Ellen Mills Muhle

No

Wow, 40 years in a nutshell. From my list of children, you can tell I have mostly been busy raising kids. And, for those of you who have never had teenage girls - oh my God! Actually, I have really enjoyed my grown children, even though when I watch them, I now know many of the mistakes I made in raising them. I have 15 grandchildren whom I adore! I work for BlueCross BlueShield, HCSC. I belong to and attend Unity Church of Christianity. I teach the Uniteens and Y.O.U. (ages 11-13 and 14-18). Three of my girls live in the same city as me. One of them is a housewife (2 boys, 1 girl), one is a Cordon Bleu chef (3 boys), and one was a housewife until she and her husband separated and now works at Lowes (2 boys; check out her art on Deviant Art; user name is SarDav). Veronica was living here in Abilene at the time of her death (2 boys, 1 girl), Angela lives in Whitesboro (2 boys, 2 girls). My dad and my sister Deb (1 boy living in California, 2 girls living in Colorado Springs, also) live in Colorado Springs; my sister Irene (2 boys both living in the same city as their mom) lives in Salt Lake City (actually Sandy). I still LOVE swimming and being in the water. I think fondly (now) of cleaning the filters at the swimming pool; the cafe where I had my very first job; the Dairy King; our big old 2-story house; the embarrassment of having to WALK when Judge Peabody told dad to take my driver's license away for a month because I got caught playing ditchum; wrecking the Rambler on a country road (by the way, Deb was driving, which was a BIG secret from dad for many years). My life has had many ups and downs, as I'm sure yours have, too. My oldest, Veronica, was killed in a motorcycle accident in October 2007, and I'm still dealing with that and probably will for a long time. After a year and a half after her death, I finally started going to therapy to work through this; didn't realize I had stuffed it down so far. I'm planning on taking a sculpting class in the fall. One of the members of my church teaches art at one of the universities here in Abilene and has encouraged me to take one of her classes. I'm really excited about actually planning something just for myself. I've always defined myself, first, as "a mom" and now I am figuring out who "I" am. About time, wouldn't you say?

I was only in Hay Springs for a year and a half, but have some of my very best memories from being there and knowing all of you guys. We moved there shortly after my mother's death, and you guys were just what a doctor would have ordered. I remember I spent many nights walking on the football field, especially when it was windy. I don't remember any clicks in Hay Springs, but maybe that's my memory. I just remember feeling accepted by everyone.

I remember the swimming pool better than the high school. Although, I do have a very clear memory of running to ring the bell after we won a basketball game for the first time in a long time. It was snowing, and when we got back to Hay Springs on the school bus, a bunch of us ran to ring the bell in front of the school. I tried to jump from the sidewalk up onto the lawn (there was a concrete wall. . .) and slipped and banged my shin against that concrete wall. I still have that dip in my shin bone. I remember that all I wanted to do in my spare time was play volleyball, swim or read. I remember having to take dictation from Mr. Huerta in order to pass shorthand; reading The Scarlet Letter and listening to Bill Cosby in Mrs. Bantam's class; going to see Dr. Zavago for Mr. Johnson's class (do you remember the time he closed the door after class started and asked us questions about our school - what color were the walls in the hallway, where the statue was of the Hawk, etc?); having a crush on Tom Alcorn; working at the pool with Cinda; one night parking in the center parking row downtown and talking the night away about Jefferson Airplane and other groups until my dad pulled up and told me it was time to go home; running into Mr. Grosshans (a teacher I had a crush on in Alliance-Mr. tall, dark and handsome and he owned a baby blue Mustang) at the Dairy King after he'd reffed one of our basketball games; having to shoot my own son in the Junior Class Play; and again, walking on the football field at night. I spent many hours there thinking about Mom.