Memoirs of a Person

Christmas letter

gchandler01 — Fri, 24 Dec 2010 02:54:47 +0000

We wish you and your family happiness and health this holiday season! Here’s what we’ve been up to this year…

Katherine graduated from Texas A&M in August, and we’re very proud of her! Soon after getting her bachelor’s degree in political science, she joined the Disney College Program and has been in Orlando throughout the fall. (Sound familiar? Yes, this is our second family member to work there! Sara worked there in the fall of 2008.) Katherine has enjoyed working retail at the Art of Disney store, the Star Wars gift shop and a pin trading stand. She’ll be coming home in January.

Jim, Gail and Sara visited Katherine at Disney World in October and December for five days each trip. We enjoyed staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge and going to the Halloween and Christmas parties at the Magic Kingdom.

Sara continued to work on her degree in Austin this spring and returned to Dallas for the summer. Online classes this fall allowed her the flexibility to spend time in both cities. When in Austin, she and her roommate Jenny enjoyed Jenny’s funny little dog Gypsy and cat Sassy. When at home, our old chocolate lab Stormy kept Sara and all of us entertained.

Danny and Kelly are working in Dallas and living in Irving. Danny’s work at Jones Day in shareholder and securities litigation has continued to be exciting and challenging. Kelly’s work with at-risk kids at Heart House Dallas, a non-profit, after-school program, is rewarding too. They’ve had fun with their dog Maggie and their old and new friends.

Scheduling challenges this year meant separate vacations for us:
• Danny and Kelly enjoyed a trip to Chicago in the fall (seeing the sites and watching a friend run a marathon).
• Sara and Gail spent a wonderful week around the Fourth of July in New York City (watching spectacular fireworks from the deck of the Intrepid aircraft carrier/museum, picnicking in Union Square, seeing “Promises, Promises” on Broadway, seeing the Brooklyn Museum and walking the Brooklyn Bridge).
• Jim and Katherine took a cruise out of Baltimore to the eastern Caribbean (snorkeling and getting sunburned in St. Martin, touring a rum distillery in Puerto Rico, experiencing a hurricane at sea, and touring the National Aquarium).
• Sara went with friends and a friend’s mom to Las Vegas for spring break, seeing Cirque du Soleil’s “O” and “Love”.
• Gail, Jim and Katherine went to Washington D.C. for spring break, seeing the Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit, visiting museums and landmarks and enjoyed an Irish pub on St. Patrick’s Day.

Gail continued working for Texas Instruments this year and took trips to Washington D.C. and one to San Jose, California. She was chosen for Leadership Dallas, a Dallas Regional Chamber training program for community leaders that’s a lot of fun and work. She also received a national award from the Public Relations Student Society of America for her work with Southern Methodist University’s chapter. She continues to work on genealogy, teaming up this year with her cousin to uncover more of the family’s past.

Jim completed his 40th year with the Dallas Police Department December 7th and is talking about retirement (yes – still – but he says more seriously!). He’s had fun working security for the Dallas Mavericks games, standing near the Mavs bench for home games.

Although we’ve had some great moments in 2010, we’ve also experienced some very sad ones. We lost Gail’s mom, Margie Watkins, to Alzheimer’s disease in February. Although we know she’s at peace with God now, we miss our “Mama” and “Mamaw” very much. To honor her, we’ve helped raise funds for research for a cure by walking in the Memory Walk and supporting the “Blondes vs. Brunettes” football game.

Looking ahead…
We’re looking forward to our time with family and friends over the next few weeks. We wish you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and all the best!

Jim, Gail, Danny, Kelly, Sara and Katherine

My mom has passed away

gchandler01 — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:46:55 +0000

I haven’t continued writing for some time. It’s been hard these last couple of months to write about memories while my mom was struggling with Alzheimer’s Disease. In December she stopped eating for a week, but, with encouragement, came back. She even enjoyed the singing at a Christmas party. But we could see she was continuing to decline. In her final three weeks, she fell three times, forgetting that she couldn’t walk by herself and getting up, only to fall. It was clear that she couldn’t go on this way much longer. I went to visit her last week, and one of the attendants had left her only for a few minutes to get help. She was afraid and shaking. We helped her to her bed. She never got up again. She was in pain, perhaps with a hernia we had been watching for some time. We gave her a pain patch, but had to then increase the dosage as she was still in pain. She didn’t eat or drink anything after that time. She was restless, a sign of continuing pain, and they gave her anti-anxiety medicine. She relaxed and just breathed shallowly and regularly then. I stayed with her during her last night, listening to every breath and fearing it would be her last. She made it through the night. My sister and a hospice chaplain arrived, and we said a prayer together. Then we were talking about all the places my mom had traveled — Europe, Hawaii. And we were trying to figure out how many years she and my dad were married. Mama let out one last sigh, and she was gone. I miss her so much.

First day of first grade

gchandler01 — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:42:15 +0000

I read the newspaper today and saw an obituary for a woman who may have been my first grade teacher, a Mrs. Owens who taught elementary school in Richardson for more then 35 years. I’m not sure of the first name because my teacher was always just Mrs. Owens to me. I remember my first day of school. My mom took me to Richardson Heights Elementary School, just one block from my home. She walked me into the class to the desk that had a manilla card on it with my name printed on it. I knew it was my name although my sister Carol had taught me to write my name in cursive before I started to school. She had also taught me to read or at least read a story about ducks to me so many times that I could read the story myself. I looked forward to school and always liked it. When my mom left me on the first day, I didn’t mind. Another girl in my class, Jan Williams, cried and cried when her mom left. I didn’t understand why. Mrs. Owens was very nice, and I felt safe with her. I went to school in Richardson for 12 years and graduated with some of the same kids from my first grade class. I don’t remember the details of that year, except for performances. I played “Billy Bunny” in a musical performance on the stage in the cafetorium. The other kids sang about me and teased me about it for years. The song went, “Billy Bunny can’t wiggle her ears, wiggle her ears, wiggle her ears. All the little bunnies can wiggle their ears, but not Billy Bunny. The verses that followed were “wiggle her nose” and “wiggle her tail”. It stuck with me in a way, thinking that I couldn’t do everything the other kids could do. Which was silly because I was the star of the show! The other first grade performance I remember was a “Dick, Jane and Sally” story. I was picked to play “Sally under the umbrella.” We got to leave school and go to Richardson High School’s tv studio to perform. I remember being hidden under the big, black umbrella. It was very exciting! Recess was another first grade highlight. We played ”Red Rover” and ran down the hill to the swings. I’ll say a prayer tonight for Mrs. Owens who taught me years ago – whether it’s the woman in the newspaper or not. I’m grateful for the great start I got in school. I learned to value learning.

Next door to history

gchandler01 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 02:00:05 +0000

Growing up in this time and place, I was surrounded by history but didn’t know it. I was busy enjoying a happy childhood.

It wasn’t until many years later when I went to work for Texas Instruments nearby that I learned that history was made not too far away, probably while I played outside with my neighborhood friends. A TI engineer named Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit just a few miles away from where I lived. This invention changed the world and made the electronics we have today possible.

And history was made again in nearby Dallas when President John F. Kennedy was shot in 1963. The assassin Lee Harvey Oswald’s wife Marina was hidden by the government investigators (for her safety) at a house one street over but the same house number as ours. We had people coming to our door by mistake to try to see her.

Richardson and Dallas were very conservative at that time. I had been the only student in my class who was for Kennedy in the election. I was so surprised when he beat Nixon!

One of the students in my class had pretended to fire a gun at the President when we were watching on television as the motorcade passed through downtown Dallas. My teacher had turned off the set though before the assassination took place. When she heard that the President had been shot, she came back into our classroom crying and turned the TV back on. The boy who had pretended to shoot cried and cried. It was a strange time that made a strong impression on me.

A couple of days after the President’s assassination I had a vivid dream about it. I dreamed that President Kennedy wasn’t dead and I found him hiding in our backyard. He told me that his brother had been shot instead (something that I remembered years later when Robert Kennedy was killed).

My parents encouraged me to watch the President’s funeral on television so I could see history. I remember the black and white images of the riderless horse-drawn caisson with the casket.

My earliest memories

gchandler01 — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 15:03:51 +0000

I grew up in a three bedroom, one-bath home in Richardson, Texas. I was just a baby when my parents moved there in 1955 and spent just $14,000 for the small house in a new subdivision called Richardson Heights.

My earliest memories were in that house — among the first built in the sheep pastures on the west side of Hwy. 75 near Belt Line Road. The area changed from country to suburb while my school days passed by. I went to Richardson schools all 12 years.

I was a very happy child, a “daddy’s girl” as well as “mama’s girl”. My daddy was the one who worked, often away building electric power plants, while my mom stayed home to take care of me. She was always there for me, but I knew he was there when he could be. They made the decision to keep me in school in Richardson, due to the great reputation of the schools and for the stability. My mom had moved from school to school with her family while growing up, and she thought it wasn’t good to do that to a child. I learned to value stability.

I don’t know if I really remember my earliest days or just have seen the pictures taken of me in my crib with a mobile of birds.

Even as a baby, my parents took me and my sister swimming at Vickery Park swimming pool, an old fashioned amusement park with a large pool and bathhouse. They allowed big, black inner tubes for floating in unlike any of the other swimming pools. I can still smell the chlorine in the air and feel the anticipation of jumping into that pool on a hot Texas summer day.

Making memories last

gchandler01 — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 16:00:22 +0000

When you live, you create memories. These are the remnants of days that make you the person that you are.

But when you die, a unique part of the world is lost. The same thing happens when you lose your memories to Alzheimer’s disease.

I’ve lost my mother in this way. Her memories of more than 80 years of love, regrets, happiness, sadness, family and friends are gone. I am sharing my memories of our lives and writing this in case I lose my memories someday. I want to save some of what I’ve experienced in my life so far and to preserve my mother’s influence so all is not lost.

Other people will come after you and take your place – descendents or people you’ve influenced. I hope that they will read this and take something away to better their lives. This is the legacy of memories.