It’s been quite a journey, hasn’t it? I still have fond memories of growing up in Palo Alto. It wasn’t until many years later that I realized how lucky I was to grow up in such a safe neighborhood with excellent schools.

My family moved from Bethesda, Maryland to Palo Alto in 1953. We lived on Hilbar Lane in Palo Alto, along with Marcia Porter and Richard Preston.  After high school, it was off to U.C. Davis with a major in English, and then a fifth year there to earn my elementary teaching credential. Finding a teaching job in 1971 was not easy, and I was lousy at the interview process. But finally, in October, a small school in East Nicolaus (north of Sacramento) needed to hire another teacher due to overcrowded classrooms. I was the only one who had written a thank you note for the interview, and because of that note, I was hired. I signed a contract for the princely annual salary of $6,700. Renting an apartment back then was $100 a month. Needing transportation, I bought my first car, a Chevy Vega for $1,999.

In 1986, I managed to buy a house in Woodland with the help of a fellow teacher. He wanted an investment and I wanted a place to live. After five years, I bought him out. It was an amazing feeling owning my own property for the first time.

After twenty-seven years at Marcum-Illinois Elementary School teaching first, second and third grades, it was time for a change. I sold my home and moved into the family beach house in Rio Del Mar. My mom, a widow since 1962, had retired from real estate, selling our family home in Palo Alto for $500,000.  (At the time, we thought that was a huge sum of money.) She moved into the Sequoias, a retirement community in Portola Valley, where she met Crayton Thorup, a retired science teacher who had taught at Jordan. He was a great guy. I’m only sorry I never had him for a teacher.

That first year in Rio Del Mar I worked for CTAP in San Jose, an outreach program that supported technology in schools. It was eye opening to see how the upper echelons lived, with air conditioning, carpets, dozens of copy machines, unlimited resources and even a cafeteria on site. Things many schools lacked.

A year later I got a teaching job in Watsonville at Hall District Elementary, teaching first grade students. Eight years later, the school offered an early retirement incentive, which I took, but then continued to teach in the school’s afterschool program for another five years. All in all, I taught in the public school system for 40 years. It was a great career.

My personal life has had its ups and downs. I’ve had wonderful, long-term relationships with two men. Dexter was a teacher in Yuba City. Sadly, he died a few months after his fortieth birthday. When I moved to Rio Del Mar, I met Don, an engineer with G.E.. One month after we celebrated his 60th birthday, he died suddenly of cardiac arrest. 

So, where am I now? My teacher’s pension has allowed me to live a comfortable life. I love living in Rio Del Mar, a short walk to the beach and Monterey Bay. Being around water, and nature, hearing the waves at night, listening to the birds in the morning… I couldn’t ask for a better place to be. I live on a quiet street … we all know each other and support each other. Every day I go walking with the same group of friends.

Recently, a dog came into my life. I had been trying to adopt for a year now, but because of my age, rescue sites kept turning me down. Two months ago, my neighbor lost his mother, leaving her dog without a home. I was asked if would take the dog in and I happily agreed. Woody is an eight year old chihuahua/pug mix and he’s a sweetheart.

I’ve enjoyed traveling and still hope to do more. Europe, New Zealand, Tahiti, Western Samoa, Canada, and Mexico have all beckoned. I’ve been on many road trips across the United States, and have traveled Amtrak trains coast to coast too many times to count.

Guitar, ukulele, piano, photography, gardening, genealogy, and keeping in touch with friends are my interests now.

All and all, it’s been a good life.