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Pictured, from left, are Rhonda Colombo and Tonya Wyatt, former team members, familly member Cathie Place, daughter of the bridge namesakes Wendy Sue-Enloe Smith and family friend Claudia Amici Tuckness. Contributed/ Rhonda Colombo -
Officials unveiled signs for the RM 2900 Bridge in Kingsland, which was renamed The Enloe Memorial Bridge in honor of community mentors and founders of the Enloe’s Outlaws ski team, David and Patsy Enloe. Dozens of supporters attended the unveiling on Oct. 10, which was approved by the Texas Department of Transportation with a wealth of community support. Pictured, from left, are family members Larry and Cathie Place, Wendy Sue-Enloe Smith and spouse Chad Smith. Contributed/Rhonda Colombo
Llano County officials paved the way for the renaming of the RM 2900 bridge with an unveiling on Saturday, Oct. 10, in honor of a family which molded youth through competitive water skiing and entertained thousands of people during Kingsland AquaBoom.
Signs for The Enloe Memorial Bridge were unveiled on the span with friends, family members and public officials on behalf of the late David Enloe, who died in 2005, and his wife Patsy, who passed away in 2019.
“I really appreciate all the support from the commissioners, the judge and the community,” said Enloe’s daughter Wendy Sue Enloe-Smith, a Kingsland resident.
Enloe said she received word in September from Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham that the Texas Department of Transportation would be adding the signs.
TxDOT rebuilt the structure – near the confluence of Lake LBJ and the Colorado River – which was swept away in the October 2018 flood. The span was reopened in May 2019. Enloe-Smith had started her efforts to rename the bridge starting in 2018.
County commissioners signed a resolution in May 2019 supporting the renaming request, which up until this fall awaited approval by the state.
During that time area residents expressed how the rebuilding of the bridge became a symbol of the resilience and strength of the community – traits exhibited by the Enloes as well.
“Audiences captured all the golden moments (from the bridge),” Enloe-Smith said of the festival exhibitions. “Re building the bridge was a new beginning.
“It was a gateway for the commuity to all events, past and future,” she added “All of us use the bridge to transport. It’s what pulls the community together.”
From 1980 through 1991, David Enloe and his wife Patsy Sue guided and trained the team, known as Enloe’s Outlaws, comprised of area youth. Performances were most notable for exhibitions of three-to-10-man pyramids, jump stunts, professional stunting and doubles acts.
David Enloe, the head coach and driver the boat, fell ill in 1991 before his death in the mid 2000s.
“It was perfection, rules, guidelines, ethics, responsibility and most of all pride and honor in what we did,” Enloe-Smith said. “They built us and molded us into a large family.”
Saturday’s ceremony was a reunion of team members as well as a long-awaited recognition for the contributions of the family.
“I am humbled and beyond blessed. It’s a dream come true,” Enloe-Smith said. “It will honor two amazing devoted parents that gave nothing but unconditional love to all of us kids.
“What an amazing couple that gave the kids and the community a gateway to the past and the future of reaching goals and dreams and striving high and never giving up.”
