May 28, 2007, Linda writes:

The past 40-plus years have been pretty typical, I guess.  I married the first time in 1963 to a
fellow who was 9 years older than I.  He had a son by one of his previous marriages.  Mike was 2
at the time of our marriage and we had a daughter a little over a year after that.  Mike died in an
automobile accident when he was 21.  Beth will be 43 this August.  She is a radiology tech and
has chosen to work contract jobs and travel.  She is presently in Nashville, TN and is about to
finish a 6- or 7-month stint at the VA hospital there.

I went back to school in 1966 (I think) and graduated in 1970 from Lamar University with a
teaching degree.  I taught for 2 years in the South Park School District in Beaumont – enjoyed
the kids, hated teaching and school administration.  I went to work in 1972 for the Texas
Department of Public Welfare (which changed names twice during my tenure and is now the
Texas Department of Human Services.)  I was a family services caseworker for 2 years, a family
services supervisor for 16 years, and transferred to a worker position in the income assistance
division in 1990, retiring with nearly 29 years of service.

I remarried in 1989 and my husband Fred got a job in Houston.  Positions don’t (or didn’t at that
time) often come available in social services to families and I was ready for a change anyway –
figured I’d have a better chance of getting a job in the outlying communities if I changed to
income assistance.  That was truly a change.  It takes (or did) about 2 years to become
moderately proficient in that program.  I worked in Baytown and La Porte offices determining
eligibility for Food Stamps, Medicaid and AFDC (now TANF) and was a Worker IV when I retired in
2001.  Fred never gave up hope that I would apply for management positions, but I thought the
income assistance programs were harried enough at the worker level, and as a case
reader/supervisory assistant and case worker I had quite enough to keep me busy.

I had not planned to retire until I was at least 65, but Fred got a job in Louisiana and state
employment does not transfer.  I had enough years to retire and had a whopping amount of
unused sick leave that could be added to my time worked, so choosing retirement over just
quitting was a no-brainer.  We spent nearly 4 years in Baton Rouge and moved back to Texas
when Fred was hired by a Houston company again.  He returned in December of 2003 and I
moved over in March of 2004.  We didn’t sell our house in Baton Rouge until September and had
signed papers for a house here in Baytown in May, so we were crossing our fingers that we
wouldn’t have to carry 2 house notes for long.  Between March and mid-September we were
commuting every weekend to BR to keep the house looking lived-in and doing the painting and
such to make it look neater.  I like my house here, but I do miss the lovely big back yard (16
trees!) and all the birds that visited our feeders there.

I am not exactly working now in that I do not have full-time paid employment.  I do contract work
for a company that provides vision care insurance benefits:  I work benefit fairs, mostly during
the August-November period, but occasionally during other months.  The rest of the time I was
doing some volunteer work, but now most of my time is spent in elder-care.  I helped care for
both of Fred’s parents until their deaths when we lived in Baton Rouge and moved my mom here
to Baytown almost 2 years ago.  She is in assisted living and was doing pretty well until about 6
or 8 months ago.  Now she is still in the assisted living facility, but she has a sitter to help her
mornings and I am the evening and all day Sunday sitter, as well as doing financial management,
laundry/ironing, shopping, medical record management and transportation.  I’m not quite 65 yet
and already most of my acquaintances are octogenarians and nonagenarians!  Since I am at the
assisted living place every day, I have met quite a number of the residents and spend some time
visiting them and occasionally helping some who do not have family nearby.  I also volunteer
with Second Family, a service provided through one of the Houston interfaith groups to elders
who need some assistance with things such as transportation, shopping, socialization and so
forth.

My husband Fred and I have been “officially” married for nearly 18 years, though we have been
together for 24 years now.  He has been known to describe us as “disgustingly compatible” and
he is a sweet and indulgent spouse.

Reading – I am a confirmed reader of murder mysteries and psychological suspense, but I will
read almost anything that catches my interest.  I, too, read when I go to bed.  I use it to gear
down to get myself ready to go to sleep, but sometimes I get too interested in what I am reading
to be able to stop.  Since Fred gets up at 5:00 a.m. to get ready to go to work, late reading makes
for an awfully short night!

I don’t like being photographed, so most of the pictures taken in recent years have been
accidental.  The one attached to this was taken last October at Fred’s company picnic, so it is
probably one of the more current ones.  It was a windy day and my hair is ill-behaved, but at least
I have a smile – and I am NOT eating, which is what I am usually doing when I get caught by a
camera.

I would like to have attended the reunion last year, but unfortunately we had a family wedding to
which we were committed before I received the reunion information.  The BHS web site was
interesting, though it was sad to see how many of our class have already died.  

Hoping to hear from you,

Linda M.

(See photos on next page.)
Linda M's Page
June 2008: Above - Linda and Jan at the Museum
of the American Indian in Washington, DC.
June 2008: Right - Linda and her cousin Ruth (standing)
and sister Shirley (kneeling) at the Museum
of the American Indian in Washington, DC.