I Am Wilshire – Becky Waterfield.
Hometown: Beaumont
Education: BS, Lamar University; MEd, Texas A&M Commerce
Profession: Science Teacher, Counselor
Present city: Dallas
Tell us about your family.
I’ve been married to my husband, Joe, for 52 years. We’ve known each other since we were 12! We have two adult daughters, Lindsay Wagner and Lauren Waterfield. Lindsay and her husband, John, live in Dallas and have three daughters: Hayden, Ainsley and Emerson. Lauren lives in Fort Worth and is to be married in October to her fiancé, Joel Hulsey.
Tell us about your work or volunteer life.
I enjoyed teaching science, primarily biology, for 18 years. I later earned my master’s degree in counseling and finished my career in counseling at Lake Highlands High School.
What are your favorite hobbies?
I love music, the symphony, traveling, Enneagram, reading and needlework … and spending time with my granddaughters.
Where is your favorite place to travel?
Our most interesting trips have been to China and Zimbabwe — fascinatingly different from Dallas!
What brought you to Wilshire and when?
Our younger daughter brought us here in the mid- 90s. She began attending with a friend, and we decided to visit … and we liked what we heard.
Where are you engaged at Wilshire?
I serve as co-director of Compass Class, am currently on the Pathways to Ministry Committee and look forward to volunteering again this summer at the children’s Cooking Camp.
What has surprised you most about Wilshire?
Its openness to people, questions and new ways of thinking.
Tell us about your faith journey.
It began at a tiny Baptist church near my home and continued at a larger but still very conservative Baptist church. As I matured and moved away from home, the fundamentalist teachings became very difficult for me. I wrestled with and rethought much of what I had learned as I sought a faith that made more sense to me. Wilshire has helped immensely in the continuing evolution of my faith.
What’s something interesting most people wouldn’t know about you?
As a teen I worked in my father’s machine shop operating a metal-working lathe.
What adjectives describe you?
Community builder, cooperative, diligent, inclusive, loyal.
- If you’d like to be featured in “I Am Wilshire,” email Carolyn Murray at cmurray@wilshirebc.org.