Meet Our CASA Volunteers

This month’s featured Volunteer, Polly Williams is a native Texan who has lived all her life in Texas except for two years where she called Colombia, South America home while participating in the Missionary Journeyman program through her church. During this time, she put her experience in the medical field to work by working in… Read more »

Kathy Worley is a self-professed farm girl who grew up on her parents’ farm in Levelland, Texas outside of Lubbock. Her dad farmed, her mother was a stay-at-home mom and did many things to support her family until she went back to school in her 40’s and became a teacher. Kathy was an only child… Read more »

Earl Ellisor is a fifth generation Texan who grew up in the Houston area and married his high school sweetheart, Kathleen. He has degrees in math and physics from UT Austin and computer science from University of Houston in Clear Lake. Earl and Kathleen have been married for 52 years and they have been blessed… Read more »

Sue Iha is a self-proclaimed army brat whose family finally settled in Ohio, where Sue attended high school, obtained her undergraduate degree and married her high school sweetheart. Sue and her husband made their way to Texas where she took a position with the Houston Health Department. She was there for a couple of years… Read more »

Janet Shook was born in a farming community of Crowell, Texas, north of Dallas. You wouldn’t know she was an only child as she went to school with 18 of her first cousins! Education was in her blood. In fact, to this day, she has family members who are on the Crowell School Board. Janet… Read more »

CASA Volunteer, Dieter Rachal was born in Germany during a time when occupied troops came into their city at the end of the WW2. His mom married one of the GI’s in 1947 and in 1949 was reassigned back to the states, where as a family they settled in El Paso. Now in the states,… Read more »

Mitch Albom, author of “Tuesdays with Morrie” said: “Devote yourself to your community around you, devote yourself to creating something that gives you purpose and meaning.” Our CASA Volunteer featured this month, Nancy Otto, got this message instilled in her at an early age, not by Mitch Albom, but rather by her parents, who, by… Read more »

Donna Tomlin made her way from Houston to Bastrop after retiring from 35 years or so in the natural gas industry where she spent her career negotiating contracts for the purchase of natural gas. In considering her relocation from Houston to central Texas, she was looking for a place that she could find community, and… Read more »

    It comes to no surprise to anyone that knows Larry, that he has a big heart for kids. A native Texan, Larry grew up in Amarillo, with traditional family values, where his grandparents played a key role in guiding their extended family. His parents were always there for him, helping him stay focused… Read more »