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Since 1964

Ball High Class of 1964 Classmate Questionnaire

 

Name:        Judy Elam Pelon  (Sharp                                                                          Spouse:  Tom

Address:   839 Aberdeen Run

City, State & Zip: The Villages, Fl. 32162

Home phone:                           Cell:  850-234-3629                          Email: juelam@att.net

Occupation/Interests:  Retired (part time Travel Agent with own business)  Husband retired from Supt. of Schools in Michigan

We love to golf, fish, travel, dance and relax on our lanai. 

  

Children:

Name  Judy's kids- Ryan  Age 40   City   San Marcos, Ca   Interest/Occupation  Writes Computer Games for Sony;    Rob  38  Oxford, Fl.          Writes Computer Games own business; Tom's kids-  Kari  31   Rockford, Mi.    Day Care;  Kris    30  Cedar Springs, Mi     Occupation Therapist; Erik- Schwanns.

 Grandchildren- Bethany, Zoe, Alayna, , Noah, Bree, Jordan, Connor, Kayden, Truman, Preston

 

We enjoy golfing, fishing, swimming, traveling, watching golfers from our lanai and just relaxing and being with retired friends.

 

Changes and Challenges.  Lost my husband Larry in Sept. 2003.  Single life was fun for the next 4 years, but really enjoy married life better. 

Met my husband in The Villages (a cool very active retirement community in central Florida) and within 9 months we were married.  It's been a blissful marriage sense.  All the family seems happy with it on both sides.  We are having Camp Pelon with a mix of the grandkids and having a ball.

 

             

Judy Sharp

Ball High Class of 1964 Classmate Questionnaire

 

Name:  Pat DeVries  

Spouse:  Divorced
Address:  10801 Old Manchaca Rd #501

City, State & Zip:  Austin, TX 78748

Home phone:  512-291-0232  Cell:  512-626-8313

Email:  luckynana_5@sbcglobal.net
Occupation/Interests:  Medical Dispute Resolution Officer/Auditor 
Children:

Name               Age             City              Interest/Occupation

Tracy                43             Bay City        Day Care Teacher

Anissa               39             Bay City        Elementary School Teacher

Brian                 37             Austin            Massage Therapist
Jennifer             35             Salado           DME Marketing Account Executive

 

 

 

Grandchildren (include names and ages):

Haley - 16 yrs

Tori - 13 yrs

Bronson - 15 yrs

Tyler - 13 yrs

Cameron - 11 yrs

Changes and Challenges in the last five years:

  • Family:  Brian moved to Austin in June of this year to enter into the Physical Therapy Assistant program.  Anissa is going back to school to get her degree in Child Psychology. Tyler plays on a select baseball team for The Rage out of Salado. They won state in the Southern Division and went on to win as runner-ups in the National Super Series World Series. Haley made v
Pat DeVries
1964 Ball High Classmate

David Russo

Spouse:  Terri Quinn

Address: 278 Elkins Lake, Huntsville, TX  77340

Phone:  936-295-2030    Cell:  936-203-8984

Retired teacher

Interests:  hunting, fishing, playing table tennis

Children:  Stepsons--James and Steven Rogers

             James is 33 years old, married, lives in Round Rock, TX, works for Dell Computers and has a little boy, Baxter that will be one year on Oct. 9.

              Steven is 30 years old, single, lives in Crandall, TX, works for Richardson Lumber Company.

Changes and Challenges:  Trying to see how many cruises we can go on each year.  Retired in 2000 from Conroe High School, moved to Huntsville in 2006. 

David Russo
Connie Stratmann McLaurin

I have really enjoyed working on the last and this our 45th reunion. I look forward to seeing you all in October!!

I have been employed with Continental Airlines for 23years.  I plan to retire the summer of 2011.  I have been very fortunate to have traveled extensively all over the world.  My husband of 30years passed away in 2005.  I was tied down with his business to run and eventually sell.  I really did not think I would ever remarry.  But, as we know life does take us on a journey.  Alan and I married May, 2008.  We do have a story that takes us back to 1976.  Certainly too long for this space.  I have two daughters and four grandchildren.  That old saying "if I had known my grandchildren were this great...I would have had them first"  is sooooo true!  Three grandsons and one grandaughter ranging from 22yrs to 12yrs. 

We recently traveled to Panama to look into a possible place to retire.  It is beautiful and inexpensive but, not a place to settle for us.  We plan to make our home in the Ozark Mountains in Northern Arkansas.  We look forward to the four seasons and much less expensive cost of living.  Plus, Alan is an avid fisherman and hunter.  We are looking forward to the next chapter.   See you in October.

Connie Stratmann
Ernest Valdez

In August after graduating high school, I enlisted into the USAF; spent a yr and half in Turkey and two yrs in Japan (ran into Roy Lazarin-fellow grad-there).   I separated from the military in 1968;  and met Janet Brown from Downey, California at Jerry Doraty's (fellow grad) in La Marque.  Janet and I married in April of 1970.  We have five sons, live in Angleton, Texas  77515 at 2425 South Velasco St.  I retired in June, 2008, my email address is chief3@cmaaccess.com .  I do like to play praise music on guitar.

Children:  oldest to youngest

Samuel lives in Angleton, an ME with Dow Chem, has 4 children.

Carlos lives in Angleton, in contract sales with Gulf Chem, 2 boys.

Vince lives in Angleton, an instrument/electrical tech with Perstorp, has 4 girls.

Ernie lives in Houston, in sales with a metal company.

Michael lives in Lake Jackson, teaches within BISD.

Janet and I have ten grandchildren (on loan, of course), experience the empty nest syndrome and enjoy gardening/yard work & reading.

Ernest Valdez
LIFE DOES NOT STAY THE SAME

I never dreamed I would go from asphalt to pine trees. After I graduated, Nathan Branch and I married in July 1964. Margaret came along in 1965, then Elizabeth in 1967 finally Connie in 1968. We raised them in various towns in Galveston County. In other words we moved alot. The girls grew up, married, moved out, moved back in, moved out, then empty nest syndrome. We lived in Bayou Vista and then moved to Texas City in 1990 and purchased property in Tenaha, Texas in the piney woods. Nathan died in 1999 and I rounded up cattle for another 7 years. Now I watch the weeds grow and I visit alot, have women's retreats, and enjoy life.

ESTELL HUDSON
A Life of Music and Art

Edgar (Eddie) Moore  

Very much looking forward to seeing everyone at the 45th reunion. After graduating from Ball High, I attended North Texas State (now UNT) and upon graduating sang professionally for almost 30 years  throughout the country with numerous opera companies and orchestras and many notable singers of the last half of the 20th Century. One of the greatest experiences of my life and great fun to boot.                                                                                               Went back to school in 1990 and recieved 2 Masters degrees from the U of H in voice and conducting. Proceeded on to Doctoral studies at LSU and the U of H.                                                                                I became professor of music at San Jacinto College North in Houston where I have been for 17 years running the choral and vocal department. Along the way, I was Director of Music at Atascocita Presbyterian Church for 11 years.                                                           In 2001 I founded the Son's of Orpheus Men's Chorus, a professional men's chorus in Houston, of which I'm the Artistic Director and Conductor.                                                                                               My wife Gretchen and I have been married for 11 years and have no children except for our two dogs, my Triumph TR-6 and MGB, both of which I've restored.                                                                             More to tell later...see you all at the reunion!

Edgar (Eddie) Moore
Maybe at our 50th....

Although I am unable to attend our 45th reunion, I want to send

love and best wishes to all our class members, and hope you have

as great a time at this one as we all had at the 40th.   

Elaine Kay Janke    elainejanke@earthlink.net

Elaine Kay Janke
Lee Ofman

Hello to all my fellow Ball High graduates of Class 1964:

After graduating from Ball High, I ended up in Louisiana, playing in small clubs and dives. While playing in Houma, La., I wrote the Miami Dolphins Fight Song in 1972, the year they won the Super Bowl after coming off an undefeated season. I became a big fish in a little pond (Miami). In 1976, I wote the Houston Oiler's Fight Song and became a big fish in a little pond (Houston). In 1977, I deceided to try my luck on the national scene (the US) and moved to Nashville to become a hit songwriter (trying to become a big fish in a big pond). I was mostly starving to death so I decided to go back to law school, which I did. The year I graduated, 1981, I had a hit song form the Clint Eastwood movie "Any Which Way You Can", called Anyway You Want Me. The song was sung by Gene Watson and got up to # 19 on the Billboard top 100. I was still starving to death so I decided to practice law, which I have been doing for since 1982. in Franklin Tennessee, about 20 minutes south of Nashville. I have been married to Teresa for 27 years and we have a son, Berek, who is a senior at the University of Georgia in  Athens, Ga.

Since practicing law, Ive had a "48 Hour" murder mystery called "Addicted To Love", and Ive been fortunate to represent quite a few stars, which I will not mention. I mostly practice criminal law.

I hope I can come to the 50th reunion and visit with people that I can't remember whether they liked me or not.

 

Lee Ofman
William (Bill) Breaux

After graduation from Ball High I serverd 8 years in the US Air Force, 3 years in Vietnam.  Following my discharge I went to work for AT&T as a technical manager.  I retired in San Antonio in 2005 as Director of Data Operations after working of AT&T for 33 years.  I was married to a wonderful woman named Bobbie for 25 years but unfortunately lost her to illness in 2009. My daughter Michelle lives in Houston, Texas and she has given me two very fine Grandsons, Christian and William.  Right now, I am in the process of selling my home in San Antonio and moving back to the galveston Area.  For the last 8 months I have started and am Administering a Galveston oriented group on Face Book named Galveston Remembered. It's about all things galveston and is curently over 1850 members strong.

William (Bill) Breaux
If They'd Told Me Fifty Years Ago I'd Never Have Believed It

Left Texas in 1978 for Connecticut, where I lived for 23 years (with a three year stint in upstate New York). Had a wonderful career(s), the last as an internal management consultant for The Travelers Insurance Companies, and married two wonderful men. 

Sadly, I've been widowed twice, my last husband Pan Am Capt. Al Taubert retired, passing in 2001.

Moved to southwest Florida in 2004, where I took up two old passions and turned them into avocations: jazz vocalist and writer. Made two CDS, got a record contract, both CDs astonished me by doing well (www.kathryntaubert.com). 

As much as I love music, I never much liked the entertainment business, so I retired from it again (second time), performing now only on rare occasions. 

I took up writing, one of my oldest passions, and am now a freelance journalist and Blogger for the Naples Daily News, in Naples Florida and the Riverland News, Villager Edition on Florida's "Nature Coast." 

Published my first book "Yevu (White Woman): My Five Weeks with the Ewe Tribe in Ghana, West Africa" (available on Amazon in both print and Ebook, as are my CD's "Where Can I Go Without You" and "Somewhere in Time.") 

I'm about to release my next book "Better To Have Loved, A True Story of Love, Loss and Renewal." This one took 12 years to complete and it's a very personal story about starting over. 

I may publish a third tome in 2014 ("The Best of Life in the Slow Lane," from my blog of that title with the Naples (Florida) Daily News.

I've had a great life, and it isn't over yet by a long shot. My hobbies are SCUBA diving, long distance swimming and voracious reading. I'm also a chronic volunteer, my preferences being animal welfare, the environment and developmental disabilities. Life has been good to me and volunteering is my way of giving back.

Still have some family back in Texas, and a sister on the Island. Looking forward to reconnecting with old friends again, too. Write to me if you wish. Would love to hear from you! You can also find me on Facebook and Linked In.

 

Kathryn McDonald

Maiden name:  Herlinda (Linda) Trevino, born in Galveston, Texas January 26, 1946.  Married Tim Zepeda on June 20, 1965 (49 yrs. now). Since graduating from BHS, I've attended UofH, Pan-American Univ-UT in Edinburg,TX, Northeast TX Comm College in Mt.Pleasant,TX, for a total of 3yrs (have not graduated, but now I'm way tooooo old), and Texas Baptist Institute & Seminary (1974-1978), Henderson, TX. I've worked for lawyers, dabbled into politics, and have run for the office of District Clerk in Titus County in 1998--Republican ticket (lost, but received the greatest political and educational experiences, especially at our Republican State Conventions), and have been working for the Mount Pleasant ISD since 2001 during the day to the present time. For the first ten years I worked in the Even Start Program of the ISD (adult ed) teaching English to Spanish-speaking students and testing them in the GED curriculum. I now am reponsible for the migrant program for the ISD and do the migrant recruiting for 4 of our 9 campuses. I also taught an ESL (English as a second language) night class for our local community college's (NTCC)Adult Ed. Dept. from 2003 until Dec. 2012, at which time I retired from that position. After TX Baptist Inst & Sem, my husband began our mission work in McAllen, TX for the following 16 years, then came to Mount Pleasant to begin our mission work here, where we have been to the present time. Our church is Iglesia Bautista Betél/Bethel Missionary Baptist Church (bilingual). We are in our 19th year with our Lord's work, where I am a Sunday School teacher and church pianist. Last year I also began an ESL class after our Wednesday night service in my church building. I teach it only the one night per week. I shall probably retire from working after the 2014-2015 school year. I enjoy the elementary school environment, where my office is located, so much that I shall really miss it if I do retire, but that's another year away! I have two grown children: In Spring, TX, Michael Zepeda (45), who is married to Stephanie Perez, has 4 children and 4 grandchildren; in Mt. Pleasant, TX, Crystalla Ann (38), who is married to Alan Anderson, has 2 sons. Tim and I are left with our only other family member, Ruby, a Chihuahua, we've had for 9 yrs.

Linda Trevino
 
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