Comments:
I am updating my profile now so that at the reunion it will be easier for me knowing that at least some of the class will know that my husband, Edward, died July 15, 2014. Most of it reads the same, but there is mention of that at the end of this update.
I attended Texas Tech, beginning in the summer of 1965. I met my husband, Edward, there. We married in '68 and moved to Ft. Worth, TX when he graduated. Our first daughter was born there. I completed my Bachelor's degree in Journalism and English education at UNT and taught for a couple of years until our second daughter was born after we moved to Dallas.
After being a stay at home mom and working part-time for several years, I went to work for the Dallas Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in 1981. In 1984 I went to work for the Dallas Country Community College District. In 1992 I completed my Masters Degree and was employed in one job or another in the DCCCD for 30 years. I resigned my job as an adjunct professor at Brookhaven College to care for my husband, Edward, when he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in November of 2013.
Both my husband and I were actively involved in numerous volunteer activities throughout our marriage through our membership in First Presbyterian Church, Dallas and connections with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the National Marrow Donor Program. For three years he served as the director of the Second Chance Cafe, the meal service at Dallas's homeless assistance center which serves approximately 1600 meals a day to the city's homeless population. So, in addition to our Habitat for Humanity, CROP, NMDP, MS Society, etc. activities we developed a keen interest in Homeless issues.
Our daughter Jennier and family live in Frisco, TX (a Dallas suburb) and we have been blessed to have an active relationship with those 3 grandkids all their lives. Our other daughter Beth and her family live in San Antonio,TX. We can see them less often because of the distance, but love being involved with the "second round" of grandkids.
Family (my two rescue dogs included) and volunteer activities are my priorities and when the weather is good I love to work in the yard with my flower beds and plants. We still have the home in Taos, NM my parents built in the late 50's and my extended family enjoys summer vacations there.
Through that Taos home I got to spend a few years enjoying visits with Gary Williams (also Class of '65) while he was there living his dream of being an artist. I will miss that connection and was reminded by his death that life is often too short.
Now, I feel even more sharply the pain of a life cut short. Even now, 10 months after Edward's death, I find it hard to imagine living the rest of my life without him after 46 years of life shared with him. But our life together was a good one and there is still work to do and others to love and to be loved by in return.
