Last summer when Nellie Sue Vinson and Terry Warren
celebrated their 50th anniversary, I wondered how
many of our class had already celebrated, were
celebrating, or will celebrate that golden occasion.
It is one of the special moments of getting older.
I have set off to document a bit about those facts.
If I am inaccurate or out of date, I apologize. I
am operating from the information that I have at
hand, including recent responses. Including children
by number and gender seems very logical, but I have
not attempted to count all the grandchildren and
great-grandchildren. Mike Herrington
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Don Adams and Charlotte Howton of Ranger were married
in 1965. Their 40 plus years ended with divorce. Both
died a few years later. They were the parents of two
sons and a daughter.
Jerry Anderson and Karen Lallier of Southlake celebrated
their 34th anniversary in September. Jerry and his first
wife Tinka Echols were the parents of one son. Karen
brought her son and daughter to the marriage.
Walter Blackwell and Candy (Alice) Ward of Carrizo Springs
were married in the summer of 1967 in Alpine. I drove
across the emptiness of far West Texas from Albuquerque to
be at that wedding. They are the parents of two daughters
and a son.
Jimmy Don Burnett and Gay Nell Blackwell (RHS-1963) of
Ranger were married probably in the first year following
graduation. They have a son and a daughter.
Nancy Cantwell and Horst Krause, a native born son of
Germany, are the only ones representing an international
marriage. They are the parents of two sons. They live in
North Richland Hills. I believe they also married in 1961.
Don Chatham and Fern Smith were married in 2003 and
now live in Michigan to help with the care of her aging
parents. Both Don and Fern have a son from a prior marriage.
Thomas Chrestman was living in Glide, Oregon, at the time
of our 40th reunion. He and his wife Jeannine came all that
that way to join us. They are now in Idaho.
Sandra Cooper and Fred Laux were married and living in New
Jersey when she died unexpectedly on a trip home to Ranger
in 1974. They had no children.
Barbara Crabb and Don Delany of Bulverde celebrated their
Golden Anniversary this past summer. They are the parents
of two daughters and a son.
Barbara Craig and Charles Graff were divorced after 30 years
of marriage, but as she says, from that marriage come her son
and daughter. She lives in Odessa, where as a member of the
city council, she is presently serving as mayor pro-tem.
Linda Drennan, who married Leroy Yarbrough, died in 1995, just
short of 34 years of marriage. She was a much loved school
administrator in Kennedale. They were the parents of two sons
and a daughter.
Norma Gayle Emfinger and Fielding Winchester, now of Bulverde,
were married in 1961 on or near her birthday as I recall. They
are parents of a daughter and two sons.
Robert Fergeson (freshman class president, who moved to
Texarkana) married Lynda Jo Thompson in 1966. They have a
son and are moving to Wills Point.
Bobby Fron and Naomi Bradford (RHS-1964) have been happily
married since December 2004. They live in Roanoke. Both had
been previously widowed and divorced. Bobby and his first wife,
Sharon Cole, were the parents of a daughter and a son. Naomi
brings a daughter to the blended family.
Pat Graham of San Antonio is the mother of two sons. Her former
husband was C.D. “Smokey” Savage.
Jerry Don Hamilton married Barbara Wood (a cousin of Charles
David Wolford). They live in Layton, Utah, and have one son.
Rozelle Hatton and Joe Sklenar had been married 44 years at
the time of her death in 2004. Joe and his good friend, Jack
Miller (Marinell’s husband), were stationed at Dyess AFB in
Abilene and visiting Lake Leon when they met their wives. The
Sklenars were the parents of a son and a daughter.
Jack Hazard lived in Sweetwater at the time of his death in
1999. He and his wife, the former Shirley Bearden, had one
son.
Nina Henry is the widow of Bob Tramel and lives in Lubbock.
They were married 35 years and had two daughters.
Mike Herrington married Margery Koerner of Boulder, Colorado.
They are the parents of two sons and a daughter. The marriage
ended in divorce just short of 13 years. Mike may have the most
unusual and more controversial marriage now after marrying his
partner of more than 12 years, Charlie Hardy, in Iowa in June
of 2009.
Nedra Hodges is essentially an unknown anymore. At one time
Marinell was in contact with her brother in Abilene. Her
married name is Cummings, and she was once living in
Rhododendron, Oregon.
Mac Jacoby and Marie DeLeon were married in 1967 and have one
daughter. They live in Sachse.
Richard Jolly and Jo Ann McDonald were married in 1965 and live
in Grand Prairie. They have a son and a daughter.
George Koenig’s widow is named Sandra. They had one son. George
died in an untimely work-related accident in 1998 in the state
of Washington.
Sharron O’Donnell Jones and her husband Jerry, then of Roswell,
New Mexico, died in a 1983 plane crash while returning from the
insurance settlement following their son’s death on a motorcycle.
Their grandson was in the same plane.
Karen Killingsworth and Don McBride, like others (including me)
divorced. They had a son and a daughter. She lives in Hurst.
Sally Mendez and Russ Ward of Burleson were married in June 1961.
They have a son and a daughter.
Homer "Clay" Montgomery and Donna Dubois live in Lake Kiowa. They
were married in July of 1963 and celebrated their 50th in 2013.
They have three sons and a daughter.
Jimmy Needham and Doris Singletery celebrated 50 in 2012. They
live in Hempstead and are the parents of a son.
Judy Ramsey Oliver probably feels more a part of the Class of
1959 than of ours. She graduated married to an Oliver, and her
current married name is Doggett. She lives in Richardson.
Carol Phillips and Dale Cozart (RHS-1958) married while she was
still in high school. They live in Cisco and have a son and a
daughter.
Johnny Pirkle, 55, died single in a 1998 auto accident. He was
living in Arlington.
Buddy Prather, 57, apparently died single in 1997. At the time he
lived in Waco.
Glenda Rains and Charles Ehninger of Fort Worth may have been
among the last of the class to marry. They have no children.
Gail Rapp and Jimmy Hagar (RHS-1958), now deceased, were divorced.
They had three children—a daughter and boy/girl twins. Gail now
lives in Northlake.
Sue Rodgers of Ranger was most likely the first widowed when Mickey
Craig (RHS-1961) died in 1968, leaving her with two young sons. She
later married Randall Rogers and had a daughter. That marriage ended
in divorce. R.L. Stuard, her husband, of several years often comes to
our reunions.
Alfred Rogers of Austin remains single.
Douglas Rogers and Sharon Brown (RHS-1965) of Brownwood married in
1970. They have two sons and a daughter.
Kathy Rogers and her husband, Harold Bowen, have made more than
one long trip to reunions. They have two sons and a daughter plus
Harold’s daughter by another marriage. They live in Gasburg, Virginia.
They celebrated their Golden Anniversary in May of 2012.
Mary Kay Rush had just separated from Dean Faulkenberry after 29
years at the time of our 30th reunion. She later married Jack Neeley.
She and Dean had a son and a daughter. Jack has a son and a daughter.
Marinell Shockey and Jack Miller of Abilene celebrated their 50th in
2010. She was one of the first to marry after graduation. They are
the parents of a son and twin daughters. Jack was in the USAF with
Joe Sklenar, Rozelle’s husband.
Rita Sipes of Cross Plains has been married twice. She lost her only
child--a son, Michael Shawn Franks—in 2010 in a tragic farm construction
accident.
Jimmie Stroud and Jackie Williams (RHS-1959) of Ranger were married in
the first few weeks after graduation. She was widowed in 1997 and has
two daughters and a son.
Bill Stuart and his wife, the former Kay Benton, were married in 1980.
Now retired and continuing to live in Steamboat Springs, CO, they have no
children.
Rita Underwood and Bob McLerran were married in October 1962. They are
the parents of three sons and maintain a home in Springtown, though they
travel a lot in their RV and plan to visit all 57 national parks.
Frances Veale of Abilene died at age 43, single.
Nellie Sue Vinson and Terry Warren celebrated their Golden Anniversary
this past summer. They are the parents of a son and a daughter and now
live in Eastland.
Patsy Vinson and Jimmy Martin of Buffalo Gap have been married close to,
if not, 50 years. They are the parents of a son and a daughter.
Marilyn Warden of Dallas was married to Bert Young (RHS-1961). They had
a daughter but divorced. Marilyn’s husband Ray Cundiff has been a regular
at our reunions for many years.
Nancy Warren, who works in the District of Columbia, married Bob James
in recent years. They live in suburban Maryland.
Voncille Wells and Coleman Williamson were married for 44 years at the
time of his death in 2004. She continues to live in Ranger. They were
the parents of two sons and a daughter.
Charles White of Ranger is divorced from Dorothy Ann Oliver (RHS-1967).
They had a son. She later married Mike Fisher (RHS-1961).
Jerry Wilson and our honorary classmate Betsy Johnson were married in
1982. They are the parents of two sons. By his first wife Rita Parks
(RHS-1965) Jerry had both a son and a daughter. Jerry has continued to
work his family farm/ranch north of town all these years.
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