Linda and Walter &uot;Don&uot; Wiley of Ferriday are enjoying grandparenthood.

With two children and four grandchildren, the Wileys enjoy frequent visits from their grandchildren.

&uot;Our grandchildren are rotten as dirt and we do everything in our power to make sure they stay that way,&uot; Linda Wiley said with a laugh.

She works as Medical Records and Central Supply Clerk at Heritage Manor Health and Rehabilitation Center in Ferriday.

&uot;We have a man at the facility who just turned 100 years old,&uot; she said. &uot;He smokes two cigars a day.&uot;

Wiley said some of the man’s family was concerned that his cigars were bad for him, she said.

&uot;He’s 100 years old and his mind is sharp as a tack,&uot; she said. &uot;If he wants his two cigars, I’m going to get him his two cigars.&uot;

Sunday evening, Linda Wiley was preparing to go to Ridgecrest Baptist Church to teach Sunday School to a class of first and second graders.

&uot;Sometimes I’m not sure if I’m teaching them or they’re teaching me,&uot; she said.

Don Wiley is a corrections officer at the Concordia Correctional Facility on U.S. 15. He is also a retired drill sergeant and Vietnam veteran.

He says all the hype about drill sergeants being tough as nails isn’t necessarily true.

&uot;We’re human like anybody else,&uot; Wiley said. &uot;We can be tough or mellow according to the situation.&uot;

Originally from Eldorado, Kan., Don Wiley settled in Louisiana following the Vietnam War when he was assigned to duty in Baton Rouge. Once he retired from the military, he started his own dental lab making dental appliances.

After 20 years in the dental lab, Wiley went to work for the Concordia Correctional Facility.