Dallas Baker, left, and his daughter, Kathy McGough.

Kathy McGough and her father, Dallas Baker

Kathy has been her father's primary caregiver for many years. An only child since her brother passed away, Kathy has had a handful of struggles in caring for her 87-year-old father, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army, who currently resides in a Tyler assisted living home with his wife, Charlotte. Over the past five years, Kathy said her father, a 1939 graduate of Nacogdoches High School, has attempted to live independently at his Nacogdoches home for months at a time, while his wife remains at their apartment in Tyler to be near her son. Kathy, a LASIK refractive surgery coordinator at Lehmann Eye Center, works both days and nights, and, during her father's long visits, dealt with everything from late night phone calls to problems at the doctor's office.