By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
Roger and Sharon Proulx took to each other like water and oil on the day they met. “I thought she was rude,” shared Roger. He went on to explain, “She just busted into the room in the middle of my interview,” said Roger.
She might have had a bit of a sassy attitude that day, after all she was the bosses’ daughter.
Both laugh together as they remember their first encounter. He was interviewing for a position at Hope Village with Sharon’s mother who was at that time the Executive Director of Hope Village.
“Now the family joke is she was really interviewing for a son-in-law,” both Roger and Sharon share.
They were in their mid 20’s and Sharon worked at the center as the recreational director, Roger was coming onboard to work as the swimming instructor and lifeguard and work in the workshops. His position started in January 1993 and after he got over his first reaction to Sharon, he noticed her positive traits.
“We started dating in March 1993,” said Sharon. From there the two began finding ways to sneak around and spend some time together. Their first kiss was in a workshop on the grounds of Hope Village.
The couple were married three years later and have been together as husband and wife and on the job for nearly 30 years. Sharon is now the executive director at Hope Village and Roger works as director of the facilities.
“Part of what I admired and fell in love with about Roger was his devotion to the Villagers,” shared Sharon. Hope Village is a home/facility in Friendswood for adults with cognitive limitations.
The couple have lived in the same house in Bayou Vista on a Canal where they raised their son and daughter who are now in their 20’s. They have one grandson whose child-size workshop occupies a spot in their living room, for those times when they are on grandparent duty.
Through the years of raising children and their leadership roles at Hope Village, they have accommodated their lives to be available 24/7 for the Villagers. “We love the outdoors and so the best way to take our kids on vacations was to go camping someplace within a few hours’ drive of Hope Village,” explained Sharon and Roger.
“We always take our phones camping with us, and never go too far away. If something big comes up at the Village one of us comes back to take care of it,” explained Sharon.
Both Roger and Sharon have studied psychology. He completed his studies in Canada where he was born. Part of his professional journey include working with youth offenders in Canada a job he wasn’t particularly fond of. When he first arrived in Texas he settled in Galveston.
Sharon basically grew up at the facility and she wasn’t sure she would be qualified to ever step into her mothers’ shoes, so she took some time to become a special education teacher. She taught for a couple years in CCISD working with special needs students.
When the day came for her mother to retire, Sharon stepped in and took over and has never looked back. She and Roger have embraced their lifestyle and commitment to the 50 residents and 49 staff members at the village.
“The Village is our life,” both Sharon and Roger share as they look at each other. “We are kind of seen by the villagers as the mom and dad of the village,” Sharon and Roger explained.
The hardest task when they came home from work in the early years of their marriage was shutting off work. After several years of spending too much of their own time talking about work and trying to solve work related problems, they finally gave themselves a time limit on how much of their time they would talk with each other about the job.
During the pandemic Roger and Sharon devoted themselves to the residents. They spent many nights at the facility caring for the villagers who were diagnosed with Covid. They lost four villagers to COVID.
The pandemic took from Hope Village the years of work they had put into building programs that involved the community. One program was the little restaurant where the villagers participated in running the restaurant. It has not reopened. Also, the volunteers have not come back for the other programs that were staffed by volunteers.
Roger and Sharon reminisce about their years at Hope Village together with joy and respect for their work and the villagers. Not only do they have joy and respect for their work, but they share together a love for each other, a love of life and happiness that has not been extinguished by the passing of time and life’s burdens.
A secret to their success is found in their own explanation, “We count on each other for everything, he’s not going to let me down,” shared Sharon. “And I know she’s not going to let me down,” added Roger.
“Sharon and I have been together for ever and ever,” Roger shared as he gazed into her eyes.
