Local tattoo artist turned life around a er moving from California to Central Texas
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
COPPERAS COVE — Killeen
tattoo artist Lola Beth Keeton was going down “a completely dark path in life” following a difficult divorce back in her native California. When her mother invited her to come out to Texas, she saw a chance to turn things around and make a fresh start.
“In 2014, I was essentially homeless,” said Keeton, who grew up in the Sacramento Valley and now lives in Copperas Cove. “Walked away from everything I owned and disappeared to the point where people thought I had already left town.
“I quit tattooing for a year, and then in January 2015, I packed two bags and a carry-on, got on an airplane — had my tattoo equipment shipped to me later — and landed in Texas with no job and no money.”
Lola Beth has been a tattoo artist for 13 years. After she arrived in Central Texas, it was time to pick up the pieces and get back to the business of living.
“I finally decided I needed to be an adult again,” she said. “I was in my late 30s and needed to grow up again. I knew I didn’t want to be living with my mom in my 40s
“My brother was Army, and he moved away (from Central Texas) in 2009, but my mom had moved here in 2006 to be closer to his kids, who were small at the time,” she said. “When I
started tattooing in 2012, she told me to come out here. She said there is an Ar my base and
I’d make so much money “At the time — I actually moved here in 2015 — it was kin-
da funny because my mom told me I was going to make all this money, but the Army still had regulations that they (soldiers) could not tattoo their arms and legs in visible spots, which is not highly conducive to money making in tattooing. They changed that, like, two months after I started tattooing.”
Before becoming a tattoo artist, Lola Beth worked in retail and accounting and made the move to tattooing after a job layoff
“I stumbled into it by complete accident,” she said. “Working in retail, I was good with numbers, and I ended up in bookkeeping and then went to work for a private accountant. Did that for years, then the person I worked for had to lay me off for the summer in 2012 for financial reasons
“I always had a background in art — I have an art degree — and I had a tattoo machine that I had purchased just for fun, and so I decided just for kicks to go talk to a tattoo shop and see what my options were. Walked into a shop close to my house and he saw one of the tattoos I had done on my leg and said, ‘If you can do that with no training, I can teach you to tattoo.’”
Lola Beth says she has tattooed herself around 30 times. Although it can be a painful process, getting inked can be addictive, she says:
“Very much so. I think a lot of it is because it’s an adrenaline rush. Not just the love of the art
— and usually there’s some kind of meaning behind it — but a lot of it is that it’s very much an adrenaline rush. We often get referred to as a therapy session. It’s like, I just volunteered for pain and I’m fine; I can get through anything.
“My running joke is no one has ever died in my chair. It mostly just feels like a sunbur n. It’s one of those things where if somebody were to walk up to you on the street and cause you that level of pain as a surprise, it’s going to be a very different experience than when you’re sitting there and you’re prepared for it.
“There are some spots that are absolutely awful (for pain). I have my head and my hands and my feet tattooed, and I don’t recommend that to anyone.” When she is not working, Lola Beth enjoys traveling. Right now, she is on a trip to Prague, Czech Republic, and is already looking ahead in a couple months to another overseas jaunt for her birthday.
“Back in 2020-21, I changed jobs after kind of a chaotic split from the shop I was in here in Cove, and I started my business at Bangarang (Tattooing Company), which is a co-op. Every individual tattoo artist in there is their own business. I am the owner of Tattoos by Lola Beth. I had always wanted to go to Europe and just never had ... always thought I couldn’t afford
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COURTESY
California native Lola Beth Keeton came to Central Texas in 2015 “with no job and no money” a er a di cult divorce and now operates a successful tattooing business in Killeen.
Venezuela native
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
HARKER HEIGHTS — Lily
Halabi came to the U.S. from Venezuela when she was 18 years old. She saw this country as the land of opportunity and now she and her husband, Sam, a member of the Harker Heights City Council, own a number of successful businesses throughout Central Texas, with plans for more “I grew up in a family that was always business owners,” Halabi, a Harker Heights resident, said. “My parents always had some kind of business: clothing store, mini market, bakery. So I grew up in that atmosphere. Always selling stuff.” Lily came to Harker Heights in 1995 after marrying husband, Sam, a Syria native she met overseas at a wedding. Sam was already living in the U.S., but was back home for a visit, as was Lily, whose parents immigrated to Venezuela from Syria.
“He was in Dallas before coming to Harker Heights-Killeen,” Lily said. “He worked in the entertainment business, then the restaurant business. When the Gulf War happened, the economy in Dallas was really bad, and there was a good economy here in this area, so he decided to move this way.”
Apparently, it was a good move, as the couple now owns Acropolis Greek Cuisine restaurant in Harker Heights, the La Rio Mansion wedding and event venue in Belton, Schlotzsky’s
came to U.S. to seek a better life, now owns a number of successful businesses
restaurants in Belton, Copperas Cove, Harker Heights and Temple, and Lily’s Cakes, an award-winning specialty cake shop in Harker Heights.
Sounds pretty busy.
“We have a great team,” Lily said. “We have great people who work with us. We do have a project coming up in Belton. We still don’t know exactly what we’re going to do with it, but we bought a property downtown and we’re about to start developing it.”
Lily’s Cakes was her first business, an enterprise that started as a hobby, developed into a home-based and then a brick-and-mortar business. Lily who has competed and won top honors in more than one Food Network cooking competition, explains:
“I started from attending cake decorating classes at Hobby Lobby. My friend and I took those classes and then we started doing cakes for our kids
One time I was showing my hairdresser what I was doing and she said I should start selling cakes
“I was, like, ‘Who’s going to buy them? You can go to the store and order a cake.’
“She said there was nothing in town like what I was doing, so I said, ‘OK, let’s go ahead and do this.’ That’s how it started. One customer telling another, and this and that. The business grew and my husband saw the potential in it — he’s always been a big supporter of my craziness — and he made me business
cards and we opened an LLC. I did it for two years that way, still raising the kids at home, and then as it grew, it was time to move out of the house
“We started looking for a place where I could drop the kids off at school, go do my orders, and then go pick them up when they finish school. Right from the beginning, the business kicked off very well.
“That was my very first business. My husband did have a sports bar then, and he and his brother had Papa’s Café in Harker Heights. When we bought Acropolis in 2021, he sold his share (of Papa’s) to his brother, and his brother still owns it. We (also) own the Hallmark Restaurant property.”
With Women’s History Month nearing the halfway point, the mother of three says she is proud of her accomplishments, and she hopes to be an example not only to women but to anyone else that anything is possible
“For me, coming from a Middle Eastern family and the stereotype that the world has about Arab women, it means a lot to show that it is (only) stereotypes,” she said. “Achieving all the things that I have achieved as an entrepreneur and a woman means a lot.
“Hopefully, what I have achieved can be an inspiration to women who are not sure about taking that first step and following their dreams, either becoming a business owner or whatever they want to do in life.”
For someone considering starting their own business, Lily says:
“My advice is to just go for it. Love what you do, and work hard for it. Opportunities always come knocking at your
door (and) if you don’t open the door, they’re going to go to somebody else. When opportunity comes your way, take it. Yes, it’s scary. It’s scary to do something
Lily Halabi, owner of Lily’s Cakes, has won several competitions on the Food Network, including “Cake Wars.”
Killeen native overcame abusive past, now helping others through volunteerism
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
Joanni Vanderham was in an abusive relationship years ago, overcame the emotional trauma that goes along with that, and now devotes her time to helping others through extensive volunteer efforts at her church.
“So many women are afraid to get out of these (abusive) relationships,” said Vanderham, a Central Texas native born on Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos) and raised in Killeen. “People don’t understand how really hard it is to get out of those relationships
“Some of these men will take women away from their families, and from everyone and everything they know. When you’re away from everything like that, it’s so hard to reach out, and get out. I was in Hawaii. My (abuser) was in the Ar my, and I had nobody. I called my mom and asked her to please get me out. She told me to get to the airport right away, and that’s what I did — with just the clothes on my back.
“It’s something that is real close to my heart.”
A 1972 graduate of Killeen High School, Joanni (Joan-ee) has been married for 14 years to Pete, a military veteran. She is a mother of two, grandmother of six, and great-grandmother of three. Her late father served 21 years in the military, and had a somewhat unusual career — at least in the beginning.
“His story is awesome,” Joanni said. “He went into the Navy when he was 16. His parents signed for him to go in. When he turned 18, he was drafted. Drafted into the Ar my from the Navy. After he passed away and I was going through his things he had kept a journal and that was listed in there. I was, like, oh my gosh, they never told us about that. He was in Korea and retired in ’66.”
Before devoting her time to volunteering, Joanni worked 20 years as a bartender in various area nightclubs, at VFW halls, and was manager at the DAV in Harker Heights.
“I really enjoyed being a bartender,” she said. “I loved being around veterans. You get to hear a lot of their stories, and I just loved all my veterans.”
Now, instead of listening and serving drinks to veterans, she listens to stories from women that remind her of things she once went through. One of her volunteer efforts is collecting donations from throughout the region and taking them to the Families in Crisis shelter in Killeen.
“People will call me — it’s always women who call — and I go and pick up the stuff they want to go to Families in Crisis,” she said. “It’s amazing talking to these women, because most of the women who donate have been abused. I get to listen to their stories, where they came from, and how they got through their struggles.
“It’s amazing, the stories that they have. I always leave with goosebumps. Hearing their stories and seeing how many women have gone through the same thing I went through and come so far is a good feeling.
“What I do is, I organize and spearhead a lot of our (church) outreach programs — and it’s not just me. I get a lot of help We collect for Families in Crisis (and) we have a food pantry that I started back up. We also collect for (Southwest) Good Samaritans (Ministries) down on the border. We collect things for the people who come across the border legally. They help them get their papers; they help them with their families; provide them homes, and we try to fill up their homes and clothe them. We collect enough stuff every six months to rent a trailer and take it all down there
“Being a Christian, we’re supposed to reach out; we’re supposed to help. That’s my calling. It makes me feel good to be able to help other people.”
Her message during Women’s History Month is that along with helping others, it is important for women to stand up for what they believe and to take care of themselves. Women are inherently nurturing creatures, and they should never consider themselves as anything but equals.
“I think about how far I’ve come, and the progress I’ve made. I’ve had a lot go on in my
life, and ... I’ve just come a long way,” Joanni said. “Women are important, and none of them should ever feel slighted. Every woman should be proud of themself.”
For women in a bad situation, Joanni says although it can be difficult — and sometimes terrifying — to try to escape an abusive relationship, she is living proof it can be done, and there is always help available.
“Find somebody to talk to,”
she said. “They are afraid to talk to the police (and) afraid to do so many things because they think if they do, somehow it will turn around and be dangerous for them.
“If they can reach out to the shelters, there is help out there Make that one phone call and they will put you up and help you. I didn’t have that. I went through it for two years before I finally got out. There is help, and there is hope.”
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Joanni Vanderham (with husband, Pete) is a native Central Texan who worked 20 years as a bartender for area veterans’ halls and nightclubs and now spends her time volunteering with various church outreach programs.
Grandmother served in Iraq, now helping other veterans with mental health issues
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
KILLEEN — Calathia Hazel spent a year in Iraq during her nearly 14 years in the U.S. Ar my and came home with some invisible scars. Now, the mother of six and grandmother of eight spends her time volunteering to try and help other veterans dealing with mental health issues from their time in service
“I do a Facebook Live every Tuesday,” said Hazel, a Jersey City, New Jersey, native who came to Central Texas by way of Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos). “We call ourselves the Truthful Tuesdayers. I talk about the challenges of dealing with mental health. With me being a multi-diagnosed person – PTSD, anxiety, and things like that – I want people to know that they are not alone.”
Calathia graduated high school in Jersey City in 1993. With a grandfather who served in the Korean War and a Vietnam vet father, she grew up wanting to follow in the family footsteps, but changed her mind as she got a little older.
“The military was always a dream of mine, but when I found out that you could go to war and die, I changed my mind,” she said. “Probably about 1995, I was in cosmetology school, and we were across the street from the recruiting station. No, it was ’96. So I said, ‘Let me go over here and see what these recruiters are talk-
ing about.’
“I went over there, and I left with a signed contract to leave in July. At that time, I was a single mom, and the recruiter showed me all the benefits and how it would benefit my son. I enjoyed cosmetology, but when I started looking at the benefits — cosmetology didn’t have benefits — I knew I needed to do something else, because I had a son.
“I was, like, ‘Let’s do it.’
By the time she enlisted, Hazel’s father had died and she was living with her grandparents. When she told them what she had done, they were not impressed.
“They didn’t believe I joined the Army until the day my recruiter came to pick me up and take me to MEPS to ship out,” Calathia said. “My grandmother cried. She was, like, ‘You really did it.’”
Basic training began in July 1996 at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and Calathia soon discovered that life as she knew it was about to change.
“At first, it was scary … and I questioned what I had gotten myself into,” she said. “When the drill sergeant first took us off the bus and started screaming, I cried. I think there were so many of us crying, they didn’t even pay attention.
“I wanna say it was maybe two weeks after that, I was all in. I think the turning point was I really enjoyed the marching and the cadences. I enjoyed
that.”
Next up was AIT at Fort Lee, Virginia, where she trained as a food service specialist. That was her job until the last years in unifor m, when she was assigned to her unit’s training room when soldiers started deploying to Iraq.
“Civilians ran the dining facilities over there, and so they had to put the cooks somewhere else,” Calathia said. “So I ran the training room for the company. I was the one who would schedule all the PT tests; all the ranges; keep track of all of our equipment. I did all of that.”
She did the same thing when she deployed for a year to Camp Taji, Iraq, from Fort Hood (Cavazos) in 2005. Things were looking good and then her grandparents died, and she had to make a decision.
“Both of my grandparents – they were technically my legal parents – passed away and I didn’t have anybody to keep my children,” she said. “You know how they say when you start to resent a job, it’s time to go? So when I started to resent the changes that were going on, I decided it was time to go
“When I first got out, I started going to college. I started at CTC and then I wound up graduating from Vista College with an associate degree in business management. I (also) worked for a non-profit here in Killeen called ‘Bring Everyone In The
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COURTESY PHOTO
Calathia Hazel served nearly 14 years in the U.S. Army, including a year in Iraq. Now, she works to try and help fellow veterans who are dealing with service-related mental health issues.
Copperas Cove widow deals with pain of loss
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
COPPERAS COVE — It has been more than 20 years since retired U.S. Navy veteran Donovan Kaplan died suddenly from a massive heart attack, and his widow, Linda, says his unexpected loss was a devastating blow that still affects her today “It was just a shock to everybody,” said Linda Kaplan, a Copperas Cove resident since 1989. “I had a very hard time getting my head around the whole thing.”
She was married to Don Kaplan, a chief warrant officer 4 who retired from the military in 1980, nearly 22 years when he passed away in 2001 at age 62. They met in San Diego, California, where Linda was working for an architectural fir m and Don was manager for a Navy project her company was involved with. She was in her late 20s at the time
“His last assignment before he retired was at San Diego,” Linda said. “He would occasionally ask me out to lunch, and I just didn’t think that was professional. I kept turning him down and then after the project was over, I thought, ‘OK, well, we’ll just go to lunch.’
“We kind of hit it off and we got married about a year-and-ahalf later.”
Linda was born in Russell, Kansas, birthplace of the late U.S. Sen. Bob Dole and a small
town she says is “the best town in the world.” As she got ready for her sophomore year in high school, the family moved to Califor nia.
She picks up the story from there:
“My dad flew B-25s in the Army Air Corps during World War II, and he taught school after he got out of the military,” said Linda, whose grandfather served during World War I.
“Then one day, he decided we should move to Califor nia.
That’s hard when you’re a freshman in high school. That’s very very hard.
“He taught for one year in Califor nia, and then he passed away. We had already sold our house in Kansas, so my mom, my brother and I just stayed in San Diego
“When I graduated from high school in 1964 – the Dark Ages – I went to San Diego State (University) for a while, and then I married a man I had known since fourth grade back in Kansas. It’s a long story but that marriage ended, and I spent a lot of years as a single mom, and I got very independent. I wasn’t really ready to get married (again).
“After Don and I got married, he retires from the Navy and he decides he wants to go to work for Texas Instruments in Lubbock, Texas. I was not thinking we should leave San Diego, but we did. Being in the Navy, Don had moved several times. He was used to it, but I wasn’t used
to that at all.”
Linda brought two children into the marriage and Don brought four. She says she never had any reservations about getting involved with a military man.
“Not really, because he wasn’t going to go to sea again,” she said. “He had been on several ships, and he was done with that part of his career.”
When they moved to Copperas Cove, Linda went to work for the old Cove Nursery, and then opened her own business Green Valley Interiorscaping, a company that leased plants for office buildings and the commissaries on Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos). That and taking care of a special-needs daughter kept her plenty busy, and then in 1995, Don had a heart attack.
“I was in Califor nia when he was taken to Fort Sam (Houston) for a bypass,” Linda said.
“So, my grandson – he was 10 – and I loaded my van. We packed it (so) full it looked like we were The Beverly Hillbillies leaving San Diego
“We drove to San Antonio on the Fourth of July. We pulled over somewhere in Arizona or New Mexico so that David could watch some fireworks from the highway, then we continued on. We got there in time for my husband’s surgery, and then David and I came to Cove and unloaded the van. After that, I drove back to San Antonio to be with my husband.
He recovered over time, and we had a fifth-wheel travel trailer and we started traveling around visiting family. He was active in
the Rotary Club, so we went to a couple of conferences
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Linda Kaplan is pictured here in San Clemente, California, with Roman Ohnemus, a World War II veteran who flew a couple of 345th Bomb Group missions with her father in the South Pacific.
Copperas Cove military spouse survived 2019 hurricane
BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
COPPERAS COVE — Brenda
“B.J.” Taylor was enjoying a relaxing, stormy Sunday evening at the dream home she and her military veteran husband, Don, built after he retired in 2002, when an EF-2 tor nado plowed through their Copperas Cove neighborhood and nearly destroyed the house
B.J. was sleeping in the main house while Don, a retired U.S. Army sergeant first class, was out back in his “man room” with the family dog when disaster suddenly struck.
She describes what happened:
“I woke up and I went to the bathroom, and it looked like this white thing was coming right toward our bathroom window,” B.J. said. “You know how the bathroom windows are, like, fogged (and) you can’t see through them. It came right up to the window and disappeared, so I’m assuming it went straight up, because it took off the roof right there.
“I’ve been in houses where the air conditioner freezes up and then when it thaws out, there’s water dripping through the vents. We have a two-story house where the living room goes all the way up to the second story, and there was a vent dripping. So I go upstairs and my TV is on top of my file cabinet, and there is water pouring out of the vent onto my TV. I still don’t
know what has happened. I’m still thinking I can control this, but I don’t have a waste basket big enough (to catch the leaking water).
“As I’m standing there thinking, ‘I can’t do anything about this,’ the sheetrock from the ceiling about a foot over falls in.
“I go downstairs and as I’m walking down the steps, the sheetrock from where I’d just been standing fell in. I was down in our living room, and our windows in the living room don’t get hit by rain and wind and stuff, because we have a patio out there that has a roof Well, now it’s getting hit with rain and leaves and all of that.
I couldn’t call my husband – he tried to get through to me but couldn’t – because the phone lines were out. I called a friend and said, ‘I don’t know what you do when you’re getting ready to die by a tor nado, but I’m calling you.’
“She said, ‘Where are you?’
I said, ‘I’m kind of outside the stairway,’ and she told me to get back under the stairway.”
It took five months of reconstruction, but the Taylors’ house was put back together and they continue to live there today.
B.J. was bor n in Story City, Iowa, and lived in nearby Roland until she was in junior high, when the family moved to New Albin, where she graduated high school in 1975. She headed off to Iowa State University and ear ned two degrees: one
in early childhood development and another in physical education.
“I always wanted to be a teacher,” B.J. said. “In first grade, I really liked my teacher and so I wanted to be a teacher Then, I wanted to be a secondgrade teacher. Then … I liked all my teachers. I also babysat all through high school and I loved it.
“I played softball and basketball in high school, and so I also wanted to be involved in sports So, all of that combined … teacher and coach.”
B.J. spent 32 years in education, retiring in 2014 from Copperas Cove Independent School District as a pre-kindergarten teacher. She remembers her career being a little slow to get off the ground.
“This is how naïve I was,” she said. “I was only sending resumes to surrounding states, like Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin. I sent one to Bridger, MN, which MN is Minnesota, and it had the right zip code on it … the superintendent calls me and says, ‘Did you apply to Bridger, Minnesota?’
“I said, yes, and he said, ‘Well, it’s actually Bridger, Montana.’
“I’d been getting responses like, ‘Oh, out of 1,410 people we’ve received letters from, we’ve picked the three we’re going to interview, and you’re not one of them.’ I didn’t have anything big in college that would make me better than
anybody else – except for this position in Montana, which was for half-time kindergarten and
it. I had started studying French and so on a complete whim, I decided to go to France; found tickets for, like, $600, booked them and said I’d figure out the rest of it later.
“Started that trip in May of ’22 and fell in love with Europe. Now, I’m in Europe every two to three months. I’ve been to Paris three times; I’ve been to London four times; I was in Florence (Italy) around Christmas last year; and I leave tomorrow (Tuesday) for Prague
“My goal is actually to move there. I’m going over and speaking with different tattoo shops and immigration lawyers to find out everything I need to do to either retire there with passive income or continue working there.”
In the meantime, Women’s History Month reminds Lola Beth how far women have come in terms of equality, and also how much remains to be done. Discrimination still exists in the workforce and in general, she says, and having tattoos can make the problem worse.
“Absolutely,” the 46-yearold mother of one said.
“There are still jobs out there that don’t hire (people) with visible tattoos. Well-known businesses
locally still do that.
“I have experienced walking in places with my child, and people look at me and move their child to the other side of the aisle. I’ve dealt with that in my local school system here. When I would drop off my child at elementary school, they would look at me as if I were lesser like I must be on drugs, or I’m uneducated.
“What I say is don’t judge a book by its cover. I make a very good living (and) I have four college degrees, and I’m in school now with NYU for jour nalism. So I’m doing OK.
“My biggest thing is women still face a very strong stigma as far as what we can do in this world. I think it’s a little
more hush-hush, in ter ms of us being pushed down in some industries, and I work in a very maledominated industry. It’s not as prevalent as it used to be, but there are still a lot of (tattoo) shops that very much treat women different. They think the skill level is going to be different, or there is sexual harassment. There is a ton of that.
“I say it’s OK to forge forward and get into these industries that people think are male dominated. Go for it. Make your mark in places you’re not supposed to make your mark.”
For more information on Tattoos by Lola Beth, go to Facebook and/or Instagram (@onesmallflicker).
BUSINESSES
you haven’t done before; it’s scary to get out of your comfort zone.
“Failing can hurt, but it doesn’t mean you’re a failure. If something fails the first time, you’re going to build experience. You’re going to start thinking about things in another way; a better
way. I always say things happen for a reason, and I like to look at things with a positive mind. If something is meant for you, it will come to you, but you have to work hard for it, too. Discipline is something that we definitely need to succeed.
“I’d also like to thank the community because they have been big supporters of our small businesses. We have worked hard, but we also need that support. We really appreciate that a lot.”
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Lola Beth Keeton has been a tattoo artist for 13 years.
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The Halabi family (le to right): Amir, Sara, Lily, Zeina, Sam.
HEALTH
Zone.’ I was a peer support specialist for them. I learned how to teach veterans and families how to deal with the new normal. How to navigate after you’ve been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder; how to get back together with your family after deployment; things like that. We taught coping skills to veterans, really.
“I learned how to make, as we say, ‘I statements.’ I learned how to positively talk to myself. After that, I worked for an event planner in Killeen, and now I’m just at home. I babysit my grandkids now and they keep me plenty busy.” Looking back over her life, Calathia – who left the service as a sergeant — says joining the military was “the best decision I could have made.” Being in unifor m, she says, taught her things like discipline and self-respect, two things that were glaringly absent before.
“I realize not everyone is made for the military, but I truly believe it saved my life,” she said.“Before I joined the Army, I Idon’t think I valued my life. Joining the Army saved me because it gave me a new outlook on what I’m capable of. It got me out of a place where I was comfortable, and without it, I would not have become who I am today.
“The main thing I lear ned is, no matter how we feel, we’re not alone. And when we say we have each other’s back, we really mean we have each other’s back – even if we’ve never met.
“In my Facebook Live group, we talk about dealing with mental illness, and healing. I also do a lot of speaking in the community at different churches that I fellowship with. I just want people to know they’re not alone.”
“We had a good time for a year, and then in January 2001, he had a second bypass. The first one was not working very well, so he had a second one. He did well after that, and then in June 2001, he started feeling kind of off again. We had been out to Lowe’s and everything, and he said, ‘You know, I’m going to go home and then I think I need to go to Darnall.’
“So I took him to Darnall and they decided to send him to Austin Heart. That was on a Sunday and they were going to keep him overnight, and he didn’t make it. He had a massive heart attack and passed away
“You just want to quit ... but I couldn’t do that. I had to just continue on. I had to take care of my daughter. I didn’t even want to go to the funeral. I just didn’t feel up to it.”
Don wanted to be cremated and his ashes spread at sea, and his final wish was granted by the Navy. In 2015, Linda’s oldest daughter died from lymphoma, a type of cancer
Looking back over the years, Linda says although she was not a “typical” military spouse, with lots of traveling around the world on her husband’s various assignments, volunteering in family readiness and other support groups, and things like that, she will always have a fondness for the military, and gratitude for the supportive role it continues to play in her life
“I was not one who went to all these countries, hauled the family all around everywhere ... I have only been east of the Mississippi twice in my lifetime,” she said. “Still, we always stayed in touch with the military. I feel really, really blessed that we – and especially my
daughter (her youngest, who has special needs and requires full-time care) – has access to the military medical benefits.”
As for undergoing more than her fair share of loss – her husband, father, daughter – the 78-year-old says she tries to stay busy volunteering for organizations like Altrusa International and Copperas Cove Historical Society and leans on friends and family when needed. In short, she continues to put one foot in front of the other and keep moving. Her advice to others in similar circumstances?
“You just deal with it. I think it’s important for anyone who has loss – not just military people – to stay in touch with people. Not just family, but other people. I have one friend who is in extremely poor health, and I’m like, ‘What can I say to cheer her up?’ It’s hard.
“I just do my best to keep in touch.
To find Calathia and her group, look for Ambassador Calathia Hazel.
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Former U.S. Army Sgt. Calathia Hazel poses with her eldest son, Kadeem, graduating from 8th grade in 2007.
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Linda proudly shows a photo album with pictures of her father, R.L. Welch, Jr., (le ), an Army Air Corps B-25 pilot in World War II, and her husband, Don, (right) who served 24 years in the Navy Hanging on the wall behind her is a framed photo of her grandfather, Raymond Welch, who served in the Army in France during World War I.
HURRICANE
“I went out there and taught for, like, two months of kindergarten and P.E. But the master agreement said if you got up to 25 (students), you had to split your class, and so then I had an afternoon and a morning kindergarten with, like, 12 and 13 (students in each). Now, to have a class of 12 and a class of 13 is awesome, (but) I was mad because I wasn’t teaching P.E.” After three years in Montana, B.J. left and went back to Iowa, where she moved in with a friend who was also a teacher She worked as a substitute for half a year, and then headed overseas to work.
“I don’t know if it was my friend or someone else who said, ‘You should go overseas and work for the Department of Defense; you’re single (and) there’s nothing holding you here.’” B.J. said. “So I applied, had my interview, and they said, ‘Where do you want to go?’
“I said I wanted to go to England, because they spoke English there.”
Instead of the UK, however, B.J. wound up in 1985 as a traveling P.E. teacher in Germany. That detour proved fortuitous, since she later met a soldier stationed there who would become her husband.
“We were both in a meeting at a place called the KONTAKT Club,” she said. “The Americans would go to practice their German, and the Germans would go to practice their English. We were at a guest house and there was a table of us – two other girls, three guys – and there was another soldier there who was very loud and obnoxious. Not being very nice verbally to the people in our group.
“My husband and another guy got that soldier out of the guest house, into a taxi, and back to post. Then we went to another guest house for drinks and the rest
is history. He came back to Phoenix to do recruiting, and then I came back (and joined him) and substituted the first halfyear I was in Phoenix. We got married that summer and I taught in Phoenix for three more years.”
Don served 20 years on active duty and retired in 2002 as a sergeant first class B.J. worked full-time and so was not heavily involved in things like Family Readiness Groups and other official spousal duties
“I was never part of an FRG,” she said.
“If there was some sort of function – a ball, a hail and farewell, any of those kinds of things – we always went, but I never really had any real military presence of being in charge. Most of my stuff was school-related or teacher-related.
“When I lived at Fort Irwin, my husband went to Korea (and) they were going to put me off post. I said, ‘Well, you can put me off post, but I will be moving to Fort Rucker (Novosel). I won’t be commuting from Barstow to Fort Irwin every day.’ Don wasn’t an officer, but I was on a first-name basis with Gen. Dean Cash. He hunted with my husband; he cleaned my husband’s guns
“I was the grade chair(person) for 11 first-grade teachers, and Gen. Cash went to the deputy commander and said, ‘Interview her. Figure out a way to keep her on post. Don’t make it look like it’s my idea, but she needs to have a place to stay.’
“I knew the deputy commander as well, because I worked with his wife. They interviewed Don and I, and my orders said that it would be a detriment to the community and the community’s children if I was to leave in the middle of the year. So I could stay in post housing, but I had to be cleared off post housing seven days after the last day of school.”
Looking back now over the years, B.J. says there have been good times and bad times, but mostly she describes her life as “char med.”
“My sister committed suicide when I was a freshman in college. That kind of changed the way my parents felt about me,” she said. “She was two years younger than I was, and my mom was worried that whatever she did or didn’t do with my sister, did she do the same thing to me and was something like that going to happen again?
“I wanted to retire in Phoenix; Don did not. He’s a bird hunter (and there’s) not enough water; too hot; too big. So we compromised and came here. He said I could go back as often as I wanted, so that first summer, I went back for two weeks. I came back and told him not to let me go for two weeks again, or I wouldn’t come back.
“We have a lot of different interests We do a lot of separate things, but we also do things together. One thing we try to do every night since the tor nado and the pandemic is, before we eat supper we sit down and have a happy hour type thing, whether it’s ice water, wine, beer, whatever. Usually, it’s on the back patio
The last three or four days, it’s been inside because it’s been so humid out.
“We sit there and talk about what we did today, who called, what are your plans for tomorrow.”
B.J. stays busy with volunteer work for such organizations as Altrusa Inter national and Copperas Cove Retired Teachers Association. She is current president of the former and past president of the latter. Last month, the Taylors celebrated another wedding anniversary.
As usual in their somewhat unique relationship, humor was a prominent part of the celebration.
“We’re celebrating 35 long, miserable years this summer,” she said, laughing, prior to the event. “My dad always said married people don’t live longer, it just seems like they do. He died before my mom and they had been married 53 long, miserable years
“We don’t have any kids, and so we’re
throwing ourselves an anniversary party.
Our anniversary is the 24th of June. We’re going on a three-hour riverboat (cruise) on the Mississippi River. The exact same one we had our wedding reception on 35 years ago.”
Meanwhile, in spite of massive damage to their house from the tornado, B.J. says things could have been worse. The roof was torn off but nothing inside the house was lost.
“It didn’t take anything inside,” B.J. said. “Stuff got wet and damaged, but all our pictures were in a room that didn’t get damaged. I don’t know if you remember the pictures in the paper, but ours was the two-story limestone with a metal roof, just off Big Divide. Our house made all the papers; all the (TV) news.”
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B.J. Taylor stays busy these days with volunteer work for such organizations as Altrusa International and Copperas Cove Retired Teachers Association.