Mary Anne Gallagher:
CLASS OF 1962
Carroll High SchoolClass of 1962
Corpus christi, TX
Del Mar CollegeClass of 1964
Corpus christi, TX
Sundeen Junior High SchoolClass of 1959
Corpus christi, TX
Mary Anne's Story
Life (amended as of 10-19-2023)
I'm adopted. I searched for/found my maternal birthfamily in 1985. I met them in person in 1987. They were all located in California.. My birthmother had already died, but I found I had 3 sisters and 2 brothers and many other relatives and I met them all. Since then, I am the only living sibling left. Also, one niece and one nephew have died. (At the end of this paragraph is my new update with the finding on my birthfather's side of my family.) As of 2023, my own family and I have lived in East TX for 41 years... I had two children, Angela (was 48 when she passed away from metastatic cancer on Mar 3, 2016) and Sean (44)_ and two stepdaughters Angie (53) and Sam (50). Total of 8 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren .AND one great-great grandson (2 yrs). I have been back down to Corpus Christi maybe 9 or 10 times since I graduated. In May 2023 my husband and I celebrated our 48th anniversary. I went to our 40th 1962.MCHS Reunion in 2002. I went to our 50th MCHS 1962 Reunion in 2012 (50th) and again in 2017 .(55th). We didn't have a 60th reunion in 2022. I have connected with a lot of people from the old school days. Great time and I'm looking forward to any reunion that will come up again. I hope my name will be on the list to be invited again, if we ever have that happen.
In Oct 2007 I had a very large benign brain tumor (called meningioma), (the size of my fist) removed at M D Anderson Hospital in Houston, TX. They said it had been growing for at least 10-20 years. After my surgery, I tested clear for 6 years. Thank you God. But in Sep 2013 it recurred and was slowly growing, so M D Anderson offered to do Gamma Knife Radiosurgery on me in 2016. I had that done in Sep 2016 and 3 small tumors were zapped by Gamma rays. All's clear again for now. In 2017 I got on Ancestry DNA with the help of one of my biological maternal side of my family. She did all of the detective work, and once she had a couple of names to check out, she found my birthfather's side. In June, 2018 I was finally able to meet in person with some of my newest biological family. They are from northwestern Arkansas and Oklahoma.. My birthfather died in 1972, however, he had three other children (that we know of --) one daughter that is 12 years younger than me who lives in Oklahoma, I met her in Tyler, TX....a son who died in 1995. He was originally 3 yrs younger than me, and a daughter who is one year younger than me and lives in Arkansas. What a wonderful meeting we had in Louisiana (between each of our own residences, so neither one had to drive all the way to the other one!! I have been so blessed to be able to find both of my birthparents' remaining families. I honestly wish I could have found them 15, 20, or 30 years ago when I had a lot more energy. Thank...Expand for more
you, God, for letting me meet them. Many don't ever get that opportunity.
I used to enjoy DRIVING a Harley (we have three), but since my original brain surgery in 2007, I haven't gotten back on it. I don't trust my balance anymore. haha
High School
My dream was to be a female coach, but at the time, there were almost no female coaches.
College
I wanted to be a PE teacher/coach, but I couldn't ever pass college course of American History, so I changed my major to business! Then college was easy!!! BUT. Typing, shorthand, and business machines no longer count toward hours !!! Good thing I'm retired.
Workplace
My very first job was babysitting for .50 cents/hr (all mine). Then my first official job was at the Center Theater, where I started out as an usher making .45 cents/hr with taxes taken out. What I remember most about it is I got a call and they said they needed some more people to work there and if I wanted a job, come on down! I went and worked there as usher, doorman (.55 cents/hr), concession (.65 cents/hr), and finally cashier for .75 cents/hr!!. Later I worked at the Ritz Theater as a cashier during my college days. In 1963 I started working for Southwestern Bell in Corpus Christi. I worked for Ma Bell (the original telephone system) off and on for 14 years (a few jobs in between). Then I stayed home for 8 years while my son was ages 5-13 yrs old. In 1992, I began my job in the library at Stephen F Austin State University in Nacogdoches, TX. . I stayed there for 19 years and retired in 2011. (I also volunteered as a Boy Scout assistant leader for 11 years which ended Dec 31, 2002.)
I have recently found where two of my high school friends from MY neighborhood are. They are Ronnie Simmons (who was a year or two behind me in school and my on-again/off-again boyfriend through Jr High/Sr High Schools)---he graduated in 1964 and is not the Ron Simmons who graduated with us in 1962) and Dillard Harold Hatch across the side street from David Gregory. Harold always went by "Harold" back then. He now goes by "Dillard"......Barbara Gaither was the one who made the official contact for me because she lives not too far from him and his wife.. Thank you Barbara. A couple of years ago I remet Donna & Jim Blackstock at M D Anderson. My daughter and I visited with Donna and their son, Brian while Jim was having surgery. And I remet Barbara (Dugger) Frazier while we all were at M D Anderson.. My daughter and I visited with her a couple of times at M D Anderson Hospital and then visited with her in an assisted-living area for a little bit, shortly before Barbara died. We are now of an age that our health is beginning to seriously take the toll on people we went to school with. I hope we can continue to have reunions, but hopefully a shorter length between reunions.
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