Where Are They Now?

When Sarah Shelly was a child, her parents would take her on road trips across the Eastern US. The family would meticulously plan their adventures, stopping at historical sites along the way. “Instead of flying and spending a week at a certain destination, it exposed us to seeing different parts of the country,” she said.

As it turns out, that’s pretty much how Shelly has lived her life. After leaving Dublin, she and her family have moved around the US multiple times, from the Arizona desert to the green fields of Ohio. “I’ve always loved the idea of living elsewhere,” she said. “I wanted to experience life in other places and expose my kids to different cultures.”

Shelly graduated from Dublin High School in 2000. Her senior year she met Michael Shelly, who was close to her age. Michael had just returned from a two-year mission in Guatemala to visit his mother in Hico, and Shelly met him at church.

They fell in love, and were married that summer. The Shellys attended one semester at Tarleton, but soon Michael got a job working for a lighting company, and the couple moved to a suburb of Phoenix, AZ.

“The first time I drove to Arizona was the first time I had ever even seen West Texas,” Shelly said. “I’d never seen El Paso or Odessa, or any of that. That was the farthest west I’ve ever been, and it’s a real desert there. That was kind of a surprise, getting used to just how stark everything was. But I mean, there’s certainly still beauty in that.”

After settling in Mesa, Shelly had to adjust to life in a big city after spending her whole childhood in Dublin. “It was definitely a culture shock,” she said. “That was the first time I had ever lived in a large city, and it was huge, everything was asphalt and there was no clear delineation between the different towns. You cross from one street onto another, you’re just in a new town. There were a lot of things to get used to.”

The Shellys stayed in Phoenix for three years, and had their first daughter there. When Shelly’s husband had the opportunity to relocate to advance in his career, the family moved again, this time to Albuquerque, NM.

“Albuquerque was just interesting,” she said. “Even the architecture. It was all Adobe style, so a lot of flat roofs. And that was the first place I ever lived where they didn’t have air conditioning.”

But most of the time, she didn’t need it. “The weather was beautiful, and people were so interesting,” she said. “We really enjoyed our time in Albuquerque.”

After three years there, the growing family moved back to Texas. They first lived in Fort Worth, then Flower Mound, and then moved out East to be closer to Michael’s mother.

In 2014, the Shellys left Texas for Ruston, Louisiana, and then moved again in 2017 to Centerville, Ohio, where they’ve lived ever since.

Ohio was the farthest north Shelly had lived, and that came with its own set of adjustments. “Our first winter here, we got probably a foot of snow, and I was in awe because I had never lived anywhere that really got that cold — not even Albuquerque,” she said.

But besides the occasional snow, the climate is beautiful, and the scenery is lush. “It’s very, very green here,” she said. “Even in the winter, the grass is green. All the trees are completely bare, but the grass is still just very, very green.”

Shelly and her husband plan on staying in Ohio for the foreseeable future. “We really enjoy living up here,” she said. “We’ve been here for almost four years, and I don’t think we’re going to be going anywhere.”

Shelly’s life now is centered around her children. Her oldest, Emilie, is 18 and a freshman at Brigham Young University, Idaho. Heidi, 16, is a junior in high school, Audrey, 12, is in sixth grade, Joanie, 10 is in fifth, and Phoebe, 8, is in third.

Since all her daughters are in school, Shelly has recently started working full time to make use of her free time during the day. “I started subbing last year, and then this year I work in a special needs classroom in one of the elementary schools here,” she said.

Shelly works mostly with fourth and fifth graders, and makes sure they are supported throughout the day. “I’m certified to be able to provide care and transport them to a different area if they need help calming down or what have you,” she said. “I’m basically employed to be a mom.”

She’s not sure what the future holds, work-wise, but for now Shelly is enjoying her job. “It’s nice, and I really enjoy the people that I work with,” she said. “And some of the children I work with, maybe don’t have the best home life, and so it feels really wonderful to be able to give them more stability, at least for a portion of their day.”

When Shelly has some free time between working and taking care of her children, she enjoys refinishing furniture and doing home projects. “My husband and I have also never lived in a home that we haven’t done some kind of DIY remodel to,” she said.

Shelly’s relationship with her husband has always been a source of strength for her. “He and I are best friends, and I feel like that sounds so cliche, but we really are,” she said. “There’s nobody I would rather spend my time with. And especially with the way we’ve moved around the United States, we were generally not anywhere where we had a close support system so we always had to depend on one another. That created a strength that I don’t know that we would have had if we stayed in one place.”

Throughout her life, Shelly has drawn inspiration from her parents, siblings and extended family. “I grew up in a super supportive family, so that that was really helpful to feel like there was always that support system there,” she said. “Like if something ever did go wrong, you’re not gonna just fall without some kind of safety net.”

Her mother, Beth James, still lives in Dublin, and her father and step-mother Gary and Jo James live in Stephenville.

Another inspiration to Shelly has been her faith. She grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, and currently attends an LDS church in Centerville.

Shelly’s advice to graduates is to do what makes them happy, and not worry about other people’s expectations or judgements. “Do what makes you happy,” she said. “I always intended on having a large family, and I always hoped I would be able to be a stay at home mom to my children. My husband and I made sacrifices over the years made sure that that was a possibility for us. I know a lot of people looking from the outside in might view our family situation as a bit dated, but that was what made me happy.”

Even though at times she had planned on things to turn out differently, Shelly is grateful for the life she has. “The places where we find joy are not always in the plans that we make, but in the decisions that we make,” she said. “I had been planning on going off to college after I graduated from high school, but then I met Michael and we got married right out of high school instead. I’d say to look for those opportunities when they come up and be brave enough to take them.”

Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other graduates, email publisher@dublincitizen.com.