Killeen oncology physician says she is inspired by her patients
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
AUSTIN – When Dr. Sripriya (SHREEpree-ya) Santhanam completed medical school in her hometown New Delhi, India, and arrived in New York City to begin an internal medicine residency 25 years ago, she was not exactly impressed with her new surroundings.
“I was disappointed,” said Dr. Santhanam (San-THAH-num), now a hematology and oncology specialist at the Baylor Scott and White Cancer Center in Killeen. “I thought it was going to be very different. New Delhi is a big, very busy, metropolitan city. Very fast-paced, congested … almost identical to New York, in terms of the pace, big city glitz and glamor.
“I did not expect the same crowded streets, hustle and bustle, people being pretty rude. I thought, ‘Dang, this is just like home.’”
Dr. Santhanam was in New York for nine years while she completed her internship, residency, and fellowship (sub-specialty training program) before coming to Texas in 2008. A colleague from Austin recommended she look for a job there, and she worked in the state capital for nearly four years before coming to work in Killeen.
“Honestly, I was just looking to move out of New York to a warmer place. It didn’t matter where,” she said. “I found a job that offered a little bit of everything, to include teaching – which I love – so I jumped on it.
“Then, I had my third son and wanted to go part-time, but there was not an option for that (in Austin). There was an opportunity in Killeen to do part-time, so I decided to try it out.”
Working part-time sounded like a good idea, but after a while, Dr. Santhanam – who commutes from Austin – wanted more, so she found a full-time position at Darnall Army Medical Center on Fort Cavazos and then moved to the Cancer Center on Clear Creek Road.
Now specializing in the treatment of breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, lymphomas, head and neck cancer, pancreatic cancer, Myelodysplastic syndromes, myeloproliferative disorders, chronic leukemias, and bladder, kidney and GU (urinary) cancers, Dr. Santhanam was interested early on in a career as a pediatrician but soon decided that would not be a good fit for her
“When I was training in India, I chose to start my residency in pediatrics,” she said. “That was very difficult for me. I can’t see kids in pain. I can’t imagine I would be able to do that for a career. So I switched out of pediatrics to adult medicine
“I think it depends on one’s personality. I would not have been able to bear that emotional burden of seeing children in pain and suffering. With adults, I’m able to handle that emotional aspect a little better, to where I can be there for them without getting completely mixed up. That would be of no service to my patients.”
Before she decided to specialize in oncology, Dr. Santhanam also considered becoming a gastroenterologist (digestive system specialist). Then, she was paired with a mentor while training in New York, and that convinced her to become a cancer specialist.
“When I was doing my residency in New York, I used to rotate at the VA and
PLEASE SEE INSPIRED, 3
COURTESY PHOTO
Dr. Sripriya Santhanam completed medical school in her hometown New Delhi, India, trained in New York City, and now works as a hematology and oncology specialist at Baylor Scott and White Cancer Center in Killeen.
Central Texas teacher took roundabout path to the classroom
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
COPPERAS COVE – Claudia Briggs works now as a junior high theater arts teacher in Copperas Cove and is having one of the best years of her 13-year career, but it was a long and winding road that led the Missouri native to where she is today
When she was growing up, Claudia wanted to be an artist. After graduating high school in 1979 in Tyler, Texas, she applied to art school and was accepted. Her parents were in Germany, where her stepfather was stationed with the military, and when Claudia flew over for a visit before school started, everything changed.
“I wanted to go to art school and go to work for an advertising agency in New York,” Claudia said. “My plan took a detour because I met Rudy (her first husband, who was in the military) right after I graduated and we got married, then started a family right away.”
The couple got married in Florida – Rudy hailed from Fort Lauderdale – and headed to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for two years before he left the service and they moved back to Florida. They had two children and even though she never went to art school, Claudia worked for a number of years in various commercial art jobs, including a stint as art director for Playbill, a monthly magazine for the theater world, including Broadway in New York.
“If you went to a Broadway show anywhere on the East Coast, you probably read my Playbill,” Claudia said.
Then one day, Rudy got hurt at work and they moved to Central Texas to be closer to Claudia’s mother. That was
around 1994-95. Claudia worked as a church administrator, and as an advocate for MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), and then decided to become a school teacher
Claudia explains:
“Well … that wasn’t exactly how it went,” she said, laughing. “In 1989, when we were still in Florida is when I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I don’t really know what the reason was, but I’m very creative and my kids were in elementary school and I did a lot of things to help them with school, and I just thought, ‘You know what, I think I would make a good teacher.’ I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher, because they’re still learning and they get to do fun things.
“So I started going to college (but) I was working and we had little kids, so that lasted about a year and I couldn’t do it anymore. It was just too much. I was in my 40s and I thought the college dream was over. Then we moved to Texas and in 2009 — it was our wedding anniversary, December 31 — and for an anniversary present Rudy gave me a laptop. I opened the box and said, ‘What is this?
“He said, ‘It’s a laptop,’ and I said, ‘Why did you spend all this money? Are you crazy? What am I going to do with a laptop?’
“He said, ‘I bought it because I want you to go back to school. I promised your mother you would.’
“I said, ‘I can’t do that – I’m too old.’
“He said, ‘Yes, you can. You’re smart and I want you to go to college and do what you want to do.’
“I really didn’t want to do that, but he insisted.”
A few months later in April 2009, Rudy
3
COURTESY PHOTO
Claudia and Leon Briggs have been married for five years.
INSPIRED
I had an amazing mentor when I rotated through oncology,” she said. “That’s what inspired me. She was the kindest, kindest lady. I used to observe her interacting with patients and I was amazed at how she cared for people. Working with her really changed my perception of what I wanted to do. So I pivoted at that point toward oncology.”
Working with cancer patients is rewarding but can be difficult, Dr. Santhanam says. Sometimes treatments are successful and cause for celebration, and sometimes they are not.
“I think it’s the way you think about it,” she said. “I don’t feel it’s difficult for me to practice this field of medicine
“For me, I find it easy. I love the relationships I create; I love when my patients choose to share their journey with me … that they think I am worthy to be included in that path. They share so many of their deepest emotions with me. Yes, there’s all of the science and medicine that we can impart to our patients, but I think they actually teach us so much more about life and strength and resilience
“Of course, when I lose a patient, those days are very hard. For the rest of the day after getting the news, I have to give myself some time to process and go on to the next room and the next room, and act like nothing has changed. I will spend the end of the day gathering my emotions, making some calls
“But there are so many amazing stories that make all the difference. Obviously, when any patient walks through the door
they have fear and despair and helplessness, and I don’t hold an eye to the future, so all I can tell them is that we are in it together, and we will do our best.
“When you do get to the other side and have a happy ending to the story, it’s such a huge achievement. It’s a celebration, and that more than makes up for the doom and gloom that we encounter
“Some stories are happy because it’s a matter of giving someone additional time. It’s not always a cure, but maybe they were able to see their granddaughter graduate or attend a wedding, or whatever it may be. There’s so much connection and so much gratitude.”
As Women’s History Month nears completion, Dr. Santhanam says she feels blessed to live during a time when increased opportunities for women allowed her to pursue a dream that began back in high school in New Delhi, and at one time
would not have been possible.
“I think about where women were a hundred years ago – across borders and across continents – when their hands were tied as far as what they could do outside of the home,” she said. “The remarkable achievements that the last few decades have shown, in terms of women in all fields and not just in medicine, is so wonderful and so inspiring.
“I think within medicine, there has been a lot of very valid, consistent, reliable data that shows women physicians have better outcomes. They tend to be better listeners; they have a little bit more of emotional or empathetic quotient (and) they also multi-task very well.
“I am very, very blessed that I could pursue this as my career. Every day I have a lot of gratitude for being given this role in this lifetime that I don’t think would have given me what I get anywhere else.”
TEACHER: Living out earl y-l ife aspir ations as a s chool te acher
was diagnosed with cancer and died in November. Claudia was in school at the time, with plans to become a social worker for MADD, but once again, plans got derailed when she found out she would have to quit working to complete a yearlong, unpaid internship
“I was single and had no other source of income, so I was ready to quit school and just say forget it,” she said.
Then someone suggested she change her degree plan and go another direction instead of quitting. She wound up switching her major to psychology and by May 2012 she had earned a bachelor’s degree with a minor in social work. She applied for a teaching job in Copperas Cove and worked two years in first grade before tak-
ing a position as a junior high theater arts instructor, which she still holds today.
Now a grandmother of eight and greatgrandmother of five with another on the way, Claudia says her life has come full circle in some ways. She wanted to be an artist, and she worked as a commercial artist. She wanted to become a teacher, and she did.
The road may have been rocky at times, she says, but it all worked out.
“I feel like most of my life, I was in survival mode,” said Claudia, who has been married to Leon for five years. “You know, when you’re married and you have kids and … we struggled a lot financially. This is the first time in my life I’m not in survival mode.
“I wish I felt more like this back then,
where I could make choices and do the things I wanted to do, but the opportunity was not there. I had to do what was best for our family and whatever.
“Life is great today. I love my job. My kids are good. My class sizes are good. It’s been really good.”
When she considers Women’s History Month and all it stands for, Claudia says:
“I don’t know … as far as women in history, I think women have done some amazing things throughout history. Like, women being able to vote (19th amendment ratified in August 1920 gave women the right to vote), I take that very seriously. I personally have been a voter since I was 18. I think women over time have changed our country significantly, and we are better for it today, for sure.”
“This is the first time in my life I’m not in survival mode.”
-Claud Briggs
Former military spouse retired now but teaching dance fitness classes
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
COPPERAS COVE – Lydia Cody has lived in Copperas Cove since 2007 and is now officially retired, but the southern California native and great-grandmother continues to stay busy by teaching dance fitness classes that are free and open to the public
“I’ve always loved dancing,” Cody said. “My parents couldn’t afford to put me in dance classes, so I’d watch TV shows – Soul Train and American Bandstand – and watch the dance movements and learn those. That’s how I learned to dance.
“I also loved swimming, and I loved mermaids. When I was little, Disneyland had this submarine ride and they had real-life mermaids who would swim by the portholes, and it was really cool. I wanted to do that, but they stopped the mermaids … I don’t remember what year.”
Lydia, who lived in Killeen for a couple years and also for a while in Harker Heights, was born and raised in San Pedro, Califor nia, near Los Angeles
She continued her dancing as a member of her high school drill team, but by the time she graduated in 1976, all she wanted to do was become a mom, stay at home and raise kids
She got married a year after graduation and the first of her three children was born when she was 19 years old. She worked at fast food restaurants and other places and wound up in Central Texas when her husband joined the military.
“We were expecting our third child (and) he was out of work, so he joined the Army and we came to Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos),” Lydia said. “We put in for
Hawaii, but we got Fort Hood.”
She worked for a while at Central Texas College in Killeen and as a contractor on the military post, and for the past 12 years has been an instructor for the REFIT fitness program, which is described as a combination of “dance cardio, and toning movements to create a fun and effective workout. It’s known for its inclusive, community-focused approach and emphasis on positive mental and physical health. The program often incorporates a variety of music genres and aims to make fitness enjoyable and accessible to people of all fitness levels.”
Classes are one hour and begin at 6:30 p.m. Mondays and Thursdays at the Copperas Cove Public Library, unless a special event is scheduled for the library’s meeting room and then she moves the class to City Park when the weather allows. Anyone and everyone is invited to participate, and being a good dancer is not a requirement.
“It doesn’t matter. You don’t have to know how to dance,” said Cody, who has also taught Zumba classes. “I had someone ask me if there was a beginner class, and I said, everyone is a beginner when you come in. You’re gonna be lost … when I had my first Zumba class, I was lost and I thought, what the heck am I doing here? But I gave it a second chance, and the second day was easier.
“You’re not going to learn everything right away. It’s going to take a few times, but it’s easy to pick up. Anyone can do it. Just come on out and give it a try.”
According to https://refitrev.com, the program is aimed at improving not only physical fitness, but also mental health, and can even become “a life-changing
PLEASE SEE FITNESS, 6
Lydia Cody has lived in Copperas Cove since 2007 and is now o cially retired, but the great-grandmother originally from southern California continues to stay busy by teaching dance fitness classes that are free and open to the public.
Former military spouse and military mom now a novelist
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
Barbara Wilkey was a military spouse for 23 years and lessons lear ned during that time, including sending her husband off to war in the Middle East, helped prepare her for when her son decided to put on a uniform.
“Being a military spouse and a military mom both presented unique challenges,” the Copperas Cove resident said. “Being a spouse, you knew what was going on. Being a mom, you could only guess. I mean, your son is not going to run home or call and tell you exactly what’s going on. Now, I was lucky in that, by that time my husband had enough rank and stuff that you sort of knew what was going on with the military. So I had a little extra insight.
“We were stationed in Germany when (son) Greg went into the military. While he was in basic training, he called us, and he said, ‘Mom, this sucks. I’m positive Dad has enough rank to get me out of this.’
“I said, ‘Honey, you signed up for three years (and) you’ve got to stay for three years. This is not high school PE, where your mom writes you a note and gets you out.’
“He finished his basic and his AIT, and then he was at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and we were still in Germany. I got this phone call that said, ‘Mom, I got orders for Korea.’
“I said, ‘That’s great. You’ve never been to Korea. You’re going to get to see a part of the world you’ve never seen before. It’s a lot different than Ger many. You’re really going to love it.’
“He said, ‘Mom, you don’t get it. I don’t
like rice.’
“I said, ‘Sweetheart, you’ve been to Germany. You know you didn’t eat all German food. You’re going to be eating other things than rice.’ I don’t want to say he enjoyed his tour in Korea, but he embraced it – let’s put it that way.” Wilkey was born in Grundy Center,
Iowa, a small, rural area, and graduated high school in 1972 in Morrison, Illinois. Her dream was to become a school teacher and that is what she immediately set out to do
“This is going to sound strange,” she said. “My father coached a Little League – well, city league – baseball team, and
I was dad’s scorekeeper. His assistant coach had two little boys that were three or four, and one of them asked one time whether I knew the song, ‘He’s Got the Whole World in his Hands.’ I told him, yes, I know that song.
PLEASE SEE NOVELIST, 6
COURTESY PHOTO
The Wilkey family (le to right): Jeff, Barbara, Andrew, Brian, and Greg.
FITNESS: Te aches danc e
experience.”
The group’s mission states: “We believe that the heart is more than a muscle. That a person is more than a body. That relationships are as important as results We believe fitness isn’t just for the fit it’s for the willing.”
For special occasions like Christmas Easter, and the Fourth of July, Lydia likes to change things up by creating a special themed workout that goes along with the holiday “I always do a theme party, and I do door prizes and goody bags,” said the grandmother of eight and great-grand-
NOVELIST
“He asked me, ‘Did God hold the world in one hand or two?’
“From that point on, I made up my mind (that) I wanted to work with young children.”
Barbara enrolled at Northeast Missouri State University, now known as Truman State University, to study elementary education and early childhood development, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1976. She started her teaching career in Missouri, then moved back to Illinois, where she met her future husband, Brian, who was editor of the local newspaper. They dated for a while and got married in 1983.
Barbara had two children from a previous marriage, and when youngster number three came along, Brian decided he might provide better for his grow-
mother of three who has been married to husband, Tim, since 1999. “I don’t like anybody to leave without a door prize, so I make up goody bags that everybody gets to take home. I’m a giver (and) I love to see smiles on people’s faces.
“The classes get people moving and it gives them a place to go for a good workout. I had a couple of new girls show up yesterday (Thursday) at the park and one of them said, ‘Your people are so friendly and nice.’
“This is for people of all shapes and sizes, men and women. I love teaching the classes. It’s good for mind, body, and soul.”
ing family by joining the military. He enlisted in December 1986 and headed to basic training.
“We had three kids by that time and he wasn’t making a ton of money, and he felt he needed a career change,” she said. “When he presented it to me (joining the military), I was worried. I was concerned. I remember I went and talked to my parents and told them I was really, really worried about it. My dad said,
‘Might be a good idea.’
“When he left, it was horrible. I knew he was going to be gone, but it doesn’t really sink in. When he graduated from AIT, he had orders immediately for Germany. We went (with him), but it wasn’t for a while because we had to wait for housing. I was both excited and scared. The excited was, I get to see parts of Europe – and get my husband back. The scary part was it was going to be totally different. I had no idea what to expect.
“We had to stay in transient quarters for a while, until they got the apartment
right. At that time in the ‘80s – this was before the drawdown – we ended up with housing, which was out in a very small, rural town that was still a German-owned apartment complex that the military rented from them. They didn’t have enough housing for the Americans. This was still during the time that every time the Russians moved, we were on alert. I went back to teaching there and I remember when the soldiers were on alert, they would patrol our elementary school hallways.”
After three years in Ger many, the Wilkeys were sent to Fort Meade, Maryland. They were stationed in eight different places during Brian’s career, which included two deployments to the Middle East and one to Bosnia.
Barbara remembers sending Brian off to the war zone for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Stor m, the 1990-91 start of what would become prolonged fighting in the Persian Gulf
“It was very scary,” she said. “He was
an MP. He hadn’t gone to warrant officer school yet. They didn’t have all the communications they do now, so we would go it seemed like forever before we had any contact.
“Because we were older when we went in (to the military) – we weren’t teenagers or in our early 20s and we also had three children at the time – I ended up fielding phone calls from these young spouses and family back in the Midwest. After the phone calls started dying down, I walked into the living room, and laying on the floor was my three little boys watching – it must have been CNN – the conflict on television.
“I turned the television off and told them, no more. They’re not watching it. Little boys didn’t need to be watching that, knowing their father was over there. A lot of the young wives sat there and glared at the TV 24/7 (but) I chose not to do that. I told them that their dad was there and did my best to assure them that everything would be all right.
COURTESY PHOTO
One of Lydia Cody’s recent REFIT dance and fitness classes at Copperas Cove Public Library.
Killeen woman recalls racist encounter a er joining the Women’s Army Corps
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
Marion Pierce Lujan remembers a rude awakening after she joined the Women’s Army Corps in September 1959 and boarded a bus from Knoxville, Tennessee, to Fort McClellan, Alabama, for basic training.
“I had to go to Knoxville to the recruiter, and that’s where I had to report to be sworn in,” the 83-year-old Killeen resident said. “Then they put me and another young lady that was sworn in at the same time on a Greyhound bus headed to McClellan. Well, from Knoxville to Chattanooga was beautiful. I remember us laughing and carrying on. The young lady’s name was Mary.
“We sat right behind the bus driver the whole way. When we got to Chattanooga, we had to change buses. From Chattanooga into Alabama is just a cough – you’re there – and once we hit that state line, I tell my kids all the time it was like night and day. Everybody who got on the bus looked at me and her, because she was of color and I was white.
“We didn’t get very far and we had to change from Greyhound to Continental, in this small, little town. I don’t even remember the name of it. We had to carry our luggage from Greyhound to Continental, so when we got to the other side of town, we checked in, and Mary said, ‘I’m hungry.’ I said, ‘I am, too,’ and so we went to a place nearby and we walked in and everybody is looking at us. I didn’t think anything about it. We walked to the counter and the woman looked at me and said, ‘Can I help you?’
“I said, ‘We want to eat.’
“She said, ‘Well, you can eat here, but she can’t.’
“I said, ‘Huh?’
“She said it again, and I said, ‘Where is she supposed to eat?’
“She goes, ‘She’s going to have to go around back.’
“I looked at Mary and I said, ‘Well, I’m not hungry anymore.’
“We left, but we walked around back to see, you know, and everybody that was around back was of color and they were sitting on stoops and on the ground, eating. I said, ‘I don’t want to do that, Mary.’ She said, no, so we went to a little store and bought some soda and some crackers or something simple and ate. When we finally got back on the bus, we sat back right behind the bus driver. He told us that she couldn’t sit there. I said, ‘Excuse me?’
“He said she couldn’t sit there; she had to sit in the back. We didn’t say anything. We just got up and went and sat in the back. Now, a normal kid enjoys sitting in the back. It’s a fun place. But that’s his choice. When you’re forced to do that, it’s not fun.”
Marion was born in Cornersville, Tennessee, and grew up in a family of five girls. Both her parents worked on the famed Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, a massive undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. After hearing a presentation at school from military recruiters, she was all set to join the service when she graduated high school in 1958.
“I don’t know if they do it nowadays, but our high school had career week the last part of our junior year,” Marion said. “When I went to career week, they had a male and a female from every branch of service, talking and giving out literature. I was so enthralled with everything. I said,
PLEASE SEE RACIST, 11
COURTESY PHOTO
Marion Lujan loves to travel and has a goal of visiting all 50 states in the U.S. She has four states remaining to complete the checklist.
Military child, sailor, spouse, mom: Lampasas native served on all fronts
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
LAMPASAS – Diane Hibbert surprised pretty much the entire town of Lampasas when she left college to enlist in the U.S. Navy and headed back home to get ready for the trip to basic training.
“My dad and my brother were the only ones that thought I’d go through with it,” Hibbert said. “My mom said I would never get on that airplane. Everybody thought the same thing – they took bets on me. I was a prissy girl, and I was used to my mama doing everything for me. Everybody spoiled me, and they just didn’t think I’d do it.
“Even after I left, the whole town had a (betting) pool going on how long I would last. I think the person that won it had six months.”
Born and raised in Lampasas, just west of Killeen-Fort Cavazos, Diane had two primary goals for her life when she graduated from Lampasas High School in 1977. One, she wanted to become a school teacher; and, two, she wanted to travel and see the world. Right after high school, she got to work on making both those dreams come true
“In fourth grade, I had a teacher – Mr Landrum – who went on a tour of Asian countries, and he came back and during geography, he told us all about Japan. I thought that was the coolest thing,” she said. “I also always knew I wanted to be a school teacher, so my goal was to go to Southwest Texas State University, which was a teacher college (in San Marcos).”
For three-and-a-half years, Diane studied at Southwest Texas State (now Texas State University), then shortly before she would have completed requirements for a degree in psychology, she quit school and joined
the Navy
“I saw the light at the end of the tunnel. If I finished, I was going to be expected to come home,” she said. “My mother’s goal was for me to go to Southwest Texas and come home and teach, but I knew that if I didn’t follow my dream, I would be going home when I graduated and I would be stuck and never go anywhere. I thought, what better way to see the world than to be in the military and do it on the government’s dime
“I knew if I joined the Army, the chances of getting out of the state of Texas were nil, because I’d probably be at Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos). If I did the Air Force I’d probably be in San Antonio or Abilene The Navy, my chances were slim because it would probably have to be Corpus (Christi). That was the only place I could think of.
“So when I was thinking about it, it just so happened one weekend that an old family friend came to town, and her husband was at church dressed in a Navy uniform. He happened to be a recruiter, and I took him aside at church and talked to him. He said, ‘No way, I am not going to talk to you about the Navy . If you go and you hate it, your family is going to absolutely crucify me.’
“I said, ‘You know, I’ve already been thinking about it, so if you don’t talk to me, then I’ll just go to somebody else.’
“He said, ‘You’re going to make a big mistake. But if you’re going to do this, let me guide you the right way.’
“He told me to wait for the right school, the right time to do it, and don’t settle. He tried to get me to go the officer way, but the wait for that was, like, two years, and I didn’t want to wait that long. He also made me promise I would never tell my family
PLEASE SEE SERVED, 12
COURTESY PHOTO
Lampasas native Diane Hibbert served 12 years in the Navy, was a military spouse and stay-at-home mom for 10 years, and now is the proud mother of a U.S. Army Ranger and member of Special Forces.
RACIST
‘That’s what I want to do,’ but you had to be 18 and I was 17, so I couldn’t join. Even when I turned 18, I had to have my parents sign.
“My mother was not too thrilled – she didn’t want us to do anything but get married and have kids – but my father (a military veteran) was. He was an advocate for Gen. Eisenhower. He wanted him to become president so bad.”
The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was created in 1942 to help with the massive World War II effort. The following year, WAAC was given active-duty status and renamed the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). Nearly 150,000 American women served in the WAC during World War II. Many of these servend throughout the world with the Army Ground Forces the Army Service Forces, and the Army Air Forces, in a variety of supporting, non-combat roles.
Women in the WAC also served a variety of positions during the Korean War and Vietnam War, and in 1978 the Army did away with the WAC and women were fully integrated into the regular Army. Marion, meanwhile, says basic training “wasn’t that bad,” except for the discrimination she witnessed for the first time in her life
“Oak Ridge was like being on a military installation,” she said. “It was run by the government, and our schools were integrated long before I went to high school.
“When we got to Aniston (city adjacent to Fort McClellan) – this is the stupidest part of the whole thing – we were supposed to call this number. Well, the number I had was different than the one Mary had. So I called and told them I was at the bus depot, and they said we’ll send someone out to get you.
“I said, ‘Just a minute, there’s another young lady that’s here,’ and he goes, ‘Does she have a number?’ and I said, yes, and I read it to him. He said, ‘She needs to call that number.’
“I thought that was strange, but I said, OK. We were in a telephone booth, and so she calls her number. We wait about 30 minutes and the first thing I know, here’s two convoys. For two people? We just kind of looked at each other. I noticed that the driver on my bus was white. Hers was of color.
“They preach from day one, when you are outside the gate of Fort McClellan, you are not to look at, talk to, speak to, wave to, a person of color. One night after I’d been there for a while, my first ser-
geant told us there was somebody from town calling the commander because somebody done something, waved at somebody, or did something to someone of color. About halfway through basic training, we got to a point where they were really inspecting us and you were expected to pass or you were given demerits. If you didn’t pass, you didn’t get a pass to go to town. Our first pass to go to town was to purchase pumps, which are high heels but not stilettos, to wear with our dress uniforms
“Our first big inspection, there weren’t very many of us that passed. We were preached to: ‘OK, you have a pass. You can’t ride in a taxi or bus with any of your colored friends.’ If I saw my friend of color, I couldn’t wave to her. I couldn’t walk on the same side of the street; I couldn’t acknowledge her. By the time we got ready to graduate, most of the girls of color were scared about where they were going to be stationed. They didn’t want anything to do with the South.
“When we started getting our notifications of where we were going for AIT, there was a bunch of us that were going to Fort Jackson. They bussed us there, and we were all on the same bus. I don’t know why they changed their policy but I distinctly remember they would only stop at a restaurant where we could all go in. When we got to Fort Jackson, it was late at night, and the moon was out so much … it was the first time I had ever seen sand with the moon reflecting off it. I’m looking out the window, ‘Is that snow?’
Everybody looked at me like, oh, what a green girl you are
“Fort Jackson was a little bit better. One of my friends and I used to go outside post and get pizza, and we could go together and sit together. It wasn’t quite as bad as Alabama.”
Marion worked in transportation and served until she got married to a fellow soldier in 1961. She explains:
“When you got married, you could get out, if you wanted. If you got pregnant, you had to get out. So we – my husband and I – were pondering what to do at first, and then we heard a rumor from one of my friends who worked in personnel that I was on a list coming down to go to Germany. So I went to see my commander and told her that I wanted to get out. I didn’t want to go to Germany because my husband had only been back from Korea two years, so he wasn’t due for a (new) assignment for another year or two Whether it would be Germany or not, we didn’t want to take that chance. A month later, we found out I was pregnant, so I would have had to get out, anyway
“I became a career soldier’s spouse He went to Puerto Rico (and) our second child was born with one lung collapsed. The doctor wouldn’t let my son go to Puerto Rico because of the humidity, so he had to serve an unaccompanied tour Then, we went to Alabama, and our best tour of all was four years in Alaska.”
After the military, Marion worked 41 years in finance as a U.S. Army civilian employee. She started in Alaska and continued when she came to central Texas in 1979. After she retired, she did some volunteer work around the area, and then she hit the road to do a little traveling, something she continues to enjoy.
Marion says she has visited all but four U.S. states and hopes to check those off her list pretty soon.
“I love to just get out and go,” she said. “I actually want to go from Key West all the way up the East Coast to Canada. I’ve done it on the West Coast; I’ve done it in the middle. Anything north of D.C., Maryland, right in there, I need to hit that.”
Turning 83 this year, Marion says she has seen a lot of changes in the country and the world. Those early brushes with discrimination left a lasting impression,
COURTESY PHOTO
Marion Pierce Lujan served in the Women’s Army Corps before working 41 years in finance as a U.S. Army civilian employee
that he helped me
“I went ahead and enlisted and it worked out fabulously for me. That was 1981. I finished college right away when I was in the military, and my first duty station was Hawaii.”
Before she got to Hawaii, there was basic training in Orlando, Florida, followed by A School in Pensacola. For Diane, those early days were mostly uneventful after the initial nervousness wore off, but she saw other recruits who were having a hard time.
“I think I can say now that it was probably what I expected, but I was scared to death,” she said. “But (the secret is) you just do what you’re expected to do. There was some crazy stuff going on the first night. Girls trying to get out of there by trying to prove they were mentally incompetent. Painting their faces with black shoe polish, trying to talk in tongues, and throwing trash cans
“The other thing was that we had to be put in a waiting company for, like, three days. Waiting for enough girls to make a new company. That was kind of hard
because you’re just kind of sitting around looking at people, saying, ‘OK, when is this gonna get started?’ That was tough. You’re in your civilian clothes, but you’re still having to march to the chow line, march to this, sitting around waiting for something to happen – and you don’t know what’s going to happen.
“Three days of that. You just kind of hang around. I had a book to read, so I got to read my book. They really don’t do anything with you, but once we got started, I pretty much was able to take care of myself, do what I’m supposed to do. I knew you don’t want to take a lead part – no volunteering – and you could take remedial PT, which I did. I wasn’t the slowest but I wasn’t the fastest, and I did NOT want to be back of the pack.”
After A School training, Hibbert went to work in a cryptology unit (intelligence gathering) on the island of Oahu, near the U.S. Army’s Schofield Barracks. Her three years stationed there were memorable.
“It was a very cool place. Very close to the North Shore (world-famous surfing location),” she said. “This was ’81, and we had our own private little beaches before they were discovered. You literally drove up through pineapple fields to get to our base.
“I was stationed with the cryptees
Hibbert with her father, Lupe
(intelligence gatherers), doing their admin work. I was basically a glorified secretary with a top-secret clearance
“I did not learn to surf, but I did lay on the beach and watch all those cute surfer boys. Sure did. I was single, but I did have two long-term boyfriends. One was a
and she is not sure how much things have improved over the past 60 years
“I was thinking the other day as I was watching the news … with all this hate going on now, I swear I think we are worse off now than we were in the ‘60s,” the mother of three, grandmother of two, and great-grandmother of one said. “I don’t remember so much hate, and not just
toward people of color. It’s anybody that is different. Our tolerance of other races and nationalities is just gone “None of us are natives. Well, I take that back. We just did DNA and all my children are anywhere from 23 to 26 percent Native American. They got that from their father, not from me. I’m Irish, German, English. “To me, it’s scary, because it seems like God is tired of us, and he’s trying to get us to a point where we’ll listen to him. But I don’t know. It really scares me sometimes. When I’m watching the news,
I just can’t believe people are so dishonest. They don’t have morals anymore. It’s OK and acceptable to lie, cheat, steal. “I live on the north side of town, and when I go out, I go down 10th (Street). My street is almost at the gate going into Fort Hood (Cavazos), where the commissary is on the east side of post. Going down 10th Street from my house to Business 190 is the most depressing stretch of road. There is so much homelessness – they’re everywhere. The other day, I pulled up to the light there by McDonald’s on Fort Hood Street. At
that underpass that goes to Wendy’s, there are always two or three people out there. I don’t know whether it was a male or female – I think it was a male, even though he had on a skirt and boots – but this person stands up, spreads their legs apart and the next thing I knew, there was water. They were peeing right there at 1 o’clock in the afternoon!
“I can go from here to Walmart and see something that just amazes me. Every day is a new day, and you just have to take it as it comes, and don’t be too surprised at the outcome.”
Diane
Dimas.
Samoan and his family ran a crew of catamarans. Of course, everyone on the island is in the entertainment business, and so they did the dinner cruises and the shows – talk about living the Hawaiian life.
Cove woman met and married airman from Bergstrom Air Force Base
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
COPPERAS COVE — Teresa Chavez was volunteering at Bergstrom Air Force Base in Austin when she met a young air man stationed there who would eventually become her husband. It was not exactly love at first sight — at least not for Teresa — but the longtime Copperas Cove couple has been married now for 34 years
They first became acquainted when Teresa was doing an interview for a family readiness program she was involved with, and then friends be gan the matchmaking process
Teresa tells the story:
“I was an ombudsman for the family department — I don’t remember now what it was called, and we happened to meet through a friend. One of his good friends, who was the best man at our wedding, was friends with a roommate of mine from college, so somehow we were thrown together a few times.
“I had been on an awful blind date, and the friend I was talking about calls up and says, ‘C’mon, go dancing with us.’ I didn’t really want to go, but I said, OK, fine. I was living in Austin at the time, so I met them at this club, and (Fred) asked me to dance. I was in a bad mood, and his side of the story is, he said, ‘If you don’t wanna dance …’
“As he said that, I was already (walking) off the dance floor before he could finish the sentence. He wasn’t very happy, but we got thrown together several more times after that.
Then, he asked me out. I’m older than he is, so I was, like, ‘You know I’m older than you, right?’
He said, ‘You know, people always
SERVED
FROM PAGE 12
The other boy I dated for over a year was a Filipino, and he was from Kauai, so we flew over to Kauai quite a bit and did the Wailua Falls thing, which was amazing. He knew all the private beaches there, which was awesome.
“I really did get to experience Hawaii like a local. That’s the only way to do it – the true way and not the touristy way. That was very, very cool.”
If living and working three years in paradise were not enough, the dream continued to come true with Hibbert’s very next assignment.
“I was sent to Japan,” she said. “My dream came true. I was absolutely charmed. That (top secret) clearance makes a huge difference. I usually worked in places that a lot of people can’t work in.”
During her three years in Japan, Diane met and married a Navy man, and they both got orders back to Hawaii. Unfortunately, the marriage ended and she got orders to report to Colorado Springs, Colorado. By this time, she had a baby girl who was born at Tripler Army Medical Center.
“I got primo orders to Colorado Springs to Space Command,” she said. “I pinned on my E-7 (stripes) at nine years (service). I was working for a four-star admiral, and that’s where I met my second husband. He was on staff for this same admiral.
“He was getting orders to Guam and we tried for both of us to get orders to Guam, and we couldn’t. So we thought about, OK, he goes to Guam and I stay behind, and then when he leaves Guam, we’ll see if we can work our next duty station together.
“Before I pinned E-7, I was looking at going LDO (limited duty officer), which was the officer pipeline. That was before I met Bob, and I had my daughter and I had been blessed all those years to stay off a ship, and I was not willing to go on a ship and leave her. I knew I was really pushing the odds. They had told me not only had I pushed not going to sea, but I had pushed going CONUS (continental United States), so then I said, ‘OK, I’ll go CONUS,’ and I took the job in Colorado Springs.
“I knew that my time was running out – it was running out big-time. I decided maybe it was time for me to call it quits and just go to school. So I made that decision and my daughter and I followed him to Guam. That was ’92. We followed him right into super Typhoon Omar (known then as the strongest typhoon to hit Guam since Typhoon Pamela in 1976), with 185 mph sustained winds.” Guam took direct hits from six different
break up with me.’ I said, ‘People always break up with me, too. This ought to be interesting.’
“But it worked out, and the rest is history.”
Teresa, whose father served in the U.S. Air Force, was bor n in Savannah, Georgia, and came to Cove when she was around a year old. A 1976 graduate of Cove High School, she grew up with four brothers, which made for some interesting times in the Schwausch household.
“I shared a bathroom with four boys, so that was exciting,” Teresa said. “It was wet towels and wet seats (and) hurry up and get out. We lived out in the country when I was a teenager. It was on the way out to Topsey and we had x-number of gallons (of water) we could use each month, and my dad was always outside the bathroom, banging on the door: ‘Hurry up and tur n that water off!’
“I’d be, like, ‘OK, Dad, can I rinse my hair out?’”
After graduation, Teresa packed up and headed down the highway to study psychology at Southwest Texas State University (now Texas State University) in San Marcos. She had aspirations of becoming a therapist but wound up working for an electronics distribution company in Austin after earning her degree
She did well in that early career, working her way up to operations manager, but the environment was stressful and so she saved her money, paid of f her bills, and quit. After that, she worked part-time and went to school at the University of Texas.
Teresa and Fred, a for mer director of the planetarium at Central Texas
storms that year, Diane says. For her, it was frightening stuff, but she soon found out that the locals were long prepared for such emergencies.
“Their infrastructure is set up such that – especially the base there – that they’re prepared for it,” she said. “It was a P-3 squadron. They would fly the planes off the island and after the first typhoon, they would bring back generators. So we had two generators, and one of them ran the refrigerator and the other one ran everything else. Everything was made of cement, and you just adapted.”
Throughout her life, Diane has seen military life from just about every different angle. She grew up with a father who served in World War II and spent 28 years as a full-time National Guardsman. She spent 12 years in the Navy, was a military spouse and stay-at-home mom for 10 years, and now is the proud mother of a U.S. Army Ranger and member of Special Forces.
Being a military mom is probably the most difficult and rewarding assignment she has ever had.
“My heart bursts with pride, but it’s the toughest job,” Diane said. “I can’t really say that I’m scared, because my faith is so strong. I’m on my knees every single day, praying for my son. Because of the foundation that my daddy laid for me, that gets me through every single day. I know my son so well, and he absolutely loves what he’s doing, and he is doing it for the right reasons
“He’s not there because of the pomp and circumstance, or the, ‘Hooyah, I’m going to go out and kill people type thing.’ He’s got a pack of bros that he’s had since he got to Colorado in first grade, and he still games with them on Sunday night. Two of them are doctors; two are lawyers; one is a CPA; and one’s an Air Force officer.
“Those are the types of people he surrounds himself with in the Army, and I think that’s what makes it easier for me. I know he’s going to make a wonderful officer and leader for young men.”
After 22 years as an elementary school teacher in Colorado Springs, Diane, who also has a master’s degree in curriculum and administration, now works as a substitute teacher four or five days a month, and volunteers as director of religious education at her church. Looking back over the years, she counts quitting school and joining the military as “the best decision I ever made.”
“I wouldn’t change anything,” she said. “My mama was at Dallas Love Field airport when I was leaving for basic, and she was crying. She said, ‘Diane, I have a brand-new car waiting in the driveway. Don’t get on that airplane.’
College now retired and serving on the Copperas Cove City Council, were married in 1989. She did not mind the prospect of becoming a military spouse, and in fact was excited about the possibilities
Almost right away, though, their new lifestyle began throwing curveballs
“When we got engaged, they approached Fred and said, ‘You have to go to officer school,’ which is like a sixweek thing,” Teresa said. “They said he could do it right before we got mar ried or right after. There were so many things we needed to make decisions about and we decided he would go after.
So two weeks after we got married, he left for six weeks. Then, he went to Korea, so we spent our first anniversary apart. I was going to school and working part-time. I thought, well, if I’m going to be a military spouse, I need to have something I can do when I’m following him around all over the place. My plan was to get a master’s degree in English and then I could teach.
“When he came back (from Korea), we moved to Italy, and I didn’t want to work there, because we traveled a lot. I would write resumes for people part-time and
Teresa Chavez and her husband, Fred.
Woman aspired to West Point a er growing up in military family
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
KILLEEN — Saunyette Calloway grew up in a military family, was a member of Junior ROTC throughout junior high and high school, and so no one should have been surprised when her big dream was to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point.
“I guess it was something that was embedded and that I thought I could do well in,” the Killeen resident who was born in Savannah, Georgia, said. “I applied to go to West Point, but I missed the cutoff. It’s not easy to get into West Point on a full ride, and I was trying, but I missed it. I still was going to go but then I graduated from high school and I met my first husband and we had my son. So that put a damper on all that.
“I think I had some resentments toward myself for not going forward with it. Had a hard time with that for a while, but life happens. Things change.”
The 45-year-old mother of three boys graduated from high school in Lawton, Oklahoma, in 1995. Her sergeant first class father was in the U.S. Ar my for 21 years, and she spent seven-and-a-half years living in Germany, from third grade to ninth grade. She attended several different elementary schools and three different high schools. Some kids are bothered by the frequent moves that often come with living the military lifestyle, but Saunyette says it was great.
“It was fun,” she said. “For me, I guess because of the type of personality I have, I didn’t have a problem with meeting new people, making friends. I pretty much don’t know a stranger. I’m the same way now. So there really were no issues for me
“My oldest (child), when he was 10, me and his father divorced. I remarried three years later, and our first duty station away from Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos) was Korea for two years, and he was about to start high school, so that was difficult for him. He had been here ever since elementary. He grew up with all these people and now it was time to pick up and leave and go to another country. He was not a happy camper – sad,
AIR FORCE
FROM PAGE 13
do some word processing and stuf f like that. Then, they (the military) had that giant RIF (reduction in force), and we both came back to the United States without jobs. This was in the early ‘90s. It was very stressful. I didn’t know that the military could ever downsize. I didn’t even think about that back then.
“He had a great career. Always good write-ups and everything. But they took a lot of people who were good service people and just got rid of them.
“I liked living overseas. I had always wanted to live overseas, and Italy was fun. I wasn’t ready to come back but we had to. It was rough for a while. It took us both some time to find jobs. My father was not in the military when I was little. Once they had me, or right before, he got out. So it was a real shocking experience when they drag you across the world — which was fine because I wanted to go — but then they dump you out. We’re living in Italy for two years and they go, ‘Oh, wait, by the way, after all the sacrifices you’ve made, we’re kicking you out,’ because of the RIF. I really had to come to grips with that whole experience. I want to say for someone who was young and newly married, it was a lot to deal with.
“It was a very stressful time for both of us. It was a very challenging experience, but I guess that makes us who we are
“We came back to the United States, and I started working as executive director for a non-profit organization. Worked there for about six years, and then we decided to move back here (to Cove) because I knew my parents would need my help. I have four brothers, but I’m the only daughter, so we moved here in 1999.
“I started working out at Central Texas College. I worked in the (CTC) Foundation. When I was working at the non-profit, I did a ton of fundraising, so I did that. Then I got promoted from the
mad, angry. He adapted after a while, but it took a minute for him to kind of shake that, which is understandable
“I think growing up in a military family taught me perseverance. A great deal of understanding. Even though I was a child, my parents were very transparent with us. I still remember like it was yesterday how they handled business, as far as my mom being a military spouse (and) my dad being a soldier. So those things that they did rubbed off on us, preparing us to be strong-minded. Me and my sister and my brother. Our expectations were different than a person that I would meet who was not military connected.
“I think because our upbringing was different, when we became an adult, we were different. I remember when we were younger – especially the girls – my dad didn’t want us to have to depend on a man for anything. Even when it came to our vehicles. So he taught us how to change our own oil; how to change tires; change sparkplugs.
“When you are a strong-minded female and you come into a relationship, a lot of times it comes off as, ‘You don’t need me What do you need me for?’”
Three years after her divorce, Saunyette married another soldier, Jamaal, a chief warrant officer 3 who retired in 2020 with 21 years’ service. That was 2009. For a number of years, the former director of Sylvan Learning Center in Killeen was a stay-at-home mom, and now she works as a program support assistant (PSA) for caregiver support in the social work department at the VA in Temple.
She credits that independence learned as a child with helping her manage life back home when deployments left her in charge of the household. Her first husband deployed overseas (Saudi Arabia and Iraq) in 1998-99 and in 2003, and Jamaal also served in the Middle East.
“I was in Germany (when she experienced her first deployment),” Saunyette said. “Was it scary? No. I worked over there at a daycare center. I didn’t stay much longer after he deployed. I went back to the States. My husband now deployed in 2007, not too long after we met. That’s when they were doing the 18-
fundraising department to director of continuing education. Before I retired (in 2021), I was the associate dean of adult and continuing education.”
Looking back over the years, Teresa, whose father’s family came to the Cove area in the late 1800s and helped establish Immanuel Lutheran Church, says there were tough times but also plenty of good times, and in the end, everything worked out the way it was supposed to work out.
“I wasn’t happy when he had to leave the Air Force, but there were a lot of life lessons there,” she said. “You have to learn to be resilient, and you have to learn to be strong., When I was working at Bergstrom as a volunteer, some of the women would come in — this was way back in the ’90s — they wouldn’t understand how to take care of things
I’m the oldest child in my family and so I always had a lot of responsibility, but it really did help me to be independent on a different level
“I’ve been a boss since I was in my 20s, and so I have been lucky enough to mentor a lot of really good young women. I’ve had a lot of single moms working for me, and it’s hard for single moms, right? I always tried to be very supportive and understanding because in my experience, if I supported them and was flexible with them, they gave me their best work, and I was never disappointed,” said Teresa, who serves now on the city’s Quality of Life Advisory Board.
“You know what I love about the military? You go from place to place to place and you’re only there for a few years, then you have to go somewhere else. The military really does make fast friends, and you make long-ter m friends. It’s very diverse; very accepting. I just always really enjoyed it because I knew that no matter what, I was going to be OK. We were going to make friends with people and have a good time and get to do a lot of really cool things.
“Looking on the bright side, all things happen for a reason, and everything turned out just fine.”
month tours. He asked me while he was over there to marry him, and I said, ‘No, you need to come back first and let’s see how everything goes. I need to see that you’re not crazy when you come back.’ I’ve been around military all my life, and sometimes deployment does something to a soldier.
“Life still went on here. We stayed in contact. Talked every day. He wrote letters. Being over there for them, it’s like life is on hold until they get back. Almost like going to jail or prison or something There’s an adjustment when soldiers get
back from deployment. They have to get acclimated back into society
“You don’t think they’re going to go over there and get blown up. You can’t think about those things, or you would go crazy. Remember, life still has to go on over here. I had a son to take care of. Of course, you cry when you go to the deployment send-off, because you’re going to miss them, but you just continue to be the same person – both of you. “It might be different for other people’s experience, but that’s the way it was for me.”
“I wasn’t happy when he had to leave the Air Force, but there were a lot of life lessons there,” she said. “You have to learn to be resilient, and you have to learn to be strong.
COURTESY PHOTOS
COURTESY PHOTO
Saunyette Calloway once aspired to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point before she met and married a soldier and had a baby.
Gatesville nurse ser ved nine years in Air Force
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
CORYELL COUNTY — When Drew Paige went home and announced she had joined the U.S. Air Force, her mom was not exactly thrilled but her dad, a military veteran and dairy farmer who once played football under legendary coach Paul “Bear” Bryant at Texas A&M, had a different reaction.
“I remember coming home and saying, ‘Y’all need to have a seat,” Drew said, laughing.
“I was going to Tarleton (State University in Stephenville), and not doing very well — partying too much and not going to class. When I told them I had enlisted, Mom was very startled; Dad was OK with it. I think they knew I was failing miserably in college and needed some direction.
“I was on the delayed entry program and I had three months at home before I went in, so I got a waitressing job at the Bavarian Inn in Gatesville. At noon every day, Dad would say, ‘C’mon, we’re gonna run.’
We would run from our house – at noon in June and July – down to the courthouse, circle the courthouse, back up the hill, and come back to the house. My dad was so cool. He wanted me to be in shape. Needless to say, when I went to basic training, I was in really good shape
“When I went to basic in July ’82, when we started doing the morning drills and the PT, they quickly picked me out as the PT leader. When we would go for runs, I would be the one that called the cadence I would drop back to the back (and) try to get the girls who were behind back in step and encourage them, then pop back up to the front.
“We did an obstacle course with our brother squadron right toward the end of basic.
We all started at the same time, and I was, I think, the third person that finished. Two guys finished ahead of me.”
Drew was born and raised on the same ranch where she lives now with husband, Todd, just outside Gatesville. She graduated from Gatesville High in 1980, headed off to college, enjoyed herself there a little too much, and joined the military in 1982.
“I don’t think I had any idea what I wanted to do,” Drew said. “I went to college because that’s what you think you’re supposed to do. I went to Tarleton with absolutely no direction, and a little bit too much of the, uh, drinking and partying that I tended to do
“It wasn’t that I wasn’t smart. I was in the top 10 percent of my class without any effort.
I never studied, and that made my mother so mad. She would say, ‘You would really do good if you studied.’
“After the first semester, my parents said they weren’t going to help me anymore because of my grades, and so I went and borrowed some money and went another semester.
Still not doing very well and a friend of mine said, ‘Have you ever thought of joining the Air Force?’ He was a really good friend and I guess he could see that I wasn’t getting anywhere, working the waitress
jobs and not totally participating in college.
“He said they’ll give you a job and you’ll get to travel, and I said, ‘How do I do that?’
He drove me to Dallas to the recruiter and, of course, they tried to recruit him. But I signed up and joined the Air Force. I think I signed up that day. Back then, you had two choices: you either said you wanted to go overseas, or you wanted to stay stateside. Being 19, 20 years old, I said I wanted to go overseas. So that was the path that I went down.
“I tested and they said, ‘You’re going to be an aircraft electrician.’ I said, OK. I knew I was a hard worker. I grew up on a ranch (and) I didn’t have a doubt that I could do whatever they threw at me.
“They sent me to basic training at Lackland (Air Force Base) in San Antonio and tech school in Chanute, Illinois.”
After tech school, Drew went to work as an aircraft electrician at Mildenhall (air force base) in England, where she stayed for four years. When she got married and had a baby, she and her new husband decided she would leave the service after her contract was up.
“When I went and got my orders, I remember walking out of that place going, ‘Where the hell is the UK?’ Somebody said the United Kingdom. I said, ‘OK, here’s the United Kingdom?’ They said, England, and I said, ‘Oh, OK, well, that’s an island.’ I wanted to go to the Philippines; I wanted to go to Japan; and my third choice was England.
“I was an aircraft electrician on the KC135, which are the mid-air refuelers. I loved it. I was there almost four years. My whole active duty was there. Then I got married in ’85 and I got pregnant with my daughter, so I had to make a decision to stay in or get out. Because we were concerned — actually my ex-husband was concerned — that we wouldn’t be stationed together, so it was best for me to do my four years and get out.
“So I did my four years, had my daughter over in England, and then we ended up coming back to San Antonio (where) he was a drill sergeant at Lackland. I was pretty miserable for a little while, not having a job and staying at home but not having any money, so I decided I was going back to college.
“I was trying to have some sort of a life. Not to say anything disparaging about my first husband, but he was very controlling. I didn’t have any money; I couldn’t go out; I couldn’t do anything. I wanted something so that I could take care of myself and my daughter, with or without the help of a man. So I told him I’m going back to college. He said we couldn’t afford it (and) I said, ‘Yes, we can. I’m going.’
“So I joined the Air Force Reserve and got in college. I did five years as an aircraft electrician at Kelly Air Force Base
I was on the B-52 bombers on an aircraft battle damage repair team. This was San Antonio and everyone I worked with was Hispanic, and they called themselves the Mexican air force. We had the best time
We got a TDY to Guam for two weeks.”
Drew earned her nursing degree in 1992 while still in the Reserve and has been a registered nurse for 31 years. She credits the Air Force with helping her mature and
succeed in a career that she loves and was
first interested in as a teenager:
“Back in ’79, I was a urse’s aide during summers and after school at the nursing home in Gatesville — The Rotunda. I liked taking care of people. I enjoyed it. As a teenager it was tough because I’d work from 3 to 11, and I didn’t want to go to work, but when I got there, I loved it. So I knew it was something I could enjoy, and I also knew we had a nursing shortage and so it was always something I could do to take care of myself and my children. I could always be self-supporting.
“It’s amazing when you have a different attitude how much better you do at school,” she said. “I got a 4.0 GPA. There wasn’t any of the one-point something or two-point that I had at Tarleton.
“When I went to start college (the second time), they said, ‘Oh, you’re going to have to take the entrance exam because your previous grades were so low.’ I looked at that lady and I said, ‘No, I don’t. I was partying back then and not going to class. I don’t need to take that.’ I don’t know if that would fly today, but she didn’t make me take it.”
Married to Todd for 18 years now, the mother of three and grandmother of six published a book five years ago about her late father’s attempted solo sailing trip across the Atlantic Ocean. Available on Amazon, “Odyssey of a Texas Sailor” is based on a journal kept by Dean Drew Meeks, who not only was an outstanding athlete who played football in the U.S. Army but flew his own airplane that he sometimes landed just outside the house.
Dean Meeks was a fun-loving man, but also no-nonsense when it came time to get to work.
“Dad was a dairy man when I was a little kid,” Drew said. “They milked cows twice a day.
Then in the early ’70s, milk prices dropped to nothing and so he ended up selling out of the dairy business and swapped over to range cattle and started producing beef instead.
“I remember one time I was a teenager … my dad was one of these who when the hay is being cut, you have to go right now to load the hay on the truck. That’s how the hay people were – first come; first served. My dad would even take us out of school sometimes. He would come pick us up and we would go out there and load the hay. The youngest one usually drove the truck while the others loaded the hay onto it.
“One day, we loaded something like 500 bales of hay, brought it back, loaded it into the barn, and I said, ‘Dad, what are we getting paid for this?’ He said, ‘Your horse gets food, doesn’t it?’
“I said, ‘Yes, sir.’ Never did I ask for pay for work again. That was not something you asked on the ranch.”
Drew, who grew up with a sister and a
foster brother, explained how her dad quit the A&M football team and wound up in the military
“He played three years at A&M. My dad was such a good guy; he would not say anything negative about people. So he did not talk about Bear Bryant. You could ask him, but he wasn’t going to give you anything. It wasn’t until he died (that) my uncle, Jack Pardee (professional football player and coach) said that Bear Bryant told him, ‘I didn’t do that boy right.’
“From what I gathered talking to my uncle and my grandmother, they were playing a really tough team and Daddy was lined up against the Heisman Trophy winner that year. Dad had the flu and he was right at 103 degrees fever. He asked not to play because he didn’t feel good, and they said, ‘You’re playing.’
“Then when the game was over — even though A&M won — the coaching staff told him he could not sit with the team to eat. He had to go sit with the underclassmen because he didn’t play his best. So he packed his bags, left A&M, and joined the Army.”
Looking back at her decision to join the service, Drew says “it was the absolute best decision I could ever have made.”
“I think all kids who don’t know for sure what they’re going to do (with their life) ought to take a little time in the military It helped me grow up,” she said. “I was a long way from home — I went to England — and I had to figure things out, you know? Then, when I went back to college, I knew what I wanted to do and did really well at it.
“It taught me independence. I had such pride to serve the country . If I talk about it, I get teary. In the Reserve, I was on the aircraft battle damage repair team for the B-52s, and Desert Storm was going on. My (first) husband was already deployed and I was in the middle of nursing school and I’m on an aircraft battle damage repair team, so I knew there was a big chance that I would get deployed. They were already starting the process. Getting our paperwork ready. We had to get our affairs in order. I gave my mom and dad power of attorney over my child. We were going, and then the war ended. They said we would have been gone in two more weeks “I wasn’t afraid of going. I was worried about my daughter, but I knew with my mom and dad that she would be in good hands. They had already said they were sending us to an island that was close — I’d be lying to you if I tried to tell you the name of the island — so that if a B-52 got damaged, they would try to lift it back to the island and we would repair it. Also, if a B-52 went down in enemy territory, our job might have been to be dropped off in enemy territory to get the plane fly-worthy enough to get it home or get it some place to be repaired.
COURTESY PHOTO
Drew Paige with daughter, Bethny, during a 1990 visit to her parents’ home outside Gatesville when she served in U.S. Air Force Reserve.
COURTESY PHOTO
Drew Paige is shown with her horse, Bejou, a er a friendly painting session with her grandson.