Remembering Reed Lockhoof

A wonderful rememberance of Reed Lockhoof written by one of his colleagues in the Texas Attorney General's office was printed in the November, 2008, "Office of the Attorney General Employee Newsletter". Sadly, many of us did not have the opportunity to get to know Reed and his family after we graduated from high school. This remembrance is a beautiful window into Reed's life as he became a husband, father, and lawyer. We are honored to have been given permission to share Reed's story with all of our readers, Reed's classmates from the CHS Class of 1963.

The article is reprinted here without the accompanying photos. Howver, the actual newsletter article along with photos can be viewed in pdf format which we are unable to publish here. If you would like to have access to the pdf format, email Nicki

O f f i c e o f t h e A t t o r n e y G e n e r a l Emp l o y e e

Newsl e t t e r •

G r e g A b b o t t A t t o r n e y G e n e r a l o f T e x a s

Remembering Reed Lockhoof

On September 27, 2008, the state's law enforcement community lost one of its fiercest advocates when Reed Lockhoof, Assistant Attorney General with the Law Enforcement Defense Division for over 30 years, passed away unexpectedly. With much appreciated assistance from his gracious wife Nancy, both current and former co-workers, and many close friends, we share a few of our many wonderful memories and experiences with a truly remarkable man.

Reed was born and raised in Childress, Texas, a small panhandle town between Wichita Falls and Amarillo. His father had been a bombardier pilot and had trained pilots for WWII at the Army airfield in Childress. His grandfather was also a pilot and established Lockhoof Air Port in the 1920s. Reed would later continue the family interest in flying and had actually obtained an appointment to the Air Force Academy before learning that his size and color blindness would prohibit him from becoming an Air Force pilot. While Reed was growing up, his father managed a local department store and later became involved in politics, becoming a city councilman and mayor of Childress. His tenacity and leadership skills would rub off on his young son. Sometime around the age of 13, Reed discovered the game of golf and developed a passion for the sport that he would maintain for the rest of his life. In fact, over the years, golf would occupy so much of his time, that he referred to it as his "fickle mistress!" In his senior year of high school, the Childress H.S. Golf Team won the state championship at Austin's Muny Golf Course as Reed took third overall. He would later walk on and play with NTSU's golf team and won the Texas Tech Law School's Golf Tourney in freezing rain. As far as Reed was concerned, every day was a good day for golf!

Reed was a very studious sort in his school days and was acknowledged by his peers as being one of the most intelligent people they knew. His high school English teacher still remembers how bright he was and recalls that he almost always had that "Cheshire Cat" grin on his face - as if he was aware of something no-one else was! He said that he played a few pickup basketball games against Reed, calling him a "gentle giant," as he towered over most others but wasn't nearly as physically aggressive as he could have been, which Mr. Morris truly
appreciated! He said he had a feeling about Reed even then, that Reed would grow up to be a "good man." Mr. Morris could not have been more prophetic.

One thing about Reed that just about everyone who ever met him will tell you is that he had an infectious laugh. When you heard it, you just had to laugh with him! (And if you didn't hear him laugh, it meant that you were nowhere in the vicinity, because it was definitely a "hearty" laugh!) In fact, Reed's laugh led to his own self proscribed "greatest achievement" - meeting his lovely wife, Nancy. Nancy grew up in the even smaller town of Hamlin, Texas, approximately 100 miles from Childress, and she was a year behind Reed in school. Of course, 100 miles away in the 1960s might as well have been across the country as today's technology wasn't even being dreamed of yet. This is where fate and destiny created yet another divine intervention. They both happened to be on the Student Councils of their respective schools and were attending a state meeting in Houston. At the conclusion of the meeting, a dinner/dance was held, during which Nancy "happened" to hear Reed's bellowinglaughter from across the room. She decided she just had to meet the source of such glee and made it a point to do so!
So began a love affair that evolved into a lasting marriage of 43 years producing son "Flip," who became Reed's best buddy and golf partner in over 150 tournaments.

After graduation from high school, and unable to attend the Air Force Academy as previously mentioned, Reed enrolled at North Texas State in Denton. Nancy followed a year later, and they were married in 1965. Reed had known for quite sometime that he wanted to be a lawyer. Aware of his keen wit and ability to argue any point, even his high school friends agree he was "destined to practice law." He graduated from NTSU early, then pondered where he would attend law school. He was interested in UT but preferred a smaller classroom setting. He
heard that Texas Tech was organizing a law school but it wasn't open yet, so Reed and Nancy headed to Lubbock to set up house and wait for them. Reed worked at a little nine hole par 3 golf course called "Treasure Island," where a lighted course allowed for night golf! Nancy, in the meantime, became pregnant with Flip, Tech's law school opened and Reed was admitted to the very first class! A very busy time for the young Lockhoof family! As anyone who has attended law school or lived with someone who did can attest, that first year is pretty chaotic without the added distractions of a young wife and a brand new baby! Reed was a little disappointed when he discovered that all 72 members of that first Tech Law School class would be attending classes together as he had hoped for smaller classroom numbers, but again, he persevered, even though classes were held in an old Army barracks. Reed (and his new family) not only survived law school, he conquered the Bar exam with the fifth highest score in the state!

Soon afterward, he took his first job as an attorney in public service with the Wichita County District Attorney's Office. He loved the work, but after only a year, Nancy was presented with a job offer from the Travis County Extension Service. She originally turned it down, not wanting Reed to have to leave his new job, but he didn't want her to miss out on a great opportunity, so they packed up and moved to Austin. This act of selflessness eventually proved to be a huge benefit for the citizens of Texas, particularly for our law enforcement officers. Reed tried his hand at private practice for a short time but soon discovered that chasing cases was not his strong suit. John Hill was the AG at the time, and he offered Reed a job in Law Enforcement Defense (LED). He quickly accepted and the rest, as they say, is history. Contemplating his future after working in LED for a few years, he advised Nancy that he really, really enjoyed what he was doing and asked if she thought it would be okay for him to stay, with the realization that they would never be very wealthy. In true Lockhoof fashion, Nancy answered "that's not why I married you!" and "of course, you can stay!"

Over the years, Reed honed his courtroom style much like one of the knives in his prized collection. He had a sharp wit and an uncanny ability to reduce boxes of research, reports, discovery and pleadings to a very simple issue, the base on which he developed a trial strategy. He absolutely loved doing courtroom demonstrations, much to the chagrin of many a judge. If he could find a way to work one in, he would, and would often have to convince the judge that it was critical to his case. He understood that juries have a tendency to get bored with testimony and that a good demonstration could get them on the edge of their seats to help them understand why an officer may have been forced to do something that, on the surface, appeared to be overly reactive.

Once, in an attempt to show how quickly an officer can be forced to react, Reed grabbed Karen Matlock's brand new Dooney Bourke purse and slammed it into the court reporter's desk, scaring everyone and garnering an admonishment from the judge. He was never afraid to go to jail for his client, provoking many in the office to ask him if his toothbrush was packed when he was called to the judge's chamber!

LED AAG David Harris recalls a DPS case in Houston that was brought by a lawyer who had been arrested for DWI along with his 3 passengers. Because the trooper had already used both sets of handcuffs, he used the plastic flex cuffs on the other two, including the lawyer, who testified that his skull had been fractured by the trooper because he had mouthed off to him and the trooper retaliated. The trooper testified that the lawyer, who was seated behind him in the patrol car, reached over his head, choking the trooper with the plastic cuffs and forcing the trooper to grab his long handled flashlight to strike at him over his shoulder. The judge clearly didn't believe the trooper as he interrupted his testimony and stated that there was no way the trooper could have fractured someone's skull swinging at him in such a fashion. It appeared to those observing that the jury was in agreement with the judge. During his closing argument, Reed took the flashlight from the evidence table and began walking backward toward the court's blackboard while recounting the incident. Suddenly, he swung the flashlight over his shoulder as the trooper had described, striking the blackboard with a WHACK! The judge jumped up screaming that Reed had better not have broken that blackboard! He did, drawing more ire from the judge, and had to pay for it, but the jury took one look at the large crack in the board and found for the trooper! This is but one example of many where Reed used shock value to persuade a jury that law enforcement officers are faced with critical situations in which they do not have time to consult the policy and procedure manual in order to save the lives of themselves or others.

Another situation occurred in a trial where a university student sued a trooper alleging that he had lost the use of his arms and hands for several months because the officer tightened the cuffs too far. It was obvious that the case hinged on the question of "how tight is too tight?" Reed had the officer put the cuffs on him and then told him to tighten them as tight as he could. Then he told him to lock them tighter still. Once the officer proclaimed that he could not get them any tighter, Reed paraded around the courtroom showing everyone he was still able to move his arms and hands in no apparent pain. The verdict came back for the trooper with Reed keeping his bruised and bleeding wrists under the table!

Reed's demeanor in the office is legendary. He seemed to know something about any subject that came up and usually had a personal experience to relate to it. He was used as a sounding board by countless division employees, many of whom thought of him as the "Dad" they couldn't tell such things to. Reed never really caught on to the current trend of "political correctness." He was actually more of an aberration from the term, but in a refreshing kind of way that probably would not make sense to those who didn't know him. He once told an attorney (who was seven months pregnant) that she should really stay away from the cake and ice cream, that "Karen" only gained 20 pounds during her pregnancy, and that she should really watch it! If anyone else had said it, they might be pushing up daisies, but the attorney remembers being endeared by the comment as a token that she "had arrived!" You generally had to have a little tenure to become the brunt of one of Reed's "comments," and to his credit, he could take it as well as he could dish it out. If you knew Reed, you would know that this particular circumstance was a perfect example of the "pot calling the kettle black!" In an age where people are generally fearful of offending others, if Reed thought there was any area at all in your life that could be improved upon, he would not hesitate to let you know, but he would also tell you how to do it!

He was a creature of habit, showing up every morning with his usual cinnamon roll and Coca-Cola for breakfast, greeting everyone with his own nicknames for them, and later heading back downstairs to K.T.'s for the lunch special and another Coke. Every Christmas, he gave everyone on the staff a "pumpkin roll," a delicacy we each treasured and coveted. Anytime someone's child was selling something for school, he was a willing donor. Many of us still carry a pocketknife he gave us, complete with a knife sharpening demonstration and sometimes a whetstone to boot!

At trial, he always knew where to get the best local fare and liked to load up onchange for his "pocket distraction." When opposing counsel got up to speak, the pocket would start jingling with his mixture of change, paper clips, and any other metal objectshe could rustle up. When co-counsel spoke, the pocket was quiet, leading fellow AAGs to sometimes ask him "if the pocket was ready" before trial. Reed would just get that "cheshire cat" grin on his face and give it a jingle!

One of the areas Reed excelled at giving advice was his medical "expertise," using the "expert" term loosely but not fully in jest, as he had likely, at one time or another, experienced any medical malady you had had. The thing is, he was always right in telling you the best way to treat it, whether it be a pulled muscle, a sore tooth, a bum knee, or some off the wall disease a normal layperson (and some doctors) had never heard of. As Karen Matlock said, he was "a counselor, therapist, doctor and legal consultant to all who dared enter his office," a place veteran LEDDers called "Reed's World." Reed's World was not an "orderly" office for a man who seemed to always have his thoughts together. In fact, a former division chief would have his legal assistant clear the mound of paper, files, and law books off his desk when he was scheduled to be out of the office for a few days. This was a chore not to be relished, as it would be the only time he couldn't find what he wanted upon his return and would let the staff know about it! His chair was probably 20 years old when he first sat in it, and he refused to give it up as he claimed, "it fits me just right," even though it looked like it had been run over by a freight train and dragged several miles.

He never really took to researching via Westlaw, preferring "book copies," but he did finally learn to send email, a practice he often used to publicly torment his favorite co-workers. We loved him for it though! Reed was also the division's personal librarian. He, aptly enough, loved to "read" and his appetite for paperback books was voracious,although he called them "pocketbooks." If you saw him walking down the hall, you would realize why, as he always
had one stuffed in his back pocket. Reed's World had a bookcase where he kept books he had finished, and everyone knew they could find something good to read there. If you were a frequent visitor, he knew your style and would correctly point you to a book you would surely enjoy.

Reed always took the time to truly know a person, everything about them. At his service, his friend Rox Covert spoke. Rox is among the fourth of now five generations of Coverts who have been selling vehicles to Central Texas families for just shy of 100 years. Rox told a story about Reed's 25+ year membership at Austin Country Club. Apparently, Reed liked to hang out at the driving range waiting for members to show up. He would greet them warmly, then start going through their golf bag, picking up each and every club, perhaps admonishing them if their grooves weren't clean, but always checking to see if they had gotten a new golf club. That is "classic Reed" and exemplifies the kind of memory he had. Reed bought several cars from Rox over the years for himself and his family, but if it was for himself, you can bet it was sporty, probably red, and had plenty of power! Rox said Reed didn't really drive fast but he loved speed and anything with 2 doors!

Reed thoroughly enjoyed sharing his infinite experiences and wisdom with others, especially young lawyers. He taught them how to read cases, making sure they didn't just know what the case said, but what it meant, and how that meaning related to the issue in the case they were using it for. Perhaps the most important lesson Reed preached was that a lawyer's credibility was the one thing they had that must be protected at any cost. Karen Matlock says that the
competitiveness of law school tends to teach students to be adversarial in theirrepresentation of their clients, making it difficult for her to change the way she practiced. However, she eventually realized that Reed's way of cooperating with opposing counsel in most instances reduces the stress level and allows a case to proceed to trial, or settlement in some situations, much smoother without reducing an attorney's effectiveness. Complete honesty with the Court was a rule Reed never broke, earning him the reputation of being one of the most ethical lawyers in the state.

Reed's tireless efforts and easy going style kept his clients at ease during the stressful course of their lawsuits, especially during jury trials. His ability to transform a case with problematic facts into favorable verdicts and opinions salvaged many an officer's career. Former DPS narcotics officer David Eldridge said, "Reed was a true friend to law enforcement and a legend in the
Attorney General's Office. He had a huge reputation in state law enforcement circles as being on the "A" team of the AG's Office because he was usually assigned the most difficult and complex cases." Vance Wallace of Texas Parks and Wildlife commented that he "appreciated the comfort, knowledge and experience that Reed offered" and that Reed "was a colorful man of character led by a divine guiding light."

LED Division Chief David Talbot says he was honored to know Reed for more than 30 years, working with him personally for the last five. "He was a passionate litigator who represented the interests of the State of Texas with zeal and excellence, and always with the highest ethical standards. His impact on Texas law, and especially administrative law (in which Reed was Board Certified), cannot be measured. Reed was also an invaluable mentor to our young lawyers, many of whom cut their teeth in the courtroom under Reed's tutelage, and he was a trusted and respected colleague to me, and to our entire division. Reed was always willing and able to share the wealth of his knowledge, his experience, his humor, and insight with all of us. He will be
greatly missed in LEDD."

Yes, Mr. Morris, he "grew up" to be a very good man!

@Work Contributor
Mark Holloway

William "Bill" Bailey

Its been a long time since I thought about Childress High School. I cannot make the reunion because that is in the middle of the semester.

Presently, I am Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Arkansas and my wife, Jean Turner, is a Professor in the same department. We have been in Fayetteville since 1991 and love it here. We are about to become grandparents for the third time in October. Heather and her husband Tim live in Lake Jackson, Texas so we are in Texas regularly. Their two boys, Alex (28 months) and Bailey (13 months), were born in Texas. David and Amanda live locally and are expecting our first girl.

Last year I retired from the United Methodist Church where I was clergyman for 31 years. I served churches in Texas, Wyoming and Colorado. Although I have not served a church as a pastor for sometime, I felt that keeping my orders after graduating from Perkins School of Theology at SMU was important as I taught marriage and family classes in Arkansas, which is part of the buckle of the Bible belt.

In addition to my position at U. of Arkansas, I am also adjunct
faculty at Texas Tech U. and at Texas A&M - Kingsville. I help their
doctoral students complete their dissertations with guiding and
directing their research from afar. Education and distance mean
nothing today in our connected world.

I taught high school for three years--Baytown, TX and Silverton, TX
before I went to seminary. I served churches in Casper, Wyoming ,
Wheatridge, CO and Hygiene, CO (yep, a clean town near Longmont).
After that I returned to Texas where I was an administrator at Texas
Tech U. School of Medicine for several years. I started my Ph.D. when
I was 38 and completed it when I was 42. Jean also finished about the
same and I got a job in Extension at the U. of Wyoming in Laramie.

We later move to Indianapolis where we were researchers in aging

and long term care at IUPUI. After the grant ran out, we hoped

to return to the West but it is quite difficult to get two

university jobs. We lucked out with Arkansas.

Presently, I am working with the U.S. military to help their
servicemen and women with financial literacy and financial counseling
programs. It is quite gratifying to help these young (some not so
much) men and women maintain financial stability at home when

we are fighting a hot war that I feel very negative about. We did

learn something from the Vietnam War. It is not the serviceman

but their leadership that keeps making mistakes and sending

them into harms way without sufficient resources in both

personnel and equipment. If we do not move back to

Colorado (Jean is a native) where we lived for sometime,

we are planning to retire in Fayetteville sometime in the near future.

Life is good and we keep putting one foot in front of the

other with gusto!

As a fat old man who has had several heart attacks, I cannot believe
I looked so tall and skinny when I was in high school. Thanks for
putting those photos on the web.

Wayne Havens

The following Article appeared in the Childress Index-Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Wayne Havens was recently awarded the 2008 John F. Lott "Distinguished Citizen Award. The annual award is given by the South Plains Council of Boy Scouts of America.

Havens, A Childress native, graduated from Childress High School in 1963 and earned his bachelors and masters degrees from Texas Tech University. In 1974, he joined Thompson Junior High School in Lubbock, Texas as a teacher and coach After more than thirty years in LISD and forty years as an educator, Havens is now the superintendent of the Lubbock I.S.D. He doesn't spend quite as much time in the classroom, but his heart has never gotten far from the students he continually seeks to serve in every part of the school district.

He was an original board member of the North and East Lubbock Community Development Corporation. His volunteer service is expansive and includes advisory boards for Success by Six, Habitat for Humanity, Science Spectrum, the South Plains Workforce Development Project, and Lubbock Chamber of Commerce, among others. He is on the United Way board and is the 2008 campaign chairman.

Respected by his colleagues across the state, Havens has received several educator awards from professional organizations and was named a Distinguished Alumnus of Texas Tech University, Senator Robert Duncan selected him for his public education advisory group.

In May, Havens will receive the community champion award from the North and East Lubbock Community development Corporation.

Over the past decade, Havens has served on over 30 boards, committees, and organizations. Success by 6 Leadership Council, and a team captain for the March of Dimes Walk America. Havens credited the Scouts as "one of the last strongholds that teach young men what's right and what's wrong."

Havens and his wife, Gina, are actively involved at Calvary Baptist Church and have two grown sons, Brad and Kelly, and four grandchildren.

Sharon Molloy Kelley

In 1960, between my freshman and sophomore year, I moved from Spokane, Washington to Childress and became a part of the Childress High School sophomore class. My freshman class in Spokane was bigger than the entire enrollment of CHS. What an adventure! I loved being a part of Childress High School, the teachers, the friends, the clubs and being an office assistant. In my senior year, I met and fell in love with Billy Smothermon, who graduated in 1959.We married late in 1963 and in 1967 our first son, Dean was born. In 1973 our son, Kevin, was born. We were so happy. We thought we had the rest of our lives together and planned as though we did. However, in July of 1980, my sons lost their father and I lost my best friend. The boys were 13 and 6 years old. What a journey lay ahead for us. By God’s grace we made it, mostly fun, some difficult times, but always interesting. I worked as a beautician, in a dress store, managed S & H Green Stamps, was a church secretary and then went to work for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (finally a job with benefits!!)

In 1995, with both boys graduated from Texas Tech, I moved with the prison system to Lubbock. I turned 50 that year, sold my house in Childress, bought a house in Lubbock, started a new job, found a great church and new friends and sadly lost both of my parents.
Whew!! I didn’t have time for a mid life crisis!!. I loved everything about Lubbock except the traffic. And I thought I was settled into life as it would always be!

In 2000, I got a call from my old high school sweetheart, Ray Kelley. We had “gone steady” the last part of my sophomore year until he moved to Midland to become a draftsman for the oil companies. Sadly, Ray’s first wife, Comilla, died of cancer after they had been married 37 years. Ray’s family and I had always been friends and his sister told him I was still single. Ray called me and it was as though we had only talked a couple of weeks before. It was such a natural thing, I new after the first “date” that I wanted to be with him always. I had been single TWENTY YEARS and missed having a mate. Ray and I married in 2001, he is my best friend, our families are combined, we now have Dean, from Nashville, Kevin and his beautiful wife, Jennifer and the joy of our lives, our granddaughter Claire Elise, from Abilene, our beautiful daughters, Monica Kelley and Katrina Kelley McMullen, her fun and talented husband Courtland all from the Dallas area. I no longer think that this is the way life will always be, I just sit back and wait for what God has in store for us. It is always so much better than I could ever imagine!

Betty Smith Merritt

Most of you probably don't remember me, because I was the quite, shy one! HA! Those days are gone!! I outgrew the shyness and learned to be anything but quiet. I left Childress in November 1963 the day I married a guy in the Air Force, and haven't been back a lot. For 21 years, I lived in a military atmosphere and moved from one side of the world to the other a couple of times! After we were divorced in 1984, my 2 then teenaged daughters and I settled in Denver, CO and have been here ever since.My brother, Don Lewis, still lives in Vernon, TX so I'm there often and will actually be there in May. One of my nieces graduates from Baylor May 12th so I'm flying in for that then spending a week with Don and his wife, Jean, before I go on to Indiana to represent my company at a trade show.I've worked for Johns Manville many, many years now and just set a target date for retirement...1001 working days left to go!Would love to hear from everyone. Is there anyone else living in CO?

I got the information about the Reunion in Las Vegas and will have to let you know later whether or not I'll be there...I was a little disappointed at the location (not that it's not a great place to be for a weekend)but I'm afraid a lot of people won't come because of the expense. Hope I'm wrong. Anyway, will try to be better about checking in with you guys later. Thanks for the effort you're putting into organizing it.

Betty is a member of Classmates.com and she can be reached through that website.

Sandi Dement deVeau

I feel so 'out of touch' with the whole High School scene. However, Joe Don, while in Dallas and since moving, keeps me up-to-date and chastises me often for not remembering who is who and attending the All School Reunions all these years. I just laugh at him. So as far as we know at this point, we will be attending the reunion in October. This should please Joe Don as he has been after me forever to respond. :0 It should be great fun to play 'catch up' with everyone.

I had 35 years with Mr. E (as we all called him , Elza Miller) ... wonderful marriage and lots of fun. After he became ill and had to medically retire for a year ... I was able to move my job (marketing for a woman-owned interior design firm with studios in Lubbock and Dallas) to our home for the year prior to his death in 2000. After a number of years flying in and out of Dallas and establishing friends and professional contacts here ... I up and decided the year after he passed to move to Big D.

A year later, I was introduced to an amazing, wonderful gentleman from Washington, DC. We were an immediate 'hit' and married on a beach in FL at Sunset four months later with only our two daughters and families attending. Elza had told me and the girls the night before he died that because he was having to leave me so early ... he would bring me the person I needed in my life ... not necessarily who I thought I wanted. When I met Tony (Anthony deVeau), I knew instantly that this was his gift to me. Ever since we have done nothing but run and play. He left PRU (retired) last February and has just taken a position with Countrywide to head up a team who will be working with lenders and home owners providing options to each in the midst of this mortgage mess. I'm not sure how I feel about his returning to work, but he is excited and ready to offer his years of experience. So we'll see.

I am a slug bug since I met Tony ... my career had been as a banking officer, community mental health and then med/surg to psych administrator and lastly ... architectural interior design development for commercial space planning = the most fun job I have Ever had. It ruined me for the corporate world forever. Now, I'm not sure what I do except just be me and enjoy every minute of it.

We have our eldest daughter, Stephanie, living in VA and youngest, Nikki, here in Dallas. We have two grand girls in Virginia ages 10 and 7 and a 6 month old little grandson here in Dallas ... love having one so close at hand. As Tony is from back East ... we make many trips back there and now that Stephanie and family are in VA ... of course we are there more often.

My mother is in Lubbock in and out of the hospital. She is now on hospice care so we are there more than here in Dallas at this time.

We are off to the Hill Country and lots of wine tours. :)

Christmas with the deVeau family 2007

Sandi

Clara R.Meek: Living the Good Life in Boerne

Clara Robinson Meek

One of Clara's dreams was to have her own personal retreat or studio where she could work and be creative. Thanks to her husband, Don Meek, she now has that dream studio in her backyard and she is sharing some of her work with us.

Clara's studio in Boerne

Enjoy: Art by Clara

Clara's dog Murray made a previous debut on the blog when he and Bogart dropped by in the form of a Get Well card for Noah. (Monsters Among Us .... November 5, 2007)

Now we see the real Murray admiring himself in Clara's work.

Murray and Murray above left and Murray and Bogart above right

5 comments:

Noah said...
I really liked seeing a picture of my friend Murray. I have the portrait card he and Bogart sent to me I after I was hurt in my box of keepsakes ... along with my squeaky chew toys and "safe" bones and old socks ... all my favorite things! Perhaps one day I'll get to meet them ... and their parents, Clara and Don ... and we can all frolic together in the hills around Boerne!
February 25, 2008 4:04 PM

Jennifer Johnston Smith said...
Clara, Yahn and I loved seeing your artwork, and your studio. I think Yahn may be a tad jealous that you have such a super place to work and think and just let the creative juices flow. I think it's giving him ideas for the future. Come to think of it, I wouldn't mind having such a space of MY own.... Oh, Yahn darling....)O(

February 25, 2008 4:11 PM
clara robinson meek said...
My first love is abstract expressionism. The three top photos are works in progress. I usually have at least 4 things going at once. My work is more about the process and elements and principles. I have only completed 2 paintings because they keep evolving. I'm having fun with it. If anyone likes any of it, that would be a bonus.I'm more proud of the studio itself than what I'm doing inside it. Don built it completely by himself. At the time he was building it, I was busy building back my own health, energy & stamina. I would normally have been hands on from bottom to top. The studio is a beautiful gift for me and I savor it.

February 26, 2008 8:36 PM
Sheila Davis Martinez said...
Clara, I love the studio! It fits in perfectly with your home and with the wonderful landscaping that Don provided. He is quite the artist too. Open house anytime soon?oh...what is the picture with all the circles?So glad you are finally painting again.

February 26, 2008 9:01 PM

Nicki Wilcoxson said...
Clara, I love the work that you have done just as I love your house and backyard and the studio. Keep sharing with us!

March 3, 2008 8:49 PM

Jennifer Johnston Smith

"Goin' to the Chapel" ... or in our case, Judge's chambers....

Hearing about how some of us met and married our spouses has been really interesting, so Yahn and I thought we would relate the details of our wedding.... I have good money here that says it is probably the strangest courtship and wedding story of anyone in the class. If yours was more bizarre ... then come sit by me and let's talk!!! BTW, if I had had good money then ... to cover all the bets I'm sure were made on how long our marriage would last ... we would be quite comfortably fixed here in our "golden" years....

I've shared various details about our life and journeys together (and one really cherished story about a date) in diverse places on the blog. (See particularly on the "main" blog, "Well, Durn ... I'm Thankful...", published November 17, 2007, "Close Encounters of the Bobcat Kind..." published September 13, 2007 and "Where in the World is the Class of '63?", published August 17, 2007. Also see the "Yahn Smith" post under "Show and Tell", published January 8, 2008.) And now in the spirit of candor evidenced so wonderfully by Joe Don and Sheila ... and because it's a really good story ... I'll share with you all the tale of how Yahn and I actually met, and the circumstances ... and others ... attending our wedding.

In February 1967 I was in Colorado Springs when I ran into a friend. Naturally we wanted to catch up a bit, but she was on her way to meet other friends for lunch. She asked me to join her group, and I assented ... and it was then that I met Yahn. (See his comment on our meeting to the post "And Then Scheherazade TOTALLY Lost Her Head...", published November 29, 2007.)

In the "Close Encounters ..." post, I alluded to Yahn attending Colorado College and living in a "residence hall" in Colorado Springs. And that was true ... he did take some classes at CC.... However, I neglected to mention that the "residence hall" was on the grounds of the private Emory John Brady psychiatric facility ... yep, a mental hospital. In the '60s it became, if not commonplace at least not terribly unusual, for affluent parents to sometimes "park" their unruly teenaged children in mental institutions (see the movie "Girl, Interrupted"). This is what had happened to Yahn after his first year at Western State College in Gunnison, where he and his friends there had sometimes taken the idea of "PAR-TAY" to an extreme level. Shortly after signing Yahn into the hospital (remember, the age of majority then was 21), his father was transferred to Randolph AFB in San Antonio, and as they would no longer be resident in the state, Tanner and Lorita (Yahn's parents) signed court commitment papers, making Yahn a ward of his psychiatrist, Dr. Gilbert O. Horn, "until further order of the Court." So, de facto and de jure, Dr. Horn had total control of Yahn's life (in loco parentis ... and don't get me started on "loco" parents) during the more than two years he was at Brady's. Some years later Dr. Horn was charged with 19 counts of gross negligence and blatant malpractice by the Colorado State board which governed psychiatrists.... But I digress....

Anyhoo, Yahn and I began dating, with the usual scenario being that I would drive down from Denver on Saturday, pick him up at the hospital, go to lunch, to a movie, dancing, (cheap) dinner, (cheap) whatever ... as long as I checked him back into the hospital no later than midnight. I would then find a quiet street, park my Mustang and sleep in the back seat ... the memory of those contortions still hurts), then visit with him at the hospital until late afternoon on Sunday before returning to Denver.

After more than a year of this, one day in mid-May 1968, during his regular weekly session with Yahn, Dr. Horn remarked that we seemed to be quite serious about each other ... and did we want to go ahead and get married? Well, duh!!! We had sooooo been looking forward to the day Yahn would be released and we could do just that ... and now Dr. Horn just casually dropped this opportunity into our laps! (I would be remiss if I did not say that one reason we rushed to take up Dr. Horn's offer instead of just waiting for Yahn's release is that at that time we had no intimation or real hope that Yahn would be released anytime soon ... he had really good insurance. which the hospital just loved to milk... and I had no legal standing to try to help him secure his release ... could in fact have been prosecuted for even trying.... But the marriage would give me legal standing as a spouse.)

We sprang into action to bring this miracle about before the end of May ... sorry, notwithstanding the urgency of the circumstances, I just absolutely refused to be a June bride ... and we only had about two weeks left in May to get the blood tests (remember those?), license, arrange for the ceremony to be performed, etc. Our next hurdle was to find a judge who would marry us in his chambers, since neither of us wanted a religious ceremony. And wonder of wonders, we did find a judge who agreed to marry us after court on Friday, May 31 ... the start of a long Memorial Day weekend (that was before they officially made "Memorial Day" the last Monday in May). But somehow we managed to put it all together.

And so, we were married ... with my father and his wife and six mental patients in attendance at our wedding!!!! Because the (other) mental patients weren't allowed to have any significant sums of money (they might buy a bus ticket and escape, you understand), our wedding gifts ran to beer can cigarette lighters, ashtrays and coasters made in occupational therapy (OT) at the hospital, things like that....

Our "honeymoon" consisted of one night at the Denver Hilton ... the most we could afford ... and when we arrived to check in, all we had was one suitcase that clanked because there was nothing in it but two bottles of cheap champagne. Yahn had never checked into a hotel before, and he has never been any good at filling out forms (as he will attest), so when he went to register at the hotel, his mind "blanked". After a loooooong pause, he turned to me and said in front of the desk clerk and manager: "Should I put 'Mr. and Mrs.', or what?" I almost died of embarrassment as the hotel personnel exchanged smirks. I told him to do that ... then Yahn wrote down what looked, in his handwriting, like Mr. and Mrs. JOHN SMITH. Raised eyebrows to go with the smirks. He blanked again on the next line ... and after another looooong pause, he said "What's our address?" The smirks were almost ear to ear ... and the eyebrows hit the hairline.... I said "Give me the card" and filled it out ... I was an interesting shade of fuscia by then, I'm sure. (You must remember that in those days it was illegal in many states for unmarried people of the opposite sex to share a hotel room together. We were actually expecting a visit by the house detective all night ... but it never happened.)

In honor of our nuptials, Dr. Horn actually let Yahn be away from the hospital from Friday noon through the weekend, but I had to return him (sort of like a library book) promptly at the stroke of noon on Monday!!! O bliss!!!! This pattern continued for the next few weeks, until Yahn was duly released from the hospital just over two months later ... without our having to take legal action ... and we were really able to begin our life as husband and wife. Conventional wisdom about marrying a mental patient (or me ... grin) to the contrary, we'll celebrate our 40th anniversary this year.

And amid all the beer can cigarette lighters, etc. ... I have one "gift" ... souvenir ... whatever ... that I still treasure ... and that I'll bet no one else in the class has. I have a letter from Dr. Horn (subsequent charges notwithstanding), stating unequivocally that my husband was sane enough to make the decision to marry me!!!!

Yahn and Jennifer at their wedding, May 31, 1968. Jennifer's father Keith is behind them.

)O(

Sheila Davis Martinez

At some point in January 1963, a gypsy drifted through town and sprinkled wanderlust dust into the air. I took a deep breath and was hooked! I couldn't get out of Childress fast enough. Of course, I graduated, but showing up for the ceremony took a lot of curiosity...was I really going to graduate?? Mentally, I was gone from my life in Childress months before we graduated.

That summer, I went to school at Amarillo Jr College, then came back home for a few days before heading out to fulfill my dream of becoming a doctor at the University of Texas in Austin. There were probably a thousand schools that would have been a better pick for me, but my heart was set on UT ever since the 3rd grade when I heard Jimmy Wilcoxson talking about their great football team. Like a football team was going to make or break me! LOL! Jimmy, this is all your fault! I thought he was the smartest boy in school until I realized it was really JoeDon.

I wish I could say that I went to school, made good grades, graduated and went to Medical school. The real story is that I went to UT, got real stupid, got pregnant, then got married.

Life has a way of kicking you in the butt to get your attention. The marriage lasted long enough for me to have 2 children to raise. Barry and his family have been a strong part of my life and I am eternally grateful for their open arms and generosity. Sandra and Robin came from that marriage.

Before we divorced in 69, Barry and I moved to San Antonio which is where I met Webb Wilcox a couple of years later. The kids and I moved to Port Aransas to run a hotel on the beach in the summer of 72. Webb followed, asking me to marry him. We married in 73.

Good times. We lived on the beach for several years, then eventually put our shoes back on and moved back to civilization. I have to tell you, it was hard to learn to wear shoes again. I loved living on the beach.

While Webb and I were trying to raise my two older children to be decent citizens, we started with our second family...Jessica, Ben and Kayte....all born within 2 years of each other. Talk about insanity! LOL...It has been a fun ride and I wouldn't trade one second of it for any other choice that I might have had.

Webb and I divorced after 15 years of marital bliss. Since then, I have lived in Wimberley, TX, San Marcos TX and Austin..with a very brief stint in Dallas working for a fashion designer. At some point in this time frame, I went back to school to study fashion design/entreprenurial business management. One year and I was done with school...forever. Not done with learning, but done with that mode of education.

I would like to say that I own my own business, but to be honest, it owns me. For the last 10 years I have worked as a seamstress/fashion designer doing bridal designs and alterations, exotic dancewear, costuming, anything I could draw, cut and get under that sewing machine needle. Since I have a difficulty with idle time, I generally pair my sewing business with other types of income. I have been a barmaid, bartender, house mom for strip clubs, lingerie retail, and the school district lets me drive a school bus! Whoa..what is up with that!!?

Right now, I am delivering pizza...fun job, working in a boutique in one of the clubs, and also driving a school bus for Lake Travis ISD. I also have a little business making/selling soaps, lotions and candles.

My wonderful children are Sandra Foglia who lives in San Marcos with her 3 boys, Andrew, Luke and Francis, ages 11, 16, 20. Sandra works for Texas State University in the Dance Department. All of the boys are in school. Andrew at TX STate, Luke is in HS and Fran in in MS.

Robin Knight lives in Phoenix, is married to Lili. Robin is in his last 5 months of Internal Medicine/Pediatrics residency. Lili is a med transcriptionist. They do lots of things like marathons, Boston Terrier rescue shelter adoptive parents, and are trying to adopt a child from China.

Jessica Wilcox has 2 boys, Caleb 12, Aaron 4, lives out here in Lakeway. She is in her last rotation of nursing school. She is a great kid.

Ben lives out here in Lakeway, too. He works as a cook for one of the Irish Sport Pubs in town.

Kayte, my youngest is in school at Texas State studying nutrition. She worked for Continental Airlines as a flight attendant before 9-11, then decided that college was a better path.

Well, that's all folks. Some more of the good, bad and not so ugly. For the record, I love Childress and am very thankful that it was my home for so many years. Great place to learn about life. Great friends.

Raenell Wynn Smith

Proud graduate of Childress High School Class of 1963....

Just a little bit about me and my family. Jim Smith and I married in 1964; April 5th we will have been married 44 years. We still live in Childress and raised our children here, after a few journeys to Houston, Amarillo and California.

We have three children, none of whom reside in Childress. Our oldest is our daughter Kelley; she and her husband Bobby live in Katy, Texas. She has one son, Tyler, who is now age 22. Our second child, Todd, lives in Richmond, Texas. He has two sons, Mark (age 23) and Janson (age 16), who live in a suburb of Denver. Our youngest son, Jeff, and his wife Lauri live in Amarillo. They have given us two beautiful granddaughters, ages 14 and 15, and a grandson, age 12. Jim and I have been blessed with wonderful grandchildren and enjoy them so much whenever possible.

Jim works for the City of Childress and manages the airport here. He loves to sing and play base guitar for the "Red River Boys", in First Baptist Church, fish and work in the yard. I am employed at the hospital here in Childress and have been for 30 years in June. I am the Medical Records and Transcription Department Coordinator/Supervisor. I started out as a transcriptionist, then moved to being a pharmacy tech, then took the position of Transcription Supervisor, and for the past five years have been over the entire Medical Records Department. My hobbies are reading, working alongside Jim in the yard, and traveling to see my kids and grandkids as often as we can.

Jim and I love to go to Branson, our favorite getaway place, and go there at least one week out of every year. Sometimes we try to work in an extra long weekend here and there. We like to travel by car as Jim doesn't like to fly, but we see some beautiful country and just enjoy what God has for us to see in this beautiful country we live in.

We're both looking toward retirement within the year (we hope) and look forward to doing more traveling and enjoying our grandkids as much as possible.

I wrote these two poems when Paula passed away (May 13, 2002) and thought you all might enjoy them. The first one reflects my feelings for "The Nine". I can hardly wait until March 16th so Jennifer, Linda Kay, JoAnn and I can make more memories in Paris and London that we can recall and share with each other in the future.

Like Sisters

We were like sisters, you and I.
We shared so much, we laughed, we cried.
We talked about our dreams, our hurts, our fears -
Our children, grandchildren and high school years.

Oh! What special times we had.
Some were good and some were bad;
But in the midst of all we shared,
We always knew how much we cared.

The Journey

My friend....

Today you've taken a journey, one on which I cannot go.
But Heaven is sweeter today. I know this to be so.
We talked about this journey, though some things we did not know
We spoke of expectations; of seeing loved ones we missed so.

We spoke of how you'd get there, the road on which you'd go.
You knew someone was waiting; the way for you he'd show.
Today you took that journey on which I could not go.
But Heaven is sweeter today; this I truly know.

Nicki Sooter Wilcoxson and Jim Wilcoxson

Jim and I would have a hard time telling our stories separately. For the most part our stories have intertwined since we were 15 years old, and now we have been married for 43 years. Jim says we are enmeshed and, yes, that is true so here we tell our story rather than our stories. We, too, will focus on the good and save the bad and the ugly for another day, but we will say that in part it probably has taken all of the good, some of that bad, and a little of the ugly, to give us a true appreciation for the really good we have today.

Jim and I left Lubbock in 1968 after graduating from Tech. We have been in Amarillo ever since except for a one year move to Booker, Texas where Jim enjoyed his first year of coaching. After many years in the golf business, Jim “found” himself, returned to WTAMU, finished his degree and got his teacher's certificate so he could pursue his goal of coaching girl’s basketball which he did for the next 20 years. He enjoyed a very successful career, winning two state titles with the Lady Raiders of Randall High School in 1992 and 1998. In 2004 he became the 135th member of the Panhandle Sports Hall of Fame. I took a more straight forward path and spent 33 years in the school system here in Amarillo first as a classroom teacher, then as a school librarian, and finally retiring as an instructional technology specialist where I worked with teachers and staff development. We have two great daughters, Kim and Jami. Kim and her husband, Vince, and our grandson, Cole who is 8, live in Flower Mound. Jami along with her husband Dorsey, stepson, Hart who is 14, and her son, Jordie who is 12, live here in Amarillo. Our grandsons continue to serve as a constant source of joy to us and we could spend hours telling you how cute, smart, and talented they are, but we will restrain ourselves unless you ask. We don't travel very much except around Texas mostly watching grandsons play baseball, but we are open to some new adventures so we have been to New York City and St. Thomas among other great places and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Both sets of our parents have died over the past 5 years. We do still have ties to Childress as we still have the Wilcoxson home there.

The story of how we first met has been a source of amusement in our family for years. Stepping back to that time in 1960, when my parents dragged me kicking and screaming from our home in Muleshoe to our new home in Childress, they stopped in at the Highway Cafe that very first night in town for dinner. Sitting in the booth across from my family was a man who sold insurance that my dad had previously met on a trip to Childress . Sitting with this insurance man was his son. Introductions were made and I was grossed out that my parents had introduced me to a BOY FROM CHILDRESS! Would the horror of that day never end! I suppose I was a bit dramatic. That was the night I met Jim Wilcoxson and the rest is history. My mother loved to tell that story until the day she died. That was how I met my "BFF". By the way, Jim has never told his side of the story about that night—Ummm….

Our story was previously published as a part of two posts on our blog:

Best Friends Forever (BFF) August 16, 2007

Where in the World is......The Class of '63 August 17, 2007

Joe D Hopkins

After graduation I attended Trinidad State JC in Trinidad CO where I was exposed as having one of the first known cases of "white man's disease" on the basketball court. For those of you who do not recall, that means, "can't run, jump or shoot very well!" I then went to Texas Tech for one year with grades ranging from a-b-c-d-f, with the A in PE. I dropped out after the one semester went home to work for the Railroad and wait to be drafted. Something possessed me to join the USMC Reserves so I drove to Amarillo to accomplish this and upon returning to C the next day found my draft notice in the mail. That is how I became a draft dodging Hollywood Marine Corp Reservist.

I then took this act to Houston, married Diane Mock and finally finished my degree at U of H in 01/1970. Along the way I managed to make Diane so miserable that she asked for a divorce and rightfully so. That will be my last comment on my marital exploits, other than to say that I have been married, for the last time, to Anne, since 1994. Along the way I became the proud father of two daughters, Ashley, born in 1974 and Whitney, born in 1985. I have 3 grandchildren, Will, Sam and Lily, ages 8, 6 and 3.5 respectively. They live in Boerne and Ashley and her Husband, Bobby, both graduated from Texas A & M. Whitney just finished at UT and lives in Austin.

From 1970 until 1994 I worked in the corporate sector and for a couple of small companies in the D/FW area. Jobs ranged rom sales rep to sales manager to management, in the courier, bus and armored car industries. My political incorrectness, lack of tact and stubborness did not endear me to upper management so I changed jobs more times than I would have liked. I also beat my head against the wall trying to make a business I bought successful in Denton TX. This was an office supply, furniture store and computer store. I learned that I need to have a great passion about what I am doing in order to make it successful. I did not in this case and closed this down in 1990 and was able to pay off all of my secured debt and 98% of the unsecured debt.

Anne and I married in 1994 and immediately moved to Sydney Australia with her employer, American Express. Anne is from the Detroit area and in her early career she and I had met at one of their functions. She promptly moved to Memphis and we stayed in touch until she came back to Dallas in 1992. I was in the midst of blowing up another good career opportunity with Loomis Armored Car. I got that done in 1993 and was about to get back in the courier business when her opportunity to move to Sydney came around. We were engaged and married and off to Australia we went for a great 2 year adventure, followed by 2 years in Salt Lake City and back to Australia for another 18 months.

We came back to the Dallas area in mid 2000 and moved about 2 miles from James Claude Holton where we stayed for 5 years. I had learned a new field in Sydney, as a retained recruiter and as a counselor in the career transition field (teaching displaced employees how to do resumes, job search and interview, by now on which I was quite an expert)! Anne retired from American Express in 2004 and wound up taking a job with AAA automotive group in Dearborn Mi. Her mom, who is 79, still lives in this area as do 2 of her 3 brothers. I was able to transfer with my latest employer, USIS, a government contractor that conducts security clearance investigations for the Federal government.

How is that for a 45 year summary? I obviously left out much of the good, the bad and the ugly. I am more comfortable in my skin that ever before, thanks to my renewed faith in my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I have been blessed with more second chances than the law allows and I did not deserve even one second pass.

I will always feel drawn to Childress and to people I have grown up with. I have never made friends like the ones I have from Childress.

Joe D.

Linda Key Rothwell

Walter and I got married the day after graduation. We had two daughters. Tinese, our youngest died in 1980. Tammy Neighbors lives in Karnack, Tx. We have two grandchildren, Nicole and Craig and 2 1/2 great grandchildren, Jocelyn, Christian and the new one will be here in August.

Walter is from the class of '62 we met at school. We just knew who each other were until one fateful night when Scherry Snider, class of '62, was to spend the night with me. After the football game, Scherry and I went to the Teen Canteen at the Womens Department Club. Walter was there and she told him it would be nice if he took us home so my mother didn't have to get out to come get us. At the time, I was living in town. My dad was building our new house at Kirkland so we lived in town for 3 months. Walter said I snookered him because he thought I was a town girl. He never thought he would have to drive 15 miles to pick me up and take me home. Of course, gas was at the highest 15 cents a gallon. He could get a dollars worth of gas and make it all week. Oh for those prices again!

Walter was stationed at Fort Knox from 1962-1963. Frankfurt Germany 1963-64 then we moved to Butzback, Germany until 1966. He was in the 3rd Armored Division. In Frankfurt, we lived about 6 blocks from downtown on the sixth floor (no elevator). We had one room and had to share the bathroom with 12 other people who lived on that floor. If you wanted a bath you put 20 phennings in the machine and waited. I found out you had to guard your bath water or someone would steal it!From Germany we went back to Fort Knox until 1967. Walter went to Korea and Tammy and I went back to Childress for the year. Our youngest was born a month after he left. He did get to come back on leave when she was 6 months old. Then we went back to Germany in 1968, this time to Erlangen, 4th Armored Division. We were until late 69 and he had to go to Vietnam. The girls and I came back to Childress during his tour there. I worked at the Office Supply for the first time while he was gone this time. After Vietnam, Walter went to Ft Dix for 6 months, then went to Ft. Sill from 1971-72. 1972-73 he went back to Korea, the girls and I stayed in Lawton. I had a job and Tammy was in school. It was close enough to get to Childress for the weekend. In 1973, he came back to Ft Sill we stayed there until 1976. In '76 we went back to Germany. This time to Mannhiem. At least here I finally got the germans to understand myGerman. In 1979 we went to Ft Riley Kansas. We were there until he retired in 1982.

When Walter retired from the army in 1982, we moved back to Childress. I worked at the Childress Office Supply until I went to work at the Farmers Coop Gin. I retired September 1, 2007. We plan on traveling now that we are both retired. We have a trailer and just travel at our leisure.

Yahn Smith

After graduating from Bossier High School (Louisiana) in 1964, he attended Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado and Colorado College in Colorado Springs. Following his marriage to Jennifer in 1968, he completed his undergraduate degree at the Art Institute of Dallas, and later obtained his
Master of Fine Arts degree (MFA) at Syracuse University.

His first "real" job was working for a Yellow Pages-type company as an illustrator ... yes, someone actually draws those things in the YP. A couple of years later he became Art Director for what was then the Skaggs-Albertson chain, then worked for five years as Corporate Art Director for Packaging Corporation of America (a division of Tenneco). Yes, someone designs all those retail boxes and displays that go into stores. Among his national clients were Coppertone, Plough Inc., Jolly Rancher Candies, Montgomery Ward, American Beauty macaroni products, Fisher-Price toys, and others. In the summer of 1980, after an enlightening discussion with a clown and a wizard (see Jennifer's comment to "The Unexpected: The Miracle of the Blog", December 19, 2007), he began teaching at the Art Institute of Denver (one of the EDMC schools located all across the country). In September 1983 he transferred to the Art Institute of Houston, where he retired in 2003 as Chairman of both the Graphic Design and Animation Departments, having been with the schools 23 years.

For those who are new to the blog, Yahn and Jennifer live in Las Vegas. They have two daughters, Shannon and Chiara, and five grandchildren.

Along with the short biograpy of Yahn are two of his posters. one for a Mardi Gras in Houston and one for a Black and White Ball in 1982. Accompanying the posters is half of a HUGE mural done for a department store.

Carolyn 'Loter' Barlow

I married Jerry Don Barlow (Cee Vee/Paducah) and have been married 43 years. (His brother, Jimmy is married to Linda Holland, Sr. '64). We live near Wetumka, Ok, which is the southeastern part of the state and only 90 miles from Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Ft. Smith, Arkansas. We are right in 'amongst' the Indians and there's a Casino on every corner. Whoopee!
We have one son, Tyce Alen who just turned 41 Christmas. They have three of the most precious teenagers ever and so smart too boot; Kelsey 16, Brice 14 & Cami 13. Our daughter-in-law, Gina is Principal of the Indianola High School. They live near McAlester, Ok. which is 45 miles away and quite handy for Nana and Papaw. Tyce is Supervisor of the Maintenance Dept for the Oklahoma State Prison at McAlester and received the 2004 and 2006 Supervisor of the Year awards. He is very much a people person and never meets a stranger. Jerry and I are so proud of Tyce and his family, but isn't that the way it's suppose to be.
I worked 30 years for Oklahoma Natural Gas Company, a subsidiary of ONEOK, Inc at Holdenville and retired Jan. 2002 when I was 58. I always said the place would fall apart when I left and sure enough when I retired, they closed the office, sold the building and all that's there now is a parking lot for a bank. Now was I right? Ha! Jerry just retired last summer from the private prison at Holdenville so we are just setting back with our feet propped up. We live in the country and have a few cattle so that gives him something to do. For years I've made glass bead watch bands and ear rings. Also love working with wood making planters, lawn chairs and herb boxes. I really love to cook, so my friends and family call me Martha Stewart and are always asking what Martha whipped up today? I'm keeping busy and wonder how I ever kept everything done while I was working. Of course, I haven't slowed down any either.

I do have a funny of how I met Jerry. He and James Holton were friends. They were dragging Main on a Saturday night and Barbara Moore and I were in my red and white 55 Chevy doing the same. James pulled us over and they ended up getting in with us. I wasn't impressed with Jerry and was trying to get he and Barbara connected. Can't remember what I did, but something caused the cops to turn on their lights and take after us. My brother-in-law had a garage/wrecker serv. and cars were parked along the side of their lots. I took off for there and pulled in among the cars, turned off the lights and we scooted down so they didn't see us with their spot light. After a while they gave up and left. The next day Jerry called and kept on until I went out with him. That was 45 years ago and I've blamed James Holton ever since.
James was one of my very dearest friends and so funny. Once we went on a date (my one and only with a classmate) and I had to tell him it wasn't going to work because he was more like a brother to me, and that's how I felt about most of the guys in our class. James and I kept in touch for years when we would both be in Childress visiting our parents. It was great seeing his picture posted and from the look on his face,he was having a real 'Holton' moment.
I have so many fond memories of Childress and especially CHS and the close friendships we had. I will be sending some funny stories shortly. Take care and have a great day=CB