Happy Father's Day weekend to all.
Hope you have a fun-filled, laid-back time
with family and friends.
from
James
Leland Hebert in
Waldorf, MD
I have changed my e-mail address and have
missed a few NEWSLETTERS and website
updates. I did not graduate from TJ in
1968 but graduated from a private school in
Tennessee. I went to Thomas Edison for
three years and to TJ until 1967. I
love seeing my old classmates, the ones I
grew up with, on the website, so I want to
make sure that my information is updated so
I can keep up with all of them.
I played football with
Tommy
Thompson,
Ron
Waedemon,
Larry
Speake, and
Ronnie
and
Donnie
Hollier, and
others in our sophomore and junior years,
although I wasn't really very good until my
senior year in Tennessee when our team won
all mid-south for private schools. I
was drafted in 1969 after a semester at
Lamar. The
TJ class of 1968
was a very special group of people I grew up
with. Port Arthur, TJ, and the people
in the 60's were fantastic. I've
always had fond memories of those years.
I was an enlisted Mustang who went to
Officer Training School in 1982 as an
enlisted Master Sargeant. I retired as
a Captain in 1990 after 21 years. I
have a BSEE from Texas Tech, 1982, an MSEE,
1983 from the Air Force Institute of Tech,
and MSSE from the Naval Post Graduate
School, 2008. I am presently a PhD
student at George Washington University
hoping to graduate in 2012. I married
Pat Jeffrey, an Air Force Academy graduate,
1980 from Kaukauna, Wisconsin in 1983.
We have four children. Our son, CJ,
works at Microsoft, Mandy is in medical
school for genetics counseling, and Chuck is
on a fellowship for an MSME. Our
youngest, Katie, is a junior at the
University of Northern Michigan. I
moved my dad, C.J. Hebert from PA in 2001.
He had Alzheimers and lived with me for
three years until he died at the age of 92.
He worked at Texaco for 36 years before he
retired. I still miss him, although
caring for him was a bit of a challenge at
the end. I have worked for the Navy,
as a civilian for 15 years. We are
developing new radars for the next
generation of Aircraft Carriers.
Thanks for keeping our class informed.
from
Sara
Little Chilton in
Beaumont
I have some big news that I would like to
share with everyone. After 27 years of
being divorced, I have met just the right
person, and we are getting married later
this summer! I am retiring from
Beaumont ISD, packing up my home, putting it
on the market, and moving to West Texas.
Just when I am turning the big 6-0!
Big changes, all at once!
I am marrying Rusty Herman, an attorney from
the northeast Houston area. Last
summer, he went to Alpine with me to meet my
sister, Ellen '65, who has lived there more
than 10 years. He fell in love with
the area, as it reminds him very much of his
childhood home, northern Montana. He
decided it was just the place he wanted to
be, so he closed his office in Houston,
opened one in Alpine, and was settled there
by March of this year. I finished out
the school year and will join him there as
soon as I can get my home ready to put on
the market. I will continue to work
when I get to Alpine, just not sure what
exactly I will be doing. But, I will
certainly be looking forward to
your NEWSLETTERS and Mike's updates so I can
keep in touch with what everyone else is
doing! Wish me luck in this grand
adventure!
from
Diane
Richmond Miller
in Silsbee
I called the phone # of MOMO's restaurant
that
Robbie
Greig mentioned
in our last NEWSLETTER and a young lady
answered who told me that her grandmother
owns the restaurant. She used to be
the cook at
Monceaux's
and knows all the recipes. She swears
the
stuffed
shrimp taste exactly
the same as we would have remembered.
I will surely give it a try soon. The
phone # is (409)678-1202 for anyone that is
interested.
from
Cherlyn
Hebert in Houston
After almost a year of retirement, I am
moving onto my new career as a TRAVEL AGENT.
I always knew that this would be something I
would do when I was ready; now, the time has
come. As an independent travel agent,
I work out of my house and will be able to
take advantage of some good deals, plus I
get to write off my travel expenses.
What can be better than that, I ask?
My goal is to make a little money for me and
save some for my clients. So, I'd
appreciate a chance to provide pricing
whenever anyone out there is thinking about
a vacation. Just drop me a line.
My own next trip is in August: three weeks
sailing down the Volga River from Moscow to
St. Petersburg. I will be nice to get
out of the Texas heat for that time; the
temperature there should be somewhere in the
the 70's.
***********************************************************************
Alex
Bonnie
Colin
Danielle
Earl
Fiona
Gaston
Hermine
Igor
Julia
Karl
Lisa
Matthew
Nicole
Otto
Paula
Richard
Shary
Tomas
Virginie
Walter
REALLY! Who is actually in charge of
making up these names? Some are
downright SILLY, of course, unless they hit
your area. Then,
silly is not
the word we say!
***********************************************************************
QUALITY TIME spent with CLASSMATES
Murphy and I have been fortunate to spend
some precious time with a few very special
classmates recently at four different
occasions.
1st.....We spent a weekend with
Ernie
Castaneda and
husband,
Ron
Bullion staying
at the
Inn at the
Ballpark and viewing
two Astros games while there. The
hotel is fabulous, (it didn't hurt that we
are all baseball fans), and the leisurely
spent quality time was an added bonus.
Of course, it would have been better if the
ASTROS would have won at least one of the
games. A flash-back was attending a
Latin mass held at the Catholic church next
to the hotel! Wow, memories came
flooding back. I have not been to a
Latin mass since they changed them in 1962.
2nd.....We went to Humble for a "surprise"
40th anniversary luncheon honoring married
classmates,
Janice
Hebert and
Barry
Boudreaux.
It was so nice seeing how grown up their
three beautiful daughters, sons-in-laws, and
three sweet grandchildren were. I
served in their wedding and went with
Terry
Watson as my date
for the 11:00am wedding that day. That
night, I had my FIRST date with my now
husband, Murphy. So, that day also
holds great memories. Terry and I are
still close friends and Murphy and I are
celebrating our 37 anniversary this summer.
Thanks Janice and Barry!
3rd.....We went to a beautiful ceremony for
the wedding of classmates
Gary
Barbin and
Jody
Hopkins' youngest
son, Clay. He married a precious girl,
also from Waco. Clay has just
completed his first year of medical school
at UTMB in Galveston at his dad's alma
mater. Memories again....I was Jody
and Gary's maid of honor and she was my
matron of honor.
4th.....Shared fun-times at Casa Ole with
classmates
Debbie
Borres,
Ernie
Castaneda,
Sandra
Garsea, and
friend
Linda
Pouche Prioux for
Ernie's 60th b-d. Lots of laughs.
Always fun to be with that group.
(Speaking of birthday celebrations~ I
just love the new addition of birthday
listings for the month that Mike has added
to the website. Thanks to
Fred
McCarty for
spending hours looking them up from birth
records. What a trooper.)
***********************************************************************
I received a phone call from my hysterical
daughter on June 9th. Through the
anxious crying, I realized that she was
saying that they had been in a
flash
flood while
camping at the River Road Campgrounds in New
Braunfels! When all the information
came in, I learned that they barely made it
out of the camp ground in their truck in the
wee dark hours of the morning amid
lightning, thunder, and torrential rain.
They lost all of their belongings including
their 2 bedroom RV and all their clothes,
games, campting equipment, etc. AND her set
of wedding rings. They watched as some
of the trailers were swept away. They
were safe as the owner of the park took them
in, along with 9 others. My
granddaughters were scared and not sure if
they will go back to camping for awhile if
ever! Drew (5) keeps calling it a hurricane!
I guess there isn't a whole lot of
difference since a flood is a flood!
Thank you, God, (and our newest guardian
angel, my mom), for sparing their lives.
I think that must have been my mom's first
big intervention. She had only been in
heaven 2 weeks when she had her first FAMILY
problem to help with! Love you, Mom.
We are so thankful. Just a few days
later, many were killed in the same storm
system while camping in Arkansas.
***********************************************************************
Well, it isn't easy but we are trying to get
back to some normalcy here since Mom's
death. Lots of paper work, thank you
notes, changes in schedules, and learning
how to make Dad as comfortable as possible.
He is living with us in Lumberton during the
week and goes to my sister's home in Bridge
City on the weekends. So far, so good.
Of course, with his dementia he can't find
his bed, bathroom, etc. It just takes
awhile. He is doing much better than
we anticipated. That is helping us
heal faster. I'll keep you posted.
***********************************************************************
(update on
Tillman
Richey's
brother-in-law)
After extensive surgery and chemotherapy
treatments, District Fire Chief
David
Chesser has
returned to work at the Beaumont Fire
Department. Chesser, who has 36 years
of service with the department, was
diagnosed with mesothelioma, an aggressive
form of cancer, last year. He
underwent surgery and recovered in Nebraska,
and continues chemotherapy treatments.
Chesser is stationed at No. 10 Fire Station
on Washington Boulevard as a district
chief.
(update on
David
Williams)
I am doing well going to cardiac rehab.
I have made a change in diet and my exercise
pattern. I have lost 25 + pounds and
hope to lose more. I returned to work
part-time on June 7 and within 2 days
decided I had had enough. I will
retire August 31 and look for the next great
adventure.
(update on
Chrissy
Dupuis Mullens'
husband,
Richard)
Richard is now home and on
hospice care.
Please continue to pray for him and the
family.
mullens@gt.rr.com
Fred Hollier
and his wife
Norma
need your prayers
as they are going through major health
issues. Fred's sister,
Joanna
Hollier Schmidthke
'70 is also having critical health
problems.
Linda Hopper Hunt's
husband,
Hilton,
is recovering from a
stroke.
He is presently in Southeast Texas Regional
Hospital in PA. Please keep them in
your prayers.
***********************************************************************
Thanks again for all the cards, calls,
visits, and laughter you are offering since
the death of my mom. It still seems
surreal to me. Time has to help the
hurt. But, I sure miss her. Love
you Mom! We are taking good care of
Dad. He misses you, too.