In August of 1998 I had the pleasure of meeting Jackie for the first time in over 25 years. She had traveled all the way from California to attend our 27th reunion at Forsan High School. It was great to see her again.

Shortly after I began to search for my classmates in 1996, I received a phone call from Jackie's daughter, Krystal. She called to tell me that her mom now lives in Mentone, California. Krystal said Jackie had just received the first issue of my "Whatever Happened to the Class of 1971?" newsletter and was all excited about next year's reunion.

Krystal followed up the phone call with an email in which she told a wonderful story about what has happened in Jackie's life since our graduation.

The story was so good that I am presenting it here with only minor editing:

I am the daughter of Jackie Condron-Banks. And let me tell you she was just ecstatic to receive that little pack in the mail that you had sent her with all the internet stuff.

That same night my dad, Ronny Banks, (you may remember him from the class below you) downloaded a bit of it. But, knowing how busy my mom is, I kind of doubted she would actually ever write to you, so I decided to go behind her back and drop you a line telling you a bit of what is going on in her life.

To start off with, I'd like to say that I kind of feel like I know all you guys. When I was a little girl, instead of bedtime stories my mom would tell me her memories of high school, so Vard Griffith and Gloria Dodd and a bunch of other names come as easily to me as if they were my own memories.

And then there's all the stories about her and the fun times she would have with Bobby Davis, who was one of her best friends.

Now, as for Jackie Condron's life, a LOT has happened since high school. She married Ronny Banks, brother of Randy and Billy and Dorothy and all of the Banks clan.

She went to college for a couple of years, as well as my dad, and they were moving all over, since my dad was taking flight instruction. They eventually moved to Vivian, Lousiana for a while until I was born in Feb. 7, 1977.

After staying there for a while longer, they then moved back to Texas, then to Tenessee, then back to Texas, then to California, then back to Texas. I may have the order mixed up a bit - but anyway my now 15 year old brother was born on one of those moves on Jan. 7.

Finally, the last move for a while was to Redlands, California, where my dad was in training with Mission Aviation Fellowship to be a missionary pilot overseas. At last, when I was seven years old, so that was probably 1984, they moved to Costa Rica for language school.

We stayed in Costa Rica one year, and then we were moved to our permanent mission location in Venezuela, South America.

My mom's job during that time was home-maker, teacher (she taught me and Nathan home-school) and she also followed the pilots on our 2 way radio. Five years later, my second brother, who is now ten years old, was born - Timothy Banks.

Jackie went through a lot in Venezuela, as I'm sure you can imagine. She learned how to cook crocodile and wild pig, how to sift the weevels out of her cornmeal, etc... She also learned how to speak fluent Spanish and made lots of missionary friends and native friends.

She sent Nathan and I to boarding school in the Amazon jungle, but fortunately for her she still had Timo at home to keep her company when Dad was out flying.

A little bit after Timo was born Ronny had a plane accident, but it was nothing serious (God's protection: the whole plane was totaled, but the cockpit was unhurt!). So after a bit, they (meaning the mission board) moved my parents to the same base the boarding school was on! So my dad was the flying arm of the boarding school, and Nathan and I moved back in with them.

This lasted for about two years, but then, due to lack of people, they needed to move back to the town they had lived in before. So Jackie took on the same jobs she had had previously, this time home-schooling Timothy, while Nathan and I were away at school.

Kayla Jean, (3 years old) was born in Venezuela too in March of 1995, the same year I graduated from the boarding school. The summer of '95 our family moved back to Texas and lived with Doris and Bill Banks right there in Ronny's childhood home in Big Spring.

Jackie and Ron had decided to leave the mission field for good, since their oldest daughter (that would be me) had graduated, and they wanted to help her get involved in college and "Stateside life".

After the summer in Texas, Jackie and family moved once again to California, and now live in a home not two blocks away from where she did fifteen years ago!

She now works in the mail-room at MAF, sorting missionary correspondence and working on newletter mail-outs.

Ronny Banks, after leaving flying, took up his other passion - computer communications, and is heavily involved in our mission programs computer link-up. He has traveled in the past year and a half to England, Kenya, and South America. Before the year ends he will travel once again to London, Denmark and Thailand!

In August Jackie and Ronny (possibly with their kids) will be traveling to New Mexico for a family reunion, and then Jackie will travel on to Big Spring to visit her side of the family.

I know Jackie wants to go to that 1998 reunion. The last one she went to was the ten year one, and only about five showed up. But I also know that it will depend on her work schedule, financial situation, babysitters (I will be boarding at college starting this August), and that kind of thing.

But yes, though time has changed a lot, Jackie Condron is still around, and still happily thinks and talks about her Forsan days! To put it in the words of a famous poet (Of course I forgot which poet, but I know he was famous!): "And while we may not be that strength which in old days moved both earth and heaven - that which we are, we are...

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