My life since high school can be summarized in twos—two colleges, two husbands, two children, two coasts and two careers.
Thanks to George Meloy (long story), I attended the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, graduating with a B.A. in Biology. I married another COW grad and moved to Tampa, Florida with my schoolteacher husband. Eric was born the following year, and I began training as a medical technologist a year or two later. When Eric was five, we moved for his health to Southern California, where I worked as a medical technologist in a large hospital, then for a company. Megan was born in 1978 and I transitioned into a specialization in clinical toxicology, with more management responsibilities. I moved from San Diego to Orange County, California, in the early 80s for a new job and during a divorce.
In 1986 I married Lee, a fellow member of the California Association of Toxicologists Board. In 1990, I went back to school at the University of California, Irvine, garnering two advanced degrees in the next 9 years. In 2002, I started work at my grad school alma mater, working in corporate relations between industry and academia. In 2007, we moved to Riverside for a new job opportunity at UC Riverside. After 5 years there, I retired from my UC career on a Friday, and on the following Monday Lee and I took off for Alaska on a 3 ½ month RV trip. We went across the U.S. in the RV the following year, then he was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer. While fighting the disease with chemo, diet, second opinions, and attempts at clinical trials, we moved back to our house in San Juan Capistrano. Lee died just before Christmas in 2014.
The kids and their families live close by. Eric, who works as a V.P. for State Street, lives in Lake Forest, 20 minutes away. He and Alicia have five children, ranging in age from 10 to 20. The eldest attends Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah; the 18-year-old twins are two of their high school’s most recognized students; Brandon is the star athlete in the family; and Evan is the present and future engineer who takes math classes on Saturday mornings for fun. Daughter Megan and Scott, a former Marine now studying to be a teacher, live in Temecula about an hour away with their daughter, Hannah. Megan, an R.N. specializing in post-operative care, commutes to the largest hospital in San Diego. Hannah is a 5th grader active in dance, music and club soccer.
My hobbies include stitchery of several kinds, including knitting and quilting. I’m a bookworm, belong to several local groups, including a “KnitLit” book group. I volunteer at our community center, for the Literacy Council, and elsewhere, and love to walk the beaches and hills around home. I’ve always loved traveling and have a number of trips planned for 2016, including a graduation celebration with my twin grandsons to Costa Rica, and a cruise to Scandinavia and Russia (Lee’s father’s birthplace) with a widow friend. Two reunions are also in my trip plans next year, one to Maine for a college friend reunion, and the other to Portland for the Schutz Reunion. Hope to see you there!
Susan, what a delight to learn something about your pathways and experiences, as well as abundant progeny. Such details would take years of conversation to surface, as our opportunities to visit are so constrained by distance and time. Thank you for sharing.