Gina (Lower) Kemball-Cook

Wow it has been almost 20 years!! I cannot believe it. After high school, I went to RCC for 1 year. What fun that was. THen I transferred to Eastern Illinois University where I was majoring in art. I spent ! year there and just decided that I didn't like college. Moved back to Moweaqua and went to work. I met my husband, Brook, in Decatur. His family was living in Texas at the time. We were married on June 2, 1995, in Decatur at St. Paul's Lutheran Church. Then three days later we moved to Houston, Texas, and have been here ever since. I miss my family and friends terribly...but we'll never move back. I love it down here! We have two children. Our oldest is, Savannah, she was born on Feb. 7, 2000. She is 7. Our son, Hunter, was born on June 21, 2003. He is 3. My husband, Brook, works in "The Galleria" area of Houston and is an IT Corporate Manager for Stewart Transaction Solutions. I, of all things, teach preschool at Clearlake United Methodist Church, and I love every minute of it!! I get to take my son to work with me every day, and I am home when my daughter comes home from school.Here are some pictures of my family: The first is of my son, Hunter, with blue hair. My parents were visiting! The second one is a very bad picture of me on a wildlife safari that is not far from our home. The third is of Savannah and Hunter having some fun at home. Fourth is of Brook, Savannah and Hunter at Ellington Air Force Base, which is maybe 3 miles from our home. I get to watch the air show from my backyard. The fifth is of Savannah and Hunter in the summertime, which by the way is extremely hot down here!! The last picture is of my husband, Brook and my daughter Savannah, at our family reunion in Leadville, CO this past summer where we stayed at Camp Hale. It was a little rainy, but absolutely beautiful!! My brother-in-law picked this spot, he lives in Aurora, CO.I hoe that this finds you all safe and healthy. (I am sorry I think I got the pictues out of order - Julie)Take care.

Gina's email address is gkemball@hotmail.com

Updates from Tim Kneller

Natalie, Aiden, Tim Kneller at Glenwood Springs 2006
Tim and Aiden at Coors Field
Digging out after 32 inches of snow!!

Hello Everyone

It has been great reading about where you are now.

After Moweaqua I went to Augustana College and then on to Baylor College of Dentistry in Dallas, TX. During my 2nd year in dental school I met my wife Natalie. She is originally from the Galesburg area. We were married on June 12, 1994, and if that date sounds familiar it's the date of the OJ Simpson murders. Nice huh?

In 1995 we moved to Colorado where I have been practicing dentistry since and Natalie worked in the travel industry, she's a stay at home mom now and loves it. We live on the south side of Denver in Englewood and have a son, Aiden, who will turn 6 on the 18th of January, 2007. He is in Kindergarten and currently playing rec league basketball and keeps us on the go.

We enjoy living close to the mountains, hiking in the summer and skiing in the winter.

Hope this finds you all health and safe!

Tim

Tim's Email is knellerdds@msn.com

Updates from Brian Todd

Brian at a convention a couple of years ago.

Brian and his wife Pamela - at Bullshoals Lake this past summer
Brian, Nicholas, Austin and James at Bullshoals Lake
Brian says his family are big deer hunters - this is Nicholas with his first deer.

He ended up getting two and Dad only got one!

Nick and Austin

Well don’t want to bore you but after graduation I married Shawn Perkins that lasted a couple of years then divorce. I then dated a girl from Stonington Christy for about two years she became pregnant and did not want the child, I hired a lawyer and waited until the child was born while living in Decatur. Once the child was born I moved to Nashville TN that’s where my brothers are. I kept fighting to get my son that Christy had given away when she came out of the hospital. So nine months later several trips back and forth I won full custody of my son Nicholas he is now 13 years old. I lived in Nashville with Nicholas for about a year. The company that I work for now was doing a project at Opry Land Hotel and had an Apartment above me. The owner ended up down there for awhile and I met him and went to work on that project doing industrial insulation. The company is from the St. Louis area so they moved me here and put me in sales for them. I have been in the St Louis area for 12 years now and I am third man from the top in the entire company including the two owners so pretty sweet position I have fallen into. I do travel a lot but mostly flying and only gone for overnight most of the time. When I moved to Warrenton Missouri I met my wife Pamela she had a two year old son James who is 14 now. So we dated for about a year and then ended up getting married a year after that we had a son together who is now 11 his name is Austin Brice so all together my family is mine hers and our three boys -never a dull moment at the Todds. I live out in the country on ten acres that I own. James sees his dad every other weekend Nicholas has never seen his mom since
She wants nothing to do with him which is pretty sad. My son Nicholas has played football for about five years now Jr League and Jr High now, he is pretty good. He plays outside corner and sometimes defensive end and also plays Running back on offense. James plays basketball for the school and wrestles as a freshman. Austin he does the video gamin thing not much into the sports. We hunt and fish ride four wheelers as much as we can and I work a lot. So that’s a little about me and my family. Brian's email: brian@ic-e.cc

a few more......

B.J. Minott - 3 adorable kids Kolton, Lyndi and Yeager - He is working for IDOT in Decatur and Marti Teaches school in Taylorville.
This is what happens when you drink and drive! hahaha!
Chad Moody is back in Moweaqua - He has two gorgeous boys - he drives a truck and makes deliveries to Hardees and other restaurants.
Cindy Poston -sorry not the greatest picture - but beautiful subject! She is working at CAT now. She has a daughter Hannah that is in middle school - what a cutie!
Phillip Knecht is in Atlanta working for Kodak - he has a gorgeous 14 year old daughter and cutie 9 year old son! We are glad he was in town for the holidays and decided to come over!

A few more from our gathering

Chad taking a ride on his boys motorcycle - that is B.J. and his daughter - Lyndi in the background.
B. J. had a spin on the bike - that is B.J.'s son, Kolton, in the background - he is 16!
Rick had to help Chad out! Lots of Laughs here!
The crew - Mark and Melanie Burns, Bret Burgener, SuEllen Hunter Mackey, Marti Minott, Gene Adams and Kurt Schinzler - watching the boys ride the motorcycle!
Sorry these aren't the best pictures - my camera was not functioning corrrectly but they are decent.

Update from Julie Woodard Plumer

This photo is from our vaction to the Smoky Mountains this summer- I am usually taking the pictures so it was hard to find one with me in it!


Wow – 20 years! Can you believe it! After graduation, I went to boot camp for the Illinois Air National Guard – Entered ISU in January and graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Agri-Business in May 1990. I moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and worked at a River Terminal as a Grain Merchandiser for about a year, transferred to Hennepin, IL doing the same thing with the same company. I married my husband Dale in November of 1991 and headed to Northeast Iowa. I gave up my job as a merchandiser as this was the same profession as my husband and we couldn’t be competitors for different companies. I worked for the USDA as an Ag Loan Officer instead. I got out of the National Guard, it was too hard to get back for Drill weekends. We lived out there until the Spring of 93 when we moved back with my husbands job to Clinton, IL. I worked for Country Companies in Bloomington doing Underwriting and then Research and Development. We had our first child, Dalton in December of 93. Tragedy struck in April of 96 when we lost our second child, Payton Michelle – she was full term but still born. Wow, that was a tough time. We made some tough choices and moved to Rockford, Illinois again with a promotion for my husband – I chose to be a stay at home mom with this move. Our third child, Riley Christine was born in April 97 and our last bundle of joy arrived in June of 98. I was tired of being pregnant for three and half years – who would have had time to work outside the home– hahaha! We moved to Rushville, Illinois in the Fall of 1998 – it is a little town (about the size of Moweaqua) just about 10 miles north of Beardstown. I remained a stay at home mom until about two years ago when I went back to the USDA on a temporary position – it was suppose to last 6 months and it lasted 2 years. I am back home now enjoying being a Mom. I have been playing around with photography and still continue to love working on my kids scrapbooks! I also keep a blog for my family http://ourlifeinmotion.blogspot.com feel free to stop by anytime

The kids are busy now. Dalton is in 7th grade and involved in Football, Basketball, Band, Soccer, 4-H, and anything that keeps him in the social swing of things. Riley and Madison are not old enough for school sponsored activities but they are both in summer soccer, piano and gymnastics and needless to say they are also very social! I am anxious to see what sports they will choose if any - and yes I am secretly hoping one of them chooses cheerleading!

My parents still live in Moweaqua. My Dad retired from Caterpillar several years ago and has been busy building houses in town – I think he is on his 9th one – he mostly rents them out. Mom is still busy but starting to slow down.

My brother, John is married and has two adorable kids. They live in Illiopolis. John became a physical therapist and owns two clinics in Springfield, "Premiere Physical Therapy" – he is good at what he does and has been very successful.

Julie's email is dplumer@casscomm.com or call me at home 217-322-3974 - I would love to talk to you anytime!

Updates from Jason Smith

After graduating, I went to the U of I for two years, then transferred to Lincoln Christian College, where I got married and finished my BA. I served as a youth minister in two churches, one in Lincoln, IL, and one in Indianapolis, IN. I then transitioned to being a worship minister in the church I was working in Indy (and hired Shawn Case to replace me as Youth Minister!) In 2000, I went through a divorce (already having had my two girls, Savannah – 11, and Emma – 10) and resigned from the church I was serving in. I went to work for an audio design/install company based in Columbus, OH. I sold and designed high end sound systems for arenas, churches, schools, theaters, etc. I then met my wife, Ginger (she’s an Indy native and a Purdue grad. She teaches elementary art). She had two boys (Jaden – 8, and Jackson – 7). Now, we’re a “Brady Bunch” of sorts! We were married in Vegas on the 4th of July 2002, and relocated to my company’s home office in Columbus. I accepted a new ministry position in August of 2005, so we moved from Columbus, back to Indy. I am currently serving as the Worship Minister of a church on the west side of Indianapolis. The girls live with their mom in northern KY. We have them every other weekend and the normal vacation/holiday times. They boys are with us mostly, but see their dad every other weekend as well. There are ups and downs, but life is good in the Smith house! Jason's email: jsmith@clermontcc.org