“My husband [Jack Spurlock] passed away a few years ago. He had Parkinson’s.

“It started with tremors in his hands. He would go to drink his coffee, and he would shake a little bit. He’d have to hold the cup with two hands. We took him to a neurologist, and he told us to watch it. So we did that for about six months. Then he began to experience weakness to where he couldn’t hold the coffee cup. For about three years, it didn’t progress very badly. Then the last year, it progressed very quickly.

“He had difficulty walking. He would forget things. He would kind of see things that were not there. It was very concerning. The medicine they finally put him on was a real sedative, and it just made him sleep all the time. So he didn’t like taking it. Watching someone you love deteriorate like that is very difficult.

“My husband was a real man’s man, and he was very active. He used to work at Rohm and Haas, and he retired from there. He was a Harris County deputy reserve sheriff for 11 1/2 years. He had several side businesses. Plus, he pastored at a church in Pasadena.

“We were married 20 years. It was the second marriage for both of us. I went to work for Harris County in their transportation department, and I was in Port Arthur when he died. I couldn’t reach him on the phone. My son did a welfare check on him. He was at home. It was sudden. They told me he died of a heart attack, but I’ve never really been sure.

“What I miss most are the times we spent in the Bible, and our travel. Being a widow was a new chapter in my life. There have been lots of firsts without him. It’s tough, but you get through it. I haven’t lost him. I know where he’s at.”

— Diane Spurlock

Diane enjoys women’s ministry. “Having been a single mom for nine years and then remarrying, I’ve experienced a lot of things in life that I can call on to help them. It’s very rewarding.”

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“It was all kind of a blur for me. All I know is that I woke up in a hospital bed with a half-shaved head. The first thing I asked my nurse was, ‘Can you get me some lip balm?’ Because I need stuff on my lips at all times. I bet that lip balm cost me $100.

“I learned that because of a brain bleed, a subdural hematoma, they had to do emergency surgery to relieve the pressure. I was in the ICU for about a week. I felt fine. I got bored. Mostly, I was upset about my hair. After I got out, my kids were like, ‘You should just shave your whole head and let it all grow back together.’ I was like, ‘No way.’ I had shoulder-length hair, and now I’ve got short hair.

“My husband was scared to leave me by myself. But I was like, ‘I’m fine.’ Then I had a stroke. I was life-flighted to Tyler, and I was coherent during all that. I was just mad that I couldn’t see out the helicopter window.

“After a day or so, I started losing my speech. I would forget how to say words. Then I lost feeling in my right hand. I was in the hospital for a week. My voice started coming back. My hand was coming back. But I still had a long way to go. I would sometimes slur my words, so I sounded like I was drunk.

“I don’t know what I would have done without my husband, Tim, by my side. He did everything for me. He made me speak when I didn’t want to speak. He gave me sentences to say every day. He made me do physical exercises when I didn’t feel like it. As a chiropractor, he’s trained for it. I’ll just say he’s been my rock through everything. It’s why I’m here today.”

— Stacey Lundberg Stiff

Stacey has been a teacher for 25 years. She taught seventh grade at Gentry Junior School in Baytown, before the family moved to Jacksonville, Texas.

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“Scott is a math teacher at Sterling (High School). And being completely honest, with COVID-19 still out there, I’m scared as can be about him being back in school.

“I’m having to put way too much trust and faith in other people. Generally, I’m not very comfortable with that. When something really matters, it’s do it yourself if you want it done right. So when you have to rely on hundreds of faculty and staff plus all the students to stay safe, it exponentially increases the anxiety level.

“Getting him ready looked way different this year. Normally, we’d be up there two to three days setting up and decorating. But this year he’s keeping most everything packed to keep it clean.

“We’re sewing washable MERV filters into his masks, then hanging them by the door. He’ll use a new mask every day. He’ll be coming into the house through the garage instead of the front door. We have a little decontamination station set up out there so he can Lysol his shoes and keys, and use hand sanitizer before he touches the door knob and comes in. He’ll drop his mask and clothes into a special laundry basket, and put on a robe to wear upstairs where he goes right into the shower.

“We bought an insulated lunch bag for him to take to school, because you don’t really want to go out to eat and come back covered in who knows what. We bought a microwave and a refrigerator for his room so he doesn’t have to enter another teacher’s classroom or the lounge. He has a large reusable water bottle with a screw-top lid, since straws and Yeti cups aren’t safe anymore. And we purchased two air purifiers to hopefully keep the air he’s breathing in the classroom cleaner.

“All of this is super depressing. I’m dying for a vaccine. I’m dying for these numbers to fall. I’m ready to get our lives back. I think everybody just wants normalcy at this point.”

— Kristin Sickle

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“A friend of mine called and wanted me to go shopping with her. I was gone most of the day, while my husband was at home babysitting the grandkids. About 1:30 when they got picked up, everything was fine. Then I called him at 3, and he didn’t answer the phone.

“When I got home about 4, I found him sitting in his recliner. I thought he was asleep. I said, ‘I’m home,’ but he never responded. His eyes were closed. He looked normal. I thought he was just teasing me. But he was gone. He had died of a heart attack.

“We had been married for 40 years. Jimmy was a wonderful family man. His kids and his grandkids came first in everything.

“One of the lessons I learned from what happened is that you need to live each day because you never know what tomorrow might bring. I had no earthly idea that I would come home that day almost 10 years ago to find that my husband was gone.”

— Stella Bird Radle

At age 70 Stella keeps busy with family and friends, and she goes on occasional dates. “I’m not going to settle for just anyone. He needs to be extra special. He needs to be somebody I can love and who can love me. But I haven’t found that person yet.”

(Note: Stella passed away on April 4, 2024.)

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The post Heart attack steals ‘wonderful’ family man appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“My boyfriend and I broke up. We’re still friends. We’re still on speaking terms. But that wasn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want to leave the relationship.

“It’s kind of like losing my late husband all over again. Because of the you-don’t-see-it-coming thing, it kind of bowls you over. You’re like, wait a minute, what just happened? It’s like being in mourning over a six-month relationship almost feels the same as seeing a 19-year marriage come to an end. At least it does for me.”

— Heather Unger

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“My husband really didn’t have many symptoms, besides things that kind of disagreed with him when he ate. He had just lost his best friend to an aneurysm and changed his job, so I thought that with the stress and worrying it could be an ulcer or something. He went to see the doctor for that purpose.

“Later, when we get this phone call that says they want both of us to come in to talk, it was kind of scary. They found that he had stomach cancer and it was very aggressive. He died eight weeks later. It was very quick.

“I guess the silver lining is that he didn’t have to suffer for years, like some people. On the other hand, with my son only 6 and in first grade at the time, it was tough. If it hadn’t been for her helping with my son and being there for me, I don’t know what I would have done.

“We became friends in high school, and we’ve pretty much been thick as thieves ever since. I don’t have a sister, but she’s just like my sister. More than that, she’s been like an angel in my pocket.”

— Carolyn Bickle

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“He had been in the service, World War II, and hadn’t been out all that long. I was still in high school with two years left when we met at a dance and started dating. After I finished high school, we were married for a little better than 65 years.

“I always felt that we had this connection. I was raised on a farm and worked hard, and he grew up with that same type of background. I think we had a good marriage. Not perfect. None of them are. But it was a good marriage.

“He was sick about two years before he passed away. He went into rehab and we thought he would be coming home, but that didn’t work out. He’s been gone almost 15 months. It’s very hard. Very difficult.

“He wasn’t a house guy. He wasn’t inside much, except in the wintertime when the weather was bad. Otherwise, he was always out here working on something. Even now I find myself wanting to tell him something and think, oh, I’ll wait until he comes back in the house. That’s the biggest challenge, the loneliness and the quiet. The house is awful quiet now.”

— Evelyn Wotipka

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“My oldest daughter lives in Michigan, and I used to meet her out in Las Vegas once a year. One time while we were out there my son called and said, ‘Well, dad had an accident.’

“He was in San Francisco driving a truck with a buddy. He was up on top getting ready to unload and he fell off the trailer. You know those yellow concrete post things? He fell on them and then onto the cement.

“So I rented a car, left Las Vegas and drove all night for 10 hours to get to San Francisco. As soon as my daughter heard that he got put on life support, she came out to be with me.

“He had broken both of his hips, cracked his ribs and punctured his lungs, and he had a fractured skull. I think that’s what killed him.

“He was unloading at a plant when he got hurt. I probably could have sued, but I didn’t. I just didn’t think it was the right thing to do. These things just happen sometimes.

“I got his Social Security and workman’s comp check, which isn’t big, either, but I’ll make it on that. Money isn’t everything.”

— Judith Shinn

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The post Freak accident ends their long marriage appeared first on The Baytown Project.

Waiting for her daughter so they could go walking, this dental hygienist in her 43rd year of practice was a bit camera shy. But she wasn’t bashful in describing life at home with her retired husband.

“My theory is that somebody needs to be out of the house three days a week, and it’s me. It works.

“I have a patient who not too long ago said, ‘When you turn 60 and start thinking about retiring, I need for you to let me know.’ I said, ‘Well, Ed, that ship has sailed. I’m past 60, but I’ll be doing this for a while longer.’ He said, ‘That’s good because I didn’t know how your husband would feel about me showing up at your back door twice a year to have my teeth cleaned.’”

— Vickie Carroll

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“I’ve had cancer and lost both my breasts. It wore down my husband, taking care of me while I was going through it all. He’s almost 80, so I figured it’s time for him to enjoy life.

“He loves to go to sports events and he has friends who take him. They would have coffee breaks in the afternoon and talk sports, and I’d be stuck at home in the recliner. I can’t take care of myself anymore and he’s not able to take care of me, so I decided to come over here.

“We talked it over, and it’s the choice that I made. I feel like it’s better for me to be here and for him to be there. I really like it here. It’s a little different, but I think we’re both enjoying life now as much as we can.”

— Margaret “Susie” Williams

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