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2/20/2023

MAIL CALL
from Billy Jordan in Decatur, AL
The new web page looks good. Kudos to Mike for a great job.
As I read the list of classmates whom have passed on to their new home, a cloud of sadness passed over me. I see them in class, in the hallways of TJ and at reunions in the past. Good memories!
Jwj6872@aol.com

from Pat Trahan Knox in Beaumont
First of all, thank you to all of our classmates working on the reunion! We all look forward to it, but all can't help physically. You are appreciated!! My oldest son lives here in Beaumont with his two sons. The youngest will graduate from Monsignor Kelly High School this year. My sweet grandsons named Ray and I their favorite babysitters years ago. They are both good boys and we sure would love to have those years back. My youngest son and his family live in College Station. Our granddaughter, Aubrey, is 13 and our grandson, John Wallace, is 9. I wish they were closer so we could spoil them and see them more often. I love reading about our classmates, but each year gets harder to lose our friends. Really looking forward to seeing everyone in July!
patknox@hotmail.com

from Carolyn Hebert (wife of Alfred Hebert, teacher)
As always, the TJ ’68 website looks terrific.
hawaiistomnd@hotmail.com

TUTORIAL LESSON ON WEBSITE
I often receive inquiries about how to find things on the website.

Short lesson:
After getting to our website at www.tjhs1968.com, you may read all the items on the front page by scrolling. Mike puts many interesting stories toward the bottom so keep scrolling until you can’t scroll any more. When you have checked out all of the front page, go back up to the top and notice the 3 lines on the left next to the picture of a yellow jacket. If you click on them, it will bring up a list:
Classmate Listing (all of the classmates)
Site Links (even has a link with our entire annual)
Obituaries (families obits)
Memorials (deceased classmates)
Contacts
To use the Classmate Listing or Memorials you will need to click on the down arrow first.

MILITARY NEWS
Fred Hollier Jr. has added a few more photos to the Marines page.

WEBSITE DONATIONS
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE GENEROUS OURPOURING FOR OUR WEBSITE since the last update in December!

Pat Trahan
In memory of Lynn Eldridge

ANONYMOUS
We appreciate the effort you and Mike are doing with the class website.

Gail Wilson Felker
Thank you for the work in keeping the website going.

Steve Nelson
We greatly appreciate the work you and Mike do to keep the class of ’68 alive through the website. It seems as if the older I get, the more I enjoy looking back and keeping up with friends in our school days. Looking forward to the new reunion.

Linda DeCuir McFadden
In memory of Tony Ayala, Lynn Eldridge and Mike Harmon

By Check:
Make out to:
Linda McFadden
Send to:
Linda DeCuir McFadden
7699 Boardwalk Lumberton, TX 77657

REUNION DONATIONS
The committee was very generous in spending extra money in 2018 on LOTS AND LOTS of giveaways including the class t-shirts for our 50th reunion. We wanted our 50th to be extra special. But that didn’t leave us with a healthy balance to begin this reunion.
We were fortunate in receiving the following donations to help with our reunion checking account since our December update. This allows us to have a better cushion.

Billy Jordan
I am not sure I will make the reunion but here is a donation to help with the costs. It is a 12-hour drive from Decatur, AL to PA. I do not want to drive that much in just a few days. If my 17 year-old grandson will come, l along than maybe I will give it a shot.

Anonymous donation
Thanks for planning the reunion. Hope this helps.

Dianna Caillier
I wanted to help with the reunion.

Linda DeCuir
In memory of Mike Harmon and Lynn Eldridge

REUNION NEWS
On Tuesday, Feb. 7, ten of the members of our committee were able to meet with Becky Guidry at the Museum of the Gulf Coast to shore up details for the Friday night social planned there on July 21 from 6-9 pm.
At this time, we have one golf cart that Tony “Snake” Esqueda will bring to help with the classmates getting from their vehicles to the entrance of the museum. We will try to get at least one more for that night.
Other reunion news is Jeanette Constantine has been busy continually adding to the MEMORIAL display. Cecelia Trevino has been feverously working at getting the motel information. It has been much more troublesome than in the past. Paula Daigle is in charge of trying to get a Hussars appearance scheduled at the Saturday night mixer/dance. Bobby Williamson & Jonnye Doering are making labels from the spreadsheet for the invitation envelopes. Darlene Turner is checking on Drago’s Printing for our invitations. Sharon Lewis is in charge of getting the caterer and bar service set up. Linda Gothia and Debbie Borres are putting their heads together on decorations.
Diane Barker, Ernie Bullion, Lana Oliver, Marilyn Williamson and Sandra Garsea are involved in helping with the decorations, memorabilia gathering, continuing info for the spreadsheets, etc. Me? I am going around depending on all these wonderful committee members to keep my head on straight. We have been meeting once a month to continue the planning of our 55th reunion. We will meet more often as the reunion date gets closer.
We hope to send our invitation out by the last part of March. IF you don’t receive one by the middle of April, contact me and we will see if there is a snafu with your mailing address.
We chose to keep the cost the same as the last SEVERAL reunions. You have the option to send in your $$$ now in advance before getting your invitation. We will still send you an invite so that you will have all the info at hand. The early funds will help with the reunion account. For your further convenience, we have set up three ways for you to pay. SEND YOUR MONEY NOW AND WE WILL PUT YOU ON THE BOOKS!!!

SAVE THE DATE
July 21, 2023
Museum of the Gulf Coast
6-9 pm

July 22, 2023
Jefferson County Dance Club
Mixer/Dance
7-10 pm

$50.00 per person (includes both nights)
$35.00 (specify choice of one night)

Make check out to:
TJ, class of ‘68
Send to:
Linda DeCuir McFadden
7699 Boardwalk
Lumberton, TX 77657
Or
VENMO
Thomas-Jefferson68
Pay Pal
@TJHS68
TICKETS WILL BE HELD AT THE DOOR

CLASS OF 1966
The class of 1966, (not us), will have a “75th birthday party. Spread the word to your spouse, sibling, friend, etc. if they graduated in ’66.
Sat., April 22, 2023
Courtyard Café in Groves
12-4 pm
For more information
Contact Marsha Woodall
TjRoute66Reunion@gmail.com
Deadline is April 1st.

NEWS FROM THE HOMEFRONT
Well, the McFaddens hobbled into 2023 with both of us having bronchitis starting on Dec. 26. It lasted 4 weeks. Murphy just had a PKR surgery on his eye. Two years ago, he had cataract surgery and had a lens with far vision and another one with near vision put in. He never really tolerated it and had the near vision eye changed to a far vision one. He is healing well. Our senior soccer granddaughter had a deep bruised thigh that had her benched for three games. Then, recently she fell off the stage while practicing for drill team competition and fractured a rib. Now, she is out another two weeks. We are sad since it is her senior year. Our only other grandchild turned 20 today. She spent it taking exams at A&M. Now, I am really sad. They grow up too fast. On a better note, our confident and efficient tour planner, classmate Cherlyn Hebert, has us booked on an 18-day Bermuda and Atlantic Mosaic trip aboard the Insignia on the Oceanic Cruise Line in early autumn. Our itinerary has us cruising the Atlantic off of New York, St. George, Bermuda, Hamilton, Bermuda, New York, NY, Newport, RI, cruise the Cape Cod canal, Boston, MA, Portland, ME, St. John, New Brunswick, Shelburne, Novia Scotia, Corner Brook, Newfoundland, cruise the St. Lawrence River, Saguenay, Quebec, Quebec City, Quebec and Montreal, Quebec. We planned this in celebration for finishing the reunion planning BUT mostly for our 50th anniversary on July 28. We haven’t traveled very far since our River Cruise in Europe in Sept., 2019. We have only gone to Dallas and Arkansas this last December. Hope my “senioritis” gets better so we know what to do on that long of a trip. The other day I woke up in my recliner and realized it was 10:15! I knew I had an appt. at the doctor and started rushing to get dressed and trying to find the # to call the office to tell them. I am running around the house in a fog and looked for Murphy, not finding him, I thought he had gone to his appointment. I turned off the alarm to open the door and realized it was pitch dark! Yep, I fell asleep watching tv. I totally missed seeing Murphy in the bed sleeping while I was hurriedly dressing. I even called his name but because he wears a C-PAP he didn’t even hear me 5 feet away. I wasn’t sleepy anymore by then! Speaking of C-Pap, you should have seen Murphy wearing black goggles after his eye surgery and his full-face C-Pap. He looked like a sexy Ant Man!! Okay, not really sexy but don’t tell him.

SUPPORT
Debbie Borres Desmond
Receiving chemo once a month for her leukemia
503 37th St
Nederland, TX 77627
Desmonddebbie353@gmail.com

Billy Jordan
I have been blessed with good health. Saying that, I am having surgery on January 11th to repair a tear in the rotator cuff of my right shoulder. It occurred a little over a year ago when I was helping my grandson to put a mattress on top of my SUV. Tried two months of physical therapy, steroid shots which worked for the first two shots, and now surgery. I’m looking forward to being out of pain but wearing a sling for six weeks will be tough.
2351 Tinagel Dr. SW
Decatur, AL 35603
Jwj6872@aol.com

Alfred Hebert (TJ faculty)
(a note from his wife, Carolyn Bigler Hebert)
Alfred fell in the house and ended up in the hospital for a week with dehydration and renal failure. He came home Jan 9th. We opted for PT at home which was a wise decision. He is doing better. He uses a wheelchair and a walker. Please keep him on your prayer list, me, too because it is taxing to tend to things with no help.
hawaiistomnd@hotmail.com

Ricky Bradley
(a note from Gloria Phillips Bradley)
Jan. 25
Ricky is checking into day surgery for His 2nd Debridement Surgery of the Elosser Flap in his lung, scraping the area & flushing inside the wound. With each Surgery, we are working toward the goal of using the wound vac to help shrink the 4 1/2" square wound area, for closure in the future. Jan. 27
While they were in surgery, Dr. Bell found that the hole in Rick's Lung has reopened. So, NO Wound Vac until that has sealed. We are back in the waiting pattern for 3 months, at that time we will have another Debridement of the wound & check on the hole. God has a reason we're in this holding pattern with Rick's Lung. Thank you for the continued prayers.
9221 SW 99th St.
Mustang, OK 73064
Rbradley73064@yahoo.com


Debbie Felder
I’m calling on my prayer warriors to pray for me. I am having elbow surgery on Wed., Feb. 15 at Houston Methodist in the Woodlands. I fell and shattered my elbow and surgery hopefully they can fix it.
995 Northampton
Conroe, TX 77303
Dfog50@yahoo.com

Carole Oubre Reeves
1/12/23
The last scan that was done prior to the 12/22/2022 scan showed a blood clot in my abdomen area. As of the latest scan, the blood clot is gone but they will do a follow up scan as a clot will appear to be gone but there could be residual remnants that won’t show up on a scan right now. My tumor markers are still very low. Doctor was pleased with my blood work and the scan. No additional cancer growing, Praise the Lord! I’ll be going every three weeks right now for chemo and if my numbers are still looking good will eventually move to once a month. Doc wants to watch my numbers closely and work to get me to the “sweet spot” to keep any cancer from returning. She has a patient that has been going every six months for a treatment for 8 years! It’s certainly not my wish to be on chemo forever, but if that will keep me kicking then I’m in. Thank you for your prayers. I feel them constantly. Also, I feel great and my energy level is really good. My love to you all. And my thanks to our loving Father for his continuous work on this pancreatic cancer. I am not worthy of His love but he gives it every hour of every day.
02/01/2023.
I had my infusion and visited with the oncologist. Unfortunately, my numbers went up from 24 to 29 which means I will continue every third week to get chemo. Please pray my numbers will stabilize or go down. The Oncologist just wants them under 35 which they are for now. I am having digestive issues and will see a gastroenterologist on the 17th. I'm hopeful he can give me some answers but feel he will want to do upper and lower GI testing first to determine exactly what's going on. For the most part I feel good and can do most anything I want. My blood pressure has been high so my PCP put me on blood pressure medicine and am able to take my BP daily and they get the results. Thank you for all your prayers and ask you to continue. I'm blessed and thankful. God is watching over me through all this. Love you all.
6535 Jefferson
Groves, TX 77619
Carole.reeves@att.net

Hal Ross
(a note from Carole Oubre)
Hal is in good spirits and thankful where he is in this journey with his pancreatic cancer diagnosis. He’s getting chemo every 2 weeks. Says he feels bad for a week after chemo then feels good the following week. He’s still unable to have surgery. His tumor has not grown but neither has it shrunk. On a positive note, he’s looking forward to our 55th Reunion!!
3113 Madison
Nederland, TX 77627
Hal.ross@me.com

Charlie Fontenot
Hopefully I am finished with all the testing. I chose the surgery route over radiation and finally have tentative date of March 7th. The Dr believes that with the high-risk aggressive prostate cancer, I may still need some radiation, but less radical than without surgery. I’m am hoping that is not the case. 412 Brookedale
League City, TX 77573
cajunfont@aol.com

CONDOLENCES
Classmates gone too soon

Lynn Eldridge Gill
6/15/1950 – 12/26/2022
(a note from her daughter-in-law)
At 4:08 pm today, Lynn was healed and met her Savior, Jesus Christ, face to face. Her husband and two children were right by her side when her soul was promoted to Heaven. While our hearts hurt at our own loss, we are grateful for God’s mercy to take her home, protecting her from prolonged suffering. All of you have been amazing to Lynn and to our family. We could list thousands of names of all who’ve touched our lives during this time. We are beyond grateful. Thank you for your prayers! Continue praying for Jim Gill as he moves forward in life without his bride of 51- years and three days. We love you!
Jim Gill
4908 Stony Ford
Dallas, TX 75287

(a note from Linda DeCuir)
Lynn and I met in band in the 10th grade. We became very good friends and that friendship has lasted all these years. Five classmates and our spouses have spent a four-day weekend each year together meeting all over Texas for the last 21 years. She was always a barrel of fun and laughs and a wonderful, gracious hostess when we spent some of the weekends at their home in Dallas and their ranch in Tupelo. She was an ardent supporter of the website sending in numerous checks over the years. If you ever ate a boudain ball at any of our reunions, she paid for THOSE! She loved the Boudin Hut and insisted that their boudin balls would always be on our buffets. She even once called a Chinese restaurant and secretly told the owner to pay the whole reunion committee and spouses’ dinner bill when we were meeting there. God broke the mold when He made her. She was one of a kind and is definitely missed by many. RIP, sweet friend.

Mike Harmon
11/28/1949 – 12/27/2022
Suzy Harmon
8 Little Palomino Ct.

Bellingham, WA 98229 (a note from Linda DeCuir) Mike was very active in our class. He was Senior class president and voted Most Popular Boy our senior year. He was band manager and an excellent trumpet player. He was always fun to be around.

Tony John Ayala
10/5/1949 – 8/11/1968
Thank you to David Weldon and Martha Lipe Bodin ’69 for immediately researching for info on Tony’s life and death that I requested in our last update. He was our first classmate to die after we graduated. Even though he didn’t complete school to graduate with us, he went through school with us until he dropped out to join the Marines. RIP, Tony and thank you for your service.
(Please honor him by checking out the MEMORIAL section and also the MILITARY section under MARINES in the Site Links.)

Lavern McMillan (faculty member)
10/10/1925 – 1/7/2023

Joyce Hebert
(mother of Janice Hebert)
7/22/1927 – 12/24/2022
Janice Hebert Boudreaux
3319 Highland Laurels
Kingwood, TX 77345
mbsjanice@aol.com

Violet Powell
(mother of Tommy Romero)
1/23/1924 – 12/28/2022
Tommy Romero
2919 Azalea
Groves, TX 77619
Lindaromero7@icloud.com

Cora H. Fanguy
(mother of Paula Fanguy)
9/23/1929 – 1/5/2023
Paula Fanguy Lerner
834 Ivy Wall Dr.
Houston, TX 77079
prlerner@comcast.net

Jan Hollier
(sister of Fred Hollier, Jr.)
10/15/1954 – 1/21/2023
Fred Hollier, Jr.
22030 Tower Terrace
San Antonio, TX 78259

Ellen Cooper Lackey
(sister of Karen Cooper)
8/23/1940 - 2/2/2023
Karen Cooper Cappel
40502 Ethel
Prairieville, LA 70769


It is almost the Lenten season and it seems like Christmas was a week ago. Mardi Gras is in full bloom here in the area. The big weekend starts Thursday-Sunday in downtown Beaumont. It gets bigger each year. Maybe spring is around the corner.


Stay in touch and contact a classmate,
Linda DeCuir McFadden
lindaDmcfadden@yahoo.com
www.tjhs1968.com