‘That Englishman in Texas’ speaks at the Yamboree All-Service Club luncheon

By Phillip Williams

Oli Pettigrew, a social media personality known as “That Englishman in Texas,” hailed life in his adopted home state at the 89th annual East Texas Yamboree’s All-Service Club luncheon in Gilmer last Thursday.

Pettigrew, who married a Texas woman, said he had visited or lived in 50 countries, and “Texas is the friendliest place I’ve ever been.” He posts videos of the state on social media, where “I’m telling stories about Texas” and “I try to explore what it means to be a Texan.”

“I’m much more interested in small towns” and “small festivals,” where one gets “to meet real people,” the Waco resident told the audience at the Yamboree Event Center. The Hong Kong native quipped that the dresses worn by young women in the Yamboree pageant “cost more than my truck,” adding that he had “never seen so much pomp and ceremony.”

“No one is more surprised than me that I found a home in Texas,” where the populace has “a mindset unlike any” he has ever experienced, Pettigrew added. If a Texan visits a foreign country, and is asked where he is from, he will say “Texas” before he says “America,” he said.

Citing Texas hospitality, Pettigrew said that motorists whose vehicles break down on the roadway won’t be left unaided. If a storm topples a tree onto a house, the doorbell will be rung the next morning by someone the occupant doesn’t know, and strangers will show up along with chain saws to help, he added.

The speaker also said he had landed in Texas “flat on my back” due to unemployment from a long career in television overseas, and that this state “helped lift me up.”

Also at the luncheon, the winners of the three age divisions in the Yamboree poetry and essay contest were introduced by Bethany Nolan to read their respective writings. Theme for this year’s contest was “describe the Yamboree to a person who’s never been.”

Winners were:

• Harmony ISD fifth grader Bow Foster, taught by Katie Norton, in the grades 4-5 division.

• Big Sandy ISD eighth grader Briyah Sheeley, taught by Courtney Sheeley, in the grade 6-8 division.

• Harmony ISD ninth grader Brody Pritchett, taught by Makenzie Bingham in the grades 9-12 division.

Longtime Gilmer attorney Joe Newsom was master of ceremonies at the luncheon.