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.
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.
4 comments:
Raenell,
Thank you for sharing with us. I absolutely love your poems and "My Friend" really did touch my heart. It was good to hear about your wonderful family. I know that when you guys retire you will really enjoy it. My Jim and I also like to work in the yard and we get a lot of pleasure out of it. Have a wonderful time in Paris and come back ready to share it all with us.
Dear lovely BFF Rae: Thanks so very much for the update, and for allowing us to read your poems, which touched my heart so much. You've been such a good friend to me (and to others) for so many years and I am still sometimes just bowled over by your generosity of spirit. Among other things, I cannot tell you how very much it means to me that you take the time to tend my family's graves, since I am too far away to do it myself. You are SO thoughtful.
Jim sings like an angel ... as he always has ... and I will always remember him singing "Peace in the Valley" at Paula's funeral, and then "The Wedding Song" for granddaughter Heather's wedding last April. On both those occasions, there wasn't a dry eye in the house, as I can attest.
Can hardly wait until you, LK, Jobey and I hit Paris and London in March. I know there won't be anyone there who will have more fun than we will, making those memories for the future. Love you, sister-woman....
)O(
Thanks for sharing your story. Your poems for Paula are very touching, and it was nice to learn about your children and grandchildren.
I can't wait to hear about your Paris trip!
Raenell, I so appreciate your poems -- beautiful & simply written. They remind of of some of my paternal grandmother's poetry, a lot of it writen in the 1920s and '30s, which I had copyrighted a few years ago. Yours were lovely.
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