Yard Contest

The Lynches have lived in the Settlement for 33 years. They have a dog, and two grown daughters who attended Winborn Elementary school.

Mrs. Lynch is a retired school teacher whose hobbies include cooking, baking, animal rescue, fostering felines and when relaxing enjoys movies and reading.

The Lynches' yard, well balanced in design, consists of two different size Japanese blueberry trees that accent both the front entry and the corners of their home. The front beds, each bordered with natural looking stone, are filled with well-manicured boxwoods and are garnished with colorful snapdragons. You'll notice several large flower pots filled with snapdragons, dusty miller, and red and pink cyclamen. The large oak tree in the front is bordered by natural looking stone and is surrounded with a golden glove ground cover that blooms with beautiful yellow flowers in both summer and spring. Azaleas on the side bloom with lovely colors in the spring. Ferns, ivy, pink knockout roses, snapdragons, and a variety of flowers, finish out the backyard.

The Lynches said that with the Settlement’s great location, seeing so many families walking together, bike riding, pet walking, kids playing at the parks and the memories over the years, makes for a very outstanding family-friendly neighborhood.

Congratulations to the Lynch Family for being the recipient of the Yard of the Month for January 2021. Your continued addition to the beauty of the Settlement all these years is greatly appreciated.

The Hensons have lived in the Settlement for 27 years. They have 2 children: daughter Ashley, a 9th grade teacher at Seven Lakes High School and son Justin, an engineer with Shell Oil Company. Justin’s wife Heather is a dermatologist in the Houston area. The Hensons also have 2 grandchildren, Calum and Elodie.

Jan and Dave are both retired, Jan after a long career in administration with KISD and Dave after a similarly long career as an executive in the Oil and Gas industry with Halliburton in Houston.

Knowing little about the Houston area when they moved here 27 years ago they rented a home in the Settlement. It didn’t take them long to realize that this would be a great place to raise their family so they purchased their present home. It was then, as it is now, a very nice quiet neighborhood with well-maintained homes, friendly folks and the safe feeling of living in a small community where kids can 'roam' enjoying the neighborhood with its community pool, tennis courts and park areas. The development surrounding the Settlement has flourished but seemingly with businesses that complement the neighborhood while continuing to allow easy access to the vast Katy/Houston area.

The Henson’s front yard has 2 very beautiful mature oak trees, a pecan tree and numerous flower beds all outlined in tan flagstone. The entry walkway flower beds are filled with beautiful large nandinas. Each of the flower beds surrounding the trees are filled with Indian Hawthorne. The large raised stone bed which wraps around the front of their home and is outlined in monkey grass contains a variety of beautiful plants including crepe myrtles, pink azaleas, holly bushes, boxwoods, spider plants and additional large nandinas. The wrap-around porch with its beautiful cypress wood porch swing allows them the opportunity to just sit and enjoy the quietness, the view and their neighbors.

Congratulations Jan and Dave Henson on receiving our February 2021 Yard of the Month Award. Your home's beautiful contribution to the Settlement is greatly appreciated by all.

The Bode's adventure in the Settlement began back in 1987 when Chris bought a home just down the street from where they are today. In 1991 they were married, then in 2005 they saw their current house for sale. Curious they stopped to investigate, discovering it had everything they needed, was in the neighborhood they loved and the kids could still walk to school. So they bought it and moved 10 houses down from the first home!

The Bodes have 2 boys. Ryan 27 lives in Maryland and works for Maryland Sound International as a sound technician. His company worked on the 2021 Inauguration for President Biden. Matthew 24 lives in Hockley, and works for Reynolds and Reynolds as a marketing analyst.

Chris retired from Conoco Phillips in 2018. He enjoys working in the yard, keeping up the pool, and growing a garden. Lori, a former school teacher and former Asistant Director at Holy Covenant Child Development Center, loves running half marathons and doing craftwork. They both love to travel. Before the pandemic, they traveled widely including visiting many cities where the Astros would be playing. They said "We can't wait to get back to that!"

One of the first things you'll notice in their front lawn are the two beautifully shaped live oaks. Having them fertilized in the fall due to leaf loss they believe has helped to get their grass so green. Other than having to replace the begonias from the winter storm they fared pretty well in the recent freeze. The front beds are filled with a variety of plants that include newly planted pink begonias, well-trimmed holly, boxwoods, crepe myrtles accenting each end of their home's flower beds and retips lining their driveway. There's a sago palm they had to cut back in hopes of producing new leaves. They are especially fond of the purple flowering plants near the front of the beds at the walkway. They said that they have no idea what they are called but are happy to see new growth after the freeze!

Chris and Lori say they love that they've made so many wonderful friends over the years. They commented “From participating in school activities to spending summers at swim meets, our entire family has made many lifelong friendships. There's a real family feeling to this neighborhood. When you see people walking or riding their bikes along the streets they wave or greet you. When the storms hit, like the winter storm we just had, neighbors get out and help each other. Anyone who looks at the neighborhood Facebook group will see how we all help each other out. You don't find that in a lot of places. We wish everyone well as they work to get their home and yard back in shape after the freeze.”

Congratulations Chris and Lori Bode in being awarded April 2021 Yard of the Month. Your kindness, gratitude, and well wishes for our community are greatly appreciated.

Vicki and Gary were married in 2019 after dating for 20 years! At home their “baby” is their 13 year old dog Molly. Their son, Steven LeCamu, lives in Denver, Colorado with his wife Sloan.

Vicki is now retired after working for Chevron Corporation for 40 years and now keeps herself busy working with glass mosaics and fusing along with her gardening. Gary is still working running two businesses.

As they live on a corner lot Vicki and Gary have a huge yard which they put to excellent use by filling it with a large variety of trees and plants. The front yard contains two well-maintained pine trees, surrounded with wandering purple jew which has small pink flowers that the bees love. They also have a beautiful white magnolia tree that has paperwhite bulbs in the bed below it. Like so many of our yards theirs also is still recuperating from the damage done by our February freeze. Their beautiful ivy in that bed froze and has not yet shown signs of life - but they say that they still have hope! Their yard also has a couple of oak trees and a large pecan tree from which the squirrels get most of the pecans. But Vicki and Gary say they don’t mind! Surrounding the house are flower beds with a large variety of plants including a red tip photinia; more wandering purple jew; a pink pillow shamrock plant that dies down in the heat of the summer; purple salvia and lantanas in red, yellow, orange and pink. The pink azaleas in those beds froze but are now showing signs of life as are several of their hibiscus plants. These beds also include orange cannas; white crepe myrtle; spider plants and roses in red, pink and yellow. Their yard is certified by monarchwatch.org as providing a monarch butterfly friendly environment. In the center of the side yard, they have many milkweed plants for the monarch butterflies and caterpillars and in that same bed thy have a large leaf milkweed as they do in their backyard. Continuing the butterfly friendly theme their backyard also has milkweed and pipevine plants

All the flower beds in the front are surrounded by beautiful natural brown rocks. At the front door entrance, there are several pot plants one being a huge Christmas cactus. There are also two ivies, one named monstera adansonia swiss cheese and the other is a money plant ivy. There is also a miniature cypress tree that Vicki got at Christmas and which still has the bow on it!

Vicki says that the thing she likes about the Settlement are the wonderful people who live here and the mature trees that you can only have in a subdivision as old as ours.

Our congratulations go to Vicki and Gary in being awarded May 2021 Yard of the Month. The result of the effort that they spend on their yard is much appreciated by all of us – as well as by the monarch butterflies!

Les and Becky have lived in the Settlement for 21years. They have two sons, both of whom attended Winborn Elementary, Katy Junior High, and then Morton Ranch High School.

Les has been employed with San Jacinto College's Main Campus for 33 years where he is Director of Audio Engineering. He's a musician, producer and does audio and lighting design for Worship Media Productions. Rebecca has been a recording vocalist and musician for 50 years and is currently performing with the group SASS (Seriously Addictive Sound Studios) in the Houston area. She's also VP of the non-profit "Chirps for Charity"; an organization that raises funds for student music scholars

When not involved with work or performing they both like to travel, enjoy music, entertain at home, and relaxing in their newly decorated backyard where Becky enjoys building fairy gardens. The sense of community in the area and the uniqueness of each home contribute to their enjoyment of living in the Settlement. It's their forever place to live.

Their front yard has two oak and crepe myrtle trees with flower beds of white and purple Angelonia, petunias, and multi colored impatiens, The front bed by the house is framed with boxwood, Ruby loropetalum, multicolored petunias, angelonia and impatiens. There are two large ivy plants located on the front porch that are over 10 years old.

They attribute the outstanding appearances of their yard to that of both their landscape and lawn maintenance persons.

Congratulations Les and Becky Williams for being awarded our June 2021 Yard of the Month. Your continued contributions of adding beauty to our community are greatly appreciated.

Rich and Debbie have lived in the Settlement for 17 years. They have three kids who attended Winborn Elementary and graduated from Morton Ranch High School. Their oldest son graduated from LSU and their daughter from Sam Houston State University.

Rich and Debbie list their hobbies as reading, golf, travelling, enjoying their pool, and bike riding around our neighborhood which they love because of the wonderful people and our beautiful homes.

They have recently completed an upgrade to their landscaping adding an attractive border of gray stacked rock both along the front of their house and around two beds by their mailbox accented after dark by a series of landscape lamps. The beds by the mailbox contain blue salvia, zinnias and Angelonia. Along the front of the house they have a vitex tree, Aztec grass, knockout roses, Mexican heather, pencil holly bushes, ligostrum, azalea and a lady banks climbing rose on a weathered iron trellis. The overall effect of the landscaping layout and these colorful plants makes this home a worthy recipient of this award.

Let’s congratulations Rich and Debbie Anders on being selected our July 2021 Yard of the Month award winner and let them know how much we appreciate their contribution to enhancing the beauty of our neighborhood.

The Morenos have 4 children: three adult children who graduated from Morton Ranch, and the youngest who will be in the class of 2027. Their daughter works just outside the neighborhood at Academy on their communications team; their son works in sales in New York City for Klarna and they have a son who is a recent Morton Ranch grad who is headed to TAMU this month to study as a Nutrition/Physician Assistant. The youngest Moreno keeps the family busy with weekend baseball tournaments and other extracurricular activities while attending Aristoi Classical Academy.

Raul is employed with Cardinal Health and Christie works at Paetow High School. They enjoy spending time outdoors, teaching youth at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church, volunteering at MRHS and in the community and trips with their children and extended family.

The Morenos said that they enjoy the pride that The Settlement residents take in keeping the neighborhood beautiful, as well as the helpfulness and friendliness of our community. “Having experienced COVID quarantine and SNOVID! it was reassuring knowing that we had caring neighbors willing to help each other out”.

They thank their long-term landscaper (Hector) for keeping their yard colorful and trim. It hosts a variety of perennials, rose, gardenia, and azalea bushes, a sago palm, Mexican heather, monkey grass, pine trees, and landscaping stones.

Congratulations to Raul and Christie Moreno on being selected as our August 2021 Yard of the Month award winner. Their yard makes an outstanding contribution to the appearance of our neighborhood, for which we all are grateful!

Mrs. Doehring, and her late husband J, have been longtime residents of Williamsburg Settlement having lived here for 26 wonderful years. She said they loved raising their kids in a “well taken care of” neighborhood in a great location surrounded by great friends and a great elementary school.

Marla and J raised their two children in the Settlement, Jamison (35) and Sarah (29). Jamison is a Pastor at St. Peter’s UMC and is married to Katherine, who is a Chaplain at Memorial Hermann in The Woodlands. Jamison and Katherine have one son, Henry who recently turned four. Mrs. Doehring said she feels very blessed that they also live in the Settlement. Mrs. Doehring’s daughter Sarah lives in the Champions area but teaches Kindergarten at Winborn Elementary in the neighborhood. In addition to teaching, Sarah has recently become engaged and is planning her upcoming nuptials.

Mrs. Doehring works full-time for The George Foundation and works seasonally at James Avery. She is active in her church, The Holy Covenant UMC, enjoys sleepovers with her grandson, Henry, as well as taking care of her beloved animals. She has a dog Annie, a cat Priscilla, and just recently acquired an orange kitten who found its way into the Settlement and needed a home. Mrs. Doehring is also a proud Aggie and has been a football season ticket holder for many years.

Mrs. Doehring has adorned her beautiful lawn with various plants and trees. In the front flower bed, there are 2 crepe myrtles, several dwarf yaupons, dianella flax lilies, red tips, and caladiums, which she grew from bulbs and are so healthy due to all the rain we’ve received. She also has pine trees, knock-out roses, purple fountain grass, boxwoods, asparagus ferns, dwarf yaupons, and dianella flax lilies that beautify her middle flower beds. You can also see a gorgeous purple robe tree and crepe myrtle that ties the beautiful landscape together.

Mrs. Doehring’s well-appointed yard makes a great contribution to the aesthetics of the neighborhood for which we all owe her our thanks

Wegin and Mary Ann have been residents of the Settlement for 35 years. They have four daughters; Laurie, Tammy, Regina, and April, who are all graduates of KISD. They also have nine grandchildren, only one of which is a boy!

Wegin is employed as an Institutional Sales Manager and his wife Mary Ann enjoys the time she can spend on sewing and crafting projects. Both Mary Ann and Wegin delight in spending time with their family and attending all school activities. They stay very busy supporting their children and grandchildren by attending basketball, football, and volleyball games, as well as tennis matches, and swim meets (both for KISD and the Dolphins). They also enjoy attending concerts, the symphony, marching band events,

and school plays

The Ng’s front yard is beautifully decorated with Sago Palms, Crepe Myrtles (both Black Diamond and White), Golden Dew Drops, Pinwheel flowers, Gina Red Roses, Arrow Leaf Elephant Ears, Madagascar Periwinkles, Center Shrubs, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow Ground Cover, Shell Gingers, Sword of Holly House, Yellow Lantana, and Purple Hearts.

The Ngs described the Settlement as very family oriented and neighborly, as evidenced by witnessing the countless neighbors who enjoy walking, running, or bicycling through the neighborhood on a daily basis. They also appreciate the friendliness of the neighbors and how they’ll wave and greet them with a ‘hello’ or stop to join them for a brief chat. The sense of community is why they have chosen to live in the Williamsburg Settlement for the past 35 years.

Congratulations to the Ng Family for being the recipient of the Yard of the Month for October 2021. Your continued addition to the beauty of the Settlement all these years is greatly appreciated.

Back in 1995 Pamela and her late husband Jim purchased their beautiful home on Earl of Dunmore where they raised their two sons, Ryan and Todd. Mr. and Mrs. Moore thoroughly enjoyed raising their family in such a quiet and friendly neighborhood.

Pamela is a retired KISD teacher who stays active with outdoor activities and volunteers to help others in need. When she’s not playing pickleball or hunting and fishing in Alaska, she spends time volunteering at Memorial Hermann and crocheting beautiful afghans for many of the cancer patients. Pamela also enjoys cooking for her closest friends and family and enjoys time spent with her only grandson, Kaider. It’s obvious she has many talents, but one that deserves immediate recognition is her flair for gardening and maintaining such a gorgeous yard.

The front beds are adorned with Formosa azaleas, beautiful crepe myrtles, and stunning ginger. She’s added in Chinese fringe and impatiens as her choice for colorful, seasonal flowers as well as George Tabor azaleas, camellias, and daylilies that beautifully surround her trees (pines, oaks, and a magnolia).

Congratulations Mrs. Moore on receiving our November 2021 Yard of the Month Award. Your home is a beautiful contribution to the Settlement is greatly appreciated by all.