Bay City Tribune

With directions scribbled on a reporter's notepad, we went to the home of Precinct 4 Commissioner David Joe "Woody" Woodson on Monday, Feb. 22.

He was on his porch to greet us, wearing his favorite hat, apron with the words "no teeth barbecue" across it and a big grin on his face.

Woodson's wife, Carolyn, and his son, Joe, greeted us inside and we had a glass of sweet tea and some of Carolyn's homemade salsa that let us know right away we were in for a taste extravaganza.

Woody pulled up a chair and started into his personal anecdotes and Texas-style sense of humor, which became the evening's entertainment.

The Woodsons like to cook. Though their cook-off trophies stand on top of a kitchen cabinet, the reward they gain from cooking is the joy of sharing a meal with neighbors or helping citizens and organizations with fund-raiser dinners.

If someone in Midfield is in need, they grab their tongs and bottle of Stubs barbecue sauce and get to work.

"We really just do it for fun and to help the local clubs," said Carolyn.

Woody explained how barbecue cookoffs can involve big money and stiff competition, but they're just in it for the benefit of their neighbors in Blessing, Midfield and Markham - and it doesn't hurt that they have a great time doing it.

Their barbecue pit is special, and the family is excited about using it this weekend as they enter the Matagorda County Fair Barbecue Cook-Off for the first time.

Carolyn calls the pit "the widow maker" since Woody and Joe spent the entire summer outside, converting an old oil dumpster into a pit that would make the best steaks in the county.

And welding isn't the only skill that's been passed from father to son.

"Joe can cook," Woody said. "He's been helping me cook since he was seven. I'll tell you right now, he ain't gonna starve."

They built a special box for the pit that Woody calls the "treasure chest." It seals the flavors in with the roasting meats, turning the contents into culinary gold.

Woody said their family spends much of their spare time traveling to Joe's various sporting events.

He's to compete in the regional power lifting competition in Anahuac and the Tidehaven power lifting "parents" will be there cheering on the whole team.

"We don't eat out and we don't go to the beer joints. We eat here at the house, we watch TV and we go to sporting events," said Carolyn.

Though the Woodsons give generously of their time for charitable causes, family comes first and attending Joe's competitions takes precedence above all else.

"Family always comes first," Woody added. "It's all part of country living."

The country living stories Woody had to tell kept us wiping big crocodile tears of laughter off of our faces.

While no one could ever write Woody's stories as hilariously as he tells them, one of our favorites was hearing about the apparent wild goat herd that occasionally runs rampant through Midfield.

"You live in the country, you're gonna have goats running all over your yard," said Carolyn.

"I was sitting right there a while ago barbecuing and I raised the lid then slammed it and two goats shot right out in front of me," he said.

Our guts totally busted when he then noted how the goats' owners came running up not long after asking which way they went.

Woody is a lifelong resident of Midfield - in fact he lives just around the corner from his childhood home where his mother still lives - both brothers live on the same road as him while his sister lives "far away in Markham."

"We're very fortunate that we're surrounded by his family," said Carolyn.

"We're very close."

So close that getting together for family meals is a weekly event - sometimes more than once a week.

Carolyn said most Sundays the extended family gathers in their home after church to share lunch.

"We built this house. The two of us with his family." Carolyn was six months pregnant with Joe and the family joined forces to build the house from the ground up.

She said all it took was a table full of food and a cooler full of beer and family and friends were eager to provide a helping hand to get their home built.

We soon found out why that was enough payment for such hard work.

The dinner experience with the Woodsons was, in a word, heavenly.

When the meal was ready, they invited us to sit down at the family table covered with a homey red-checkered tablecloth while they dished up our plates and served them to us.

The dishes, piled four inches high, were a feast for the eyes as well as the palate.

It was a down-home dream come true, with enough stacked "no teeth" ribs, drunken chicken, bohemian potatoes, fresh corn, pinto beans and bread for a person who hadn't eaten in three days.

It was the kind of good that makes you push through and take down another rib just for the taste of it, long after "hungry" has left the building.

"Don't worry," Woody said. "Y'all don't have to clean your plates. And y'all will be taking leftovers."

Then Carolyn rose from the table and said the words "banana pudding."

We looked at each other, and shared the same thought. We were a little afraid.

From what we had just eaten we knew it was going to be the best pudding in the world, but could we go the distance and stretch our stomachs enough to fully enjoy it?

When she placed the bowls in front of us, doubt died and we were kids again, taking down the fresh, sweet confection.

After thanking them for everything, we took a photo of ourselves with the Woodson family, as we have done with each of the candidates who have invited us into their homes and shared their lives with us.

We entered the home as reporters and left as friends.

Handshakes turned to hugs and we felt lucky to have been so welcomed by this family that was as fun as they were sincere.

In his own words:

Tribune: What three things can we always find in your refrigerator or pantry?

Woodson: "Y'all talk about three things that are always in your kitchen and that's: hot sauce, more hot sauce, and I gotta have my V8. My V8 is very important."

Tribune: What meal means home to you?

Woodson: "Steak. Last night we barbecued ribeye steaks. That's our favorite meal. With baked potatoes and salad."

Tribune: If you could invite all of your constituents to a meal, what would it be?

Woodson: "(Carolyn) does it all the time. Brisket. We bring in one. We have free barbecues and briskets feed the most people. Voters and residents come over and they're free to take a plate back home to somebody who couldn't make it out."

Recipe: Cora "Todie" Woodson's Chicken and Dumplings

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken boiled in brine water. Let it cool and debone.

2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1 can of pet milk

1 large egg

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Mix all together until thick.

Add more milk if necessary. Then put dough in fridge for 1 hour. Put flour on counter top and roll out to thickness. Add 4 can of chicken broth and add water to pot bring to boil and add dumplings. After tender, add a little pet milk at the last and eat.