The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

Picture Reggie Jappe sitting on a deck overlooking a lake in Texas working on her craft projects and sewing quilts. That's what she will be doing! Why not retire!?

Leah Grubb, CEO of the Big Sandy Medical Center said, "She will be missed. She's fun! The residences are going to miss her. She always made their days better."

Lisa Sipler told me she always personalized her activities to with the residences. Whatever they liked to do she would do one on one with them. "With one she would bake, with another she would so do craft. She would sew with those who loved to sew, making a number of seeing projects. She had an artistic eye and the ability to make everything work. When she saw something that needed doing she did it. Sometimes when I thought of something that needed doing she had already thought of it and had completed it." Reggie was also the person who took people to their out of town appointments.

They were able to pull off a surprise retirement party without her finding out. Lisa said, "I started to make my speech and in true Reggie fashion she interrupted me to tell me I needed to get my foot fixed. It's what she did, she took care of us."

Lisa continued saying, "I asked her do I have permission to go into her house, because she would always say I have some of that at home and she would go get it. Whatever we needed she would have. It's weird to walk into here and she's not at her desk." Lisa said she would need to be more diligent, better with her time management because, "She would do so much. She just fit. She knew all the people."

Reggie grew up in Chinook, and meet her husband Laurence at NMC. Larry was a border patrol for approximately 13 years. So, Reggie lived a number of places before they returned to the ranch 40 miles south east of Big Sandy. After Laurence passed away in Nov. 2000 Reggie stayed on the ranch for a while before she moved into town and got involved at the Medical Center. Now she'll be staying at her son's cabin in Cedar Park Texas for three months. Sandy, Reggie's daughter is so happy the party turned out so wonderful, "I just love her death, she's the most caring loving giving person in the world and she desires this opportunity."