19	Spring	99
PO Box 522	PAMPA, TX	79066-0522
Volume 8	of the family, by the family, for the family	Issue 4
806 669 0522	Tucson | Moving | Family | Monta | Idaho | Job Hunt	puzzler@pan-tex.net

Tucson Experience Roy keeps bugging me about an article to put in his newsletter and I really don't have a lot to say that most people want to hear. As a Courier, I do my two routes basically making circles around Tucson. As to being divorced, I miss my ex-wife and three kids but learning a lot from the marriage experience and the way she treated me, I find it hard if not impossible to trust her again. When Roy and his son Levi came down over the holidays it was like yesterday when I'd seen them (though it had been five years) except he's starting to show some gray now and Levi seemed twice as big and very much like a young man. We enjoyed our visit even though I found it impossible to take even those two days off from work. Skeleton crew here. It does get hot here in Tucson (115 F in the summer), sometimes if not a lot of times over 100 past dark and even into midnight. The winters are mild, rarely below freezing and even then in the early morning. This winter has been unusually warm (mid-70's) and I just need to get the AC working in my van. It's like an oven in there sometimes. Reading the newsletter every quarter I do tend to get a bit nauseous about the religious articles. I don't know of any other way to put it, but too many Christians out there have a very ecumenical outlook in these end times. The one world church is very near, almost here. Computers are on the rampage and everyone wants to buy into it. I don't know how many people out there know that the number 666 is the perfect computer number and is the hidden numbers in the bar code scans. They have, I believe at least 6 different bar codes for the number 6 and it is always the first bar code, the middle bar code and the last bar code in every scan. In essence, I hate computers, but it has become a part of our everyday lives. The reason why I say the churches are becoming ecumenical is because anyone can become part of most local churches. And if a person were to look deeper into these local churches, that person would find that they all have something in common; They all stem from the Roman Catholic Church. They have the laity system (laity is a word derived from Nicolaitanes) where one person pastors (lords over the flock), they have majority rules in Church decisions, the elders decide who gets to do what in the church & so on. How can God use His servants if they are not free and independent to do what He needs to get done? Enough on that for now. Terry Back to the top. We Are Moving This time of year I get hungry to see my Grandma & Grandma Watts. I long to hear Grandma's stories and his chuckle. I'd love to see my Grandma pour her cream into her coffee and let it run into the saucer and her methodical soothing way of enjoying it, gazing out the kitchen window. I ache to run the creek beds again with my cousins and eat ice cream until my head hurts. That was yesterday gone forever, except the quiet of my memories. My life has been a blur the last 2 1/2 hears. that's when my youngest started getting ready for college, prom engagement, rodeo, Lion's rodeo queen all in about a period of 2 weeks. She successfully made it with all of these activities, I'm still not sure I've made it back yet! In December of '97, Vanessa married J.L. Swanson from Empire. He is working at Halliburton for the time being and Venessa is working for the Halliburton Credit Union and attending Cameron University. J.L. and Vanessa met at Church. I use to think mother-in-law jokes were really funny! Thank you to Diane and Lowell, Katie and Ben Elder for coming. It was also great to have Louis and Pam with the brides family. Rob and I moved to Enid as soon as I talked him into selling RD Construction to Dennis Luckinbill at Enid. Dennis also offered Rob a superintendent position in the field division, doing what he had done the past 17 years, except the paper headaches were not our concern. I was employed also with OBA, a private High School at Enid. I've loved most of this experience and I had dug my feet in for retirement. I love it here. Well sometimes we don't see what we need to. Robin was offered another job with a substantial raise and all the benefits to boot. We just could not understand how they could pay so well. To make a long story shorter, it didn't work, yeah if, it sounds too good to be true, it is! Rob walked on to site and started questioning the workers - 2 accidents in 6 months was the best news - so he started looking for safety factors to improve. Then he saw why. The men were working from metal ladders laying across the top of the towers and repelling from ropes to blast and paint. They had exchanged their respirators for masks like they wear for lab work or mow the grass with red rags tied around that to keep the dust out. Rob has had safety procedures pounded into anyone who would listen and has been perfecting scaffolding his whole career. He said it was like stepping back in time 50 years. Rob says he wouldn't have quit Luckenbill if it hadn't been for their offer and he feels God wanted him in his business, so he is and has just about completed his first contract with 3+ to go. Rob took 4 days to plug everything that took months to do before (building a business was very hard) Laura is at Grayson Nursing College. She is going for the RN. She loves it and feels it will have more chance for opportunity than education. She may end up teaching that if she chooses, who knows. She is still single and happy. Jennifer is at UCO and will be able to graduate in May unless we can talk her into one more year at OCU in engineering design (or something like that) . She is a very serious student. She dates some but is very happy (most of the time) single. Well, here's the latest news. Rob and I have not sold our house in Duncan and that's where all our business was sitting before, so - we are MOVING back. The girls are ecstatic! I am glad too, I guess, when it gets right down to it. I'll miss my job and the people I've met. You know me. I don't warm up to people right away, but once I do, it kills me to let go. The moving pains have not been so bad as we've taken loads down each time we go back to do business, etc. I'm living in a shell of what I can get by with. I'm going back Friday to meet Rob there. We will not be at this address after March 5. We have our old phone number and address as before. I will finish the school year before I go. Roy's new project sounds like something I would like to do but I'll have to wait until School is out. I can't seem to find enough time to explore the web enough to do any good. I miss you all and you are thought of often. Love, Carol Rae Back to the top. Dearest Family Everyone in our branch of the family is doing pretty good. Orion Clark (Richie & Judy's grandson) has been in the hospital with pneumonia this last week. Evan (Jerry & Teresa's son) has the crud. With this weather I understand why Jerry said they would probably get it too. They probably will. Proverbs 18:7-A fool's mouth is his destruction & 18:21-Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Curt stays busy with his job. He is responsible for the 173 watershed dams in our county. They keep us and our goods from floating down the Washita River unwantingly. I start a new job tomorrow. Curt teaches Seniors Sunday School class. I send Birthday and Anniversary cards for church as well as being in charge of the kitchen. Keeps us busy, Tess and I took turns the last 3 weeks keeping Connor. His babysitter had a new baby and Steph is on Spring break this week so they are in New Mexico. She had an interview this week. They will move too Albuquerque this summer when school is out. We are happy for them but will miss them being two hours away. Ben, Janna & Genna are okay. Genna plays soccer. Janna is still having some problems with her foot she broke last year on a fall off a ladder at work. Donna, Paul & kids are fine. Donna & Paul are going to college and working full time. The kids are busy with after school activities. Really have to budget their time to make all the commitments. Tess is still living at home. She wants to get some schooling of some kind, guess we'll have to enroll her in something and get her started. Nancy & Randal are okay, just very busy. They plan to go to Austin the 15th through the 19th while Nancy is on spring break. They will take the things they have been storing for Heather & Todd as they now have room. They have bought a house. They have gone from two drawers to ten drawers in their kitchen. Congratulations! Rhett went to help them move and on his way back home his car quit him just south of Fort Worth. he looked around and spotted a church with a vehicle there not far away. The man at the church told Rhett to just make whatever calls he needed to. He made arrangements to spend the night and for his dad to come get him and his car. The man took him back to his car and told him he had left the church open in case he needed to use the phone again. The Lord was taking care of him and his car. When Randal and Nile got there the next day (March 1st) it was only the water pump. They drug it home and got the water pump off and Rhett went and got another one. Randal went to work on Tuesday, March 2nd, figured out it was a holiday when no one else showed up. Needless to say, Rhett got help replacing his water pump. Randal, that is as bad as driving through a gate, putting your pick-up in neutral and not putting on the emergency brake and leaving the door open. All of Jerry's family are busy. Teresa is now grooming dogs in Wheeler instead of working at the Vet clinic in Spearman. Jerry said she was doing real well and not near as many miles. Chandra is a Senior this year and Evan will graduate from Eighth Grade. Chandra is working at the Care Center so she keeps very busy. Evan is looking forward to high school football next year. Richie & Judy are doing great. Richie had abdominal surgery in early January. He is doing very well. He enrolled in the A&P School at the Metro Tech in Oklahoma City. It is an 18 month program and when he finishes he will be an air frame & power plane mechanic. I hope I got all that right. Judy said he plans to get his pilots license and is really enjoying school. If he gets his pilots license, I think I'll stay on the ground. I remember riding with him and Jerry as teenagers. Monta, do you remember letting me drive? The only thing I remember is turning the corner on South Main doing 30 mph. How old was I? I also remember my first horseback ride by myself on Trixie. Do you remember that, Pete? We really enjoyed Monta & Pete joining us at Wheeler on Saturday before Christmas. Sure missed those who were unable to attend. Amy turned 40 in February. Sure makes me old. Take good care. God Bless you all. Love, Linda Back to the top. Monta's Report Not much happening here except work. Our biggest excitement is the weather. Sometime after mid-April, following a full cardiology work-up, Bob will have surgery to un-plug his carotid arteries. He has a 99% blockage in one. I am still undergoing tests to try to figure out what is ailing me. Probably narrow down to hard-headedness and contrariness. Dogs and cats all well and happy, as long as we do as they have worked so hard to train us to do. Love to all, Monta Back to the top. News from Idaho We have had a long winter - not terribly cold but dreary, rainy, snowy weather and we are ready for spring! There is the normal snowpack in the mountains so, hopefully, we won't have any flooding this year as we did last year. All of us have been doing well. Barbara and Dennis are continually upgrading their house with new carpeting and some wallpapering. Hopefully, they are getting their major projects done early in the year so they can have time for fun during the summer and fall. They are so busy doing so much for other people all the time that they need to take time for themselves. They are going to Portland and Seattle soon. Barbara is attending a work related seminar in Portland soon and Dennis has relatives in Seattle that they haven't seen in a long time so that will be a nice break for them. Shannon and Kenneth have been busy helping Kenneth's dad get ready for their annual Black Angus cattle sale in addition to their regular jobs and little T.J. is growing up too fast and getting sweeter every day. He is almost 15 months old! Roger has been on vacation - did some inside work on his house and took a few days off to have some fun in Florida with friends. He will start the new addition to his house in May. The Patterson-Pendleton-Bradshaw reunion will be June 13th at the Wheeler Park and I plan to be there. Don't know if I can get T.J. there or not but will try. Let me know if there can be any plans for our family to get together on Saturday June 12. T.J.'s sister, Oneta, passed away on February 23rd. She had been in bad health for a long time and especially since last August. T.J. is the only person left in his immediate family. The long dreary days are wonderful for sewing, knitting and scrapbooking. The scrapbooking is a lot of fun and sure brings back lots of fond memories. Love to all and we are looking forward to hearing from everyone via the next Watts Newsletter! Virginia Patterson, Associate Editor Back to the top. Job Hunt Marian and I have been searching for about a year for positions in Civil Engineering and Librarianship. I have lost track of the number of resumes and applications we have sent out. We both have online resumes if anyone is interested in viewing them. Click on my resume or Marian's resume or visit Clarendon College Library that Marian put together for her Master's project. Happy viewing! Roy Back to the top.