketball game. He approached me and asked how much longer I had for school When I told him he said half jokingly, “Great, so then you’ll be ready to come coach these guys.” I had no intention to do that but I sure wouldn’t have complained about having the pleasure to work with him.

He always took an invested interest in others and as a teacher, helped equip students and others he came in contact with, with the proper tools needed in order to succeed. He had been all over the world many times. He adopted four girls in addition to his other six kids, and in many ways, was a father to many more, a spiritual father and a father-figure.

Mr. K and my dad were close friends when I was growing up. My parents as well as Jim and his wife Barbara, were adopting kids around the same time and they would joke as if they were competing to see who could adopt more kids. I don’t think my dad has any problem with letting Mr. Kilkenny win that battle.

Kilkenny resided in Tyler but left his mark all around the world. He is and will continue to be missed but his memories and passion will live on in those who knew him. Prayers go out to the Kilkenny family.

Star Wars, the Force Awakens has taken the nation and the world for that matter by storm. The film has topped the box office for the third weekend in a row, making $88.3 million over the New Year’s weekend. The seventh installment of the franchise passed Titanic.

Overall, fans are extremely pleased with the film. It’s a nice change of pace after Episodes I, II and III which were completely uncharacteristic of the original trilogy. It does a good job of introducing new characters while keeping some of the traditional characters in the story.

Episode VII is set to be released in May of 2017, which will leave fans asking the same questions for over a year. We’ll have to wait until then to find out whose Rey’s parents are.

When I watched the movie, for some reason I automatically assumed she was Han Solo’s and Leigha’s daughter. They had that father-daughter chemistry and they finished each other’s sentences. There are several things that confirmed it in my head but then I began to second guess myself on that. They never actually said she was their daughter and maybe that’s too easy.

Other theories are that she’s Luke Skywalker’s daughter or somehow related to Obi Wan Kenobi. Either way, that question alone will have Star Wars fans waiting on the edge of their seats waiting for Episode VIII. In the mean time, The Force Awakens will continue to shatter records in the box office.