Amelia Williams-Braucher:  

Life... David Carpenter and I married in 1968 and divorced in 1980. We had three children: David, Jr.; Antony, and Wendy. We share eight grandchildren; Cody, Bethanie, Mellisa, Christian, Israel, Evelyn, Sara, and Clementine. Dave, Jr., (our oldest) and his family live in Independence, MO. His wife is Stephanie Cummings. They met in high shcool. His oldest, Cody, has made us great-grandparents to Landon and Casey. Dave and Stephanie's second born, Bethanie, and her baby daddy, Nick Byrd, are no longer a couple but gave us our precious great-granddaughter, Brooklyn, and great-grandson, Mason. Wendy and her husband, Steve Hicks, relocated from Santa Maria, CA, to the Kansas City, MO area. They, too, are no longer a couple as well. Their daughter, Mellisa, decided not to continue college. I home-schooled her from birth through 3rd grade before they moved to MO. I volunteered around that time tutoring hispanic children how to read the English language at a school that Mellisa attended just before moving to MO. It was a blast. Twelve years later, they [Steve and Wendy] had Sara. She will live a life of autism [bless her heart]. Mellisa and her special someone, Marshall Brooks, have blessed us with our 4th, absolutely, adorable great-grandson, Cameron Don Brooks. Cameron will also live a life with autism. Antony, my second son, is now living wherever he can find a place he can rest his head. Please pray for my son. Thank you. In addition to issues in his life that he chooses, his beautiful wife, Jerelyn, passed away 8/22/05 due to an auto accident that also took their unborn son, Ezekiel Jonathan. Soon after, I became the guardian of Antony's children. They were 14 months to 11 years at the time of the accident. The two boys, Israel and Christian are both on their own now and appear to be settling into a routine of work and responsibility of living life. Unfortunately, my husband, Jon, didn't share my need to care for my grandchildren, seeing they weren't his bio grandchildren and/or due to the fact that he never had children and wasn't sure he'd be able to handle it all. So, I took all the kids to a rental house for 9 years, alone, until the boys left, and now back with Jon in 2014, with the girls too. He figured he could handle them. He's not so sure about that either. He's struggling when it comes to messes and defiance. We all do, I think, but we deal with it. Prior to the accident, my occupation had mostly been as an administrative assistant/bookkeeper. I spent the seasons of 1978/79 and 1979/80 as an Oakland Raiders' NFL Cheerleader. Check out on You Tube a video you'll find listed 1978 Jerry Lewis Telethon with Johnny Lee and the Raiderettes. I'll be the one about center front and just to the right behind Johnny as he sings in front of us girls. When you get to the video, fast forward to about 20. It will start with Mickey Gilley, Johnny's best friend. We'll come on right after that. When that's over, fast forward to 40 to see more. There's a close up of me in platinum blonde hair laughing like a fool. Lol. We did three other dances during the telethon that weekend with just us girls performing. So far, no one has found those on video. I also did some modeling and went on to jazz dance, and sing country music professionally as the lead singer in two separate bands. Traveled to Japan, Hawaii, and Alaska as an entertainer and model. Gave my life to Jesus Christ in 1979. I met, Jon Braucher, in our church's singles' group and we married in 1982. We chose not to have children. I worked for many years as a private, in-home caregiver, but needed to let my clients go to care for my grandchildren full-time. On weekends, [if I could find a way to work it in my s...Expand for more