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