Life in the suburbs was pretty much the same.  The routine was predictable.  Get up. Got to work or school.  Come home.  Have dinner. Watch some TV.  Then go to bed.  Rinse. Wash. And repeat. 

Occasionally the routine changed.  Someone new would move in or someone old would move away.  The Richardson and North Dallas area was pretty a pretty transient place at that time with classmates moving out as parents took jobs in other states, or with others moving in to take the place of the old classmate who just moved out. 

Sometimes change happened when we weren’t expecting it. Tom McGee, or Tommy as most of us knew him back in the day, was a larger-than-life image at North and Pearce, even though he started off small of stature but big of bravado. 

So come on along for a trip that takes us from Canyon Creek to military school, back to North, then back to military school, and then back to Pearce through the Stables and then off to Stephen F Austin State University to pursue a career in sports broadcasting. 

MENTIONS: The Watsons, Jeff Lee, Jeff Jones, Mark Roberston, Dave Manders, Roger Staubach, Chris Hewitt, Tim Petty, Jerry Bishop, Jan Sonnenmair, the Garveys, the Stables, Scottie the bartender, Mark Ralston, Storey Hamilton, Doug Zadow, Russell Martin, Lisa Gross, Kim Dorsett, David Jack, Mickey Don Jack, Lou Holtz, Tom Landry, Tony Dorsett, Drew Pearson, Preston Pearson, Eddie Sutton, Verne Lundquist, Keith Jackson, Bill Mercer, Mason Crosby, Jim and Karen Crosby, and Barrie McGee.

Season Two kicks off with a bang as representatives of the JJ Pearce and Richardson High School reunion planning committees get together to talk about the 50th reunions that are coming up, how life was growing up in Richardson back in the 1970s, and a little bit about the rivalry that grew up between the two schools. Join us for this often hilarious and insightful look back.

FEATURING: Marty Mitcham, Steve Hager, Scott Morse, Susie Shubzda, Michael Tannery, and Meghan Darr.

MENTIONS: Don Harris, Jim Crosby, Jeff Carpenter, Fred Lanford, Jeff Hagen, Steve Bilger, Rick Holliday, Brad Schutte, Cindy Smiley, Greg Nunley and The Nunley's, Bruce Gadd, Jack Mildren, Jerry Bishop, Gregg Garner, Mark Winette, Mark Brazil, Mable Murphy Simpson, Michael Morse, Hayley Tannery-Baker, Michael Morse, Katie (Fackler) Whyte, Patti (Heaton) Gentry, Mark Malcolm, Kathy (Johnson) Lanford, Kelli (Wilson) Henderson, and Mike Steffen.

We're back for Season 2! Great ready for another series of great visits with friends, characters, and even some hooligans that we grew up with. We'll talk about growing up in Richardson, Texas, in the shadow of the thriving Metroplex of Dallas and Fort Worth, and what it was like when things were a little simpler. Well, maybe.

Gasoline may have been 36 cents a gallon, but then there were the gas rationing lines during the oil embargo of '73, and fast food hamburgers may have only been 55 cents, but you only had a few places to chose from and they really weren't that fast. Simpler? Maybe. But the view from the rearview mirror is always different than it is out the front windshield.

So come on along for the journey, and let me know what you think iin comments and where you would like to go next.

Education was the single most mentioned factor by my guests on the podcast as to what brought families to the Richardson School District. The high tech firms and oil and gas companies in the area hired college educated professionals with advanced degrees in science and industry which meant education was the cornerstone expectation of the community. Our parents moved us here to give us the best education possible, and so we did. It was a solid value that built character, discipline, intellect into the fabric of our lives.

Mark Malcolm epitomizes that value. A longtime history and government teacher in area schools, Mark led football programs at all levels in the district and he comes from a line of professional educators who spent their careers building into the lives of young people.

So come on along as we talk to Mark about education, football, the American Civil War, and what it was like growing up in Richardson as the son of a school principal.

MENTIONS:  Matt Hammer, Mike Sears, Matt Malcolm, Tom Watson “Watty Myers, Hayden Fry (Odessa high Football Coach), Jerry Levine (administrator and principal), William F. “Bill” Malcolm”  (Mohawk principal, Assistant Superintendent), James Street, Bill Atkins (Pearce principal), Kim Gresham Malcolm, Randy Robertson (Pearce football coach), Steven Anthony (Pearce OC), Josh LeRibeus (Berkner player, SMU, Redskins), Jordan Gush (Pearce all state receiver, Stoneybrook), Corey Coleman (Pearce all state receiver, Baylor Belitnikoff Winner, Browns, Giants, Philly Stars), Justin Johnson (Apollo, Berkner player, UH, now Texas Tech Assistant Head Coach), Erik Korem (Apollo, Berkner player, A&M, now Director of Player Performance New York Jets), , Mike Tannery, Dowel Spangler, Bill Methenitis, Rick Krause, Lori (Allen) Carpenter, Mike Renfrow, Rhonda Cox, Meg Kane, The Castelli Sisters (Beth and Teresa), Jim Griffin (AP History teacher), D. Ann Gorman (English teacher), Anna Morinin (English teacher), Fred Lanford, John Bill Lomax (algebra teacher and guitarist), Max Wade, Keith Howard, Robin Quick, Mark Woods, Steve Bilger. 

Sometimes running off and joining the Navy sounds like agood idea, especially back in the 70s when the president was talking about drafting women into military service. But making a career out of it is another thing altogether.

Our guest on the podcast this episode actually did that twice, and made career serving our country as a nurse in the United States Navy. Her story takes us all the way from the operating rooms as a student watching legendary heart doctors Denton Cooley and Michael DeBakey perform transplants to the shores of Normandy contemplating the massive mobilization that was D-Day.

So come on along as we visit with our own Miss D, or DT as she was known around the Cardiac Care Unit , Donna Taylor.

MENTIONS: Gwen Harker, KurtHarmeyer, Mark Roberson, Kim Boate, Mrs. McDaniel (Bowie 6th grade teacher)Richard Gilman (Speech teacher), Wade Masterson, Calvin Walker, Dr. DentonCooley, Dr. Michael DeBakey, Steve Rosario USN, and Ida Christensen (Chemistryteacher). 

Students rarely think about school from the perspective of the teacher, unless by chance they go into the professional themselves. This episode we visit with Judy Marcus who was a senior english teacher and director of the senior play for the class of '76. Join us as we see what life was like on the other side of the desk for the teachers who not only had to help us develop a thesis and then research and write it, but then had to turn around a read and grade all those papers. What a task.

MENTIONS: Joy Davis, Anna Morini, Jerry Bishop, Daniel Ziegler.

Leadership is a quality that is caught as much as it is taught. Mary Mitcham had the opportunity to learn his leadership skills on the football field under the training of several coaches at the University of Arkansas including legendary coaches Lou Holtz, Jimmy Johnson, Pete Carroll, and Frank Broyals.

Join us for this walk back through some of the great football games of the Southwest Conference through the eyes of a playe on the field.

MENTIONS: Ida Christensen (Chemistry), Larry Robertson (Coach), Jerry Bishop (Coach), Mark Malcolm, Kelli Wilson Henderson.

Ever wonder what it feels like to get blown up, maybe shot. Ever been punched in the face by a gorilla?

Well, our guest on this episode has. Join us for this fascinating peek behind the silver screen to see what it really takes to make Hollywood glam and glitter.

Christy Cotton worked for years in the industry taking hits for some of the biggest starts like Rene Russo in the Lethal Weapon Series and Robin Wright in the American classic Forrest Gump.

Hop aboard and let's go.

MENTIONS: Karen Ratliff, Julie LaFollette, Mrs. Ida Christensen (Chemistry), Alicia Ceverha (French), Jerry Burpee (woodworking),.

Remembering old stories is part of what we do here on the podcast . Sometimes I know the person well and other times its really the only time we've ever spoken, yes, ever - it's possible that with a class of 625 people we just never talked in high school. I'm good interviewing those people - I'm curious about where life took them and what their perspective on live is and what they think about the community at Pearce that nurtured us.

The hard podcasts for me are with the people I know really well, people that have share life's ups and downs with, the good times and the bad. It's hard to know what to ask about and what is just too personal to remember.

This week we catch up my best friend from high school, Katie Fackler Whyte. We were in band together at North and really bonded at Pearce. Yes, we went to the prom together (don't miss that story in the podcast), and yes, we actually did kiss once, although both of us burst out laughing after (I probably shouldn't have said that). Oh well, we were best friends and our friendship survived the Parachute Drop and the Oil Derrick Tower at Six Flags (Katie was afraid of heights), Young Life ski trip bus fiascos, sun burn, and chicken pox, so I guess it can survive 50 years of separation since she has been a Texan living in exile out in California for all these years. And so it has. I hope you enjoy this episode.

MENTIONS: Jane Ellen Harakal, Julie Pittman, Karen McCormick. Liz Gilbert, Kathy McDonald, Ann (Jones) Gorman (English teacher), Wade Bennett (choir director), Fred Lanford, Tommy Huse, Moria Feris, Dr. William Fackler, David Fackler, Robert Fackler, Timothy Fackler, Hannah Fackler, Natalie Fackler.

There are a number of budding, young romances that sprang out of Pearce 50 years ago, and in this episode, we visit with two of them, Karen and Jim Crosby and Cindy and Tommy Ince. Both couples have been married for 46 years and share not only their secrets to a successful marriage, but the keys to a happy life.

So, join us as love is in the air, and it's no different here on the podcast.

MENTIONS: Lori and Jeff Carpenter, Lisa and Doug Zadow, Jane Ellen Harakal, Rick Holliday, Kathleen Grace Denny, Mark Malcolm, Larry Robertson, Donna Davidson, Ronnie Kimbrell.