Working Life: Stories from the 9 to 5
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Claus Pummer, Sleep Coach
“Our bedrooms are no longer bedrooms. They are offices and living rooms and playrooms.”
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Nikki Gray, Firefighter
“Fire is so destructive that many landowners don’t realize it can sometimes do good on their property.”
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Juan Marquez, Baker
“[The bakery] was our business, our living room, and our bedroom. Heck, it was even my nursery.”
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Tracie Ferguson, Booking Agent
Ferguson, who grew up in San Antonio, has been booking bands for almost thirty years. Since 2000, she has worked exclusively for Gruene Hall, near New Braunfels, the oldest continuously running dance hall in Texas. In college my friend Denice …
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Curtis “Trey” Roark, Bingo Caller
Roark, who grew up in Houston, has been calling games at the Bingo Barn in Bryan for two years. He will graduate in December from Texas A&M University with a degree in political science. I was a college sophomore looking …
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Mary Anne Reed, Marriage Counselor
Reed received her Ph.D. in marriage and family therapy from Texas Woman’s University and has been practicing in Dallas for nearly 25 years. She counsels as many as 25 couples per week. I can’t save a marriage. Only the couple …
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Lisa Cain, Medical School Professor
Cain, whose official job title is associate professor of neuroscience and cell biology, is a Mississippi native who moved to Texas in 1992. She runs the medical school enrichment courses at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and teaches …
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Kenny Klimple, Bus Driver
After serving as a police officer for six years in the Brazos Valley, Klimple “burned out” on working with the public and sought refuge in truck driving. He got his commercial driver’s license while hauling oil equipment for Halliburton, never …
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Shelly Roper-McCaslin, Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders Recruiter
Roper-McCaslin, who lives in Austin, has worked with the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders for 23 years as a cheerleader, a choreographer, and the lead recruiter. Growing up, my dad took my brother and me to just about every sporting event in Dallas, from …
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Jennifer Walden, Plastic Surgeon
Walden, who grew up in Austin, was the salutatorian of her class at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. After completing an aesthetic surgery fellowship at the Manhattan Eye, Ear, and Throat Hospital, she built a successful practice …
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Bill Collings, Luthier
Collings makes some of the best acoustic guitars in the world and counts Lyle Lovett, Pete Townshend, Keith Richards, and Joni Mitchell among his customers. His company, located outside Austin on U.S. 290, is famed not only for the high …
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Rick Reichenbach, Lighthouse Keeper
Reichenbach is the caretaker for the Aransas Pass Light Station. Built in 1855 to mark entry into Corpus Christi Bay, the now privately maintained lighthouse—which is on the National Register of Historic Places and is owned today by H-E-B CEO …
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Kim “O.K.” Estes, Horse Trainer
Estes has been running horse and hunting programs in Lajitas for the past five years, heading up trail rides, aoudad hunts on horseback, and horse-training clinics for pros and amateurs alike. A well-known cutting horse trainer, he has been a …
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Melanie Steele, Wig Master
Steele, a Colorado native, moved eleven years ago to Austin, where she is now the wig master for the Austin Lyric Opera. She has toured the U.S. and Mexico with the Broadway production of The Lion King and served on …
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Joe Arellano, Meteorologist
Arellano, who was born and raised in McAllen, is the meteorologist-in-charge at the National Weather Service forecast office in New Braunfels. His career, which began in 1976, has taken him all over Texas, as well as to Puerto Rico and …
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Eddie “Lucky” Campbell, Bartender
Campbell is the beverage program director for Edward C. Bailey Enterprises, which includes the Bailey’s Prime Plus steakhouses and Patrizio restaurants. The barman, who decries the title “mixologist” as a “vanity move,” started his cocktail career seven years ago—on the …
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Anthony Fiorillo, Paleontologist
Fiorillo, whose fossil digs take him everywhere from West Texas to Australia, grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. He moved to Texas in 1995 to be a curator of paleontology at the Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas, and …
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Mina Thornton, Ropa Usada Dealer
Thornton opened Tres Hermanos Ropa Usada thirteen years ago in Hidalgo. As president of the 25-employee business, she buys ropa usada, or used clothing, from around the country and resells it in South Texas and throughout Mexico. People always ask, …
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Michael Brewer, Clock Repairman
Brewer, who moved to Texas from Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, fixes antique clocks in his Carrollton garage seven days a week. While he has no formal horological training, a 34-year career in rocket science helped him perfect the art of …
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Cheryl Evans, Church Sign Writer
Evans, whose official job title is facilities manager, has lived in Amarillo for 55 years. For the past two decades she’s overseen the building and grounds of the Southwest Church of Christ, including its four-by-ten-foot sign. She changes the message …
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Jason Macias, Night Police Officer
Macias has served as a patrolman with the San Antonio Police Department for the past seven years. He works the shift that runs from 10:30 p.m. to 6:30 a.m. (known as the “dog watch”) and is based out of the …
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Bobby Jones, Game Fowl Breeder
Jones, who lives in Gatesville, has been raising game chickens for almost fifty years. He sells his birds to clients around the world, and in April he testified in Austin before Senate and House committees to oppose a bill that would outlaw the …
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Chris Treviño, Tattoo Artist
Treviño, who has been tattooing for more than twenty years, is the owner of Perfection Tattoo in Austin. He is known for his traditional Japanese designs, which have earned him an extensive client base in the U.S. as well as in Japan, where …
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Jody Blackburn, Folk Healer and Tarot Reader
Blackburn is the founder of the Magick Circle, in Brownsville, where he offers card readings, cleansings, and spiritual healing. I first learned about folk healing from an elderly woman in my neighborhood named Rita. None of our neighbors in Brownsville …
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Bob “Bleed” Merkt, Vintage-Car Builder
Merkt, who grew up in Wisconsin, has been designing and building hot rods for more than twenty years. He moved to South Austin in 2007 and is currently a partner and main fabricator at Austin Speed Shop. When I was …
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Annie Nelson, Housing Admissions Specialist
Nelson, who grew up in Orange in a family of eleven, worked thirteen years for the Dallas Housing Authority before taking a job in 2006 with the Fort Worth Housing Authority, which currently serves six-thousand-plus families. She determines the eligibility …
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Mike Wheat, Game Warden
Wheat was born in Pasadena and grew up near Cuero. After graduating from college and the Texas Game Warden Training Center, he was stationed in Tyler County for five years before transferring to Ochiltree and Hansford counties in 1996. He …
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Andrea Karnes, Museum Curator
Karnes, who grew up in Fort Worth, earned art history degrees from the University of North Texas and Texas Christian University. She has worked at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth since 1989. This is my twentieth year at …
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Jackie Hopper, 911 Call Operator
Hopper, who grew up in Weatherford, became one of his hometown’s 911 call operators right out of high school. In 1997 he joined the Austin Police Department, where—except for a hiatus to get his college degree—he has worked in the …
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Weldon Lister, Master Engraver
Lister, who grew up in Boerne and lives near Welfare, is a third-generation firearm and knife engraver. He makes his designs in steel, gold, silver, and bronze using a hammer and chisel. My dad taught me how to engrave when …
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Liliana Quevedo, Realtor
Quevedo grew up in Juárez and has been a realtor in El Paso for six years. She is an agent for One Realty El Paso.</em As a bilingual realtor in El Paso, with roots in Juárez, I have a lot …
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Ghassan “Gus” Karim, Tailor
Karim, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1969, has been a master tailor for fifty years. He is the owner of Gassane Tailors, in Austin, and has made custom suits for Bill Clements, Lyndon B. Johnson, and George W. Bush. …
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Andrew R. Espinosa Jr., Process Server
Espinosa, a lifetime Houstonian, has been serving legal papers—summonses, subpoenas, complaints, writs—to people facing court action for the past sixteen years. He is an owner and the director of civil process at Court Record Research. I kind of fell into …
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Melanie Matcek, Matchmaker
A San Antonio native, Matcek runs Heart and Soul-Mates, a personalized matchmaking service for clients across South Texas. She is also a licensed relationship coach. After becoming single again in late 2006, I started to do the online dating thing. …
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Captain Michelle Racicot, Army Trauma Nurse
Racicot grew up in New Mexico, but San Antonio has been her home base since she was stationed at Fort Sam Houston in 1998. She plans to leave the Army next spring and get a graduate degree in nursing from …
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Adam Ohler, Firefighter and Paramedic
Ohler, who was born in New Mexico, worked as an EMT and firefighter in Utah before moving to Houston six years ago. He is stationed at the West University Place Fire Department. I’m not going to lie: I enjoy fighting …
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Randy Goode, Artificial Inseminator
Goode grew up on a ranch in Damon, where he now runs an artificial insemination business. He travels the country collecting DNA for a U.S. Department of Agriculture research project on mad cow disease. Back in the seventies, my dad …
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Doug Ables, Chimney Sweep
Ables, who grew up in Brady, owns and runs Ables Top Hat Chimney Sweeps. He has been sweeping chimneys in Central Texas for almost thirty years. When I was 28, my wife and I moved into a house in Brady, …
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Dawn Cockrell, Midwife
Cockrell has lived in West Texas for twenty years and has been delivering babies for fourteen. She opened West Texas Birth Services, in Odessa, in 2001. My mother gave birth to my younger sister when I was sixteen. They induced …
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Jim Adler, Personal-Injury Lawyer
Adler, who grew up in Dallas, has been a personal-injury lawyer for 36 years. He is the founder of the Houston law firm Jim S. Adler & Associates and appears in television ads in Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio. I …
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Susie Q., Mystery Shopper
Susie Q. (not her real name) has been reviewing hotels, restaurants, and retailers anonymously for about six years. She works for several market research companies, such as Sinclair Customer Metrics, to whom she reports her findings after posing as an …
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Jennifer Love, Forensic Anthropologist
Love has been the director of the forensic anthropology division at the Harris County Medical Examiner’s Office since 2006. She was raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The forensic anthropology division here has three anthropologists, and we have three main responsibilities: identification, …
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Juan Muñoz, Sheriff’s Deputy
Muñoz is a native of El Paso who has been with the sheriff’s department for eight years. In the sheriff’s department you start out working in the jail, and then you take a test to come out on patrol. I’ve …
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Sister María P. Sánchez, Nun
Sánchez took her vows and entered Missionary Catechists of Divine Providence in 1984. She is the project manager for the Valley Initiative for Development and Advancement, a labor-relations organization based in Weslaco, where she lives. Between 1993 and 2004, she …
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Neal Shudde, Hatter
Shudde, a fourth-generation hatter, was born and raised in Houston. He runs Shudde Bros. Hatters, near Brookshire, which has been making hats since 1907. To be a good hatter, you have to listen to the customer. Be patient and let …
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Judith Bailey, Hospice Nurse
Bailey, who has been a nurse since 1991, grew up in Liberty. She has worked at Hospice Austin for fourteen years and spends each week visiting with patients like Irma Lagunas. I became a nurse after a friend of mine …
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Chad Jistel, Locomotive Engineer
Jistel was born and raised in Austin and has worked for Union Pacific Railroad for fifteen years. He lives in Austin but commutes to depots in San Antonio and Taylor, where he runs freight trains to cities across the state. …
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Anthony Mack, Letter Carrier
Mack was born and raised in Galveston, where he has been a U.S. Postal Service employee for 28 years. As the local union president, he helped coordinate letter carriers’ efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike. To be honest with …
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Bill Applegate, Trapper
Applegate was raised near El Paso. He is a full-time predator-control trapper on ranches in Big Bend. For the past ten years, he has served as the president of the Texas Trappers and Fur Hunters Association. He lives in Marfa. …
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Andy Mullins, Midway Barker
Mullins, an actor by trade, grew up in Fort Worth and lives in Addison. As the State Fair of Texas’s joker-in-residence, he’s been hurling family-friendly barbs at unsuspecting visitors since 2004. I grew up going to the state fair, but …
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Ben Edwards, Small-Town Family Doctor
Edwards is a solo practitioner at Garza County Health Clinic, in Post, and the only physician serving the county (population: 4,872). Raised in Belton, he holds degrees from Baylor University and the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. He …
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Jana Faulk, Long-Haul Truck Driver
Faulk was born in Missouri and raised in Corpus Christi. Before becoming a truck driver with her husband, Tony, she lived in the West Texas town of Terlingua (population: 267), where she worked as a horseback wilderness guide and owned …
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Kevin Hutchison, Fly-fishing Guide
Hutchison, standing, owns Hill Country Flyfishers and is the fly-fishing manager at Sportsman’s Finest, in Austin, where he has lived for twenty-plus years. He guides more than one hundred trips a year, helping clients catch a variety of bass, trout, …
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Tom “Spanky” Assiter, Auctioneer
Assiter, who lives in Canyon, is the founder of the auctioneering firm Assiter & Associates. He has been an auctioneer for 25 years and has hosted approximately four thousand auctions. In 2007 he was inducted into the Texas Auctioneers Association …
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Abby McAfee Daigle, Wedding Planner
Born and raised in Austin, Daigle has helped pour champagne, choose flowers, taste cake, and pick color schemes for more than one hundred brides. Her family owns and runs a wedding and event facility in Austin. I’ve been working at …
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Joe Wayland, Oil Field Worker
Wayland grew up in Midland and has worked in the oil industry for nearly a decade. He is now a mud engineer for Baker Hughes Drilling Fluids in Victoria. When I was growing up in Midland, I didn’t want anything …
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Bryan Christian, Advertising Executive
Christian, who grew up in Waco and majored in English at Baylor University, is the senior vice president and general manager of Kolar Advertising and Marketing, in Austin, whose clients include Dell, 3M, and Subway. All during college, I thought …
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Nan Hall Linke, Astrologer
Born and raised in Houston, Linke is a third-generation Texan. She has been a professional astrologer since 1971. She also holds a master’s degree in behavioral science from the University of Houston– Clearlake and did her clinical training in marriage …
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Fred Garza, Tick Rider
Garza was born and raised in Webb County. For the past fifteen years, he has been an inspector with the Cattle Fever Tick Eradication Program, a mounted patrol started by the USDA in 1906. A tick rider patrols the border, …
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Chris Klassen, Deejay
Klassen, who performs under the name Prince Klassen, was born and raised in San Antonio. Following in the footsteps of his brother, Jason, he started deejaying at house parties when he was only fourteen. He now lives in Austin, where …
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Laurens Fish III, Funeral Director
Laurens Fish III was born and raised in Austin. A fourth-generation funeral director, he is following in the tradition of his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. He is the managing partner of Fish Funeral Services, which handles more than one thousand …
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Wendy Warren, High School Teacher
Warren was born and raised in New York but has lived in Houston for more than twenty years. She is an eleventh-grade U.S. history teacher at Hastings High School, in the Alief Independent School District, which serves one of the …
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Sterry Butcher, Small-Town Newspaper Reporter
Butcher, born in San Marcos and raised in Fort Worth, has spent most of the past fourteen years as a reporter at the Big Bend Sentinel, a weekly newspaper in Marfa with a readership of three thousand. I moved to …