As I’m sure it is with everyone else, a lot has happened in my life over the last ten years. Some of you met my husband Jerry at the 30 and 40 year reunions.  Unfortunately, in 2003 Jerry was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.  He was able to stay home until the fall of 2006 with the help of a wonderful caregiver named Litsa.  When it was no longer possible for him to remain at home, he entered a series of nursing homes and after battling this horrible disease for five years, passed away in March of 2008.  I continued to live in Lake Charles and work at the Lake Charles Regional Airport.

As time went by, a long time friend, Jake Crowell, became very important in my life.  Neither of us was “looking” at that time but it became very obvious that God was bringing us together.  On Christmas Eve 2009, we became engaged and were married on February 27, 2010.  Here is a picture taken at our wedding:

We honeymooned on an Alaskan Cruise, where we saw some of the most beautiful scenery ever imagined.  Here’s a picture taken in Glacier Bay National Park, one of our favorite places – so serene.

Jake had two children, a son, John, who now lives in Jacksonville, FL and a daughter, Cami, now deceased.  His children bore him three grandsons, a great grandson and a great granddaughter.

Jake is a retired Baptist minister, having spent 55 years in ministry work prior to his retirement in June 2007.  I retired from the airport in May 2010 and we set out on a new adventure together ~ both of us had lived in Louisiana for over 50 years, and we decided to move to the Hill Country of Texas for our retirement years!  We live in San Marcos, conveniently located midway between Austin and San Antonio.  San Marcos is a college town, similar to Lake Charles and we are very active in First Baptist Church here.  We recently moved into a new house which is very exciting for us. In 2005 Hurricane Rita caused a lot of devastation in Southwest Louisiana, and that memory, along with the mosquitoes and 100% humidity on any given day, played a very active role in our decision to move to The Hill Country… and even with its dry, 100+ degree temperatures we still consider it a good move.  The wildflowers in Spring are just beautiful

We are avid New Orleans Saints and Texas Rangers fans.  We watch most of the Rangers games on TV but recently attended our first game in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

During that trip to the Dallas-Fort Worth area I fulfilled a life-long dream of driving a car as fast as I could go without getting a speeding ticket!  These pictures were taken at the Texas Motor Speedway where I participated in the Mario Andretti Racing Experience.  I drove an authentic Indy race car which had been in real Formula One races.  I drove at a sustained speed of 132 mph and it was an awesome experience; never to be forgotten.

My son, Scott still lives in Denver; and here are a couple of pictures of him taken last winter when we visited him.

After graduation Charmaine and I struck out for the big city of New Orleans in search of the perfect job - actually, any job. We got pretty tired of hearing "we need someone with experience".......we wondered how we were supposed to get experience if nobody would hire us! Well, finally someone did and we both went to work - Charmaine for the Credit Bureau and me for a law firm. After a couple of years I got a job at Shell Oil in Norco. Boyle Henderson and I were married in 1965 and moved to Baton Rouge so that he could finish his degree at LSU. While there I worked in the College of Agriculture and the Department of Veterinary Medicine. We moved to Houston in 1968 and I took a break from the working world to raise our two boys. Scott was born in Houston in December 1968 and Matt was born in New Orleans in July 1972.

We moved to Lake Charles in June 1973, where I have lived ever since. Boyle and I were divorced in 1982 and I returned to work on a part-time basis. During that time I've worked at various places; for the past several years in the Airport Manager’s Office at Lake Charles Regional Airport. It is an exciting and rewarding job. Things have changed quite a bit since September 11th, even at the smaller airports.

I am now married to Jerry Drewett, who is a retired IBM Customer Service Engineer. We were married in Hawaii in March 1988 and returned there for our 10th anniversary. Besides Hawaii (where I would love to go again) we have traveled to quite a few places here in the good ole U.S.A. Until I see everything I want to see here, I have no desire to travel overseas......but maybe one of these days we will. 

Between us, Jerry and I have three grandchildren; Ashley and Codi, who live in Beaumont; and Anton, who lives in Ruston.  We also have a 4 year old Dachshund named Rusty and he is truly 'one of the family'.

My son Scott lives and works in Denver. My sister Margaret still lives in Norco and my sister Marie lives in Seguin, Texas.

We have had our share of grief - my son Matt died of a heart/lung disease in September 1985 at the age of 13. Jerry had two sons and unfortunately, both of them have passed on since we’ve been married. Randy died in October 1991 at the age of 29 and Michael died in 1994 at the age of 38. My father died of a massive heart attack in January 1983 (most of you probably remember him as "Mr. Nick" the watchmaker at Wilson’s in Norco) and my mother died of lymphoma in August 1991. Through it all, God has been with us and keeps us in His care.

Charmaine and I have remained close friends for all these years and have been able to get together and visit fairly often. We have had fun working on the plans for our 40th Reunion (can that number really be correct?) and look forward to seeing everyone there.