Class of 1964
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Class of 1964 |
Virginia Smalling |
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| What are you doing these days? After almost 20 years as a deposition court reporter in San Francisco, I retired and my husband and I bought 2 1/2 acres of land in Oakhurst, CA, right near the southern entrance to Yosemite National Park. My oldest brother George came and built us our dream home. I have retired from court reporting but have opened a quilting business. I have a huge longarm quilting machine and I quilt quilts for other people, make quilts and quilted items for sale, and do custom quilts for clients. You can visit my website at http://www.quiltediris.com. I also love to travel and have traveled all over the world with my oldest son Gerald. Tell us about your children. I have three children. Gerald will be 33 next week and is a VP Project Manager for Wells Fargo Bank in San Francisco. He got a BS degree from San Jose State in Aerospace Engineering. Since he graduated right near the time of one of the explosions and there were no jobs in his field, he stayed with Wells Fargo, who he had been working for while in college. He loves what he is doing. He has bought property in the Oakland hills area and will be building a new home this year. He is not married. Kevin is my second son and he will be 30 in June. He lives in northern CA near the Oregon border and is a truck driver. He loves fishing, camping, hunting and being in the outdoors. He and Gerald are so opposite. Kevin has one son, my only grandchild, Colton, who just turned 5 on March 1. Colton comes and spends one to two weeks with us every summer. He loves to ride in the trailer behind the riding-lawnmower with Poppa. My baby is Katie. She will be 21 on May 4 - where oh where did the time go??? - and is a junior at University of CA Long Beach. She plans on being a pediatrics nurse. She is not married. All my children and grandson are happy, healthy and the light of my life. Highlights of the past 40 years. After graduation I attended College of the Sequoias and got an AA degree. Was married in 1968 and had two sons. Divorced in 1978. Attended court reporting school and got my license in 1983. Remarried in 1979 and had Katie in 1983. I received my BS degree in administrative sciences in 1993. Worked for almost 20 years as a deposition court reporter. Retired from that in 2001 and sold our home of 20+ years and moved into our new home in Oakhurst. We live on 2 1/2 acres in a wonderful and peaceful area with lots of oak trees, deer, squirrels and other animals. I love to quilt and read and travel. I have traveled extensively all over the world. In fact, I will have to miss the reunion as I will be leaving on April 31 for a 16 day trip to the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovac Republic, Austria and Poland. I will miss all of you and hope to see you all at the next reunion. Words of Wisdom to Impart? If you have a chance to be with one of your children, family or friends, take it and do it. Those are the things that are important. Your funniest memory(s)while at PSHS. Asking Mr. Sussman why I never got an A from him on my papers and him telling me that he weighs the papers and the heaviest ones get the A's; and putting lots of paper clips on my next paper and getting an A!!! General Unloading Done Here. Your choice of subject(s). The world seems to be in so much turmoil these days. I was so saddened by the events of 9/11. My son and I had been on a trip and had visited Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland that day and in the car riding back to our hotel kept hearing reference to New York on the radio. We couldn't understand anything else but New York. We were shocked when we got back to our hotel and saw the CNN coverage of the attack. The next day we visited the US Embassy and the whole front of the building was covered with flowers. So sad. Oh, to go back to the good 'ole days at PSHS where our only worry was making it to class on time. I love to listen to all the oldies but goodies from the '60s. I have met a couple of times with Bette Moore and Marle Jandreau from our class and keep in email contact with them. I also met with and had a great day with Polly Contreras (sp?) Smith in Hawaii while visiting there many years ago. |