Where do I begin, since the last reunion, I have retired from Bank of America, after 30 years and 6 months. I have the shortest retirement in history, after retiring on Friday, November 21, 2003, I went to work for First National on the following Monday. Jerry retired from the Guards and our son has been placed inactive due to injuries he received while serving in Baghdad. Jerry is still at what used to be Marathon working very weird hours. We are fortunate (?) we have both of our children close and all 11 grandkids (that’s the question mark). They keep Jerry buying golf balls, gas for the 4 wheeler, worms and fish hooks.

Looking forward to seeing everyone.

In 1971 I married Larry Stephens, class of 65, and Feb of 1972 we moved to Springfield so I could finish my education at SMSU. I graduated in May 75 with a BS in Ed. in Vocational Home Economics.

Our daughter, Elizabeth, was born in September 1976. In December 1979 our son Timothy was born. Elizabeth, now 29, is a CPA in Menlo Park, CA and is married to Vijay Pande, a professor at Stanford. They have a beautiful little girl, Tara, 18 months old. Tim is 25, unmarried, and a software engineer in Springfield.

I went back to SMSU in Jan. 1999 and in Dec 2000 received a MS in Ed, emphasis Clothing and Textiles and taught at SMSU for 3 semesters. Larry and I built a house at Strafford and moved in Jan 2004. My hobbies are sewing, reading, tatting, and flying to California to visit my beautiful granddaughter.

My life 35 years after graduation is great and very busy. I still love having a dress shop and Danny’s always on the go helping me and taking care of his RV business. Our son, Ryan, works with Danny - a situation they both enjoy and our daughter, Tiffany, teaches sixth grade at Ozark. I think our class is really special and I look forward to seeing everyone.

I am living in Pomona, MO and have been married to my husband Jim since 1969. I work in the activities department at West Vue and Jim is a foreman for an electrical construction company working out of Kansas City, MO. I have one son Donnie who is a general foreman for electrical construction in Huntington Beach California and a daughter Sheila who is an RN in Huntington Beach, California. I have 6 grandsons that keep me hopping, but no little girls.

The past five years have been interesting. We added another daughter to our house, Liz. We bought a condo in Colorado. Joanna and I both changed jobs. I became President of a life insurance company and Joanna became the archivist for the Missouri Baptist Convention. Hilary started college and is now at Kansas State University in their architecture school. Courtney and Liz are juniors in high school and looking forward to college. Courtney continues to play softball and basketball and plans to be a dentist. Liz is looking at majoring in business and enjoys arguing politics or anything else with anyone who will disagree with her. We still have our 80-pound baby, Kuma, who probably enjoys Colorado as much as anyone in the family and makes the rounds to softball tournaments throughout the summer. Joanna and I have been blessed with three wonderful daughters and been able to travel to many of the islands of the Caribbean where we enjoy sitting on beaches and reading.

Dear Classmates, Life remains good...like many of you, I’m sure, it’s hard to imagine 35 years have passed since our graduation and that we are all in our 50’s. Nevertheless, the memories are many and new ones will be added as we go.

Just a brief update on my life...I remain with State Farm Insurance celebrating my 30th year this summer. My career began as an agent here in West Plains, then into management in Columbia, Missouri, and upon my father’s retirement in 2000, a return to personal production and West Plains, where I intend to “ride it out” until retirement. The city and area continue to grow at a healthy pace and business has been good as a result...coming home was a good decision on all fronts.

I have two children, both of whom have graduated from college and are gainfully employed...whew! My son, Andrew, is in his first year as Assistant Men’s Basketball Coach at Ft. Scott Community College in Ft. Scott, Kansas. My daughter, Julie, is a pharmaceutical representative for Pfizer Drug Company operating out of Springfield. Neither child is married and no grandkids are in sight for the time being. I’m thinking of relaxing my standards some in order to get one or both of them going in that direction!!!

Hobbies include golf, floating and using our cabin down on the North Fork River. Not much has changed other than my hair color...Beth, my wife, continues to hang in there with me...we’ve had a great life together for over 36 years if you count dating. Both my parents are still living here in West Plains so as I said at the beginning, life has been very good to us.

I look forward to seeing many of you at the reunion and encourage you to contact me at the address’s shown if you would like to catch up some more.

Hi everyone! I’m still teaching first grade and still loving it, but I am beginning to think about retirement. Hard to believe we’re that old. My husband, Jim, is the CFO of an electrical company and we just married off our son, Chris. We still have Kara to go. We have an empty house that still manages to get dirty. How does that happen? We have one grandchild, Brandon, and another on the way, so I probably need to retire to help with the kids. Yeh!! We still enjoy watching the Cardinals, Rams and the Blues and really like going snow skiing, swimming and gardening. We don’t live on a farm, but still manage to have a cat, dog, guinea pig, gerbil and a bearded dragon. Everything is at school once again, and that’s the way Jim likes it.

Sorry to miss the reunion, but my babysitting services were in need in Kansas City. Chris and Christie had somewhere to go and asked if I could watch Brandon. Hey! Hard decision. So hope to see everyone again in 2010!

As I write my update of the last five years, I find myself sitting in the play area at McDonald’s! It seems like my life basically revolves around my two grand-daughters! I love it! My own granddaughter is almost 3 years old, and my step-granddaughter is 10 years old! We’re still living in Poplar Bluff, Mo., and now my daughter, Jennifer, is living in Dexter, Mo. She works with autistic children, and my son, Jason, is practicing law here in Poplar Bluff. It’s great to have them both nearby. I’m blessed to have a wonderful family, great friends, and my health!

Hope this finds you all happy and healthy too! Can’t wait to see everyone at the reunion!

I’m sorry I can’t make the reunion this year. I lost my husband 4 years ago, but still have my wonderful 4 children. Alicia, who gave me a granddaughter, lives in North Carolina and works for Wal-Mart; Joseph works for Campbell Housefield in Nashville, Tn.; Jeff is going for his bachelor’s degree in political science at MU in Columbia; and Emily is an education major here at MSU. I just finished 20 years at Wal-Mart and guess I will keep on going. See you when you come shopping.

Hope everyone has a good time. Be Safe.

I live in Springfield where I have a construction business. My wife passed away in March of 2004. We did not have any children together. But, I have two daughters. Annie is 23 and lives in Conway, Ar. She graduated from UCA and now is working there. Jessica lives with my ex wife and is 16 and a junior at Farmington HS. I golf some and go to Chiefs, Cards and Mizzou games quite a bit. When I turned 50, I jumped out of an airplane and shaved my head. Go figure?

Diane Stirewalt Adams alias Stink

I currently work for Dr. Robert W. Jones, Ophthalmologist. I am a med tech. I work for a shoe company, Dansko, on the weekends as a Tech Rep. I travel about 8 months of the year for them. Life is good. My daughter Ronda lives in Conway, Ar. Her son Morgan is fixing to be 13. He is a runner. His Cross Country team just had a big meet at Hendrix College. He called to let me know that his team won 2nd in the meet. Guess who won 1st. THE ZIZZERS! My youngest daughter Camille lives here with her son Alex. He is a talker. Guess where he got that? I am away at Academy and am so sorry to have missed you all. I will think of you all weekend. I hope that everyone has a great time, safe travel and that Nancy takes some great photos to share. My Best to you all.

The last 35 years has mostly been spent in West Plains, 32 almost 33 years I spent with the most wonderful man in the world, Lewis, till the Lord called him home. We had 3 kids, Tina 1972-1973, Debbie Jean, 1976 married Joshua Ernst with 2 kids Joshua, 10 Katlyn 6; Lewis Daniel Roberts 1973 married Tasha had 1 child Lewis II. I’ve worked at Eaton corporation till they sold to Siebe who sold to Invensys, altogether been there 32 years 9 months. Don’t do anything except go to church and work.

Looking forward to seeing everyone. Since my husband passed away I’ve wrote 17 poems.

My husband Walt and I still live in Springfield, Mo. I am still doing my free-lance Interior Design business, although I scaled it down last year to custom floral and home accents after my 2nd hip replacement in April of ‘04. My husband Walt is a Mortgage Banker and broker. He has now expanded into the talk radio world and has an hour show every Saturday morning, where potential home buyers call in and ask questions pertaining to buying a home.

I am fortunate to have all of my four children back in Springfield. My daughter, Jessica, graduated from Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona, in December ‘04, with a degree in Business Marketing. She recently became engaged so we are now planning a wedding for late April, ‘0-5. Her twin brother, Joel, is a senior at Drury University here in Springfield, majoring in Criminology and Business Administration. My son, Josh, lives in a loft in downtown Springfield, and is a Paul Mitchell stylist and color expert for AVBS Salon, also downtown Springfield. My oldest son, Justin, is employed with Detroit Tool & Metal of Lebanon. His territory reaches from Illinois to Tennessee so he does a lot of traveling, which he seems to enjoy. I have a three year old grandson named Alex Johnson. He is such a joy, and has just started playing soccer on a 3 & 4 year old team. I hope the coaches have a lot of patience.

My sister, Beth, and her husband, Bill Yarbrough, now live in Collierville, Tennessee, just south of Memphis. She still works in the field of dentistry, and Bill is in the lighting business, where he specializes in antique chandeliers. Beth’s son, Bradley, is in the U.S. Air Force, where he is stationed in Georgia. He recently returned from the Island of Diego Garcia, which is located “somewhere” between Australia and Africa.

My dad died on July 29, ‘05. So we are still trying to embrace life without daddy. J.C. (as everyone called him) had such a positive influence on my life and my children. He touched so many people with that kind smile. My mom, Bettye, works part-time for Florence at the Kloz Klozet on the Square. She enjoys frequent trips to Springfield and Tennessee to visit all the grandkids.

I want to thank everyone for the cards, care, and concern regarding my dad’s death. All of your support and kindness was so appreciated by all my family. Looking forward to the reunion and seeing all of you again.