Daniel and Rosemary Thatcher of Hamilton would like to announce the engagement and impending marriage of their daughter Abigail Thatcher Allen of Providence Village to Jim Bardwell of Gladewater, son of Carol Jones of Longview.
The couple plan to wed Oct. 17 at the bride’s parents’ Hamilton home with a private family ceremony.
Allen’s daughters, Julia and Jada, will serve as her maids-of-honor, and Bardwell’s best men will be his best friend Jerry Combest and Jim’s son Josh Bardwell.
James Draper will conduct the ceremony.
They plan a larger public celebratory ceremony for April 18, 2026, outside Gladewater in East Texas for close family, friends and newspaper family.
Both the bride and groom are professional journalists. She is the editor and publisher of the Pilot Point Post-Signal, and he is publisher and owner of the Gladewater Mirror newspaper and East Texas Sports Magazine.
She is a graduate of Hamilton High School and the University of North Texas, while he graduated Longview High School and attended Kilgore College and East Texas State University.
Both have served as board members on the North & East Texas Press Association and Texas Press Association. Allen is the first vice president of the NETPA and Bardwell served as president of the NETPA twice and was president of the TPA.
Both are very active in their communities, serving on economic development corporation boards, chamber boards, and community and civic boards. And both have been recognized regionally and statewide during their newspaper careers, with him also earning national recognition.
