Lee Note 18 Updates and Dallas Women Luncheon Report April 8, 2001

Dear Lee Friends,

This is catch up day. I have found lots of addresses this weekend so there are more people joining us every day. I had these two notes from a retired Superintendent (Virgil) and a retired Principal (Tom). Life is good.

News today from Virgil Tiemann:

My oldest daughter, Jeana, gave birth to her second child yesterday. Jeana and new daughter, Haley, are doing well. Jeana is a veterinarian and lives in Austin. Her twin brother, Chris, is a regional sales manager for an office equipment company and also lives in Austin.

My younger daughter is in the 7th grade. She and I are at a softball tournament today where I'm composing this. She is on a tournament softball team, and that occupies most of our weekends, particularly in the spring and summer. Keeps me young!!!

Virgil

News of how Tom Rhodes spent his Saturday:

Well, since this is Confederate History Month, I had a really full day participating in the re-enactment of the Battle of Pleasant Hill, La. this morning. Then, I marched in a parade, went to Shreveport for a Living History event at LSUS. And finally I attended a friend's wedding at 4:00 p.m. before retiring to the farm. :-) Boy, retirement is GREAT!! I really enjoyed Raymond's note...gosh we have an interesting class. :-)

Tom Rhodes

Now I would like to tell you about the great day that nine women had in Dallas Saturday.

Five of the women who live in the DFW area met for lunch. Many of us had not seen each other since the day we graduated. I am skipping their married names in this list: Phyllis Busby, Marilyn Ash, Dominga Vegas, Nancy Goolsby and I.

We were joined by Donna Brundige (Texarkana), Jan Ellen Kersh (Katy, she is a relative of Nancy's also), Bonnie Harden (Edmond, OK) and Janelle Smitherman (Georgetown).

Donna, Janelle, and Jan have kids and/or grandkids in the DFW area so they came for the weekend. Bonnie just wanted to drive down and join us. Her kids are in Austin and Houston so she knows I-35 quite well.

We met at 11:00 AM at a restaurant in North Dallas. Bonnie did not arrive until 12:30 since a freeway accident held her up. By that time, the eight of us had told our "life stories." Such wonderful stories they were.

Donna will have been married for 41 years this June since she married right after graduation. She and her husband live in Texarkana, Arkansas. She is currently working at Lowe’s where her type A personality is keeping everyone and the store in top shape.

Janelle and others will be celebrating their 40th anniversaries this summer. A big congratulations to those of you that have this wonderful honor this year!

Janelle Smitherman started her married life in Guam. After the military, her husband joined Dow Chemical and they have lived in many parts of the United States before retiring to Sun City, Texas. She will be happy to give you a tour and talk about the golf and other fun activities they enjoy. Janelle’s daughter joined us for lunch. She is waiting for her first son to be born this summer.

Nancy Goolsby’s husband was career military and she has also lived in many parts of the US and abroad. She has worked in speech pathology with elderly patients in several locations. She was later asked to start a special education program at a brand new school. She told them she would only do it for one year. She retired 11 years later. Nancy and her husband live in Fort Worth.

Marilyn Ash, who said that she was very quiet in high school, has become very extroverted. She has had several careers that we could all see her doing: real estate, marketing, company entertainment coordinator. She is currently very active in Friendship Force and is President of her club in Dallas this year. She lives in Plano, a northern Dallas suburb.

Dominga Vegas also lives in Plano. She and I were the only two who are not grandmothers yet. Our girls have not been married long enough yet for us to be blessed yet as Grandmas. Dominga had a great career as a nurse. This included five years in Puerto Rico where she had family since her dad was Puerto Rican. She was "Miss San Juan VA Hospital" complete with satin ribbon and crown. She represented the hospital at various fundraisers for nursing scholarships.

Phyllis Busby told us about her work as a speech therapist with children from 6 weeks to 22 years of age. She has one daughter and thinks that being a grandmother has been one of her greatest roles in life so far. She is also enjoying belonging to two scrabble clubs. She has just moved to Plano this past December from north Dallas.

Jan Ellen Kersh has had varied career interests in teaching, pre-school principal and professional photographer. She has lived in Katy for most of her 35 years of married life. Her son is the Head Chef at Sambuca Jazz Club, an outstanding restaurant and jazz club in Addison, "The Town where Dallas goes for FUN!"

Bonnie Harden and her husband moved to Oklahoma and thought they would not be there too long. Over 20 years later, they are still there. Bonnie has been in Real Estate for those years and really enjoys it. She is also enjoying having four granddaughters.

I told the group about my current job in north Dallas. I am a Technical Trainer for a Dallas software company. Our software is used by hospitals to move patient information between the various computers that they have purchased.

The software is used in other countries to move data between banks. The classes for these bank customers are normally held in London at the offices of a business partner company. Most of the classes that I teach are a week long.

We had such a good time that we all agreed that we want to do this again in six months.

Kay Morrow Wright