Working Life

As-told-to tales from workers on the job.
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The Culture|
April 30, 2009

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 been a patrol officer since 2004. Back in January of last

The Culture|
March 31, 2009

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 was the director of religious education at St. Joseph the

Style & Design|
March 1, 2009

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 him or her tell you what they need to tell you.

The Culture|
February 1, 2009

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 was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was in New Orleans at

The Culture|
January 1, 2009

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.I grew up going to the depot in Giddings with my

The Culture|
December 1, 2008

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 you, I never believed in my wildest dreams that I’d be

The Culture|
October 31, 2008

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.When I was eight years old, I was in my grandpa’s

The Culture|
September 30, 2008

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 I’d never seen the midway barker before. They only started

The Culture|
August 31, 2008

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 completed his residency at Waco’s McLennan County Medical Education and

The Culture|
July 31, 2008

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 a popular, though now defunct, liquor store. Tony was a

The Culture|
June 30, 2008

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, and perch.Fly-fishing in Texas is underappreciated. When people think of

The Culture|
May 31, 2008

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 Hall of Fame and the National Auctioneers Association Hall of

Business|
April 30, 2008

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 Barr Mansion since they would let me. I started when I

Energy|
March 31, 2008

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 to do with the oil field. In junior high, you learn

Business|
March 1, 2008

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 I would graduate and go to seminary or something like that.

The Culture|
February 1, 2008

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 counseling and family therapy.The future represents the unknown, and the

Critters|
January 1, 2008

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, the Rio Grande River, on horseback every day. Our job is

Music|
December 1, 2007

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 he regularly spins at Beauty Bar, Whisky Bar, and Nasty’s.I

The Culture|
September 30, 2007

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 funerals each year and has buried many notable Texans.I’m not

The Culture|
August 31, 2007

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 state’s most ethnically diverse student populations. More than sixty languages

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