“I got the guys together and I said, ‘Guys, I need your help,” Bobby remembers. “’Y’all don’t know how fortunate you are to be able to go fishing just about any time that you want to go, but these kids probably get to go once a year.’

“I feel very responsible for my co-workers. I want us all to be successful and have a good career. It’s not just about me, but all of us as a team working together.”

“As a future educator, I want my students to know I am not just here to teach them and send them home, I am here to serve them in any way. My goal is to make them feel like we are a big family.”

“I am blessed with such a wonderful husband,” she says. “James is my biggest supporter, so I told him his name should also be on my nursing degree because I couldn’t have done it without the love of my life.”

“Everyone left their doors unlocked, unless they latched the screen. Growing up in Jasper was a blessing.”

“I put Kelsey and Kaden—the twins—in sports at three years old and Tiffany at five years old, so they have been playing ball their entire lives. I put them in everything. I mean, they played every sport Jasper Parks and Rec had to offer…”

She believed God had called her to raise each child, that this was a mystery, a joy, a privilege, and an adventure—“God gave me these children so that He could meet their needs through me.”

“My college advisor asked, ‘Do you want to go into social work?’ I said, ‘Well, no. My second choice would be teaching. I would then be able to help my students,” she says.

“It’s not about how much you sell. It’s about the friends that you make and the camaraderie you have at the event,” said Debbie Tittle, the current owner of Handley’s Western Wear and Shoe Repair.

“We get all types of soil in the program. Sometimes the ground is rocky because a young person has a rough home life, but we believe you can cultivate that soil in a healthy environment.”