Marisa's Home Page - the story behind the pages!
God has blessed me in many ways.
I was born in Nashville, TN in 1967. I grew up with a lot of love and a wonderful family. It was pretty cool growing up near Nashville, but I could write a book about that! In 1985 I graduated from Greenbrier High School (north of Nashville) and moved to Clarksville to attend Austin Peay State University, where I changed majors about 7 times in the first three years and finally decided to major in Nuclear Medicine Technology.
On my first day at APSU, I met this intriguing guy with a great tan and nice biceps, which he displayed proudly by wearing alternative band concert t-shirts with the sleeves cut off. After we'd known each other about 18 months, we fell pretty hard for one another and 18 years later, we're still there. We got married the week after I graduated from college in 1989. He is a full-time yearbook publishing manager (which means we can't stand each other the first five months of the year) and a part-time bass player (which means he's not home much). In 1992 we were blessed with a beautiful red-haired daughter who is now taller than me. She was joined in 1995 by her younger brother, who looks a lot like his daddy. They are both very intelligent and inquisitive. My son was born with a cleft lip and palate, and has had three surgeries to correct the problem. Otherwise, both kids have been extremely healthy, another great blessing.
I have three cats and a beagle. I have a lot more extended family and many good friends both online and in "the real world." I am active in my church, singing in the choir and helping with the youth.
Now, about my career:
I have worked in health care for over half my life. I started as a pharmacy technician in 1983. I became a nuclear medicine technologist after college graduation in 1989. I worked full-time from 1989 to 1997. After the kids were born I really wanted to stay at home, but that didn't happen (that would be another book). I started working part-time in 1997. 18 months later I began a successful (though stressful) PRN business, which I did until 2001 when I went back to working four days a week. In March 2003 I began working part-time in a cardiology clinic 13 miles from home. For a long time, I still worked one day a week at the hospital in Nashville, but my body started wearing out really fast, so I had to give that up. I liked the money though, and I miss it!
I like what I do for a living. Sometimes the work is long and hard, but I enjoy it when I get to do my job well. I like being able to help patients find out what's causing their pain so they can get on the road to recovery. I get to meet a lot of cool people and I work with some great folks. The doctors I work for are unlike any I've ever known in the past. They are VERY patient-focused, hard-working doctors who are more interested in the patients than the money. Granted, they're human - they've gotta make a living & so do I! - but they share my belief that money isn't everything.
For several years I tried to make part-time businesses work for me. I've been a genealogy researcher, writer, Avon lady, antique and collectible dealer, mystery shopper & retail auditor. Eventually, my hours at the office increased to the point where all that stuff was cutting into my family time. That's not what I want out of life anymore. My kids will soon be grown, but I have many relatives & neighbors who need me, & I want to serve God where He needs me, whether it's walking my dog & visiting my neighbors, or cooking wholesome meals for my family, or making treasures for my church family, or writing fiction or non-fiction to share with others.
How Rissy's Treasures came to exist:
As a kid, I thought I wanted to be a writer. I was good at it, but I thought it wasn't for me. I thought I'd be kind of nerdy, like I thought John-Boy Walton was, & I didn't want people to think I was a nerd.
As a young mom in 1992, I wished that I'd taken writing more seriously. I felt trapped. I made great money as a nuclear medicine technologist, but I wanted to be an at-home mom. That wasn't possible. I was too far in debt, & quitting was not an option. I worked four days a week for awhile, then got the opportunity to work closer to my family in Tennessee, which also meant working five days a week again. We made the move, & Randy ended up going back to grad school & working several part-time jobs to help make ends meet. Basically, I was paying the bills, & he was paying for daycare so I could. It was tough, but it was temporary, & we had lots of family helping too.
In February, 1995, my son was born with a cleft lip and palate. During his first surgery, my husband turned the waiting room TV to TNN, back when it was The Nashville Network. At the time I hated TNN and seldom watched it. He left to get breakfast, and Mom and I watched country videos. We saw a video of Buck Owens doing "Act Naturally." This was not the video of that song that I'd seen before, with Ringo Starr and Vic Tayback. This was real footage of Buck and the Buckaroos.
I was intrigued. I didn't remember them when they were wearing flashy clothes and riding at the top of the country charts. Like most kids of the '70's, I grew up watching "Hee Haw," when Buck Owens wore backwards overalls & traded cornball (oops. that should be "Kornball") jokes with Roy Clark. Suddenly I saw them in a different light. I couldn't get enough of the music. Once my son recovered from the surgery, I had him and my daughter on the road to used record stores and libraries, looking for old records and photos and anything I could find to learn more about the Buckaroos, especially Don Rich, whose harmonies with Buck were unbelievable. I had only a vague memory of him. At first my search was focused on figuring out when he died, so I could try and piece my memories together. Eventually the music got into my soul.
I discovered during that time that I love digging through old magazines and listening to classic country music. I don't just love country, though. I'm a fan of many music genres, as is my husband. My music tastes run anywhere from the Mamas and the Papas to Gnarls Barkley to southern gospel to Pure Moods - and Pure Funk! We own more CD's and vinyl than anyone else I know. Perhaps that's why we don't have any of the OTHER kind of CD's, but I can't say for sure! :)
I realized that I'd lived within two hours of Nashville for my entire life, 28 years at the time, and I'd never been to the Country Music Hall of Fame or the Grand Ole Opry. (I'd been to Opryland at least 15 times, though. Long live the Wabash Cannonball and the Screamin' Delta Demon!!!) That spring I took my grandmother to the Opry for her first trip in ten years, and my first trip ever. I've been back a few times since then and even took my daughter in Feb. 2003.
While looking for information about Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, I discovered that there wasn't much out there on the Web for Hee Haw fans. That's why I have the Hee Haw Tribute Page. I hope, in time, it becomes a fitting tribute to the longest-running syndicated show in TV history. I understand that Gaylord has a website as well, and I hope it's a good one. I'm glad I can share what I know about the show.
I didn't start making websites with the Hee Haw page, though. In 1998, while working part-time at an area hospital, my search for part-time work led me to a library where I discovered genealogy research. I had a cousin who was totally into that at the time, too, so together we found ways to make money at it.
I started Bush Research Service in 1998 by compiling a book of obituaries collected from newspapers in my home county in Tennessee. I know, that sounds really morbid, but for genealogy researchers, this is a valuable tool. Unfortunately, someone else had the same idea, and after I'd put in about 100 hours of work, I learned that he was ready to take orders for his completed book. I was disappointed, but I didn't let that keep me from writing or doing genealogy research.I didn't get very far with my own family research, because shortly after the obit book incident, I discovered that I could transcribe census records and sell them to a company that provided online access to them. I did this for about a year, in my spare time, and eventually quit working at the hospital I worked for at the time. I then intended to pick up a LITTLE PRN work doing nuclear medicine, but soon I found that I could make a LOT more money doing PRN work than transcribing census records.
At the same time, I was trying to get some writing assignments. I found a monthly newspaper in Clarksville, TN that could use my skills. They were preparing to go from monthly publication to weekly and had just hired three new full-time reporters as well. I wanted to write a story, or possibly begin a column, about famous people with Clarksville connections. But on January 22, 1999, a tornado struck downtown Clarksville and wiped out this newspaper's office as well as its freelance budget. So much for my story, and my photos I'd taken of Frank Sutton's grave. That is, until one day I landed on a Beach Boys site while surfing the Web.
(Ha ha, she was "surfing" to a Beach Boys site.)
I saw a link that said, "Click here to view Carl Wilson's grave." I thought, why not? It's probably got some beautiful poem on it or something. In that click I discovered Find-a-grave, a website that has allowed millions of people to view the final resting places of their favorite celebrities and historical figures. It's my understanding that they now have some graves of non-famous people as well, another boon to genealogy researchers.
They didn't have a photo of Frank Sutton's grave, so I sent mine in, as well as a couple of photos of the grave of another famous native Clarksvillian, Wilma Rudolph. Soon "Tim's TV Showcase" found my photos and included them on his site about "Gomer Pyle, USMC," and shortly after that, TV Land began airing the show. The week after their first "Gomer" marathon, I received an amazing amount of e-mail.
After sending the same reply over and over, I decided to create my own Frank Sutton webpage with all the information I had. I'd had some slight experience with creating a web page when I developed one for my husband's band (at the time), Crying Shame. (Not to be confused with the Cryin' Shames.) The Frank Sutton Web Page has grown since that day in March 2000. At first, all I had was information from old Clarksville newspaper clippings. Since then I've been in contact with a couple of his cousins and many of his fans, and the website continues to grow.
I must admit, at first, I wasn't a big Frank Sutton fan, just someone who happened to have more information than I'd ever found on the 'Net. But over time, I've become a lot more interested in his life and I'm definitely committed to keeping his memory alive. I think he would be pleased to know how many fans he's got out there. Many of them weren't even born during his lifetime.
After that, I created Risa's Hee Haw Tribute Page. Later, I attempted selling Avon & collectibles. From time to time, I took time off from my writing to think about what direction I wanted to go. As I re-write this (I update it once a year or so), it's December 2006, & I see that I've come a long way in ten years. I don't know that I'm any better off financially or physically, & my house is still a mess, but I'm happier, I do know that. If I hadn't gone from full-time work to part-time, I wouldn't have the dream job I have now. If I hadn't tried all those "side jobs," I would've always wondered. Now I can relax, do my job, take care of my family, & ENJOY writing & my other hobbies like needlework, gardening & learning how to eat healthy. God has been really good to me.
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