Patty (Dickerson) Roe
Centerton, AR
I did not graduate from Ballard High School in 1970, but feel connected as I attended the Ballard school system from kindergarten through my junior year in high school. I graduated from Webster City High School in 1971 while being a wife and mother. I married Larry Roe in July, 1969 and we have two children, 5 grandchildren and 5 great grandchildren with another due the end of this year. We moved from Iowa to NW Arkansas in 1985 and there is where our children met their spouses. Our son, Tracy, married Tina Boyd in 1988 and they have 3 children and 3 grandchildren and another on the way. All of his family presently reside in Texas near the Austin area and Canton. Our daughter, Tami, married Rick Windel in 1991 and they have 2 children and 2 grandchildren. She and her family all live in NW Arkansas, in and around Bentonville.
I worked for a tax accounting firm in Rogers, AR for 6 years and then the Wal-Mart Home Office in the Tax Department for 18 years. Larry worked in the housing construction field since we were married until his body couldn’t take the physical abuse any longer. In 2010 we made the big decision to move to Texas to be closer to our son and his family. We lived in the Austin area, he worked in retail and I was the Accounting/Office Manager at Star Mark Animal Behavior Center in Hutto, TX. We had a brittany spaniel and she went to work with me every day. In 2017 at the age of 65 I officially retired and we moved to our son’s farm in Canton, TX – made the full circle from growing up on an Iowa farm to city life to back on a farm in Texas. Well it didn’t take long for the both of us to realize the retirement life is not all it’s cracked up to be. I missed the people and the interaction and most of all we missed beautiful NW Arkansas and all our friends. In 2018 we moved back “home” to NW Arkansas. I presently work part time at the NW Arkansas Community College, Brightwater Culinary School doing accounting work – went from taking my dog to work with me to sampling chef prepared food, I am so fortunate to have such interesting jobs.