Meet your neighbor Resa George, a lifelong resident of Stronghurst.
The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
By Dessa Rodeffer/Quill Publisher
Meet your neighbor Resa George, a lifelong resident of Stronghurst.
Resa is the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Walt (Peg) Billups, and a 1974 Southern High School graduate. She has been employed at G.E. in Burlington, Iowa for the past 17 years.
She and her husband Greg were married 11 years ago in November. Between the two, they have four children. Greg's son Jeffrey is 19 and enlisted in the U.S. Marines in June '05 and has been stationed in Hawaii. He will be going to Iraq in September and then will return to Hawaii.
Resa has three children: Peggy (Bob) Montooth of Little York, Tracy (Eric) Heyveld of Burlington, IA, and Eddie Cassiday, 26, at home.
She loves to be with her grandchildren: Tracy's two girls Erin-7; Tara-18 months, and Peggy's three boys Dylan-11, Brandon-8; and Tyler who they lost to Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Syndrome (SCID) at age 2. This is the hardest thing she has had to deal with. She copes with the hurt by crocheting 'love blankets' in memory of Tyler, who loved holding on to his blanket.
Resa has made 46 so far which she gives to sick children at Iowa City through a nurse she became friends with in the Bone Marrow Ward. Each are labeled "-Made with tender loving care from Tyler's Grandma".
Resa has served as a unit director of Girl Scouts, was a Brownie and Jr. Scout leader. She worked at The Quill after high school, and later worked at Conifer before working at G.E..
She has a dog she enjoys walking, two Cockatiels and a Love Bird, has raised Parakeets, enjoys fishing, especially ice fishing, gardening, and most recently has taken up biking.
Resa began biking around town, then began rides to St. Patrick Church, a 16 mile ride. She now has joined the 'Bike Burlington' bike club where she goes on their Wednesday dinner rides each week that are anywhere from 16 miles to 32 miles. They leave each Wednesday from Bickels Bicycle shop, then a bus transports them and their bikes back to Bickels.
Resa enjoys cooking, but admits she does less and less of it.
Of the recent G.E. announcement of job cuts, she says, she has been through the worst–losing a grandson. If she did happen to lose her job, she would go back to school or learn a new trade.
'I've been through the worst,' she said. 'I can get another job.'