Billie Karger is the Madill Animal Control Officer. Karger, a retired Army Veteran, moved to Lake Texoma fromTexaswithherhusband Michael Karger, who is a retired Army Veteran as well.
Both retired vets decided to move here after visiting some friends and falling in love with the Lake Texoma area. Karger said she has two daughters and three grandchildren who are the joy of her life. The Madill Record had a chance to sit down with Karger for a short Q&A so the residents of Marshall County can get to know her.
Q: Tell our readers about yourself.
A: I was born in Phoenix, Arizona. My dad was a tool pusher on a drilling rig, so we moved around the Midwest my whole young life. We settled in Utah up around Salt Lake City. I joined the Army in 1991. The Army brought metoFortHood,Texaswhere I spent almost eight years. I was an MP (Military Police). Then when I got out of the army, married the love of my life, had two children and eventually moved up here to Oklahoma, once everything settled down. I am married to Michael Karger and we have two grown daughters and three grandchildren who are the absolute joy of my life.
Q: How long have you andMichealbeenmarried and how did you meet?
A: We have been married for 20 years. We met in the Army. I actually pulled him over and gave him a speeding ticket. I don't remember it. He saw me about 5 years later in Fort Worth and came up to me and reminded me that I gave him a speeding ticket five years prior. Then he saw me five years later and we started dating. It was a fairytale romance. He was deployed several times during the beginning of our marriageandhereweare.We dated for about 2 years. Then about 2 years he learned that after the second deployment that I wasn't going anywhere and that he wasn't getting any Dear John letters.
Q: Tell our readers about your family.
A: My daughter Victoria is 28 and lives in Ft. Worth and she has the angel of my life, my granddaughter that is nine years old as well as a 6 year old little boy. So I absolutely live for my grandkids. My grandkids are the most important people in life. Then, Maria is 25 and she has a four year old little guy who is a genius and absolute genius. I swear to God, but I go to Fort Worth quite often to visit my babies.
Q: What brought you to the Lake Texoma area?
A: We fell in love with the lake. Lake Texoma brought us. We had friends up here thatwevisitedeverysummer and when they told us they were selling their place we decided to buy it.
Q:What did you do during yourtimeintheArmy?
A: I worked for the Army for 12 years. Then for the state of Texas for the Army until it got shut down during all the government shutdowns eightyearsago.Iwasa military policeman. I started off as a regular military police officer for the first several years. Then I was deployed to Honduras, then to Guantanamo Bay. I actually joined January 16, 1991 which is the actual day the President George Bush Senior declared war on Iraq. I was a 17-yearold junior in highschool and I wanted to fight for my country. I never did wind up in Iraq. I did go to Guantanamo Bay and Honduras. I didn’t see a whole lot in Honduras. Guantanamo Bay that was the big one for me. I was there in the middle of 1994. We had the Haitian refugees and the Cuban Refugees followed shortlybehind.Wehad the Haitian refugee camps, that is mostly what we did. The stories there. I could tell you stories about the Haitian refugees all day long. I was there for six months. I left the day my daughter turned six weeks old. It felt like forever. Wehadonecampgroundthat was nothing but orphans. It was very sad. There was a little girl that I fell in love withandsomedayIamgoing to find her. I am going to find that little girl. Then we had a camp that was all adults. That camp was pretty rough. They threw a lot of tantrums. They would throw baby food jars full of rocks at us. They would take tent poles down and sharpen them. It was tough, and you are in the camps so you can’t have a weapon. We all came out unscathed, hallelujah, after sixmonths.GuantanamoBay is gorgeous. Christmas day 1994 and we are swimming in the Ocean. It was just amazing and very tropical. Then after that I went back to Ft. Hood for seven years andonemonthandcontinued workingasanMP.Thenonce I got a little bit of rank I was able to be a game warden for about two years on Ft. Hood which was amazing. There is lots of hunting and fishing on Ft. Hood. Then the last two years I was on Ft. Hood I was in AWOL apprehension. I would fly around the country to pick up people who had been arrested for AWOL and then actually bring them here (to Oklahoma) to Ft. Seal. After eight years I was done. Then I moved to Ft. Worth working for the State of Texas as a supply clerk for 16 years and by the time I was done I was in management. But what we did is we rebuilt military vehicles. The active duty Army would use a vehicle until they got new ones, then they would send them to us to rebuild them from scratch. Take them all the way down to the frame, totally rebuild it and then give it to the national guard. They basically got brand new vehicles. It was all shut down by Obama. I started dating my husband at the beginning of all that and we just had friends that lived up here and it made sense to move here.
Q: What did you do when you first moved to Marshall County?
A: I tried retirement for a year and then I got bored. Then I saw on Facebook one day an ad for dispatch, so I applied for dispatch. Then Madill needed an animal control officer and they called me. I worked in Marshall County and then was working dispatch in Love County when they called me.
Q: You have now been here for two years, how are things going for you in this role?
A: I love this job. I absolutely love this job. The stress of dispatch wears you down; it wears you down really really bad. I needed a change of pace, when they called me I think there was a divine interventionthatsaidyouare ready for a change of pace. There is not a lot of stress here. I am a maid to dogs and cats. I really do love them.
Q: How are the pet adoptions,tellourreaders about that program?
A: When I first started here the pet adoptions were almost zero, two or three a month. Our biggest thing is social media. We started getting out there on Facebook, tic tok and Adopt a Pet. We have had people from all over the country coming to get animals. A lot of it allows the people to come in here. Keeping the place clean, keeping the smells down. People are not going to want to adopt if they are coming into a dirty place. So we have changed it around in two years and have made this place clean. We try, there are just two of us,butwedoourbestbecause we want people here to see our animals. Our goal is to be the premier animal facility in Southern Oklahoma, eventually. If you want an animal you go here, because you know they are socialized and healthy. That is our goal.
Q:Whattypeofcommunity outreach programs do you do outside the shelter?
A: We love Brookside. We go to Brookside about once a month and we normally take two dogs. We have tried taking cats but that doesn’t work well. We try to go once a month. If there are events we try to be there. We will haveaboothattheSandBass Festival. There are going to be temporary tattoos and all the money raised will go to animals being spayed and neutered. Kathy Germany, we try to participate in her shots as well as the dog food give away. Just putting ourselves out there. That is the main thing. Currently Madill High School students are building new kennels for the back. We take volunteers, 13 years and up. We take community service people that need to do something for the judge. There is an alternative classfromMadillHighSchool that has been coming once a month during the school year to just walk the dogs and play with the dogs. Because it is not just therapy for the dogs it is therapy for the kids. It is good for them.
Q: Is there anything you want the residents of MarshallCountytoknow?
A: Spay and neuter your animals.