Individual Profiles
Attention Old Classmates that are new to this site:
After you take the time to investigate and check out this site, Please fill out a PROFILE and submit your contact info so that you will be added to this site AND to our email list or letter contact list (if you don't have an email address) so that you can stay up-to-date about the reunions, news, events.
Your registration will allow you to edit your profile after it has been posted; and also allow your other classmates to contact you by your email registration.
For Returning Guests, there are several new questions for your profile. The newest question is, who would portray you in a movie about your life.
Click on any of the images for a larger view.
For Returning Guests, there are several new questions for your profile. The newest question is, who would portray you in a movie about your life.
Click on any of the images for a larger view.
Steve Edwards
Then
Now
| City: | LaGrange |
|---|---|
| State / Province: | GA |
| Marital status: | Divorced |
| Occupation: | professor at Tuskegee U., & professional actor/director/producer & stuntman (-: |
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Comment:
It was GREAT seeing everyone at the last reunion. Everyone who worked on putting it together can be very proud of the work you did. My latest project was the Indie Film, A CIRCLE ON THE CROSS (tribute to "The Wall" & POW's/MIA's in all wars, especially Vietnam). We're hoping for a MOW TV special sometime in 2016. If you'd like to view the trailer, go to: www.acircleonthecross.com (or you can type in the title at: www.imdb.com - Kenny Rogers does the lead-in for the title song; if you go to this website, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4FihRDAvho&feature=related you'll also see a music video as part of a video "BAND OF BROTHERS." The film is a tribute from my heart for everyone's lives who were affected by Vietnam. The new photo is me portraying Galileo. (-: I will be retiring from full time teaching at the end of this current semester, 2015 from Tuskegee U.
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| What kind of school activities did you participate?: | FBLA, some baseball; some track |
| Brushes with Greatness: | Worked with Tommy Tune; met Jackie (Kennedy) Onassis buying an apple in a fruit stand in NYC; toured a B\'dway show with Barbara Eden; got to meet & party with Tommy & Dicky Smothers, met and performed for the Duke & Duchess of Kent |
| What personality would portray you if a movie were made about your life?: | Rex Harrison |
Jenny Elder (Giles)
Now
| City: | Grapevine |
|---|---|
| Marital status: | Married |
| Children: | 2 |
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Comment:
I have been busy being a wife for 42 years to my awesome husband, a mother to my two amazing sons, and now a grandmother to four precious angels who are the love of my life. Life is good. It is fun to see pictures of all of you! Great Memories! |
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| What kind of school activities did you participate?: | Raiderettes, Student Council |
Ron Fields
| City: | El Paso |
|---|---|
| State / Province: | TX |
| Marital status: | Married |
| Children: | 2 |
| Occupation: | General Manager |
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Comment:
Wow, I can't believe we have had this many years pass. I have been involved in the milk and ice cream industry since graduating from Texas Tech. We have moved several seveal times, and the stops include Nothern California, Southern California , San Antonio, Houston, and El Paso. Valerie and I have been married for forty years and have two daughters and five grandchildren. We have lived in El Paso since 1997. El Paso is remote, but it is a short drive to Ruidoso, and Cloudcroft, which we enjoy. I enjoy golf, and watching Texas Tech sports. |
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| What kind of school activities did you participate?: | sports |
Tore Fossum
Now
| City: | Huntsville |
|---|---|
| State / Province: | TX |
| Marital status: | Single again |
| Children: | 2 |
| Occupation: | Retired chemist |
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Comment:
Tore began life in Norway, near Oslo. The family emigrated to the United States in 1955, and received U.S. citizenship in 1960, while living in the DFW area. That was when Jackrabbits and quail could be hunted where the DFW airport is now. One of the adventures at Grapevine Lake involved jumping into the foaming water below Grapevine dam wearing an inner tube. Tommy Bowles and Tore were goading each other into going further up where the water was coming out with huge flow. Richard Middleton showed how brave he was and jumped closer to the outflow than anyone. But instead of going downstream, he was caught in a backwash, went upstream for about ten feet, then disappeared down into the outflow. Many seconds passed with no sign of Richard. Then he popped up about 100 yards downstream. When asked, he said his whole life flashed in front of him when he got sucked down. That was too much fun! Chemistry was easy, so Tore graduated from NTSU in 1970 with a BS in Chemistry. He tested petroleum in New Orleans and measured the effect of light on living systems at UTD in Richardson using bacteria and lasers. Getting bored with the lab, he managed a quail farm in Grapevine, using an old turkey hatchery and the farm buildings in Flower Mound. At one time, there were 10,000 coturnix quail in those turkey houses. Two children came along for Jackie and Tore, and needing money, Tore entered the analytical instrumentation profession, selling analytical instrumentation to laboratories from New Orleans to Denver. The bulk of the business being along the Gulf Coast, the young family moved to Friendswood. Tore teamed up with Lisa Tuck in 2000. Lisa was descended from Emma Bracewell from Bedias. Attending the Bracewell Family reunion was a yearly April event. When they decided to move from Dickinson to near the ancestral Bedias, the most beautiful acreage they found was on Nelson Creek about 10 miles north of Huntsville. Nelson is a spring fed year round clear water creek housing Gaudalupe bass and crappie. In the early years small alligators were occasionally seen in Nelson Creek, but after a family of otters moved in, they ate the alligators. Tore retired in 2018. He participated in politics beginning with the election of Ronald Reagan as President. He came to understand that politics is local, and local citizens must be involved to keep local government clean and efficient. An orderly rule of law is important, with the best laws being simple, easy to understand, and uniformly applied. Property rights and rule of law are the bedrock of our modern society. Our most important function is to deliver to our children a city, a county and a State of Texas where they can thrive and live in freedom and liberty. Prosperity in the future is a function of how well we manage the resources we have today. |
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| What personality would portray you if a movie were made about your life?: | Clint Eastwood |
Carolyn French (McKenzie)
| City: | Tioga |
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| State / Province: | TX |
| Marital status: | Married |
| Children: | 1 |
| Occupation: | rancher |
Ester Gardner (Woods)
| City: | Mooresburg |
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| State / Province: | TN |
| Marital status: | Married |
| Children: | 4 |
| Occupation: | Cna |
| What kind of school activities did you participate?: | Beta club |
| Brushes with Greatness: | None |
| What personality would portray you if a movie were made about your life?: | Shirley mcclaine |
Dennis Garretson
Now
| City: | Waxhaw |
|---|---|
| State / Province: | NC |
| Marital status: | Married |
| Children: | 3 |
| Occupation: | Aviation Maintenance Training Coordinator & Recruiter (retired June 2024) |
| Comment: After graduation from LD Bell I attended Howard Payne College for a semester then William Jewell College for a second semester. During that second semester I enlisted in the USNavy and served for four active and two reserve. During my first two years I met my lovely wife Patti at a home family Bible study in El Cajon, CA. We married in July 1969 and have three children. After active duty in the USN I did another semester of college and then studied to obtain my FAA Airframe & Powerplant certiicates and worked for a Cessna dealership for six years before we joined Wycliffe Bible Translators (WBT) (www.wycliffe.org) in 1976. We served in Ecuador for 3-1/2 years and later in Maluku, Indonesia for 10 years and now are on staff in NC where I work in aviation maintenance with JAARS (www.jaars.org) which is a part of WBT. Patti is a school teacher who is now our JAARS Educational Coordinator. Our three children are all married and we have four beautiful granddaughters and two handsome grandsons. We are hoping to be able to make it to the September reunion. (updated Nov. '24) | |
| What kind of school activities did you participate?: | Sports |
Susan Gossett (Goodwin)
| City: | Comanche |
|---|---|
| State / Province: | TX |
| Marital status: | Married |
| Children: | 2 |
| Occupation: | Retired/Business Mgr. |
| What kind of school activities did you participate?: | Drama, Choir |
| Brushes with Greatness: | Oh, I saw Patrick Duffey (Dallas fame) in restaurant, Willard Scott in New Orleans does that count.. |
| What personality would portray you if a movie were made about your life?: | Sandra Bullock |
Rosemary Gregory (Lindsey)
| City: | Grand Prairie |
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| Marital status: | Widowed |
| Children: | 2 |
| Occupation: | Retired |
| Comment: Thanks for all of your work on this website. I was glad to find out about the reunion, I wondered why we never had one. | |
Nancy Groze (Floyd)
| City: | Santo |
|---|---|
| State / Province: | TX |
| Marital status: | Married |
| Children: | 2 |
| Occupation: | retired |
| Comment: Married to same great man for 48 years. Both of us are retired. Two beautiful daughters, 4 wonderful grandchildren and couple of pretty great sons-in-law. We have been blessed! | |
| What kind of school activities did you participate?: | Distributive Ed and pep club |
| Brushes with Greatness: | none |