Bios A-B (4)

 Here is my stab at trying to give a Bio of my last 40 years since I left you little darlings.. It started right after my Mom figured out that I actually graduated from High School. It was that blasted announcement I think that tipped her off. Anyway my Mom asked me to get in the car, and said, I am taking you to apply for a federal government job at the census bureau. I was hired as a clerk typist working in a classified communication center for 6 years. I transferred to another communications center in Marlow Heights and worked there for about a year. I was off again to another federal location in Washington D.C. and was there for about a year and transferred to another location in Arlington, Va. You have to move around in the Federal government to gain promotions. I finally departed Arlington and transferred to California where I worked for the United States Marine Corps for 28 years. My transfer to California was due to my Aunt asking me to come out and take a look around and see if I would like to be planted here for a season. That was in 1983 and I am still in California today. I just recently retired on my Mom’s birthday in honor of her, and received a letter of appreciation signed by the President of the United States for my 39 ½ years of service to our country. My how time flies..
I was married in 1985 and we agreed to divorce after 10 years in lieu of one of us ending up in prison. : ) It was a journey moving into another persons life that had 3 children from a previous marriage. This was my first marriage and at the time it seemed that love would work out any issues but I found out that was not always the case. Thanks be to God that forgiveness releases the bitterness that can sometimes follow divorce. There is no blame because that doesn’t accomplish the healing. I am thankful for the journey and the wisdom it offered me.
I simply love animals and have had them in my life since I can remember. The last dog I had died 15 minutes after surgery. I have learned that these wonderful creatures need compassionate people to help them due to the over population of animals. I plan to travel a bit and visit family before I adopt another animal.. Right now I am helping out friends and watching their animals as circumstances happen in their lives and they need some assistance with their animals.
Now that I am retired I am working around my house and focus on enjoying what God has given to me and being thankful for his grace and mercy.

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I attended PGCC after graduating from SSH.   I worked on campus while I was at PGC .  During a bowling class in spring of 1973, I got reacquainted with Jim Muir, a friend of a long-time friend of mine.  We dated for over a year and I was pregnant with our daughter Nancy by the time we graduated in May 1974.  We parted ways by graduation, but that was not the end of our story.

I worked in the Financial Aid Office at PGCC for 2 years after gradution.  I was stll attending First Baptist Church in Suitland and met my now ex-husband (Chuck) there.  We were married in December 1975.  He was discharged from the Army in May 1976 and we moved to his hometown, Osage City, KS.  Talk about culture shock!  This was small town USA!  I went back to college that fall at Emporia State University in Emporia,KS and Chuck went back to work with the Santa Fe Railroad.  We moved to Emporia and bought our first house in May 1977.  I graduated with a BS in Elementary Education but never taught school.  We became foster parents August 1980 and had 54 children through our home over the next 10 years. The longest one was our oldest son, Randy, now 42.  Randy came to us as a failure to thrive baby when he was 16 months old.  Randy has several mental illnesses that have required hospitalizations, counseling and medications.  Life continues to be a struggle for him.  He has 2 children with his ex-wife, Jaxon 15 and Zoie 13.  He also has 2 children with his former girlfriend, Aiden 7 and Charles 5.

We moved to an even smaller town, Perry, KS, population 700 including the area farmers in January 1984.  We bought an old house and reworked it from top to bottom.  We applied to adopt another child as soon as Randy's adoption was finalized.  Our youngest son Bobby,now 38, came to us at 7 weeks old.  Bobby joined the Army Reserve during his junior year in high school.  He did basic training that summer and trained as a field medic after high school graduation.  He now owns his own business that keeps him pretty busy.  He has taken several trips to the Phillipines and recently to Thailand.  He has already booked another trip to Thailand in February 2023 with a couple of friends going with him this time.

We continued to do foster care and moved to our 'big house in the little woods' outside Perry in 1989.  Chuck took a buyout from the railroad and started driving a truck for JB Hunt a couple months later.  We were divorced in 2005. He drove for them until he was diagnosed with cancer in 2016.  He died later that fall.

I lived in the same apartment in Topeka, KS for 8 years after my divorce.  I started working for Blue Cross Blue Shield of KS in 2002 and retired on disability in 2015.  I moved to Lawrence, KS, in 2017 and have been in the same apartment for 5 years.

Back to our daughter, Nancy.  She is the mother of our 25 year old granddaughter, Kelda.  Nancy had been looking for her father off and on since Kelda was born. In March 2007, Nancy was on her lunch break at work and typed Jim's name in on her computer and all of his information came up.  All of us met that summer for Kelda's 10th birthday.  Jim and I have been discussing marriage since then.  Having both been married and divorced, we want to get it right this time.  Nothing has been decided yet.  Check back for updates.  Jim will be accompanying me to the reunion and also the Friday night event.

I look forward to seeing old friends and making new ones at our 50-year class reunion.

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Here’s a brief synopsis of my life over the last 40 years. After high school I attended the University of Maryland, graduated with a degree in Accounting and have spent most of my career in the accounting/auditing field. I worked for six years in Baltimore at two bottling facilities for Seagrams, (and learned how to drink in the meanwhile!). I dated Gary McCorkle (Class of ’73) my senior year in high school, and throughout college. Two years after college we married, but divorced after four years. When we separated in 1982, I moved to Rochester, NY, and worked for Eastman Kodak for twelve years in various accounting/auditing/sales positions. My four-year stint in sales took me to Akron, OH, North Brunswick, NJ, and back to Rochester, NY, where I transferred to Internal Auditing and earned my CPA. During this time I met my second husband, Jackson Collins, and in 1985 we married. In 1994 a job promotion for Jackson took us to Atlanta, GA where we lived for fifteen years and raised our family of two sons and one daughter. I continued to work and settled into a life of dance and music lessons, baseball, basketball, volleyball, track, orchestra, drama club, PTA president and Booster Club president. I worked hard, but reveled in everything my children did. Jackson, Jr (34) graduated from Amherst College and Columbia University, worked on Wall Street for a while, switched careers and is now a Dean of Students at a school outside of Philadelphia, and has started a non-profit organization - Nine Nickels, Inc. Coleman (25), earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from VT in Blacksburg, VA, and now plays basketball in Europe. He spends time gallivanting around the world and is now in Uruguay visiting a friend from high school. Morgan (23) graduated from UF in Political Science and International Studies, decided her real passion was the film industry and is now in NYC honing her skills as a production assistant for a reality TV program. I love them all dearly!!

In 2006, after a long battle with lung cancer, Jackson passed away. After 20 years of marriage, and living as a couple, I started my life as a single woman. It was an odd time in my life, for I realized that for the first time in my adult life, I was not part of a couple. While daunting at first, I must say it has been an interesting ride. Dating in the new millennium is not for the faint of heart, especially for someone over the age of 50! I’m taking time to get to know me, and what I truly like to do. This includes dance lessons (Salsa & Chicago step (still need a few more lessons – lol!!)), exercise, theater, concerts and school (earned my MBA this past May).

Lastly, I took advantage of an opportunity for a job transfer and relocated to Augusta, GA in 2009, where I’m part of a team working on the first new nuclear plant in the U.S. in over 30 years. I’ve also joined two civic organizations and stay busy with community service. Retirement is not in my thought process currently, though if I won the lottery I would definitely find something to do other than work, lol…Right now, I must say, all in all, life is still good…(that's my story and I'm sticking to it.)

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Bio For Claudia Butler McCants

I never imagined anybody would remember me...I was shy and didn't live near school, so after graduation, I basically went my own way. I worked as a secretary until 1978; I was a travel consultant for several years; then I spent 15 years as an assistant to a busy entrepreneur, working throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. I have lived in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and moved to Jacksonville, Florida, when I got married in 1992. A year later we had our son, Christopher, who is now a college graduate. I am an author and I also do freelance editing from time to time. I have written two novels and contributed to Chicken Soup for the Soul: Hope & Miracles. Two more books (one fiction, one non-fiction) will be published this year (2015). To learn more about me, I have a web site at: www.claudiamccants.net .