Mound community notes pastor milestone, graduation celebration and swim party

In Mound, a pastor’s 23 years at a Waco veterinary hospital shared space with graduation news, a swim-party sendoff and a long birthday roll call, the kind of roundup that keeps a small Coryell County community stitched together.

Rev. Bruce Cox, who serves Mound Cowboy Church and White Mound Baptist Church, was recognized for working 23 years at Northside Animal Hospital in Waco. The hospital says Cox has practiced there since May 2003, serves as chief of staff, grew up in Waxahachie, earned undergraduate and DVM degrees from Texas A&M University in 1982 and 1985, and lives in Robinson. For Mound residents, the note underscored how local faith leaders often carry roles that reach far beyond the pulpit and into medicine, business and daily community life.

The column also highlighted Kinsley Elizabeth McPherson, class of 2026, who was celebrated at a ceremony Thursday, May 14, at Cowboy Church of Erath County in Stephenville. The church is at 4945 U.S. Highway 67 and holds Sunday worship at 10 a.m., a familiar setting for families marking milestones that matter enough to pull relatives across county lines. Family and friends attended the celebration, which placed McPherson’s graduation on the same map as the church network that connects Mound, Gatesville and Stephenville.

McPherson was also among the seniors recognized Monday, May 18, when the Hopson family hosted the final Ambassador Swim Party and meeting. Other seniors honored there included Lane Brookshire, Lucretia Roehrig and Cooper Dickey. The gathering marked another step in the season when rural communities watch students move from church youth groups and family events toward graduation and the next stage of adult life. McPherson’s name also carried extra weight in local agriculture circles after she and the Coryell County 4-H Senior Horse Judging Team placed sixth at the San Antonio judging contest, then later traveled to Amarillo, where she placed sixth high individual and the team finished second overall. She was later reported to have signed with Clarendon College’s Horse Judging Team and to graduate from White Horse Christian Academy.

The community notes closed with birthdays for David Hopson, Barbara Hopson, Patti Pruett, Romie Gonzlez, Meredith Cox, Denise Kleshick, Suzy Cox, Kathy Cole and Caegan Michaels. That kind of roll call may look small from outside Coryell County, but in Mound it works as a record of belonging in a place settled in the early 1850s, where White Mound Baptist Church has stood since 1874 and where church news still doubles as community memory.