Thomas Vilas Garrard

From left to right: Son, John Thomas; daughter, Christin Joy, her husband Evan Jackson; late blooming son "Jacques" (James Edward), Alpha Dog; in the back--Diane and Tommy. Unlike Ann Schweers, I used a remote control on the camera. Too big of a ham to not be included in the picture.  

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I live in Poole, where I was born and have lived forever, except for the two years I spent serving in the US Army. I attended Poole High School from the first grade to the eighth. My two brothers, Billy & Shirley graduated high school in 1954, so they closed the high school portion that year. Not that they were the only people in the class, they just probably didn't think they could take another Garrard in high school. Since we lived in the Henderson County half of Poole, I was "bussed" to HCHS where the number of classmates was much larger. I didn't know there were so many other people my age, but there I met some really great people.

When I think back on my years at County High, the time spent working on the school newspaper stands out most in my memory. Ann Simpson, Eunice Tooley, Steve Tolbert and I spent many "after school" hours working on that paper. It's a shame we didn't have computers and printers back then. We did it all with a typewriter, a stylus and stencils. The mimeograph machine was always willing to share it's ink with our hands and clothes. Can't remember if we had classes and studied or not, but we sure had a lot of fun.

After graduation, I volunteered for the draft, which made me "1A" or "A1", and and was graciously given basic training at Fort Knox, KY. Since I was always trying to outdo Lindy Butler and Glenda Wilson in typing class, my skills at typing kept me at Ft. Knox for the duration of my Army career. Coming home, I visited the Dairy Queen frequently, where I met and later married, of all things, a City High girl. From that brief marriage, my first daughter, Kelly Jo was born. She now lives in Scottsdale, AZ and has three sons--Rick, Kael & Brock.

Swearing off marriage, I remained a bachelor for six years until I met the most wonderful woman that walked on the face of the earth, Diane Schnapf. (She'll proofread this.) We eloped the day she got out of college at Western in 1971. (There's a long and rather colorful story.) We have three wonderful children, John Thomas (Little Rock, AR.), Christin Joy who is now Mrs. Evan Jackson and "Jacques" (James Edward), who is attending college at Murray State. Jacques is the biggest "goof-ball" there ever was. He constantly entertains anyone he's around with his impersonations of Presidents, movie stars, etc. I think he's forgotten what his own voice sounds like. John has two boys, Clay and Chance. Christin has one gorgeous daughter, Juliana Grace Jackson. That makes five grandsons and one granddaughter... isn't life GRAND?

After my discharge from the Army, I worked at Chandley Cartage Company in Henderson and attended a technical school in Evansville, Telectronics Technical Institute, which changed it's name twice before I graduated, finally becoming ITT Technical Institute. I worked with my Dad at Garrard Radio TV & Electric until 1977, when it became T. V. Garrard's TV. In 1986, I gave up the idea of running my own business and went to work for Valcom Computer Corp., which later changed it's name to Inacom Information Systems. I was contracted to Alcoa in Newburgh, IN in 1990, where I serviced computers. The company name changed two more times, finally becoming JRB Technologies, owned by Judy Bateman. I retired September 28, 2007 (with a gold watch) and became a stay at home maid.

My journalistic instincts have propelled me to create and maintain this web site. I shall never forget the many wonderful people that I met while attending Henderson County High School in the fifties. I just want to tell the whole world how great they are.

The most important thing that has ever happened to me is making Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of my life. God has blessed us all beyond measure by giving us eternal life through Jesus' death, burial and resurrection. If you haven't experienced Him, you haven't even begun to live.

		Notice who signed this!
	My, the price of the Countiana was cheap in 1958!
		So I did attend classes. My schedule was gruesome. How did I ever endure such hardship!