Connie Heffner:
CLASS OF 1986
West Hazleton High SchoolClass of 1986
West hazleton, PA
Connie's Story
After graduating from West Hazleton High School in 1986 I went to work. I wanted to go to college all through high school but many things happened along the way. In 1990, the sneaker plant I worked at closed its doors. We were given a choice to go back to school up to two years. I took advantage of it and went to computer school for five and a half months. It was hard but rewarding. I worked as a temp in many jobs until I was given a temp job at the insurance company I am now at. I worked there for one year as a temp until I was hired permanently. That was 1993. I have a great job in an insurance company in Fogelsville, PA and have been there for 20 yrs. I am a technical assistant and its very exciting,fast paced & I enjoy working with people everyday, answering there questions and doing training.
I married for the first time in Oct of 1998 in Las Vegas at Bally's Celebration Chapel and was married for 8 yrs. I was divorced in Sept of 2006. I am happy to say I am still friends with my ex-mother in-law and ex-father-in-law.
While I was going through my divorce I met the man of my dreams Robert Scott Heffner. We met on Memorial Day 2006. I was at a picnic at my friend Deb's house and her boyfriend Jim (now her husband) is Rob's brother. We talked and then we made a date to go have chinese food our favorite food the next day. We have been together ever since. Rob proposed Christmas Day 2008 in our dining room as our dog Shy looked on.
We were married April 3, 2010 at an old school house across the field from our house outside of Kutztown by the Mayor of Kutztown. The weather was warm, sunny and absolutely magical. We had family only for our wedding and then a lunch afterward at our house. Marrying Rob was special enough, but he surprised both sides of the family and me by going to one of the mennonite farms and asking if the farmer would drive a big wagon driven by two white horses and pick up everyone at our house and drive us to the old school house. Afterward the driver took us for a ride on the back roads of Kutztown. The kids (Rob's twin nephews) are still talking about it.
Rob and I went to Jamaica on our honeymoon. I learned how to kayak which I have always wanted to do. While in Jamaica we went on a shopping trip with a woman from Pittsburgh and also stopped in Margaritaville. We spent a lot of time on the beach and also walking the beach and visiting shops. We had a carver make several carvings for us to bring home. My favorite has our names, a dolphin and the day we were married on it.
We are having a big party in November of this year to celebrate us getting married and we will be celebrating with family and friends. It will be a pigroast and lots of music and fun.
Rob and I love to go for rides on the scooter or the motorcycle and hit the back roads of Mertztown, Topton and Kutztown. Rob also has a Mini Cooper convertible. We love to turn the music up and go cruising. We want to go to Alaska in a few years.
I love to hang out with family including our black lab/springer named SHY. She is getting old and is going blind. Shy is diabetic which she was diagnosed with over a year ago .We give her insullin morning and evening. Shy also suffers from arthritis and lyme disease. Shy is a retired bird dog. She would let her daddy know where the bird was after he shot it, but he never could get her to bring the bird back to him. We still laugh about that. If Shy could talk she would say "DADDY YOU GO GET THE BIRDIE".
I also love to just go and hang out at the gun club we belong to and also the FOE. I enjoy going to the target range and shooting my 9MM Smith & Wesson. Rob is an avid hunter and we also enjoy going to...Expand for more
New Jersey and going deep sea fishing too. We try to go at least once or twice a year. I have never had children, but if Rob and I had met sooner we probably would have had 2 or 3 children. We both love children. Rob has 2 stepsons Jeff and Dale. They are wonderful young men in there late twenties with families of there own. Dale goes hunting with Rob.
I enjoy reading, especially Janet Evanovich. I pick up her books and cannot put them down. The stories she tells are hillarious. I also enjoy James Patterson, Mary Higgins Clark and Nora Roberts as well. I really started walking and hiking about the time I was going through the divorce. It is relaxing and lets you forget about your problems for a little while. I have continued with the walking and hiking.
Gardening is another passion. We grew garlic for the first time this year and I must say it turned out rather well. We had some guidance from a mennonite farmer. We also grow peppers, tomatoes and string beans. As soon as we do some renovations to our house I will have a flower garden.
I used to be very quiet and shy in high school. I always had my nose in a book. I had to study very hard for my grades which did not come easy. Some people may have thought I didn't want to be bothered with or may have thought I was stuck up. Not the case at all. I just didn't know how to express my feelings and I did not make friends easily. i suffered from very low self esteem in high school, I felt like an outsider. A lot of times people judge a person for what they look like on the outside and never get to know the real person on the inside. It took a marriage, a divorce, lots of therapy and the love of an incredible man to get over my low self esteem.
Since going through a divorce I have become more open about my feelings. I also went to therapy for a while to deal with going through a divorce, what I was feeling and the anger associated with it. I needed to get through the low self esteem and the fact that I was being emotionally abused by my first husband and basically made to feel like I was worthless. I am grateful to the counselor I had and learned a lot about myself in the process. I learned I am a strong & independent woman who could do anything and stand on my own two feet. I was and am proud of that accomplishment. Never let anyone tell you that you can't do something. Never give up on yourself and never let anyone put you down no matter what. For the first time in my life I was becoming a person I really liked. I was finally able let all of the anger go. I also attended DIVORCE CARE which was a 13 week program at a local church. Both of the women who ran the class had been divorced and since remarried. We would watch a DVD and then have a discussion afterwards regarding the DVD and how things were going with each person in the class. I am helping my friend Tammy who is going through a divorce now. Giving her advise when she is having a bad day and letting her know she doesn't have to go through this alone. Speaking to other people who have gone through divorce has helped too. Tammy is my best friend in the whole wide world and we can talk about anything. Tammy and I work at the insurance company together.
My husband Rob and I joined the Legion Riders motorcycle group last year 2012 and we are having a great time riding. Rob also joined the Reading Motorcycle Club late last year and we usually go down on Friday nights to socialize with our many friends we have met and have dinner with them. Life is really good!!!!!
My husband I watch Pawn Stars and a lot of things on the history channel. I of course love LMN and LifeTime movies. I also love Dancing with The Stars.
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