TOMMY DAVIS

CARRYING YOUR LOVE WITH ME
I left Texas in 1987. My family and I moved to Tennessee to a 3,500 acre, river bottom farm. That first summer, I attended a local festival and met a beautiful girl named Kimberly. She was from Idaho and was in town visiting family. I fell in love at first site. Even though we were 3,000 miles apart, we continued to write and call. We married in 1990 and moved to Arkansas.

TOMMY OF ALL TRADES
Over the next 5 years, we had 4 great kids, moved 13 times, and I worked a lot of different jobs including... flea markets selling socks, waited tables in a tux at one of Tennessee's nicest restaurants, was manager at my brother's Little Ceasar Pizzas, owned my own landscaping business, roofed houses, moved mobile homes, waited tables at Pizza Inn, Pizza Hut, Shoney's, Ruby Tuesday, etc., worked a factory job, managed two cattle farms, and many many more...

FOUND OUR CALLING
In 1995 we moved to Leachville, Arkansas, to live in my grandpa's house. Parts of it were built in the 1930's and it is a continous work in progress. Dad and I started "Double D Construction" where I design and build 15 plus homes a year. We employ 10 guys including my son, Tommy Lenn. We are branching into two other areas, a cabinet shop and heat and air. We have worked hard to make this a successful business. We are one of the top builders in North East Arkansas.

MOVING WITH THE GOOD LORD'S SPEED
I was the youth pastor and Kimberly the children's pastor for many years at a local pentecostal church. We have taken a subaticle to rest and renew ourselves. We now drive an hour to attend Living Word Church. God is the most important part of our lives. Kimberly and I have homeschooled our children for the last 7 years.

ELIZABETH CHRISTINE
Elizabeth Christine is our oldest. She thinks of nothing but boys or as she would say it, "Hot Guys". She is an adorable 16 year old. She is strong willed, independent, and air headed. (She gets that from her mom!) She is always good for a laugh.

TOMMY LENN
Tommy Lenn is our favorite son. He is also our only son. He is 15 and the best looking boy in the world, he must have inherited it from me. He loves to tell stories and hilarious jokes.

AMARIS
Amaris is 13. She is quiet until you get to know her. She is a great artist and wants to be a vet. She is very intelligent, level headed, and knows what she wants from life. Did I mention that she is beautiful too?

ABIGAIL
Abigail is our youngest. She is 10 and definitely "the baby." She is a beautiful little girl and a mirror image of her mother. She was recently diaginosed with epilepsy. As many of you know, I have epilepsy. It was something that I hoped my children wouldn't inherit.

IN CLOSING
All in all, it has been an awesome 20 years. I have thought a lot about my school friends and would love to hear from all of you.

EMAIL: tommyldavis1@hotmail.com

PAT NEEL

ONE PIECE AT A TIME
Well, First of all I am not too much in to all this profile mumbo jumbo but If I just have to be nice and entertain people about what I have been doing the last 20 years here it is I will give it a shot.

LITTLE BITTY
I still live right here in BIG Sour Lake Texas and proud of it I love this small town. I work for Goodyear Chemical as a Process operator I have been working for them the last 7 years. Some people may think "WOW what a great job," but I'm not too happy with it so I am going to School taking some drafting classes at night. My next step as far as a job goes, is to get hired with an engineering firm that I have had an interview with.

RHINESTONE COWBOY
I also bartend on a few nights a month in Beaumont at a Seafood Restaurant and I enjoy that very much it's a lot of fun and pays for some recording time spots in the studio when I do get to record. I really enjoy singing and playing my guitar, I still have a long ways to go on the guitar, but I can hold my own with a few country tunes.

PICKIN' AND A GRINNIN'
Has anything interesting happened to me the last 20 years? Hmmmmm Lots of interesting things have happened to me but probably nothing as extravagant as some of the more well-to-do profiles I have read, so I guess I will brag on my 4 wonderful children. I firmly believe one of my children will be a singer and I encourage it with them every day (Of course, school work is encouraged first, then the singing).

KOHL
Patrick Kohl Neel is the oldest and he is such a great kid his love was basketball in school and singing country music is what he loves as well, he will sing in front of anyone I swear.....it amazes me, I am a singer as well and enjoy it very much but Kohl has definitely got it going on baby when he sings. I love it because he looks so much like me we could pass as brothers. I am so very proud of him words cannot express it.

SADDLER DAKOTA
My next son is Saddler Dakota Neel he is 8 years old and will turn 9 in August he is absolutely the sweetest child I have ever seen! Everyone brags to me at his school and anywhere else we go about what a great kid he is. He is well mannered, cute as a bug and acts just like his Daddy (UH OH). He amazes me as well, when we go out to eat dinner or to the movies or anything like that he opens doors for the ladies, always says yes ma'am and no ma'am . He is absolutely a delight and every time he does something like that it makes me proud to see that there are kids that actually do know how to act properly in public. No offense to the TIME OUT kind of parents at all, and you know who you are.

GAVIN LUKE
My youngest son is Gavin Luke Neel. He will be 3 in August and man is he ever a good looking kid...and yes I can brag because it's true! He has the most amazing blue eyes that you have ever seen. He is definitely a Mamma's boy, but loves to spend time with Daddy in the yard or at the deer lease riding on our 4 wheelers and with his brother on his dirt bike. We all have a great time doing that. Another thing about Gavin is he absolutely loves country music and he requests certain songs every time we are riding in my truck or his Mom's SUV. He shocks us with everything he knows in music.

HELLO DARLIN'
Gavin sings Conway Twitty like you have never seen, he breaks it out saying "Hello Darlin...Nice to see you.....It's been a looooong tiiiiime," and man does he ever get in to it. We just laugh and laugh, he is hilarious man. Gavin drags his little guitar around with him everywhere we go and says "Daddy get your guitar and sing me one." It's so funny!!! So I encourage him to play it and I keep new strings put on his little guitar and bust my butt to teach him whatever I can, but he doesn't pay attention for very long.

NATALEE FAITH
Last but definitely not least, I have finally had a baby girl and yes she is gorgeous just like my other kids and she is definitely the toughest thing ever! I swear she is EXACTLY like me it seems in every way ( I Know.... RIGHT???? ). She is spoiled rotten, has somewhat of a little temper, beats up on her bigger brother, and she's as tough as a boot. Her name is Natalee Faith Neel she turns 2 in August and she is a handful!

SHE'S MY BROWN-EYED GIRL
Natalee has the prettiest brown eyes and just stares a hole right through you when she looks at you. I swear I dread the day when some smooth talking boys (like myself) walks up our sidewalk to take my baby girl somewhere. That will not be a good day for whoever that will be. She is a singer as well....she sings right along with the rest of us when we listen to music and it is so fun to watch her and her brothers dance around to music when I play for them or we have the radio on its something that entertains us for hours :-)

ALL MY EXes LIVE IN TEXAS
Well I have been married 4 times. I'm not scared to admit it at all. I have no one to impress. But I will say that me and my fourth wife are back together and doing great. We have kids together and we are absolutely the best of friends. She has been there for me, stood by me when things were not all that great. She's an absolutely amazing woman, a great wife, and a very special person and anyone that knows her knows that is true.

STAND BY YOUR MAN
She works for Hospice and deals with a lot of different things in life that people usually do not think about too much. It takes a special person to do a job like that. I am vary thankful to have her in my life and to have someone so strong to stand right beside me and be willing to fight for her man (when and if she needs to). It's a great feeling, especially for such a wild party person such as myself. After all these years I am very lucky to have her. So there ya go on the wives. Ok, I guess it's a good time to throw it out there that I am still very good at being cocky and don't mind it too much either.

DON'T TAKE YOUR GUNS TO TOWN SON
What do I do when I am not working? I love to spend time with my kids first of all, but there are some great friends I have had since High School that I hunt with on a 2500 acre deer lease near Wildwood. Getting on that lease was absolutely the best thing that has ever happened to me . I get to spend great times every winter with people that have been close to me all my life. Family members are on the lease as well and it is a great feeling to have people that I know I can depend on if ever needed. I teach my kids to hunt and fish and how to be respectful hunters. I teach them to love the outdoors.

TOO GONE, FOR TOO LONG
It means the world to me to have my kids on that lease because a very dear friend of mine, Brett Johnson, is the one responsible for getting us on this lease. He died years ago and God rest his soul he was a great man, a great Dad, a very dear friend and one hell of a beer drinking barbecuing fool! And we all miss him very much, don't we Bobby Glenn?
(editor's note: Bobby Glen is Bubba Carney, I think)

ALL MY ROWDY FRIENDS HAVE SETTLED DOWN
With all that said, I hope I didn't bore too many people with my profile. I wasn't even going to write one at all, but If I left it up to someone to write mine with things just heard from this small town of Sour Lake, there is no telling what in the world would have been written. I have read other profiles and glad to see that everyone sure seems to be doing good and that's great! I look forward to coming to the reunion seeing SOME old friends and also see if SOME still act they way they used to in school. I will be glad to help out in any way that I can all anyone has to do is ask.

Peace Out Old School peeps.

E-MAIL: pneel@cmaaccess.com

GREGOR LEHMILLER

FINANCE TRADER
My life since high school has been divided into two parts - the part where I went to school forever not being able to make up my mind what I wanted to do, and the part since then when I accidentally found myself in the finance/trading world and then had this very unexpected career take off. But I wish it was this easy to describe what has happened to me.

BEFORE & AFTER ZAN, RELIGION AND HAIR
I could just as easily have broken up my life into a before/after I met my wife Zan (we just celebrated our tenth anniversary on June 29th), or by when I got too religious and then got normal, or my favorite, before/after I had hair. Yup, the geeky thick curly hair has been replaced by a shiny dome, fit for others to use as a mirror.

FIRST A PROFESSIONAL STUDENT
OK - the schooling. This is ugly. I went to college for 13 years and amassed three graduate degrees in business, statistics, and meteorology, as well as an undergrad in piano performance. During this time, I went to school at Baylor, Lamar (summer school), Texas A&M, Florida State, Wisconsin-Madison, and Oklahoma. That was a very long time to be in school, or maybe more accurately, a very long time to be poor.

MY PEDIGREES
There is a story that connects the degrees - after I decided that the music world was not for me, I went and got the first degree that I thought I could get a job with (business), and then found out it was worthless without the work experience behind it. So I stayed in school and got a professional degree in something I was good at (statistics), but found out it sucked as a career choice (think glorified geek). So I said the hell with it and decided to shoot at becoming a professor and went to Oklahoma to get a Ph.D. in meteorology, a field I had loved since I was a kid.

STORM CHASER & IVORY TICKLER
That ended up being a pretty cool thing to do, as my major professor was the guy that the movie Twister was based on, meaning that I got to do a lot of the research tornado chasing/intercept stuff. Also, while working on this degree, I got back into the music world a little, found out I had gotten much better, and entered two competitions. I won one of those and got to play a major piano concerto with an orchestra, and was a semi-finalist in a large international competition.

COMBINING ALL MY DEGREES
But it was to turn out that I never finished a Ph.D. in meteorology. One of my good friends quit school and went to go work for an energy trader. He then contacted me and told me that they needed to find someone who could do natural gas price modeling for them - this person needed to have training in finance, statistics, and meteorology, a perfect fit to what I knew. I thought that maybe my educational background wasn't as bizarre as I thought it was, since somebody needed exactly what I had studied. Since the shoe fit, I put it on by quitting school and entering the finance/trading world.

NOW A TRADER/PORTFOLIO MANAGER
I am currently a senior researcher with a large hedge fund in Maryland called Campbell (web site www.campbell.com). This is a completely systematic trading entity, so my position is the equivalent of a trader/portfolio manager that would be found at most trading organizations. Within this job, I co-manage and create systematic trading strategies for several billion dollars worth of assets.
CHALLENGED BY THE BEST & BRIGHTEST
I absolutely love what I do - the challenges are terrific, as the best and the brightest are all trying to make money in the market. In other words, there are no easy opportunities, since making money in trading usually but not always comes at the expense of someone else losing money - meaning that a lot of bright and motivated people are hoping that I (and my colleagues) lose money so that they can make some.

INVENTING NEW STRATEGIES, TECHNIQUES & SOLUTIONS
This going up against the best and brightest really motivates me, and requires inventing new statistical techniques, thinking up of strategies that no one else has thought of, and looking at the same problem everyone else has failed to solve and figuring out solutions. The cool thing is that I actually do get to deploy these strategies I develop, and thus get to see how they fare against the strategies of the best and the brightest within other trading organizations.

STRESS OF LOSING MONEY
But there are downsides to this, the biggest of which is the stress when my models/trading algorithms endure big losses, as they or any other systematic trading strategy will do on occasion. Investors are only so tolerant of losses - if the losses go on long enough or get too big, investors will pull their money and we end up looking for a new job.

LIVING IN THE WOODS OF MARYLAND
We live in rural northern Maryland just south of the Pennsylvania border. We moved here from Houston about two and a half years ago, and after the busy city life, decided to live on ten wooded acres out in nowheresville. Since in my line of work the majority of the jobs are in Manhattan or Chicago (or London), I consider us very lucky to be able to have this.

NO CHILE CON QUESO
Maryland is not Texas, though. There is no Tex-Mex food of any kind here, the state legislature is dominated by the nutty far left, and there are very few fast cars around here, a big deal for a car nut like me. On the flip side, it is absolutely beautiful here, and having four true seasons is a nice thing.

MY ZAN
I am on my second (and hopefully permanent) marriage, and have been married to a wonderful woman named Zan for ten years. She has honestly made me a better person. My wife has very retty hair, while most of my head is quite free of hair, thank-you-very-much. I can tell the full story of how we met sometime later, but just know for now that I met her on the Internet.

I'D NEVER DO THAT...
The funny thing about that story is that I "met" Zan only a few weeks after I had learned Tammie had met someone on the Internet and had run off to Europe to marry him. I remember saying "What a geek - I would never do that!" In retrospect, it seems that saying things like that can have a way of turning on you and biting you on the a$$ - now if I could only keep that in mind the next time I open my mouth ...

CHIP OFF THE OL' BLOCK
We have two children. The older one is Joshua, a typical eight-year-old who loves to work on stuff with his dad, shoot-off fireworks, read books, play on the computer, and other typical kid stuff. He is a very nice kid, and pretty much a chip off the old block except that he has far more common sense then I did at that age. This picture is almost two years old and was taken on his first day of school in second grade.

WRAPPED AROUND ZOE'S FINGER
And then there is our two-year-old daughter Zoe. She is beautiful, enough so that if she is still that pretty when a teenager then I will have to get a gun collection to show to the "boys" who will want to take her out. More seriously, she is a little sweetheart who loves to sing, dance, and do just about anything athletic, or at least do the two-year-old version of these things. I am hopelessly wrapped around her finger. And she does cute things like make a bed in a suitcase.

DOG LOVER & RESCUER
We also have four-legged children. I am a hardcore dog lover, and have owned several dogs ever since I was able to do it. We currently have three dogs: Elmo, Sebastian, and Theo. All three had rough starts to their lives and were gotten from animal rescue organizations, but they are basically about as nice as they get now.

The only real problems with them are trying to find enough room on the bed at night when they all come up and expect my wife and I to sleep on a tiny edge of the bed. Here is a picture of two of them (Theo and Sebastian). Elmo is in the background of the pic of my daughter in the suitcase.

WHAT THE HIGHLY EDUCATED DO FOR FUN...

INTERNATIONAL PIANO COMPETITOR
A lot of things. I am playing piano as much as ever, and will be competing in another international competition (see www.cliburn.org) next year for people who could have become pianists but did not.

STORM CHASER & WEATHER WATCHER
I also chase storms on the Plains if a good opportunity comes up - I always chase with a good friend of mine who works at the National Weather Service headquarters in D.C. But, as was the case this year, we do not always get to go out and chase every year since the right weather pattern for a several day chase does not necessarily set up every spring.

In the prior two years we intercepted over ten tornadoes each season, including the mile-wide monster in the picture below in Nebraska. I have closer shots of it, but it got too windy so the pictures are too blurry.

DRAGSTER
Outside of music and storm chasing, my other big hobby is cars. I got into drag racing for the fun of it several years ago, and have included two pictures from back when I lived in Houston and used to race out at HRP. In the first picture, I am changing the rear tires from drag radials to slicks while my then 5-year-old son was watching.

MID-10s on HIGH 9s ...& OTHER SOUPED UP CAR TALK
In the second pic, I am doing a burnout prior to approaching the starting line. The highly modified Camaro in the pictures below ran mid-10s on motor and high 9's on spray, assuming you know enough about drag racing to know what all that means. I got rid of that car when I moved to Maryland, but am now getting back into it pretty hardcore again with, of all things, a Subaru.

MANIAC AUTOFANATIC
To give you an idea of the level of my car insanity, we currently own four vehicles: a 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee SRT-8 (420 HP), a 2006 Dodge Ram SRT-10 (505 HP), a 2006 Lingenfelter Commemorative Edition twin-turbo Corvette (725 HP), and a 2004 Subaru WRX STI that is currently being modified into an almost 900 not-very-street-legal HP monster.

COOLEST, FASTEST & THE GREGORMOBILE
The Lingenfelter Vette is easily the coolest of them, the STI will be the fastest, while the Jeep and truck are merely fast family haulers. My wife may love (tolerate??) them, but I am pretty much a maniac as these go. I have gone a long way from the "Gregormobile" as my Hawk classmates so aptly labeled it in class one day.

Well that's it. I hope to see you guys in October.


E-MAIL: g_lehmiller@yahoo.com

STEVEN PINCKARD

CAREER CHOICES
I have tried the military a couple of times.
I have been in the computer industry.
I have been in the retail industry.
I have also been in construction.

Now I am in warehousing. I work for a company in Baytown, called UTI. We have the contract with Wal-Mart at their Import DC.

SHE MAKES ME HAPPY, WHEN SKIES ARE GRAY...
In the past twenty years, I am most proud of meeting and marrying my wife Melisa, of whom I think and know is my best friend. I have been married to my wife for ten years. Melissa has been the reason I get up and go to work every day. She is a ray of sunshine in my dull life.

We don't have any kids right now, but we certainly aren't ruling them out. We do have a cat and her name is "Winkie".

GRAY SKIES
My father passed away about two months ago. It has been rough, but we are doing the best that we can. My mother lives right next door to us, so it has been interesting. My brother Kenneth lives in Liberty at my grandmother's place. He is not married.

In the next few years, I hope to be a parent and own our own home. What will my career be? I have no idea.

E-mail: s_lee_p1968@yahoo.com

SHAD PRIDDY

RETIRED AUTO MECHANIC
I have resided in Evadale since October of 1991. I retired from the auto mechanics industry in August of 2003 due to my health. My interests will always be Jeeps and hunting. I love to watch my girls be involved in the many extras kids do.

MY PRIDDY REBELS
I am married to my wife Jodi, October 5, 2006 will be 15 years of marriage. We have three daughters, Sharadan(13)a.k.a(Squirrell), Jessallyn(8)a.k.a.(JuneBug), Somerlin(7)a.k.a.(Punki or Punk-Punk), and a Dapple Daschund named "Cinnamon"a.k.a. "Houndog".

PRIDDY SQUIRREL
Sharadan is 13 (going on 30). She is 5'10, and plays all sports including her 2nd year of cheerleading. At the end of April took a trip to Nocona,Texas for the Little Dribblers Senior Girls Basketball National Tournament.

PRIDDY JUNE BUG
Jessallyn who will be 9 in June, well, she is me made over! Doesn't like anything that has to do with a ball, but likes music, and JUNK FOOD!

PRIDDY PUNKI
Somerlin is 7, she is as active as her older sister. She likes to take things apart and put them back together, loves the outdoors, and giving her mom and I and her sisters a hard time!

EARLY RETIREMENT
I was an auto mechanic up until 2003. I had to retire permanently and very unexpectedly due to my health worsening. If you remember, I had Scoliosis, and rods put in my back in High School. This worked fine for several years. I was able to work, and lead a productive life.

OSTEOARTHRITIS
Three years prior to 2003, I started feeling different pain. I tried to deal with it as much as possible. Went to several doctors to find to my surprise that the base of my spine, lower back, and hips, basically my whole body is filled with Osteoarthritis.

I have degenerative disk disease, Sciatica and need new hips and knees. The top neourosurgeons say that surgery is not an option. So from day to day, with the use of plenty of cushions, and cane, I try to function without complaining. Like it will change anything.

UNDER THE HOOD
You know in high school, I was the quiet one. I loved the HJ Band and auto mechanics. You could just about find me under the hood of a car at any given time, and listening to that good ole' Southern Rock! I can't believe it has been 20 years already.

E-MAIL: threepriddyrebels@sbcglobal.net

GORDON GUILLORY

SOUTHWEST AIRCRAFT MECHANIC
I've been an aircraft mechanic for 16 years and the last nine have been with Southwest Airlines. I'm also one of Southwest Airlines national bloggers at http://www.blogsouthwest.com/, so far I have posted two blogs "The Buzz in the Hangar" and "Herb was Here."

UNITED WITH WILMA
I've been married to Wilma for 17 years and we have two children, our daughter Ashley and our son Quentin. We are an "Airline Family," I work for Southwest Airlines and Wilma works for United Airlines, she's been there for 28 yrs and does not plan to leave anytime soon, plus, due to my work schedule the kids keep her on the go.

ASHLEY & QUENTIN
Ashley is on the local high school's drill team called the "High Steppers." Quentin is the musician of the family, he is in the school band, he used to play the trombone and now has switched to percussions. Quentin will also start middle school athletics at the beginning of the school year.

NEW CRIB IN CORINTH
For 11 years, we lived north of Dallas in Lewisville, TX. and just moved to our new home in Corinth, TX. in Oct. of ' 05. My parents still live in China, they are both doing fine, they travel north to visit us since all the kids are here in this area.

CHEF SEVILLA IN YOUR HOUSE
My sister Sevilla lives in Frisco, TX. and has her own business where she's a personal chef. Go visit her site and her mouth watering menu www.chefsevilla.com.

HAWK NOTE: We might have to fly in Sevilla for the reunion and have her cook her Mexican Scampi which is Broiled Shrimp on Skewers marinated in a Jalapeno Cilantro Lime Oil. I'd drive all night to Dallas to have some of Sevilla's Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burritos which are Flour tortillas stuffed with chunks of Sweet Potato, Black Beans and Jalapeno Jack Cheese. Go see Sevilla's menu items and I pray you are not hungry or on the HAWK LOSER diet.

BEE AN AMERICAN IDOL
My brother Bee (Tray) lives in Keller, TX. Bee just recently won the internet version of American Idol called: American Idol Underground. He won first place in the Faith-Based category with a song he wrote, produced and sang. To play Bee's winning song click here "Praise His Holy Name" and listen and check out his website: http://www.beeguillory.com.

HAWKS' OWN TUSKEGEE AIRMAN
When I have time, I study the history of "The Tuskegee Airmen," the all black WWII fighter pilots. I have had the good fortune of meeting several of the Tuskegee Airmen, many of them on a personal level. With dedication and lots of hard work we now have a local Tuskegee Airmen Chapter in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area...I am proud to say that I am the Vice President of that Chapter.

BASKETBALL HAS ALWAYS BEEN MY GAME...
I also still play basketball three to four days a week, some things you just can't let go... As you can see I stay pretty busy... I'm so looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion.

E-MAIL: airmeng@charter.net

Click to read: Gordon Meets the Tuskegee Airmen in Dallas
Photo of Tuskegee Airmen in Dallas

Click for a history lesson: Who Were the Tuskegee Airmen?

JO ANNE HORN LEGER

CURRENT STATUS
I am working as an Official Court Reporter for a District Court in Liberty and Chambers County. We hear felony criminal cases and civil litigation.

I LIKE TO MOVE IT, MOVE IT
I moved to Dallas after high school and went to court reporting school. I graduated court reporting school in 1988. I then continued to live and work in Dallas for several years doing freelance court reporting, i.e., depositions, medical board hearings, etc. I then moved to Little Rock, Arkansas and worked for a freelance court reporting firm. (No, I never ran into the Clintons while I was there).

LIFE ON A BOAT
I then returned to Dallas for a short time and then decided to move to the Houston/Clear Lake area. A lot of my friends during this time period were avid sailors, so I moved again and went to live on a boat in the Florida Keys. Although it was wonderful in the Florida Keys, reality finally set in and I knew it was time to get back into the real world.

CLOSED CAPTIONING FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED
Once again, I moved back to the Houston/Clear Lake area and worked as a freelance court reporter and deputy official reporter. I also got married and divorced during this time period, but it was quick and uneventful. I then was contacted by some folks up in the Dallas area that wanted me to do closed-captioning for one of the Houston television stations, and I did that for several years before making my next move.

The next move was Rapid City, South Dakota, which lasted about seven months, and then I came back to the Houston area until I got the job where I am currently.

ARMAND, 7 DOGS & A MULE
I married a wonderful man in October of 2004. Deciding that I would finally be staying in one location, my husband Armand and I bought a house in Liberty County with enough acreage for his seven dogs and one mule. Of course, the number of dogs keeps changing due to unforeseen circumstances, but I'm trying to keep it at a minimum.

I do not have any children and actually didn't have time for them with all of the moving I did, but Armand does have a beautiful daughter that recently got married.

SQUIRREL SEASON
My husband likes to hunt and fish and hunt and hunt and hunt! He is definitely a woodsman and likes boar hunting, deer hunting, bear hunting...basically all hunting.

PLEASE NOTE: He got to pick our wedding date so that it would be a date that he would remember. He picked October 1st because it was opening day of squirrel season and it was a date he wouldn't forget. (I'm not kidding - you should hear how we met)

PARENTS, BROTHER & SISTERS
My parents divorced after 30+ years. My dad still lives in China and has remarried. My mother hasn't had very good luck with men and just divorced husband number four. My brother William is still married to his high school sweetheart, Delana, and they have three children, Julia, Dalton and Royce, and they live down the road from dad. My older sister, Sharron, is married and living in Orange, no kids. My younger sister, Theresa, is married (presently) and has a daughter named Caylen, and they live in Westlake, Louisiana.

SPARE TIME ACTIVITIES
I don't have a lot of spare time. I am very involved in the Texas Court Reporting Association and will be a Board of Director in June of this year, and I am still active in one of the local court reporting associations. Most of my time is spent doing association work or court records. When I get the chance, I like to go to the casino with friends or me and Armand will take a quick weekend trip to get away.

MESSAGES...
I was unable to make the previous reunion, but I am looking forward to our 20th. I will try to find all of the photos that I have from grade school and beyond of classmates.

E-MAIL: BACRATjojo@aol.com

JANICE MARROU

Henderson Jr. High History Teacher

34 YEARS AT HJ
I am still teaching at H-J High School. I just finished my 34th year with the district. I still enjoy teaching, so I guess I will continue until it is no longer fun. I have been teaching World History A.P., regular W.H., and Psychology/Sociology.

A.P. means Advanced Placement. Kids take the course and take an exam from the College Board at the end of the year and if they do well enough, get college credit.

We have decided to change things up a little, now that Sophomores take W.H. We are suspending WHAP, and adding Pre-A.P. W.H., and Pre-A.P. W. Geography.

HOBBIES OF A HISTORY BUFF
I still love to read; knit and crochet from time to time, and I began painting about 12 years ago. I started out painting roses in oils, then moved on to landscapes in acrylics, and now I paint abstracts. ( Celena, your work is Fabulous!!!)

NIECES AND NEPHEWS
I have 5 nephews and 1 niece. Chris is a Senior architect student at Texas Tech., Stephen is going to be a Junior at Texas, Anthony will be a Junior at A & M, Kevin will be a Senior at Cinco Ranch High in Katy, and Thompson will be in 7th grade, and Molly will be in 4th grade in Austin.

MORE THAN 4000 ADOPTED HAWKS
I still adopt you all when you come to my class, so I guess I have about 4,000 kids, now! I was used to teaching with former students, about one-third of the district's teachers, I know or taught. I remember how much fun I had teaching you all and really look forward to seeing you when you come back!

See ya'll soon, Janice Marrou

E-Mail: jmarrou@hjisd.net

FIRST GRADE PICTURES

SUSAN COPE JAROS

POST GRADUATION
After HJ graduation, I went to Lamar U. and after ten years completed a bachelor’s degree in Sociology while working full-time for a Cardiologist and Heart Monitor Lab, still maintaining my social status as a full time partier and working very hard to raise a very low GPA from first semester where I thought cutting classes meant F’s just went away. Not my proudest moment. After receiving my degree, I applied to law school and was accepted, to my dismay. Opted to go to graduate school instead for Social Work.


PROUDEST MOMENT
My most proudest moment was walking the stage to receive my Master’s Degree in Social Work with honors. I didn’t think I could achieve an advanced degree nor get to the level I am now as a Psychotherapist, but did despite that thought. I lived in San Antonio for six years and worked as a Clinical Social Worker in an Outpatient Psychiatry Program for Bexar (pronounced “bear”) County, mostly with indigent, residents. Do I have some stories to tell!

SADDEST EXPERIENCE
My saddest experience was losing my father to cancer nine years ago. He was only 55 years old. While I was living in San Antonio, I flew back and forth to China and Houston to help with his treatments for eleven months until he lost his life. I was very saddened but he was very stoic throughout his ordeal and made me very proud of him for his endurance.

WHERE THE BOYS ARE
San Antonio is an excellent place to live, but not if you are single. After six years, ALL of my friends from graduate school got married and started having babies. My social outlet as a smart single woman quickly dried up so I moved to Houston to be closer to friends and family. I had a feeling if I were going to ever get married, Houston would be the place I’d meet him. And, I did.

DREAM BOAT
One New Year’s Eve, 4.5 years ago I dragged myself off my sofa, reluctantly, and went to a party out in Pearland or somewhere off the Loop where I nearly had a panic attack because there were no streetlights and I had no idea where I was. I finally got to the party and met a guy who turned out to be an artist from Los Angeles.

I talked his head off, he went back to LA, twelve days later, he moved to Houston, into my house, and we haven’t been apart since. My husband has been the best thing that has ever happened to me. He is my best friend and we love being together and hanging out. Like CJ’s man, he adores me and makes me feel like the most loved woman in the world.

On a slow day, we talk only about ten times on the phone. He makes me laugh on a daily basis and is the funniest person I know and the most handsome, of course. Did I say I am lucky to have him?

BEATING HURRICANE RITA
We married last year three days before Hurricane Rita. We had everything arranged for the Saturday Rita hit, but cancelled the reception and honeymoon and opted to still go to the little museum chapel and tie the knot. Both our parents drove in to be with us, as did my best girlfriend and my husband’s brother and his family to witness our union.

My husband cried the whole time and you can see the tears if you look closely at one of the pics I’ve included of that day. Our small but loving wedding party drove many, many hours to get back to their homes despite the looming hurricane, but wouldn’t have done it any other way.

My parents drove back China and it took 3.5 hours, normally from Houston it takes only 90 minutes. My maid of honor drove back to Conroe and it took 6 hours, which normally takes only one hour. We are very grateful for their support and love. Since we didn’t have a reception or a honeymoon (Wilma hit and damaged the part of Mexico we were going to), we’re heading to Palm Springs for a mini-moon.

FROM LA ARTIST TO TEXAS OIL MAN
My husband works for Chevron Corporation as a Project Manager. He grew up in Pittsburgh, moved to Los Angeles several years ago where he received his Fine Arts degree, and practiced as a successful abstract painter for ten plus years. His transition into the corporate world was difficult for him as well as adjusting to Southeast, Texas from the beautiful ocean and his friends. His friends, now, are all of my friends, who are female and he loves every one of them! Most all HJ alum, I might add.

SALVATION ARMY & THE TRAUMA CENTER
Once I got to Houston, I worked for the Salvation Army Family Residence Center (aka, Homeless Shelter) and found it was the hardest job I ever did. Mostly I had to teach adults how to live like adults. HA! Like I had any room telling them how to run their lives!

I ended up at Memorial Hermann Hospital in The Medical Center working as a family liaison in the Trauma ICU for 3.5 years. When you see the red helicopter flying to auto accidents, the injured were flown in to our hospital, which is one of two level one trauma centers in the city (the other one is Ben Taub).

I would receive the families of these victims and sit with them if their loved one didn’t make it or help them be with their loved one in the ICU for visits and updates from the physicians. Very sad and very fulfilling. I had coffee with Dr. Red Duke just about every day. My job ended this past January and now I am focusing on opening up my own private practice as a psychotherapist being my own boss.

AUNT SUSAN
I have a beautiful niece who just turned 14 this year. She is tall, blonde, blue eyed and sassy. She has three other sisters who I claim as nieces as well. My mother and step-father still live in China, as does my step-mother.

I’ve become the Aunt of two adorable kids on my husband’s side of the family. My niece is 12 and nephew is 10.
I am the mother of one, Sachi, our beautiful kitty.
I am the Godmother of four between two friends.
I am the “Aunt” to three: Ditto the Hole-Patrol Cat and Stetson, the most beautiful boy in the universe (we don’t call him dog, though, he thinks he’s human) and the dog called Boy.

DRINKIN' RITAS WITH GAL PALS
In my free time, I enjoy keeping up with old friends, drinking rita’s with my best gal pals, working out, and hanging with my husband and his family. The thing you may not know about me is my nickname is Chicken. That is a story for another time.

The most amazing thing to me is how close our HJ alum seems to be (still). I am awed at how many of HJ Hawks are on board for the 20th. I love the bio’s and catching up with old friends. It will be nice to see everyone.

E-MAIL: susan.jaros@gmail.com

CARRIE GRIFFIN FRASER

A SAN ANTONIO ROSE…
...with a dandelion heart. We moved to San Antonio proper in 1999 from Ft. Worth. My husband has climbed the corporate legal ladder to managing counsel with Valero Energy – the largest US refiner that bought Diamond Shamrock a few years ago and that has dictated where we live. We decided to leave behind the 60K+ school district in the big city for our own little paradise in the southern part of the Texas hill country. We have whitetail and axis deer in our yard on a daily basis.

Right now we're smack in the middle between San Antonio and Boerne, in a place called Fair Oaks Ranch. I teach in Boerne ISD, a large single high school 4A town. We're about half-way between downtown San Antonio and Fredericksburg, which suits us just fine.

A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE
After a three year stint at A&M, I returned to Lamar to finish up my incredibly UNmarketable history degree. Nothing like paying for your own college education to make you hate Ramen noodles and Wal-Mart brand cola.

After graduation, I worked in the archives division of the Texas State Library with the same enthusiasm as Don Mathis at HJHS. That was followed by an interesting gig working as a staff assistant for two Harvard professors in Cambridge. Talk about culture shock, but in a good way.

Upon returning to Texas, I received my teacher certification and have been in the classroom since then. So far I've tortured kids in elementary AND middle school language arts classes. Get this – they STILL teach The Diary of Anne Frank in 8th grade English!

IT'S A SMALL WORLD, INDEED
My husband, Jason, graduated in '86 from Hamshire Fannett high school, but we didn't get around to meeting until we were 23. I wish I could say we met in church or while doing some worthwhile volunteer work, but it was in a bar. Anybody remember Hunter's in Beaumont? I cringed while telling that story to his dyed-in-the-wool Baptist family.

We married two years later and spent the next three years in Boston where he attended Harvard Law School. Our first daughter, Annie, was born there in 1995. Jason did the big law firm grind in DFW for a few years before taking an in-house counsel position with Valero Energy. We added a second daughter, Callie, to complete our foursome in 2000.

ANNIE
My grand plans of having an almost 6 year age gap did NOT work since they do love to squabble. Annie is shy, sweet and studious, just like her parents. She looks more like Jason's side of the family than mine.

CALLIE
We're still wondering if they gave us the wrong baby the second time around when we came home from the hospital, because Callie is a bossy extrovert that never shuts up. She, too, looks like Jason but has my (formerly) chubby cheeks. And how can I forget the three feline litter box junkies we saved from the humane society.

GYPSIES, TRAMPS AND THIEVES
OK, just the gypsy part. My husband insists that I have to be part gypsy with some nomadic Indian in me somewhere since I love to move. In 13 years of marriage, we have lived in two condos and seven houses. We (I) recently decided to sell the house we spent the last two years remodeling in order to build a new home in the town of Boerne, just north of our current location in Fair Oaks Ranch.

As much as I love Texas, I think my favorite locale was Cambridge, Massachusetts. We had record snow for two of the three years we were there and the fall foliage IS as beautiful as they say. It wasn't "home", but it was a nice change of pace for this small town girl.

IS THIS A CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER OR WHAT
Hmmm, what else is there to tell? Like all parents, most of our free time revolves around the girls. Sports seasons and various lessons keep us busy. We've been blessed with good health and are happy to have found a church we really enjoy. We travel when we can and don't get to see family as much as we would like.

My mother is still in Beaumont, though plotting her retirement out here next year in my backyard (really!) since we're building her a guest house on the other side of the pool. My sister Dana, HJ c/o '88, is married to Travis Riggs (remember Coach Mickey Riggs? his son) and they live in Lake Charles with their two children.

... AND THE FAT LADY SINGS
I think the biggest change folks will notice at the reunion is that I'm much more social and not the shy girl some might remember from high school. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone this fall. If you make it out our way on vacation (Sea World, the Alamo, Riverwalk, Hill country antiquing, etc), make sure you look me up. With my summer off from teaching, I would be happy to play hostess. My husband says I'm a recreational shopper, so I'm always up for hitting the outlet malls in San Marcos, too.

Y'all take care now and keep in touch!

E-MAIL: CFRASER1@satx.rr.com

KAY ABERNATHY

Hardin-Jefferson Teacher of Office Administration, Word Processing, Scrapbook, Parliamentary Procedure

LEAVING HJ (1992-1997)
For me, as much as I loved HJ and still do, the best thing I ever did in my career was to leave and work with Daryl Ann Hansen (now Borel) in Beaumont ISD as their first “Instructional Technology Specialist” for two years before moving to Port Neches-Groves ISD as their first “Technology Director” for three years.

CHRISTA MCAULIFFE AWARD
In 1991 a colleague and I were awarded a fellowship for the Christa McAuliffe Educator Award given by the National Education Association Foundation. The award provided for two weeks at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California with 23 other teachers across the US. We developed curriculum materials for teachers and students to use in the classroom using telecommunications technology--very new to all of us at that time.

GIVE THE KIDS COMPUTERS
In late May of 1997, I began to work as an education consultant with small K-12 school districts in the area of using computers throughout the whole school -- for administrative tasks and for teaching and learning. "Give them to the kids" is my mantra. Money to network schools was becoming available in Texas, and those small schools had no one to help apply for the money, follow the networking processes from bid writing to installation, nor did they know how to implement training for the whole district.

BRAZOS-SABINE CONNECTION
Jimmy Burke took me to visit the superintendent at Kountze ISD and that was the beginning of my consultant work. Kountze hired me for 80 school days that first year while West Hardin and Hull-Daisetta hired me for an additional 60 days. That was the trick! I was pleased with extra money beyond retirement pay, and the students in those schools had access to digital resources never before available.

The next year we created a consortium for providing more computer access, more robust networks, and continued professional development with Bryan, Calvert, Dayton, Devers, Kountze, Hull-Daisetta and West Hardin ISDs and St. Joseph Catholic Schools in Bryan. We named ourselves the Brazos-Sabine Connection since we were mostly small, rural schools stretching from the Sabine to the Brazos Rivers.

13 MILLION IN GRANTS
Later Hardin-Jefferson, Hamshire-Fannett, Silsbee, Lumberton, West Orange, Little Cypress-Mauriceville ISDs came on board. Together Brazos-Sabine management team and the district leaders have written and implemented grant proposals for those schools totaling $13 million over the eight-year period which is coming to a close June 2006.

HJ COMPUTER FACT
You might find it interesting that we had “dial-up” email at HJHS by 1987, and extensive student use within the VOE classes began about that time.

UT AUSTIN & INTERNET
Before I retired, I went to Austin to The University of Texas where I worked for the Texas Education Network as the Associate Director of Professional Development. The Texas Education Network was the initial Internet connectivity for all of Texas schools and was based at UTAustin.

BEYOND TEXAS
All of this Texas experience eventually led me outside the state to other sections of the country where I worked extensively in the southeastern states. Columbia, South Carolina became my base, and it became evident that I could work there as well and maybe better than I could in Nome. So,I moved to Columbia, SC a year ago and just recently bought a new townhome.

PURSUE YOUR EDUCATION
I completed my Master's Degree in Education Supervision at Lamar University as Jane was graduating from high school in 1988.

At age 50 I decided it was my time to go back to school. I was accepted into the Educational Administration doctorate program at Texas A&M University. It was not until 10 years later, once I had renovated our Nome home, that I completed the doctorate work and can now add an Ed.D. (Doctorate of Education) behind my name.

Last fall I earned the Distance Education Certificate from Western Georgia University, a course of study completely online. Moral of this section is to encourage you to do what you want no matter your age.

COACH ABERNATHY
In 1998 my husband, T. C. Abernathy (Coach Abernathy to you), passed away from a rare plasma cell disease called amyloidosis (much like leukemia but not a cancer). He was diagnosed in September and died on Thanksgiving Day that year. We both had officially retired from Texas schools, but both of us continued to work in what fit us best. He was 59 years old when he died.

NOME HOME
The Abernathy girls, Jill and Jane are both in Houston, living a few blocks away from each other with their families. I see them about once a month on my trips to work in Texas. The Nome house is for sale in case any of you are interested. I completely renovated it in 2001, and it is truly marvelous at this point. Click here to take a peek:
BUY MY NOME HOME

JILL
Jill is married to Tim O’Connor, both TAMU graduates and both are Certified Public Accountants (CPAs). They have two sons, Thomas, age 7 and named for his grandfather; and Lucas, age 4, who looks more like his grandfather than any of the others.

JANE
Jane contracts with a real estate appraisal firm and works in residential appraisals. She has two degrees in Finance and Real Estate from TAMU and her husband Patrick Richard is a Baylor graduate with degrees in Accounting and Finance. They have two children: Clay, age 4, named Clayton for his grandfather’s second name and Charlotte Jill who is now 2.

Although Jill, Tim, and Patrick are all CPAs, I continue to do my own taxes.

WHAT RETIRED PEOPLE DO
In 2003 at the suggestion of my Houston internist, I joined a gym in Beaumont and began regular weekly workouts with weights and aerobics. Always a walker, I try to walk at least 45-minutes each day that I do not get to the gym. The Firm, which originated in Columbia, SC, is my new gym as I continue those exercise activities here.

Since TC's death, amyloidosis support groups have formed across the US. I attended a meeting in Chicago last July and have been asked to co-chair a new group being formed for the Carolinas and surrounding states.

I am also volunteering at the campaign office of Robert Barber, a South Carolina friend running for Lieutenant Governor on the Democratic ticket. It is a year long adventure since he is unopposed on the Democratic side and will meet the Republican opponent in November this year. http://www.robertbarber2006.com/

IN MY NEXT 20 YEARS
First, I hope to be with you on your 40th reunion. Next, I hope to continue work with teachers and administrators as they struggle to use computers now in the schools with students in all of their academic courses.

We have spent billions on computers for schools in the country, and research is showing that students who use computers daily in schools achieve more than those students who do not.

I have a current interest in the development of teacher preparation online courses with the Lamar University staff. I also continue to work with schools in South Carolina and Georgia.

E-MAIL: kabernathy@sc.rr.com

TODD JOHNSON

FARMER IN THE DELL
I live in Tennessee, Watertown that is. I’ve been at Dell Computers for 7 years and now work in Engineering Maintenance. I work on conveyor systems that move the PC's around the facility. But 75% of my time is spent on the engineering layout and installation of that equipment. No, I am not an Engineer by degree.

ONE MAN BAND
Do I still play music?
My trumpet, yes sometimes for my church.
My guitar, yes for pleasure and church.
My bass, yes for church, but mainly teach others so they can play for church.

GOOD OLE COUNTRY BOY
About my life and conditions...I have never been married, working on a girlfriend, no kids, but living happily in Tennessee in a job I feel like is purely a blessing. I have a fairly large home on 6 acres that allows family to come up and visit. Tennessee is such a beautiful state, especially after living in the flat, drab area where we were raised.

HOW I WISH DALLAS WAS IN TENNESSEE
I go home twice a year, I actually visited Sour Lake a few weeks ago. I usually work around the house to help out mom and dad since they are getting up in age. I still buy rice from Tammie’s dad. There is nothing like fresh rice. Texas was hot and muggy, good to be back home in Tennessee.

ALL THE JOHNSON BOYS
My brothers have families. Kevin is divorced with 2 kids. He still writes music and messes around Nashville with writers and singers when he can. He works in Georgia now for a pipeline company and doesn't get to Nashville as much any more. He still would love to have a career in music someday.

My older brother Jeff is married with 2 boys and works here at Dell, I got him a job last year, about March. And, Jason is married with 3 girls.

UNBELIEVABLE
And by the way, 20 years don't seem realistic.

Editor's note: A 30 something bachelor with 6 acre ranch and roomy house in Tennesse. Stable, steady well paying job at a successful computer company. Plays music for the church on the weekends and just a good ole country boy from Texas...
Also don't seem realistic!

E-mail: todd_johnson@dell.com
HAWK OF THE WEEK, May 20, 2006

CAROL JOY BENOIT ALBRECHT

SERVING HJISD FOR 15 1/2 YEARS
My junior year at Lamar University, I married Mike Clifton. We have 2 daughters, Laura Leigh (13) and Anna Rebecca (10) that I am incredibly proud of. I've been teaching for Hardin Jefferson for 15 1/2 years. I taught 1st grade for 10 years and I've been the Reading Specialist at China Elementary for the past five. For three years, I worked with Region V in Beaumont training Dyslexia teachers in our region (2002, 2003, 2004). I've served on just about every kind of committee for our district.

OTHER EXPEDITIONS
I also teach catechism for our Catholic Parish in China, where I've been for 38 years. I coach my youngest daughter's age group in Twin County Little Dribblers. So it's nothing unusual to see me headed somewhere on any given afternoon with seven girls in my Expedition, only because it seats eight and I have to drive! Otherwise, I'd probably have more kids. I'm still trying to figure out if I even LIKE kids... (just joking!.....no I'm not!...)

STAR SPANGLED LAURA LEIGH
Laura Leigh Clifton (13): "My Brown-Eyed Girl", Tall, thick, athletic... favors both her dad and me, but has her dad's drive and determination. She's got a dynamic voice, and has sung The Star Spangled Banner on several occasions for different events. She goes to Henderson Middle School and she'll be in the 8th grade.

ANNA REBECCA IS MINI-ME
Anna Rebecca Clifton (10): Pretty much my "Mini-Me", long blonde hair and blue eyes. She's got a huge heart and has all the brains in the family! She's on my Twin County Junior All Star Little Dribblers Team. She goes to Sour Lake Elementary, and she will be in the 5th grade.

TRANSITIONS
I was married to Mike Clifton for 17 years. Got a divorce. Swore I'd never marry again, or not for a loooong time. Two weeks after my divorce was final, I went out for drinks with a friend of mine . Four months later, I drove to Eureka Springs, Arkansas with him and married him.

He is the love of my life. We are together every second of every day, unless we are at work! People make fun of us because we are so crazy about each other.

HOW TO TREAT A LADY
My new husband, Michael Albrecht (pronounced "Albright"), went to school in Beaumont, then played baseball for Sam Houston. He's quite a bit older than me, but I don't even think about it at all. He's tall, dark, and handsome; he knows how to treat a lady and is the best dancer in the world. We have all of the same exact interests, so far... except he likes his coffee way hotter than I like mine and with too much sugar! He adores my girls, and they love him. Their daddy is still a part of our lives.


STEP-GRANNY
Michael also has two handsome sons (24 & 25) who married sisters and who BOTH just made me a step-grandmother!! Aspen Alyse Albrecht (5 months) and Gavin Michael Albrecht (3 months). Ha! The babies will call me "C.J.", thank you very much!

AND A ZOO, TOO
We have a gorgeous, sweet black lab named Maya. I also have a precious white Maltese named Chloe' and I take her everywhere I can. We have a huge, fat, furry, long haired siamese looking cat named Duchess.

CHINA'S OWN PRINCE WILLIAM CHARLES
My little brother, Chuck Benoit (35) is doing very well and he's married and they have a little boy (10 months) named William Charles Benoit. He lives next door to my parents in China. They are doing well, loving being grandparents and have enjoyed hearing me give the low-down on my classmates.

CLEARING MY PLATE
When I'm not hauling a truckload of silly girls to the HOT Nome Gym, you can find me cooking with my husband (who is a fantastic cook!) and doing things with our kids. Every year, I say I'm going to "clear my plate" and slow down, but I add a minimum of one major responsibility a year.

WHILE I'M DREAMING...
I just want to be able to retire, one day, and enjoy life as long as I can with my husband and children. I want for my girls to grow up to be strong, independent, successful women. And I hope to keep special friends and relatives close to me forever. And while I'm dreaming, I want my high school figure back.

I'm so excited to see everyone and I hope that everyone can make it in October.

LEANNE HAYES PICKENS

AFTER H-J
I worked as a floral designer while attending college. I went to Lamar for a couple of years, but couldn't decide on a major. Then I started cosmetology school as a hair stylist specializing in color. The chemicals started making me ill, so the doctor said I had to stop.

Soon after, I married my wonderful and supporting husband who puts up with me no matter what. I went back to work as a floral designer, then had our son and stop working to be a full-time mom. I do freelance floral arranging, weddings and special occasion floral designs.

SUBSTITUTE HAWK & BAND BOOSTER
I also worked five years as substitute teacher for HJISD. Currently, I’m just enjoying not having to work and keeping up with my husband and son's busy schedules. I’m also involved in Band Boosters and sometime work concessions at football and basketball games.

BCP WELDER
My husband I met while we were still in high school, he graduated from BCP. He works for Chicago Bridge and Iron Beaumont Division as a QAQC welding inspector for the petrochemical companies subcontracting.

HONORS BAND & BOWLING SCHOLARSHIP
Our only child and 14 year old son currently attends Henderson Middle School ( I am sure most of you remember that place), where he is the first chair Alto Sax player in the Honors Band and Jazz Band.

He also bowls on a scholarship league at Crossroads in Beaumont and attends many competitions. His average is about 170, but bowls over 200 if there are one or more girls on the opposing team. He can't let the girls show him up.

UP OUR ALLEY
We spend most of our weekend at the Crossroads Bowling Alley or some bowling alley around Texas. The craziest thing we have done lately was go to Disney World in Florida and I got up the nerve to ride Rock ’n’ Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror. I’m very scared of heights, but I rode them both twice and survived.

COMMUTING TO MEMPHIS
We have been through a lot in the past few years. My husband has been traveling between here and Memphis, Tenn., for almost four years. I know everyone asks: why didn’t we just move? To make a long story short, both of our families live in here, we knew it wouldn't be permanent and I didn't want to raise our son in Memphis (the schools suck).

WAKE UP CALL
On Thanksgiving morning 2005, my husband who was in town for the holidays (thank GOD!) had a heart attack, just minor but it was a wake up call. He had to have 3 stints and feels better than he has in a long time. Anyway this caused him to go cold turkey on the tobacco dipping. Tobacco withdrawal is pure heck for the whole family, believe me. He’d been dipping since he was 13, so I am very proud of him for quitting and sticking to it.

MY OLDER SISTER
My older sister Shelley Hayes Mitchell Scott (HJ class of 83) lives in Silsbee. She teaches special education at the elementary in Silsbee. Has four kids and sometimes lives in Town Bluff at her other house directly across from Dam B. (Barlow Historic Mansion currently being restored after Rita).

CHANGING PLANS
We still live outside Sour Lake next door to my mom and are planning the build of our new house. Although hurricane Rita helped with some of the clearing of the property, it also caused more changes in the structural stability of the new house plans. My husband being a contractor also keeps making changes to the plans, so it is unknown if we will ever get it built.

E-MAIL: lk3pck@yahoo.com

MELISSA BYRD MCKAGUE

STICKING IT OUT FOR 18 YEARS
I suppose the strangest thing that has happened in the last 20 years is that I married a pretty neat man shortly after graduation. We then developed a strong dislike for each other - but remained married somehow - fell back in love and are currently celebrating over 18 years of marriage!

INTERIOR DESIGNER IN HOUSTON
After 16 years of marriage, we found out we were expecting our first child which was quite a surprise considering we never prevented children. Our lives were taking on drastic changes as I had recently taken an interior design job in Houston while finishing my degree at LU. I was getting up at 5:00 am to get to Houston and then not getting home until after 8:00 pm. It was a tiring process, but I was becoming a successful designer and felt it was a necessary evil to help ensure that success.

100% MOMMY
Shortly before we began our move, I found out I was pregnant. Our little guy changed everything because I had no desire to raise him in Houston. So, what do I do today? I am 100% mommy! I still dabble with design and do some contract work, but am completely happy with mommyhood. I am most proud that we made our marriage last and that we have a beautiful, mischievous son out of it.

T-BALL AND TUNES
Aiden is 3 years old and looks just like his Daddy. I have never heard anyone say he resembles me at all (ok, except maybe for the ears). I’d like to say he is a sweetie and never gets into trouble, but he is a tough little cowboy that gives us all a run for our money. We are just now getting into T-ball and it looks like he might be a talented lefty. I have never been a sports enthusiast, but am doing my best to learn all of the sport lingo I can.

Aiden also loves music of any kind and often has a guitar in his hand. He will stop anything he’s doing if he hears a few musical notes!

HUBBY AND HOBBY
My husband, Aaron is a sales manager for a local industrial company and manages the Beaumont, Houston and Dallas offices. We are finally happy in the lives that we’ve built for ourselves and have a good time together. We spend a lot of time at our church serving in the childrens ministry and the young marrieds. We also enjoy photography. I have photographed a few weddings and have taken many bridal portraits, and Aaron is always close by.

FURRY FRIENDS
All of the little, white, furry dogs have long since passed away, but I continue to live in a zoo. Our family belongs to 2 dogs and 3 cats. Pahco, is the elder of the family and at age 18, he rightly deserves the title. Aaron and I traded a waterbed for him 2 months after we were married and he was our “only child” for quite awhile.

POTTY TRAINING BOUDREAUX TOO
Boudreaux Too, is the newest member and is a 5 month old golden retriever. I have no idea what I was thinking by bringing a puppy into a home with a toddler. Needless to say, we keep the wet wipes handy. I think they are both potty trained now. Hallelujah!

STRAY CATS AND BABY SQUIRRELS
As for the cats, well, they tolerate us and we tolerate them. They are Xena, Gabriel, and supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, or Callie for short. Don’t check the spelling on that! I continue to have a soft heart and pick up any stray animal I find, convinced that they crossed my path for a reason. So, as Aaron rolls his eyes and cusses about having to feed another mouth, I prepare bedding, etc. I have even taken in baby squirrels until they could be released.

MOM AND DAD
My parents continue to live in Beaumont. My Dad has finally spent a buck to build my mom a home which makes us all happy. It is modest, but it is nice. I think he really did it for Aiden!

BACKYARDIGANS
You will most likely find us at the nearest park or Chuck E Cheese if Aiden has anything to say about our activities of the day. Otherwise, we like to hang around home jamming to the Backyardigans or Johnny and the Sprites. If Aaron and I get away, you might catch us at the blackjack tables in Vegas or laying on the beach in Florida…without the Backyardigans!!

LOOKING AHEAD
We have been extremely blessed and are looking forward to the possibility of another child in the near future. After viewing other profiles, Aaron continues to dream that I’ll have a body like well, um, Gina! My ambitions are high, but not that high. (Gina, you look amazing!)

Looking forward to a great reunion!

E-MAIL: mcm223@gt.rr.com