NANCY ROACH GILLESPIE

DeChaumes

Fonville

Denise Tunstall Sanders get together every chance we get. I work with Lynne (Walkoviak) & Greg Villarreal. I also try to keep in touch with Steve & Becky Sheperd and family, and often run into Wayne & Karen Stubblefield. Oh and one of our dearest friends is former SH teacher Don Henderson!! I also have several email buddies from Sam. One friend I miss is Debbie (Davis) West who passed away a few years ago. She was a very dear friend.

You would probably be surprised to know that I can actually be quiet sometimes!

Northline Mall! I spent MANY hours there! I worked at Montgomery Ward for several years, but the mall was so much fun for just hanging out. Shopping with girlfriends, flirting with guys, snuggling with boyfriends, eating at Walgreen's and of course movies at the Cinemas. In those days your parents could drop you off and leave you for hours without worrying!

My sister Phyllis graduated in 1960. She passed away January 2008 with breast cancer. Phyllis & I co-owned Franklin Office Suppy (an offshoot of my family's business Franklin Printing & Litho. Co. on Bauman Road) from 1976 - 1993. My brother, Marshall Roach (Bud) Jr. graduated midterm of 1963. He and my husband, Tim worked together with my parents at Franklin Printing. Tim left the shop in 1992 to become head of Print Services at Pennzoil and later left the corporate world to follow his dream to be a soccer coach. He is now Athletic Director & football & head soccer coach at Scarborough High School in HISD. He has won coach of the year 4 times... but I should let him share that on his profile! I just like to brag on him!

I guess my favorite story is of how Tim & I met. I was Managing Editor of the Aegis. Tim was Sports Editor. I thought he was awfully cute and tried to get his attention at the press competition we were at at UH. Not much luck. Then a few days later, Mrs. Barton came up to Debbie Russ (the Editor) and I with 4 tickets that had been sent to the school for a play at the Alley Theater called "Tartuffe". She said that Debbie & I could invite whoever we wanted, so I laid out my little plan. Debbie was easy to convince because another Aegis staffer, James Guillory, had caught her eye. He happened to be a friend of Tim's. Well, we had the time of our life! "Tartuffe" was hilarious and we went out to eat afterward. We laughed so much it hurt! Tim & I have been together ever since... One awkward moment was when the guys showed up at my house to pick Debbie & I up and they didn't know how they should sit in the car. They had no idea which one was supposed to be with who or if they should sit in front and us in back as we were all just reporters going to critique a play. Little did they know Debbie & I knew very well who should sit where! I loved Mrs. Barton! Of all of the teachers & staff at Sam, she touched my life the most and I would love to see her again! She was a classy lady!!

"The trouble with young people today is that they are always searching for excitment thinking that wil make them happy. What they don't realize is that it's fulfillment that makes you happy." unknown

Aegis staffers & Journalism students probably remember when Ron Stone came to the school. We wrote on the board "Welcome Ron Stone Jr's Dad." (He had just become a proud papa!)
I have shared an amazing eye-contact moment with Paul McCartney. I was always a Beatlemaniac (Tim, too) and when we went to London the highlight of our trip was a "Beatle" walking tour of which the highlight was crossing Abbey Road like on the famous album cover. There is a "real-time" video camera there and lots of our friends & co-workers were watching us make fools of ourselves trying to dodge traffic to look like we were casually crossing the street! That's not easy!! Remember actress Sandy Duncan? Our moms went to school together & each lost a brother in the New London School explosion of 1937. My mom, sister & I went backstage after one of her appearances here and had a very emotional visit with her. It was shortly after her mother passed away.

I have been on TV several times, but I have never managed to see any of them. This past Christmas we were in New York with my son Jay, his wife, Heather and daughter, Aubrey. We were out shopping when I was approached by a reporter doing a story on "last minute shoppers". From the snapshots my family took of the interview I can only hope no one saw it! A few years earlier Tim & I were in New York again. This time we got up early, made one of those corny "Hello Spring, Texas" signs and stood in front of the NBC studios. The today show crew came out and stood right in front of us.

What spare time? I just wish I had some once in a while!! ! IF I do catch a moment I love to play "Spider" solitaire on the computer or read.

My grandkids! They are so much fun to be with! Every year we have a tradition of taking them for a week to Galveston. Just Tim & I and the grandkids. It's a hoot! This year Summer got to go for the first time. Next year little Ava should be big enough to go! I'm not sure we can handle all 5 at once, but we'll give it a try! I love to travel and have had some wonderful vacations. My favorites were: London, Canada, Colorado and of course New York is one of my favorite places. Tim & I made a trip there October 12, 2001. The air was still full of smoke and smelled of melted plastic. Workers were going around the clock still searching the rubble of the twin towers. It ripped my heart out to see the devastation & the pictures everywhere of the missing. I pray nothing like that will ever happen on our shores again. I dearly love peace and I pray for peace in this crazy world

High school was a fun and innocent time. We felt like we had forever in front of us and it blows my mind how quickly we've come from silly teeny-boppers to senior citizens just happy to get a discount at the movies!