I guess I have procrastinated this long enough. I would like to begin by saying how proud I am to be a part of such successful alumni of the ’62 graduating class. I am so impressed not only by the vocational, educational and personal accomplishments but also by the humility and spirituality expressed in the biographies I have read.
This has been a difficult task for me, and I don’t know if I am alone, but I do feel somewhat old. Mine has already been a full life and I hope to live the next 40 years to the fullest. I just may do this if I inherited the longevity of my grandmother who lived to be 98.
After graduation I married Dale Mounger and we had three children, Michelle (39), Brandon (37) and Blayne (33). Dale and I were divorced and I later married Tom Austin who had a daughter, Kim (39) and we had a daughter, Amy (28). Now that is really a “blended” family. We also now have five grandchildren and I could really bore you with the details of each of them--but I will keep this brief. Bryan (19) just graduated from the Marine Boot Camp in San Diego, and his brother, Timothy, is a junior in high school with all the girls flocking after him. He’s quite the football player, is involved in raising farm animals and judging for the livestock show every year, and he is very active in his church youth group witnessing to other teens. Of course, we think they are the handsomest teenagers ever! Sarah, our only granddaughter will soon be eight. She loves ballet, is the catcher on her t-ball team and attends a school in Nacogdoches that has considerable concentration on Spanish so she entertains us with her bilingual capabilities. We have a precious five-year old grandson who actually lives just next door to us. His name is Austin, and he too plays t-ball and is probably the most precocious of all the grandchildren. Our youngest grandson, Aden will soon be three and came into the world half grown, weighing ll pounds and 2 ounces . He was a whopper! We have loved being grandparents and have lots of fun with them all. We have been very fortunate to live near our children for most of their adult lives except for the time that they were away at school. Kim lives in Nacogdoches but we get to see her family quite often.
Let me regress to say that my husband was a sky marshall (preventing hijackings) when we met, so our lives began with excitement and stayed that way until his retirement ( not that he’s not exciting any more). As a special agent for US Customs, Tommy has been asked to take assignments around the U.S., Mexico and Cuba. He specialized in air interdiction of drug traffic. Although he traveled a lot, we only had to transfer three times during his career. We lived in New Orleans, Scottsdale, AZ and back in Houston where Tommy retired.
While I worked in the medical and legal fields, I ultimately became a court reporter and worked for a large law firm in Phoenix. As I completed my education, I worked either full or part time and did the usual scouts, brownies, youth group, Sunday school teaching and essentially had a very fulfilled life, but as my children were older, I made the decision to make a career change. And, believe me, it was a change. When in 1984 we found ourselves back in Houston (Spring), I began a training program in the field of chemical dependency and have enjoyed being a part of positive changes made by adolescents, adults, and, most recently, women with drug exposed infants and children. I began my career directing family services, later worked with employee assistance professionals, and finally served as program director of addiction, general psychiatry, and neuropsychiatry programs in both free-standing and medical/surgical hospital settings. My own personal mission has been to assist women in developing life/parenting skills to be able to raise their children in a drug-free environment. What a challenge this has been as I have been the program director for Santa Maria Hostel for the past six years.
As my husband and I pursued our own careers and watched our children become adults, we had the opportunity to know and love a young boy who had leukemia. My husband decided to give that young man a special treat knowing that his greatest desire was to become a policeman. He helped to make his wish come true by having him sworn in as an Arizona patrolman. From that wish grew the Make a Wish Foundation. Tommy as been very active in the organization as a founder, board president and member, and we have both been active in seeing this organization grow to one of the largest in the World. We often remark about its small, meager beginnings and how we never dreamed it would grow to such a worthwhile endeavor assisting families at a sad, stressful time by bringing joy and smiles to those who believed they would never smile or feel joy again.
My husband has retired but obtained his Masters in Social Work and we now work together. Believe it or not, it has been a wonderful decision and we still haven’t killed one another yet. We have just down-sized to a courtyard home where the lawns are done by the civic association, and we have been able to travel in the last two years. We have been to England, the Netherlands, France and Belgium and are planning a trip to Austria this year.
It is difficult to say just what has been the greatest learning experience in the past forty years, but I do know that God has been so good to our family. I guess I treasure most the ability to recognize God’s blessings and to express my gratitude. While I lost my father in 1976, I am fortunate to have my mother (who is so busy in her “golden years” that she has to check her calendar to work in her five children, 21 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren), my siblings, my health. I want to thank those of you who befriended me when I moved here from the Mississippi Delta where I attended consolidated school thirty miles from my home. In the big city I experienced culture shock and remember getting lost my first few days at Jones and crying as I made my way to the office to explain why I was tardy. Many of you made my life much less traumatic. Thank you to both classmates and teachers.
I am really looking forward to the reunion. Of course, I am still mad as I look at Mary and Richard Massey and Margaret and Lucy’s pictures on the website and see that they have hardly changed a bit. And, no, I have not lost those pounds I planned to shed, but I will be there any way. See you on the 26th.