JERILYN (ELMORE) FALCONER

jfalc36647@aol.com

1814 Elm Crest Dr.

Arlington, Texas 76012 (817) 461-760

I met Jim Falconer at SMU and we married in 1967. Our family continues to be at the center of our lives. Trey (age 32 ) went to Trinity and Baylor Med before doing his residency at Emory in Atlanta. Even though Leigh Ann is a Woodlands girl, they settled in Thomasville, GA where Trey is an internist. Bill ( age 29) went off to Vanderbilt where he met Heidi. They love Nashville and I don’t expect them to come back in this direction. Our two grandchildren , Austin – age 3 and Michaela – age 10 mos., are in Thomasville. Both my brothers, Gene and Joe, and my 91 – year-old father still live in Houston.

After SMU, I taught for three years (including two for Mr. Mills back at Jones) then stayed at home for twelve years with our sons and did graduate work during four years when Jim’s job took us to Oklahoma. We’ve been in Arlington since 1976. I’ve taught as a Reading Specialist at Sam Houston High here in Arlington since1981 and, after threatening to retire for the past three years, I’m finally ready. When I went to Sam Houston, the school, its students and the community reminded me very much of Jones and our experience there. As Arlington has grown and changed, Sam also has grown and changed. We now are an urban school with a very large, always fluid immigrant population and a majority of economically disadvantaged students. I’ve stayed in the same school, but the school and the challenges have changed over and over again in the last 21 years. I’m going to miss my colleagues and most of the students, but I’m looking forward to joining Jim in semi-retirement and to spending more time with our grandchildren.

Jim has a small, portable employee benefits consulting business and both our children and their wives are campaigning for us to move closer to them. We’re exploring the possibility of moving to the north Georgia mountains -- at least for part of each year. I’m not sure we’re ready to leave permanently our neighbors and friends of the last 26 years!

Our newest and best hobby ever is grand-parenting. I’m an avid reader. We love to travel and to spend time at our place at Lake Tawakoni, an hour east of Dallas. Most of my volunteer time is spent at our church and in its community outreach programs and in Stephen Ministry. I’m looking forward to new avenues for volunteer work, more time to antique, and the opportunity to take some of those classes I missed 35-40 years ago. Who knows what else God has planned for me yet!