Barbara Rogers:
CLASS OF 1964
Malden High SchoolClass of 1964
Malden, IL
Barbara's Story
OK, so I'm a little late having grandkids, almost 63, How'd that happen so fast? We have two little boys, a beautiful little girl and another baby girl due in May. Think I'll retire in a year or so. I've been a critical care nurse, now working a medical cardiology unit for years and years and am about ready to give up 12 hour days. Did the traveling, hiking, canoe trips, etc. and now am ready for Hotels. After 26 years of being married to an Engineer at Ford up here in the Detroit suburbs, I was divorced and had a very interesting year and a half of being single. I've been married to Dan for 12 years now-he manages the Marketing Dept. of a bank. He'll probably keep working awhile if the bank doesn't have major problems (this is 2009-not a great time for financial institutions). It's still OK, though. We can both get lots of long weekends off. Years ago, when I went to the Malden Methodist church, I never dreamed I'd marry someone that had spent 8 years in a Seminary studying to be priest. I thought all you Catholics were the ones that smoked, drank a little beer as teenagers, rolled your cigarettes packs in your tee shirt sleeves and wore your pants so low your butt crack showed. But I know now I was pretty boring. But it kept me on track to get through school and kept the parents happy. And I'm sure all of us changed when we got away from Malden. Anyway, back to Dan, he was married to his first wife for 17 years and had 3 kids by the time I got to know him and is quite normal. I thought we'd at least have some really interesting theological discussions, but he could care less.. His Seminary class reunions are interesting, only 3 or 4 didn't bail out and they have surprising stories to tell of priest training. I have one son, Brad, now 30 years old. Some things about him have me wondering if there are no coincidences. He is an amazing violin/fiddle player, and started playing with adults when he was 8 years old. One of them was the person he wrote about for school essays as the person he admired most. He still plays music gigs with him (Glen), Glen turned out to the first boss of the my cousin Carol and Roger's son when he moved up here to Michigan after college. Another one, Brad's first music teacher at age 3 in Montessori school whom he talke...Expand for more
d about a lot and just loved is now his Mother-in-law. We didn't realize it for a long time. Another one, he regularly performs music in Ann Arbor who I knew and admired as 16 year old in Champaign-Urbana for her ability to play music and hang around with people twice her age. She was part of the reason he got started in music lessons and I don't think she ever saw him until he was out of high school. His 2nd most admired person as a child was a math prof. at Mich. State in Lansing. Now he plays and records Scandinavian music with and performs at various events. One for me, my husband Dan spent the summer with his Dad in Hollywood, Florida in 1956, and in 1956 we took took a trip down there. Possibly I was on the beach the same day he was. My Mom and Dad, to my embarrassment, showed slides of that trip at a Community Club meeting at the grade school. Small town, when someone's vacation picture get shown for an event like that. Any of you remember Johnnie and LaVerne from Johnson's store. Mom just died last fall at age 93, was making waffles for me when I visited almost until the very end. Dad's been gone a long time. My brother, Rich, is sort of retired, still works some as Nuclear Physics, PHD type, lives in Joliet with 2 recently married sons. They live in Chicago and love the city. I, myself, actually did a couple of interesting things. Went to white water canoe school and went Denmark doing some American traditional dancing as part of a group. Our performances paid for most of the trip. OK, sounds better than if I'd tell you that all I really want to do on vacation is go to Vegas and see shows, eat and play slot machines and black jack. Dan's cousin taught me all the table games and we go out pretty often-but it's time to be Grandparents now--the oldest is 3. Soon we'll do Disney World and museums again. Maybe a cruise. The 5 or 10 pound one. At least in Vegas we walk a lot and go out in the dessert or up in the mountains. His family in Colorado wants us to come out, too again. And we'll do the wine country in Sonoma again, drive and sample, drive and sample. That's not much healthy exercise either. But sure is fun. At one time it was hard to believe there was life after high school, wasn't it. Sure hope there's life after retirement.
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