Jamie and Jessica Hurd received awards at the recent Saint Jo High School Awards night. (Photo by Barbara Green)

By BARBARA GREEN
Twin sisters Jamie and Jessica Hurd are typical high school seniors who blush when you ask about boyfriends and ecstatic to cheer on their baseball team in the playoffs.
They make good grades, are well liked and have jobs to help make their own way. However, the outcome could have been much different without the help of a family member and their own perseverance to rise above circumstances that saw them living in a homeless shelter and at one point in their family car; and where their parents were in jail and unable to care for them.
The pair could have easily become an unhappy statistic, but instead they are thriving and excited for what the future holds after graduation.
Family life
The identical twins were born Jan. 23, 2000 in Muenster to Julia and Bryan Hurd. Their childhood was fraught with instability as the parents attempted to provide for their young family.
The children recall spending a lot of time with their grandfather, Earl Hurd, who lived in Forestburg. They attended Forestburg School until they started eighth grade at Saint Jo. The girls recall their grandpa’s large garden and riding horses as special memories from that time, “he took good care of us,” exclaims Jessica.
Jamie recalls her father was in and out of their younger years spending time in prison for drug related charges. While talking about this missing figure is obviously painful, Jamie says struggling to provide made both her parents go the wrong way.
“In order to provide they thought they had to do wrong things, that was the situation. Desperation, yes,” explains Jamie.
Jessica recalls at one point their mom was in jail and they were living in Nocona with their dad and brother, Justin, five years their senior.
“Our dad was not really there much, so our brother provided a lot for us,” she said.
The trio of children stuck together taking care of each other. Jamie says Justin took care of them as much as he could at his age helping get them to school. They are still very close.
As the children grew times got tougher. The girls with their mother ended up in a homeless shelter in Wichita Falls where they lived for a period of time. One day they just left the shelter, but they still had no where to go.

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