Bayou Profile | Beacons of Service and Love

article by GEORGIANN POTTS
photography by KELLY MOORE CLARK

For Jeff and Jill Mouk, three things matter most in their lives. They deeply love each other. They love their family — their parents, their daughter and son-in-law, and their two grandchildren. And in the center of their lives is their faith. That faith has strengthened them throughout their marriage, and continues to be their rock. Because of their devotion to their family and friends, their successful careers in insurance and education, and their unselfish volunteering throughout their community, Jeff and Jill Mouk are the subject of our BayouProfile for December.

Jeff Mouk’s father, Harold “Luke” Mouk, was born in Chicago, but he counted Monroe as “home.” He lived in Monroe most of his life and graduated from Neville High School. When WWII began, he was attending Louisiana Tech University. He left his college days behind and enlisted in the Army Air Corp. Jeff’s mother, Marn Winters, was born in Dayton, Ohio, and grew up on an Ohio farm nearby. She graduated Medway High School.  Jeff’s paternal grandparents lived nearby, and while Luke was visiting, he met Marn. They fell in love, married, and WWII ended. They lived in Ohio and Virginia for about 12 years. During that time they had four children — two sons and two daughters — all born in Ohio. Jeff’s sister Dana was their firstborn. Next came a second sister, Kathy. Then Jeff’s brother Andy was born, and finally, Jeff arrived. When Jeff was two, the family moved to Louisiana and Luke joined the family business.

Jill’s father Otis Johnson “Jerry” Baldwin, Jr. was born in Bossier City and grew up in Riverton, Louisiana. He graduated from Columbia High School and Louisiana Tech University, earning a bachelor’s in biology and a master’s in chemistry. From 1943 to 1946 he served in the U.S. Navy. Jill’s mother, Mary Jo, was born in Cordele, Georgia, but grew up in Monroe. She graduated from Ouachita High School in 1944 and began working as a laboratory technician at Charity Hospital. The two met at a Ouachita High School football game. They married in 1948 and began their family. Over time, they had five children – three boys and two girls. Kathy was the firstborn, and then Phil came 2 years later. After ten years, John, Paul, and Jill were born. Like Jeff, Jill was the youngest.

Both Jeff and Jill were blessed with hardworking parents who instilled in them the importance of working hard to achieve goals. Jeff’s father was co-owner of McKenzie and Mouk, Inc. insurance agency. The agency was founded in 1892 by Jeff’s grandfather, Harold Mouk, and Charles McKenzie, Sr. Jeff’s father joined in 1958. His partner was Charles McKenzie, Jr. Jeff’s paternal grandmother and Charles’ mother were sisters.

When Jill was growing up, she remembered how hard her father worked. “When I was a child, he would teach school all day and then our family would have an early dinner together so that he could go to work at the St. Francis lab at 5:00 in the evenings. He was often on call during the night for the lab as well,” Jill says. Her father taught high school chemistry at Ouachita High until he retired from teaching and began working fulltime at the lab at St. Francis Medical Center.

Jill’s oldest brother Phil and older sister Kathy took chemistry in high school from their dad. Before Jill got to high school, her dad retired. She regrets not ever having him as a teacher (although he taught her many things outside of his chemistry classroom). “When my father died in 2005, former students came to the visitation to tell us how much they had loved having him as a teacher,” Jill recalls. “They spoke about what a difference he made in their early lives.”

Although Jill missed out on that experience, later when she was in college, she worked in the St. Francis Medical Center lab with her father. “I saw a side of him that I would have never been able to see if I hadn’t had that experience,” Jill says. “Dad was so kind to the patients who came through the lab for blood work and also with the employees in the lab.”

Both Jeff’s and Jill’s mothers were primarily stay-at-home moms. As such, both were significant influences on their children’s lives. Jeff’s mom never worked outside of the home, but she did her share of community volunteering in spite of dealing with multiple sclerosis throughout most of her adult life – an example that wasn’t lost on Jeff. When the time came that the Baldwins had three children in college at the same time, Jill’s mother resumed her work as a lab technician, going back to work part time for Drs. Hammonds and O’Boyle. 

Each remembers their parents with love and gratitude. “My parents were down-to-earth, practical people who grew up during the Depression. Eating out and going to the movie were luxuries,” Jill says. “I didn’t grow up in a wealthy environment but above all my parents loved all of us so much and wanted us to finish college, have successful jobs, and to be happy.”

“My mother taught me the importance of being rooted in a strong home with stability, discipline, and love,” Jeff says. “My father taught me the insurance business in which I have been employed for 46 years. But he also served as an example to have other interests as well – he was the master of many trades.” 

Growing Up in Monroe
Both Jeff and Jill had delightful childhoods filled with happy memories. Both knew that they were loved, and that time spent with their families was the most important thing of all.

Jeff grew up on Valencia Street, which he remembers as a “. . . wonderful place to be a kid in the 1960’s”. His was a neighborhood with lots of children who loved playing together. Jill also grew up playing outdoors with other children — often until dark riding bikes. Her mother had specific streets that they weren’t allowed to cross, but other than those they were allowed to just roam free and play. “We had a big yard so I spent most of my childhood playing freeze tag and hopscotch with my brothers and neighborhood friends. We walked to the bus stop together and rode the bus to school,” Jill says.

A highlight of Jill’s childhood was going to the farm in Riverton with her two youngest siblings. There they enjoyed their paternal grandmother Myrtle Duke’s impressive garden. “I remember shelling peas and butterbeans, and picking vegetables. My brothers and I would pick up pecans in the fall,” Jill says with a smile. There were also family vacations to the beach and one trip to El Paso, Texas, and Carlsbad Caverns National Park. Another blessing was that Jill’s maternal grandmother Eura Boyt lived close by. Jill and her youngest brothers would spend Friday nights with her. Occasionally her grandmother would take Jill and her younger siblings to downtown Monroe for to shop. “She would take us on the city bus to the Palace or to the Twin City Mall to shop for special occasions,” Jill says. 

Many of Jeff’s favorite childhood memories are associated with Thanksgiving and Christmas – the largest family gatherings for the Mouks. These were often large extended family celebrations. Christmas Eve found many relatives celebrating together, but Christmas Day was reserved for just Jeff’s “nuclear family.” “I loved Christmas the most – the mystery of Santa Claus, the magic of the lights and the tree, and the presents. Though wonderful at the time, our Christmas was almost entirely secular and lacked a sacred identity,” Jeff says with regret.

Much of Jill’s social life growing up centered around the Southside United Methodist Church where the late Rev. Lea Joyner was minister. Rev. Joyner was a major influence. “My social life was centered around the activities at the church,” Jill explains. “We had dances, campouts, trips to Six Flags, skating every Friday night, youth activities every Sunday evening, and youth choir every Wednesday night. The church counselors and Sunday school teachers had a huge impact on my life.”

For Jeff — although he had good teachers all through school – it was his time at Lexington Elementary that he considers the most important. He says that every teacher he had there instilled in him a love of learning, reading, and writing. In his early years, Jeff wanted to be a journalist because he loved to write and thought that it would be great to know what was “really” going on in the world. Later, the “family business” became his obvious career path. Jeff had worked in the family insurance business throughout his summers at Neville, working in the mail room, doing property insurance “appraisals” (taking pictures and measuring square footage), and various clerical tasks. He graduated the University of Louisiana at Monroe (then Northeast Louisiana University), majoring in economics. There was not an insurance major offered at the time. His favorite classes were history, government, and archaeology.

For Jill, the answer to “What will I be when I grow up?” was answered when she was young. She had a chalkboard in her bedroom and would teach her friends (sometimes a row of dolls) by writing on that board and using word cards. “Playing school was my favorite pastime,” Jill admits. When she graduated from high school, she enrolled in ULM planning to major in nursing. She was accepted into the School of Nursing, but something didn’t feel right. “I wanted to serve people and help others, but I wasn’t sure exactly how,” she explains. ‘The next year I changed my major to education and never looked back!” She earned a degree in Elementary Education.

Finding a Career and Partner for Life
Jeff worked mowing yards for neighbors until he began working summers in the family business. From 1977 on, Jeff worked there watching it grow. From 1977 to 1995 it was McKenzie & Mouk, Inc. It sold in 1995, becoming Troy & Montgomery Insurance. The business would sell again in 2005, becoming Community Financial Insurance. “Working for the family business was the most rewarding and taught me to work hard and give my employer my best effort at all times,” Jeff explains. “Community Financial has been the most challenging as it is the largest of the three and is more complex to help manage.”

The three biggest challenges that Jeff has addressed during his career reflect the changes in the insurance industry. Automation – moving from time-intensive paper records to more efficient computer records – certainly was a challenge, but a worthwhile one. McKenzie and Mouk became one of the first independent insurance agencies to install an in-house computer system. Jeff managed that project. Seeing small insurance agencies being “squeezed” out through consolidation was another challenge. The third was the change in work ethic  that transformed the industry from a collegial relationship between the company and the agents. Even with these changes, Jeff is optimistic about the future of small business in Monroe — albeit with a shift in emphasis. Today Jeff would encourage a young person to pursue an accounting career.  “It is a service that every business needs, it helps you manage household finances, and it is a good source of volunteerism with non-profits,” says Jeff.

While Jeff’s career kept him in Monroe, Jill’s moved her to Fort Worth, Texas. She began teaching in the Ouachita Parish School System in 1986. In 1990 she moved to Fort Worth to take a position teaching in an inner-city school where she taught until 1992. “Here I taught children who came from homes where drugs and drive-by shootings were common,” Jill explains. “It was the first time I realized why some children have such a difficult time in school. It isn’t because they can’t learn. It is because when a child is worried about their safety or where they will get their next meal, it’s difficult to think about reading a book or even realizing why that would be important.”

With this invaluable experience, Jill returned to Monroe and taught second grade and middle school math from 1992-1997. In 1997 she accepted a position at Lakeshore Elementary where she remained until becoming Director of Education for St. Paul’s United Methodist Church in 2001, a position she holds today. “Although I am no longer in a classroom setting, I still consider myself a teacher. I love ‘my’ children at St. Paul’s,” Jill says. “Teaching them and loving them is my absolute joy.  Today my focus is teaching children about kindness and forgiveness, and above all to love God and love their neighbor.”

While both were busy building their careers, how could they possibly find time for love? An introduction planned by Jill’s brother to take place at the Monroe Brookshire’s parking lot in December 1993 answered that question. Jill’s brother Paul and Jeff were both in the Kiwanis Club of Monroe. The club was collecting canned goods for the Kiwanis Christmas food drive in the parking lot and Paul took his sister there to help. Jeff was supposed to work but had other plans. Paul convinced him to come help out. “As I recall, Jeff and I were positioned closely and talked the whole time,” says Jill. “A few days later Jeff called and asked me out. Paul later told me that he wanted to introduce me to Jeff at the perfect time because he hoped we would ‘hit it off’!”

And they certainly did “hit it off!” They had their first date in January 1994, became engaged on Christmas Day 1994, and married in April 1995. Their daughter, Emily, was born in 1997 and has since graduated from Louisiana Tech in accounting. She and her husband, Beau Hughes, have presented Jeff and Jill with two grandchildren – Joey Marie (20 months) and Joseph Benaiah (1 month).

Dreams for the Future
Jeff and Jill share dreams for their future. Both hope to retire (Jeff, within 5 years; Jill, within 10), to have good health, to spend time with their grandchildren, to do some traveling (an Alaskan cruise is at the top of their bucket list), to do volunteer work, and to just loaf. For Jeff, that “loafing” may very well include his favorite hobbies – baking bread and working in the yard. For Jill, it will include running with friends, quilting, and needlepoint.

These two not only love each other, they admire and respect each other. Both see giving back through volunteering as essential for both the community and the individual volunteer. Jill explains, “Through volunteering we are able to know things we would otherwise not know, and to help people who may otherwise not get the help they need. There is great need in our community. Volunteering requires our time, but there is so much to be gained when we help others.”

Jeff doesn’t hesitate to credit Jill with having shaped his life more than any other person or activity. Through her, Jeff learned the joy that comes from church work. “Volunteering has greatly shaped who I am,” Jeff explains, “but volunteering for the church has, too. Teaching Sunday school and other Bible studies have enriched my life.”