I attended Enid schools all twelve years … McKinley Grade school, Emerson Junior high, and Enid High school. After high school graduation, I attended Oklahoma State University four years, graduating in May, 1961 with a degree in Sociology. Richard (Dick) Roller and I were married the Sunday after my graduation. We celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary this year.
Dick received his degree from OSU and his ROTC Army Commission as an infantry officer. We were sent to Ft. Benning, Georgia and Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. We loved living in the South. Dick ultimately decided against a military career and returned to OSU in 1964 for graduate School. We have spent Dick’s CPA career in Oklahoma and Kansas, living in Topeka, Kansas the past 29 years.
We have two daughters. Tamara is single and an RN in ICU at a Topeka hospital. We are blessed to have her living in the same town with us. Our daughter, Tracie is married to Mike and they have three daughters, a son, and a baby due the end of November! They live in Kansas City, about an hour from us. Their 3 1/2 year old son, Gideon was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) which is a very severe heart defect….born with half a heart. He has had three open heart surgeries (the last on July 17) and will eventually need a heart transplant.
Since graduating from OSU, my main job has been wife and Mother. When I was employed, my jobs had a lot of flexibility. I spent 10+ years working for the Santa Fe Railway, many of those years on a call-in basis. I would receive the call and have an hour to be there ready to do whatever clerical job they assigned that day. I spent another 10+ years working part-time for a local hospital in administration.
Our volunteer activities have revolved around our church and politics. We currently sing in the choir and are on the Mission’s Committee at our church. We both retired in March, 2001 and have enjoyed quite a bit of travel since then. Dick surprised me with a two week trip to Paris to celebrate our retirement and our 40th anniversary. Since then we have been on several mission trips to print shops in Belgium and France where Bibles and other Christian literature are produced and distributed to the French speaking world, much of it going to Africa. Last fall we spent seven weeks in Marpent, France, serving as the host couple for mission teams coming from the US to work in the print shop. We were responsible for meals, transportation and the day-to-day needs of teams of eight persons for twelve-day periods. We had ample time to explore the area using the car from the mission. We also took the train to Paris and made trips to Rouen and Chartrez.
I have enjoyed reading the biographies already submitted and look forward to seeing many of you at the 50th reunion!