Linda Self Rodgers

After graduation, I attended one year of college at what was then called ETSU in Commerce. I then got a job working for the government at the Dept of HUD as secretary to architects and engineers at the Federal Bldg. in Dallas.

In 1972 I married Frank McDonald of the class of 1968. When my first child, Brian, was born, I became a stay-at-home Mom for a while and then my second child, Chris, came along in 1975. My daughter, Courtney, came along in 1980.

For a while I was secretary to Zadabeth Uland (Trudy's Mom) at First Baptist Church Plano (my church home at the time). Then in 1976, we moved to The Colony.

In 1978, I made my best career choice when I hired on at Merico, Inc. in Carrollton, a career that spanned 25 years, lasting through several buyouts Anheuser-Busch (which resulted in the entire company moving to St. Louis and a promotion for me), Earthgrains, and finally Sara Lee Bakery Group. My career took me from secretary to Vendor Managed Inventory Coordinator (Supply Chain Management) which working closely with buyers and entailed my monitoring our product inventory at Walmart and Kroger Distribution Centers and keeping inventories in good supply.

Three years after my job took me to St. Louis, I filed for divorce and it was final in 1997. Afterwards I purchased a condo and lived happily for 5 years. But God had someone else in store for me that I met online in late summer of 2002. He is 14 years older than me. The first week he asked me to marry him, but I made him sweat it out for a week before I said "yes". He had lost his wife to lupus complications about 5 years earlier. He has given me the best 18 years of my life. But life changes and he has been in a nursing home with Alzheimers for about 2 years. So if you are looking for someone, try online (but be careful...I went through a few stinkers before I found my gem).

My husband was diagnosed on Dec. 26, 2017 with moderate to severe dementia/Alzheimers. I cared for him at home until that following June but he kept getting worse and I had to place him in a nursing home where he could get care around the clock. He has so many other health issues as well and has been placed on hospice. Only God knows how much longer he has but I will hold every moment I have with him in my heart.

During my time living in St. Louis, I lost my Mom and both of my brothers, Jimmy Self and David Self.

In 2008 and after making it through many buyouts, Sara Lee restructured resulting in a large layoff that finally hit me after 25 years and we immediately came back to Plano…HOME. In 2009, I started with McAfee/Intel in Plano and worked until 2012 when I went on disability.

I was so grateful to have been able to come back to Plano so I could spend more time with my Dad. He died October 2011.

After my Dad's death, Bobby and I moved into the house I grew up in on Crestridge Dr. I loved being there again within the walls of where I grew up

Keeping the family home proved to be too much for me physically so I decided to sell it and moved to Breckinridge Point apartments in July (2019). Selling my childhood home was one of the hardest decisions I've ever made. But I'm so very thankful I have all those memories.

This past week, I moved into my new address on Longhorn Dr. My daughter, Courtney, and I will be roomies for as long the Lord sees fit. She moves in in late April.



I'm involved in church activities at my church, Providence Church of Texas, a Reformed Southern Baptist Church in Rowlett.

In December 2015, I had to have my right kidney removed because they incidentally discovered a large tumor that was just shy of spreading. So I told the doctor to go ahead and take the whole kidney and everything he needed to....after all, God gave us two.

They say getting older is not for sissies......I know that's true for a variety of reasons, but I'm still kicking and glad to be alive!


My health has not been the best for a long time and was starting to go downhill so I made the decision to have weight loss surgery on Oct. 16, 2019. As of today, April 8, , I've lost about 70 lbs and still losing. (another BEST decision I've made)

God has blessed me in so many ways the last 40 years……some things I wish had been different and some not.... My true legacy is my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

It's my hope that we can reach all of our classmates for the 50th reunion and that we can come together once again to share old memories and make new ones as well. All my life I've made more trips down memory lane to my high school days and wondered where the time went. Even though born in McKinney, growing up in Plano was something I would never trade for anything.