Columnists
Kimberly Juarez
Hi! Kimberly Juarez here, owner of Tejas Nursery. I am originally from a small town in Northern Illinois but now I have been calling Kingsville home since October 2021. We started our business Tejas Nursery in May of 2022. My husband Bryan works on Naval Air Station Kingsville as an aircraft structural mechanic lead on the T45 Goshawk trainers. He’s been working on Naval aircraft since we first met over 20 years ago in Japan. My husband and I were both stationed on the USS Essex LHD-2 in Sasebo, Japan. I was a Master-at-Arms which is the Navy military police. I ended up getting injured in Japan and separated from the Navy in 2006. But that didn’t end my Navy days. I ended up following my then boyfriend to Jacksonville, Florida and we were married in 2008.
We moved from Jacksonville to Corpus Christi and then transferred to Norfolk, Virginia.
In 3 years, I had moved over 4 times. It was exhausting being a military spouse. I had fallen in love with Texas, especially South Texas. In 2011, Bryan was discharged from the Navy, and we officially moved back to Corpus Christi. In Corpus we tried to put down roots with our 3 kids but during Covid I craved the smalltown life I had growing up. This is when we decided to move to Kingsville. Kingsville has been an amazing small community to raise our family in and start a business. My oldest son goes to Santa Gertrudis Academy High School and my two younger kids go to Ricardo Elementary. If you’re a military family in Kingsville, just know this community is full of Veterans and military members that have decided to call it their forever home. From a military couple that has traveled all over the world together, that’s saying a lot. This is our Home now.
Gretchen Stinson
Gretchen Stinson is a chef, homeschool mom, small business owner, small farmer, knife skills/cooking class instructor, long time local food supporter, and farmers market regular. By age 11, she was being paid for cooking jobs. By 15, she was a dishwasher in a restaurant. After paying a lot of dues, and some education in the Pacific Northwest, Napa Valley and Italy, she became a pastry chef, sous chef, executive chef and private chef for 15 years. For the last 15 years, she has been combining her love of food, teaching, raising children, gardening, homesteading, and most importantly, bringing people together through food.
Missy McClure
I am a native Texas woman and darn proud of it. I have been married to a wonderful man for over 42 years. We are blessed with 2 great children, a wonderful son in law, and 5 amazing grandchildren. I have a degree in Wildlife Management from Texas Tech University and have always had a love of animals and wildlife. Growing up, I wanted to be Marlin Perkins assistant or get to work with Jane Gooddall! But life takes us different directions. I have worn many different hats in my career as we followed my husband’s job. My husband accepted the position as Executive Director of Santa Gertrudis Breeders International in January of this year. So as his realtor ( ), I listed our home in Canyon and started the preparation to move to Kingsville. We got everything moved in May of this year and are working to settle in and make a home here.
Chelsea Reyna
I’m Chelsea Reyna, a proud mom of four, and family is at the heart of everything I do. I homeschool my kids, enjoy baking with them, and love making memories in our tight- knit Kingsville community. Alongside being a mom, I’m a real estate agent and co-owner of True Transfer, a construction business I run alongside my husband Daniel. We work together as a team to help families remodel/ build their dream homes, blending our expertise and passion for each project. Originally from the Valley, I graduated from TAMUK with a degree in pre-physical therapy. We have called Kingsville home for over 15 years, where we’ve grown both our family and our business.