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About Texas

There was something unique about growing up in Big Lake, Texas. It wasn't just the ranches, oil, sheep, and cattle that provided income for the community. It wasn't the dusty roads, the blue northers, the sound of the pump jacks, the lo-o-o-ng bus trips to Fabens, playing and/or watching the Pride of Reagan County in rain or cold weather. It wasn't the excitement we all felt when we could "smell the rain" on the horizon. It was more than homecoming dances, proms, or just dragging Main. It was more than walking to People's Drug or the Village Inn for lunch. It was more than people who made the town a community. It was a certain value system given us by hardworking parents, interested townsfolk, and dedicated teachers within our school system. It was something that as we get older we want to recapture, reinforce and reassure ourselves that we have not lost. It was something that when we lived there, we really weren't aware of, but, when any two or more of us are together, we fondly recall.

After much thought, I call it "heart".

We have grown up, raised or are raising our families and still go back to find that special comfort (or heart) that we experienced in growing up there. Surely, I am not the only one who has gone home for a visit and felt that certain comfort upon wakening in the home in which one grew up (Mr. Mills and Mrs. Cole would be proud of me for not having a dangling participle:-))? Hopefully, this web site will provide some of that same comfort.

Call me a homesick Texan. I am (homesick) and proud of it (being a native Texan)!! My family moved to Big Lake when I was 5 years old. I have two brothers, John Massey, Class of '65, and Mike Massey, Class of '72. John is married to Pam Havenhill, Class of '66, and Mike is married to Gina Williams, Class of '80. I married Gene Foster, Class of '60, in 1964 and we had one child, Sean. Sadly, Gene was killed in a go karting accident in April, 1970. I, subsequently, remarried and Charles and I just celebrated our 20th anniversary. Sean has lived in Dallas since 1993 working for Bank America (and all the intervening name changes). I am a typical parent, very proud of my child. Charles and I moved to Florida in 1990, where I continue to work for the Social Security Administration.

The 1500 miles between me and my roots and the retirement of David Stewart's Owl's Toot gave me the initiative to TRY this new venture of establishing another ex-student's web page. I hope the site will be every bit as interesting and informative as the Toot. So I ask for your patience, news, and ideas of what you want. Let us continue the tradition begun in high school with the Owl's Hoot and revived with the initial Owl's Toot and later issues.

My thought for November, 2000: Next to the sin of voting wrongly is the sin of not voting at all. - Theodore Cuoyler

Diane Massey Secord, Class of '64
Editor, Owl Spirit