Bios M-N (8)

 Within a week of graduation, I began working downtown at the Maritime Administration, Department of Commerce. The commute and carpooling got the better of me, so I applied for and got a job in Suitland at the Naval Intelligence Support Command and a few years later at the Naval Oceanographic Office. My husband, Gary, was a sailor and we began dating - when he was not out to sea. NAVOCEANO moved to Bay St. Louis, MS, Gary was transferred, and I decided to relocate. In 1978, we got married. After serving six years, Gary got out of the Navy in 1979, we took an across country trip (with a cat and dog) in our travel trailer, and moved to Maine (via Texas- Colorado-Canada) to where Gary grew up and his family lives. I worked at the Central Maine Medical Center as an EKG technician. Our son, Christopher was born there in 1981. We learned he was deaf, we lost our health insurance, Gary rejoined the Navy and was sent to Augusta, GA, for training for 6 months. We then moved to Chesapeake, VA where we lived for ten years. I was a stay at home mom for a few years and then took a part time job as a floral designer. We decided to become foster parents while in VA and welcomed 13 children into our home (not all at the same time!). In 1994, we moved to St. Augustine, FL, to enroll Chris at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind. I began working at the school in 1995, Gary retired from the Navy in 1996, Chris graduated high school in 1999, and college in 2004. Our first foster daughter, Elisha, is now living in St. Augustine with her husband and our two grandchildren. I’ve lived in 6 different states and have visited another 23.

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    Attended PGCC in 73 and 74. Took off one year and worked for census bureau. Also Took a few classes at UM at college park. Finished BS degree at Univ of No Fl in Jacksonville and obtained MS degree there also. Moved to east Tx in 81 and have remained here. Married 25 years with 3 kids. Matt (24) a truck driver, Megan (23) math teacher and recently married and Michael (21) working for Chevron in Odessa Tx. Have worked for state of Texas for 26 years and will retire soon. Hubby, keith is part owner of small industrial insulation company. We raised kids, now raising livestock and living the good life. Have a 6 year old grandchild that came with megan's husband and one day should have more. Will have to wait for 50th reunion to see you all.

                                                                                          Update 2022

  I left SHS and enrolled at PGCC to earn my AA degree. I then took a job at the Census Bureau and enrolled in a few classes at Univ Maryland until I moved to Jacksonville FL to finish my BS and MS at the Univ of North Fla. I married in 1981 and moved to Texas. After divorcing my ex, I remained in Texas and worked in social services while trying to sell my Texas home. Instead I found my soul mate, re married in 1986 and raised 3 children in rural East Texas. I retired in 2016 after working in social services for 30 years for the state of Texas (adult and child protective services and investigations and licensing of child care). Keith and I have 3 children, and 4grandchildren. We also have cows, chickens and a diva horse to care for on our 10 acres in Gregg County. Keith continues to work as a project manager in industrial insulation. Life is good.

Picture pending.

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I’m going to keep this brief….
I got married in 1975, hubby died from cancer in 2020.  We have 3 adult kids, 4 grand kids and a daughter and son in law.  We raised our kids in Charlotte Hall, MD.   And then we retired to Bridgeville, DE in 2014, where I still live.

After high school, I went to PGCC for 2 years. I quit, got married and had 3 kids.  I went back to UMCP and graduated with a degree in Accounting in 1990.  I then passed the CPA exam and worked at Beretta Corp, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, ATF, Dept of Treasury.  I retired from Dept of Transportation.    (I wanted the health insurance when I retired). 

I have spent many hours boating, fishing and crabbing on the Chesapeake Bay.  Lately I have taken up golf.  I’m an avid reader and love to garden.

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Wow, it’s hard to believe it has been 40 years since graduation.  Where has the time gone???  It’s been fun reading up on everyone’s activities since graduation and memories of those high school years.  For me, however, it seems like a big loss of time.  I grew up in Forestville and attended Mt. Calvary Catholic School for eight years and then one year at LaReine Catholic High School before transferring to Suitland in the 10^th grade.   I didn’t have much of a high school experience as I came from a large family and my parents made all of us get jobs when we were in high school.  Started out babysitting and then worked part-time for Giant Food at several stores in PG County during 10^th, 11^th, and 12^th grades.  My senior year I only attended school to complete the two classes I needed to graduate and worked the rest of the day.  Never attended a dance, prom, football or any other event at Suitland during my high school years.  Pretty sad if you ask me!  One thing I remember from my high school years is my dad telling all of his daughters (and there were 5 of us) that we needed to learn how to type and we’d always be able to get a job.  Haha, how true this was!  After graduation, college was not an option so I began working full-time for Giant Food and again worked at various stores.  Three years after graduation I went to work for the Federal government as a Clerk-Typist and proceeded to build a career of 34.5 years working in the Human Resources field.  I retired in July 2009 at the age of 55 and have not looked back!  I ended my career serving as the Director of Recruitment for an agency in USDA.  I married at the age of 23 had a daughter and divorced a year and a half later.  My daughter was the best thing going for me at that time!  I remained a single parent for 13 years and met my husband and his daughter at the local bowling alley.  We have been married for 20 years this year.  Both girls graduated from Calvert High School in Prince Frederick, MD.  My daughter completed her Bachelor’s Degree from St. Mary’s College of Maryland and now works full-time for the Environmental Protection Agency in DC and lives in Owings, MD.  My husband’s daughter lives in Sterling, VA, works as a bartender and has given us a wonderful granddaughter, Lily, who is two and a half.  Both girls are happily married.  Hopefully a few more grandkids will come our way!  We have lived in Calvert County, Maryland our entire married life, building a home in Huntingtown, MD before moving to a downsized home in Lusby, MD, on the St. Leonard Creek.  We love living on the water where we can catch our own crabs and watch the boats go by.  We love to cruise and will be doing our first sixteen day transatlantic cruise from Rome, Italy to Galveston, TX this November.  Can’t wait!  Now that I am retired, I spend my days piddling around the house.  I love to read, crochet, and scrapbook.  I keep active and get my exercise in by participating in deep water aerobics and walking.  Needless to say, since hubby and I met in a bowling alley, we still love bowling.  We have traveled all over the U.S. participating in bowling tournaments and I actually had the fun of running in to Carol Davis Kirkland at a bowling tournament one year when she was with some folks I knew from Waldorf.  That’s about it.  I won’t be attending the reunion, but I sure hope all of you have a terrific time!  Can’t wait to hear all about it afterwards.

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Forty years!! Where has time gone? Upon graduation, I went to Longwood College- after one semester I could not take the unfriendliness, the bugs and the distance from home. So back home I came, and enrolled at PGCC for a semester before heading off to the University of Maryland, College Park. Here I stayed for three years finishing with a degree in Animal Science. Veterinary schools were tough to get into as a female. During my last semester at UMCP, I began to volunteer at the local fire department to utilize the EMT certificate I earned in my spare time. Here is where I met my husband, Robert Faulkner. When I graduated in August of 1976 I took a job with an accounting firm. In April of 1977, we decided to move to Virginia Beach. For the next thirty years we always ended back in Virginia Beach. In December 1978, we decided on a Sunday to get married on Thursday. This year will be 34 years!! During this time we were blessed with four children, Ashley born in 1981 lives in California. She graduated from VCU with a degree in forensic biology and anthropology. She is not utilizing her degree and working as manager in a large hotel. She is hoping to return to school and earn a master’s degree in dietetics. Next is Anthony, born in 1984 who graduated from VA Tech with a degree in International politics. He has been living in Japan the last six years teaching English to kindergarteners!! Number three is Abby who came in 1992. She is currently a sophomore at the University of South Carolina as a pre-pharmacy major. Finally is Aimee who came in 1995. She will be a high school senior. Her plan is to be music major as she is quite an accomplished pianist. I have one grandchild- Ashley’s daughter Lux who is five!
What have I been doing besides being a Mom? Upon moving to Virginia Beach I knew that sitting behind a desk was not for me. I was substitute teaching and waiting tables when I was asked to take over for a teacher who had become very ill. To this day I still teach- high school math. For a while it was both math and science but now just math. I have taught inner city, middle school, junior high, high school, community college, public, private and alternative. I earned my Masters in Education from The George Washington University. In the fall of 2013, I will be starting in a doctoral program. It has been on my bucket list, started several times but this time, I will not be trying to do this with kids and their schedules. I have always tutored part time in math. It always seems someone needs help in math.
Five years ago my husband and I started a part time business operating our own food trailer. After almost two years we decided it was very difficult for us to do both of our full times jobs and the part time job well so we parked the trailer. Last summer we finally were able to bid and acquire the ability to run the pool concessions for one of the pools in our community. This summer we have two pools and the catering business is growing. It is a joy to run your own business!
We have traveled to many of the 50 states with a trip six years ago to Alaska. We spent three days in Seattle which we loved and then a seven day cruise on the inside passage. My husband and Abby took a helicopter ride to the glacier and I biked with Aimee it Sitka. It was truly a very special vacation. We are avid cruisers going to most of islands in the Caribbean over the last 10 years. Our favorites are Grand Cayman and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
We have lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Manassas, Virginia, Boston, Massachusetts, Augusta, Georgia, Columbia, Maryland, and now Frederick, Maryland. Throughout all of the moves, I have stayed in touch with Lorraine Duffy- we get together as often as schedules can!

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I finally found time to tell what I've been doing for the last 40 Years. After I left high school, I worked for a year for Giant Food and AAFES. I then joined the Air Force in June of '73 to get away from Wash D.C. After Basic training I went to electronics school in Beloxi Miss graduating in '74. My first work assignment was at Andrews AFB back in Wash. D.C. My next assignment was in London England for 2 years. While I was there I travelled throughout Europe twice. I left England and the Air force in June of '77 and went back to Wash. D. C. making it the 4th time I lived in the Washington area. I went to work for an electronic communication company called Pulsecom in Northern Virginia for a little over a year. I then moved to Austin Texas due to the large electronic market and also went to college here finishing my AS degree in electronic technology. When I first moved to Austin I installed Sound equipment, telephone systems, and intercom systems. I then worked as a bench technician for 5 years before moving on to field service. I worked as a field service engineer for Weigh Systems and then for Eaton Corp. I have been to every state except Michigan and North Dakota. I went to Taiwan in '88 for Eaton to help iwth an installation of Photo Lithography equipment. I got married in March of '91 and have a daughter who was born in Oct. '91. I left Eaton in '92 and went to work for my customer which was Motorola Semiconductor which is now Freescale Semiconductor, where I am still working as a Senior Maintenance Technician. My daughter is now in college at Texas Tech University finishing up her second year.

Picture pending

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 Life after Suitland High
After graduating from Suitland High, I went to Prince George’s Community College part-time for two years. During these two years, my father helped me get a job on Capitol Hill (a part-time position as an Elevator Operator for the Senators). The office needed a sub for their secretary who was injured in an auto accident and from there life on Capitol Hill began. I had 26 years under the Architect of the Capitol and 4 years under the United States Senate Sergeant at Arms. My last position I held was a Facilities Manager for the Senate side of the Capitol.
Then there was marriage during these years, three times. Yeah I know but Liz Taylor had a few up on me. My second husband passed away at 40 years of age. From each husband I have a son, 19 – Paul, 27 – Jeremy and 33- Kris.
I lived in Maryland all my life, until a phone call from Randy Pritchett arrived and then I took my youngest and moved to Florida. I have lived in Florida for almost 7 years and now have a part-time position as an Administrative Assistant at a chiropractic office.

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After college I worked as a litigation paralegal at law firms in Washington, DC and Boston. For the past 28 years I have lived in southern New Hampshire with my husband Bob, a software development director at Oracle. I took time off work to raise our two children and now work for a land development/property management company. We love our proximity to the ocean, mountains and Boston. In our free time we enjoy boating, biking and skiing and have travelled throughout North America and Europe. I have fond memories of Suitland High and the close friendships I made as a band member.