Julie Barton:
CLASS OF 1983
Kirkwood High SchoolClass of 1983
Kirkwood, MO
Univerity of Missouri - ColumbiaClass of 1987
Columbia, MO
Nipher Middle SchoolClass of 1979
Kirkwood, MO
Henry Hough Elementary SchoolClass of 1976
Kirkwood, MO
Julie's Story
Life
I moved from St. Louis, MO to Fort Worth, Texas in Sept. of 1996. The move was to assist my church in the growth of a sister church in Ft. Worth.
In 1997, although I wasn't looking, I met the man who would later become my husband. (He is originally from upstate NY!) We dated for 10 months, were engaged for 4 months, and on 11/07/98 we were married. At that time I moved to Dallas where he was living to start our life together.
We lived in Dallas, Frisco, and Little Elm Texas over the course of the next 6 years.
In May 2003 two major milestones occured in my life.
First, a long time dream of mine was realized: a book of my original poetry was published, entitled TO CATCH A UNICORN.
Second, on 05/31/03 I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl!
She is the first grandchild on both sides of our family and a joy to us who continues to keep us on our toes!
In July 2004 we moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for my husband to accept a job. We are hoping to put down roots here and raise our family. It is also closer to the grandparents in St. Louis!
College
I attended the University of Missouri, Columbia 1983 -1987.
Although I entered college to get a degree in Physical Therapy, that didn't work out. The BS degree I received was in Parks & Recreation, my major was Leisure Service Mgmt.
Workplace
My work career has taken some unexpected turns to say the least.
Although my degree was in Leisure Service Mgmt. when I graduated in 1987 and for the following two years, I was unable to find a job in my field. I worked for a local business school for awhile traveling within a three hour radius of St. Louis giving presentations on the courses the school offered, resume writing skills, and professional dress for interviewing. The income in that position wasn't constant so I got a temp. job (through the help of a friend)with a medium size manufacturing company called Benjamin Ansehl. (no longer in business). I worked as a Human Resources Assistant and was hired on full time shortly thereafter. I worked there for four years with increasing responsibility until I decided to move to Fort Worth, TX in 1996.
Upon arrival in Texas, I spent a month looking for work. I held two jobs....Expand for more
One a part-time job at Foot Action (an athletic shoe store, similiar to Foot Locker)and a temp. job for Bank One as an Administrative Assistant on a project team. I'm not much of a sales person. So I was grateful after 6 months working two jobs to be hired full time at the bank. During my time at the bank I held three different Adm. positions; working on two project teams and then for the Coordinatior of the Training Department.
I continued to work for the bank after I was married and living in Dallas in 1998. However the 2 hour round trip commute each day finally took its toll. I then worked in Dallas for Perot Systems (yes, a company started by Ross Perot, and is now run by his son). After working there for two years I was affected by a company wide lay off and was unemployed for three months.
With the help of another friend (do you see a pattern here?) I secured a job as an Administrative Assistant for the SVP of Development at Blockbuster, Inc. (yep, the movie rental company). Since this team primarily focused on the real estate aspect of the company (securing the land, building the stores, etc.) I was in new territory job wise. It turned out to be the best job of my carrer though. I had the most professional, understanding, and great to work for boss; an excellent team of employees and Adm. staff to work with, and a much closer commute to work (20-30 min. drive, one way).
During my 2 1/2 years at Blockbuster, I joined a Toastmasters club which met on site during lunch, participated as a member of a professional organization for Adm. Assts. called IAAP, and helped out in a company supported group called Spotlights that provided fun, educational, and moral boosting activities to the Blockbuster employees.
It was hard to leave Blockbuster in 2004 when our family was faced with the decision to move to Iowa for my husband to accept a job. (My husband had been unemployed for a year and unable to find work in Dallas in the IT field). Also, this move would provide the opportunity for me to stay home with our daughter (a deep desire of mine) so we felt it was the right move to make. We moved to Cedar Rapids, Iowa in July 2004. Now my full time job is raising our daughter!
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