Who is Brenda Austin? Part One

 Hi, Ochiltree.  Time for another update from me, Brenda Austin, candidate for Ochiltree County Judge.  This one is all about me personally so bear with my selfishness for a bit!  LOL!

Childhood was spent in several different places.  Beaufort, South Carolina is where I was born to Allen and Sharon Jenkins*.  An older brother, Steven was born a year and four days prior.  Around two years of age, we moved to Tacoma, Washington where a third sibling, Victoria, was born.

At about 4^th grade, the family moved to Portland, Oregon for about a year before we moved to Spearman, Texas where dad’s brother was able to get him work as an oil tank driver with Permian Oil.  That job transferred him to Shattuck, Oklahoma for three years and then to Guyman, Oklahoma for a year.  By this time my parent’s marriage was in trouble and they separated with mom taking me and Victoria back up to Tacoma and Steve staying behind with dad in Guyman.

After graduating from high school and spending 1 ½ years in community college, I met and married a man who was originally from Nevada County, California.  We moved there in 1991 and had two children, daughter Rowan* and son Robert.

Thirty years later, my marriage had dissolved, my daughter has moved away and settled in Monterey, California, my son is starting his first year of college at Chico State University, and I find myself wondering what to do.  Out of the blue I receive a phone call from my mom who had moved back to the panhandle four years before.  She says, “I quilt, you scrapbook, let’s open a craft store.  Perryton needs a place to purchase basic craft supplies, so we are not traveling an hour for a spool of thread.”  Crazy idea, right?  A year later, I moved to Perryton.

Paper & Craft Memories has been open now for three years, I found work as Ochiltree County Assistant Auditor, and I have been able to volunteer for several non-profits.  This community has been so welcoming and so forgiving for me being from California!  😊  I have never felt more at home here in these three short years than I ever have!

For all the moving and changes in my life, what hasn’t changed are my values.  Family, friends, community, working together, listening, having empathy, and providing service to others has always been my guiding lights.  Sprinkle in paper crafting, camping, puzzles, games, walking, and time spent with family and friends and I’ve got a pretty good life!

Next blog – professional career and accomplishments and how they will benefit Ochiltree County

*Interesting fact:  Small World

My dad was born and bred South Carolina while mom was born and bred Washington state.  They met and married in Monterey County, California.

My daughter, Rowan, attended Monterey State University which was built on the now defunct Fort Ord where my dad was stationed when he met my mom.

My father-in-law was also stationed in Fort Ord a couple of years prior to my dad being there.