Barbara Anderson:
CLASS OF 1966
Bridgewater-Raritan High SchoolClass of 1966
Bridgewater, NJ
University of WisconsinClass of 1970
Madison, WI
Barbara's Story
Life
I spent 20 yrs in Asia (Taiwan, Hong Kong and China) where I divorced my first husband and married my second (a HK Chinese American citizen). We had Kristof (25) Katrina (22). In 1995, I took the two kids and moved to San Diego. Kristof was offered 80 full rides (3.8 GPA, baseball/football). He's completed the U of Redlands but is sorry he didn't take some of the D1 offers from the East Coast. Katrina graduated from high school in 3 yrs, Valedictorian, Presidential Scholar, #1 in the State in Hip Hop, etc. She did a 4 yr course in only 2.5 yrs at Fashion Insititute of Design and Merchandising. At 20 , 5-7 of her denim boys jeans have been chosen to be sold in Walmart. She also had a full page in Vibe magazine. Kat is only 5'2 with dark hair down to her waist - she looks Polynesian or Hawaiian. Kris, looks Mexican! Here I thought I'd have 2 blondies! I met a wonderful man, and figured okay 3 is the charm - after 6 yrs - wrong! Domestic Violence again! I had gone through the 2003 fires in SD and decided after evacuating 5 times alone (me n the dogs), I needed to be in LA with my boyfriend and my kids, but I had entered "his cave". My kids had basically grown up with him as their father figure (he is a coach, MS in Sports Medicine, etc etc). Since they are both jocks, he was He-Man to them. Katrina witnessed the domestic violence so bye bye.I got in my car and drove inland between LA and San Diego. I walked into a real estate office and said I need a house that can close in 2 weeks and thus I am where I am! I thought I had finally found my peace - only to discover the neighbor on one side is into poisoning animals and the other side n most of the street is into drugs/alcohol! My Boxer Jade was poisoned so we added Jake (now a 2 yr old male Boxer). We also have Black Pug Max (5) n Foxie (5) who is a Black Pug/Pei. From 2000-03, I lost 13 family members (Mom and Bruce, etc) and best friends (Kathy Amoroso and friends from Asia). In 2005 I was assaulted n am still recovering from a broken back/jaw/elbow/nasal cavity, as well as major ID theft. Empty nesting with no family left truly sucks! I'm determined to find that one man who wants a companion to share the twilight years and I will find him (but I HAVE to move first!). If anyone has any ideas, please do call (951-575-5905) - heck, call anyway!I have had a lot of great things happen to me since high school. My Mom and I became best friends and made peace after years of fighting. Bruce became my best friend and looked out for me and my kids at every turn. We were on the phone or emailed every single day, even when he was so ill (he could still talk to me and I could understand him, but no one else). I've learned the love of gardening and have a fabulous garden - people actually stop their cars n tell me how great my yard is! I wrote and published a best selling book (re-published 6 times - God Bless you, Miss Baker!). I've had 15 Boxers and 1 Pug during all this time - and they have sometimes been my best friends. I've owned and run a successful business of export/import to/from China for 20+ yrs and met some amazing people. I had 10 yrs in San Diego where I didn't have to work so I could enjoy my kids many triumphs (and failures). San Diego is home to many sports players and I think Kris found everyone who lived near us and invited their kids over - our house became the place to hang out n I truly loved this! We traveled all over CA, Arizona, Nevada for Kris's baseball/football games as well as Kat's competitive cheer, dance & gymnastics. I want one room for trophies as the proud MaMa - I never got one single one at BRHS! My latest check-up shows my heart functions as a 25-30 yr old/my blood pressure is the same as my 22 yr old daughter and I'm in a size 4 pant! So heh, help me find someone to share my twilight yrs with - I still have lots to offer n my sense of humor has grown tremendously!
School
Biggest crush without a doubt was Dexter Nann, but I was too chicken to do the usual (Kathy, go tell Dexter I have a crush on him) - it usually worked but for Dexter I figured Lorraine was too much competition!Ms Baker was without a doubt the woman who inspired me the most n I'd love to tell her that without her wonderful, creative ways, I could have never written a best seller. HOWEVER, she made a comment in class when trying to get us to learn to describe how someone looks - "well, look at Barbara. Her eyes are too close together." WHATTTTT - I went home n asked my Mom n everytime for the next 40+ yrs, everytime I look in the mirror I see my eyes ARE too close together! Funniest moment was when she was mad at us and had us march around the classroom to the Marine Drill song - my brother Bruce passed the open glass window just as I was there. He stopped, pointed, laughed and couldn't wait to tell Mom that "Miss Goodie Two Shoes" got in trouble! The thing I loved the most about BRHS was bouncing between the many groups of girls - the Raritan girls (I loved the excitement and warmth of all of you!), the Martinsville girls (I was a bit intimidated after my Dad died and we had to move out of Spring Run n thus didn't always feel comfortable - kind of like an outsider, but I still loved u all n insisted I had a right to be part of that group too), the Kathy Batten group who hung out with her brother n the jocks - the many nights at her home, safe with parents around, was the healthiest way to get to know about boys - heh, Ditch!, and on and on. I always felt a bit on the outside as I felt I was unjustly thought of as the one with "temper, temper" but if u knew the real things that had gone on in my house as a child, you wouldn't have thought of me as "temper, temper" but rather as "what can we do to help you heal". My proudest moment was at the Senior awards when I got the most scholarships, Best Dressed Girl and Miss America 1970 (or something). My Dad had died and my Mom was working, so I ran out to the pay phone. I can still remember that dime dropping down into the phone, Mom answering and me squealing about all my awards. Dead silence on the other end. "What's wrong - aren't u proud of me?". "I'm so embarrassed - everyone will think I spent all the money on yr clothes n that is why you needed so many scholarships to go to college." Crushed - you better believe it - I never told a soul until about 35 yrs later! I'm so glad that one nite at Cindy Ruble's house, we decided to all squeeze into the downstairs bathroom n try a cigarette - window open. I almost puked right there on the spot n have never tried a cigarette again! Most embarrassing has to be when I worked in the drug store and Andy Musz and I were an item. Andy picked me up one night and while in the car, I went into my purse for a life savor. I pulled out a whole bunch of "I had no idea what these are". Andy pulled the car to the side of the road and yelled "Where did u get those?" I said "I don't even know what they are!". He yelled "They are condoms. We're going back to the drug store." He marched in and walked up to the pharmacist and threw all of them in his face, as he said "Don't u EVER do something like this again." The guy was shocked n said "I'm sorry, I thought it was a joke." Andy said "It sure as H isn't." I'm surprised I still had a job! Back then many of us were far more innocent than the kids these days - I was lucky I had Ditch n Andy as boyfriends as they truly respected me - I was clueless! I'd go back to BRHS ...Expand for more
n the fun in a heartbeat - care to join me?
College
Since my Dad had died n my Mom had 3 of us in college at the same time, I was the youngest n had to go where the most money was offered - thus the FREEZING U of Wisconsin in Madison. The first semester I called my Mom a couple times a week, crying as I was so homesick. But I joined a sorority Gamma Phi Beta (there were 10,000 kids in the class of 1970 at UW so we each needed a smaller unit in which we could make friends). While in the dorm, my freshman yr, I ended up with a mega millionaire roomate whose Dad owned the Merchandise Mart in Chicago - one trip to her home in Winnetka n I was blown away - a stone castle in the suburbs with 22 bedrooms! Her folks were gone that week-end n I was scared to death, waiting for the ghosts to appear! She had always had maids so she would wash all her expensive designer underwear n hang it in the communal rest room on the floor where we shared a room. She got up one morning n someone had stolen all her thousands of dollars of underwear. She was so ticked, she put up a sign "whoever took my underwear, pls be advised I have an STD, so pls return them". The next morning they were in a pile in the rest room - boy, did we laugh! Sorority life was a blast as we were one of the social butterflies on campus - we studied like crazy Mon-Thurs n the week-end was non-stop partying! But 3 weeks after graduating, I married my first true love, Jim Johnson who was a Vietnam Vet CH-47 helicopter pilot who has just returned from Vietnam. He was a mix of a young Burt Reynolds n Tom Sellect - as my cousins all said "Barbara sure got the most gorgeous husband of the family" - but the man I loved, died in Vietnam and another man came home. He had seen too much death, mutilation, etc n to this day, he is a different man. There were plenty of Vietnam Vet Wives who lost a lot in that war - maybe another book for me to do sometime. I went to Vietnam in 1993 on 2 trips for a total of 6 weeks to do maps for tourists for American Express n Omni Hotels - I had been told it is an amazingly gorgeous country (I did the maps for Saigon/Hue/Danang/Hanoi - n yes, I did see Ho Chi Minh's body embalmed in Hanoi - n I thought I was short!), but I suddently understood so much about what these poor Vietnam Vets suffered over there - Saigon was no bigger than Plainfield n we were wasting our young men's lives for this! My college degree in Mandarin Chinese served me well, as I was able to use it n establish my own import/export business within China - years that I will always cherish n would love to retire to China. I know that will never happen as my kids are in the States, but it is a distant dream - we can still dream, right?
Workplace
My first job out of college was in the training dept at Haines Dept Store in Newark - I was newly married n one of the interview questions (I swear this dude asked me this), "what r u doing about birth control". I was 21, totally mortified n still somewhat innocent as I was so in love with my husband that during college, I partied but nothing physical. I thought for a minute, gulped n said "My husband n I are of the modern generation and all our children will be planned" - what did he expect me to say! He tried to dig further n I just kept repeating the same answer, although I wanted to say "none of yr dang business"! I got the job n within 3 months was made the Buyer for Furniture which was the largest dept in the store - a lot of work, but a lot of fun! My husband was not doing as well, as he was hook on all the drugs they gave him in Vietnam to keep them flying. He got a job, tried to go to night school, but usually ended up on the golf course with a few joints. But oh, how we loved each other. Sometimes love is just not enough. I poured myself into my job n progressed to working for various import/export companies in NYC. We finally separated n I moved into the city where I was offered a job to move to Taiwan to be #2 in the Buying Office for May Dept Stores Int (Lord & Taylor, etc etc). Jim took me to the airport n cried the whole time - when I asked why, he said "because I've finally realized you are the best thing that ever happened to me n now it is too late". I poured myself into the job in Taiwan - and being the only female in the American Chamber of Commerce, much less a blonde who spoke Chinese, I had a blast! The job sucked as the #1 was a chain smoking SOB who at one point even threw the US Customs book at me (this is the size of 2 phone books!). After 2 yrs, I knew I had to move on - I worked briefly for Henry Kissenger's younger brother's company - now that was a Long Island interview to remember. They flew me to the states to meet with Walter (Henry's kid brother). At the end of the interview Walter asked me if I had any questions for him and I replied "no, I don't think so". He said "Yes u do, you want to know why I don't have an accent like Henry." I laughed n said "Yes, but i didn't dare ask". He laughed n said "I've told Henry in order to learn a language one must listen n Henry NEVER listens." - I always wanted to send that into People Magazine. My other favorite was in Hong Kong dining with the district manager who was an ex CIA agent. In walked Spiro Agnew, the disgraced VP with 2 bar girls on each arm. He sat down, ordered champagne n asked for the guitar players. Guess what they played for him? "I DID IT MY WAY" and he sat there with his cigar, champagne, gorgeous women n glowed! He did have the last laugh as he became far more wealthy once he was "kicked" out of his job! Asia n my stories of life there will be forever in my heart - every day was different n exciting and a fantastic way to make really good money!
Military
I never had the "pleasure" of a military education, except to be married for the final 6 months of my Vietnam Vet's tour of duty. We were based in Enterprise, Alabama - yes, the same place that had the 17 tornadoes hit in 2007! Enterprise, is smaller than Somerville! And right in the center of town was a huge fountain with a bowl weavel - n the slogan "the only town that made a monument to a pest" - the reason - they had to turn to growing cotton n thus they prospered. But the GI's would have one too many, drive by the fountain n drop an entire box of soap into the fountain n bubbles everywhere - probably the cleanest monument in the US! We lived in a trailer park (sorry, but there was no where else for married military to live - OMG - the red ants, the cockroaches - it was worse than living with the open sewers in Asia!). It was a dry county so we would buy alcohol on base, take it home n have parties but have to take the beer cans, etc back to the base to dispose of them or the garbage man would turn us into the police - he got a percentage of any fines imposed! But it was also one of my proudest moments for my husband - there was a huge ceremony as he had been awared 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses (only the Congressional Medal of Honor is higher), the Bronze Star, The Silver Star, a Purple Heart and an Air Medal with 43 (yes 43) oak clusters! As they read off what he had done to deserve these awards, I was totally flabbergasted - he had never ever told me one word. And the medals were given to me, to pin onto him. I still get goose bumps when I think of that day, but he never spoke about it again. None of those guys could talk about the war, no matter how drunk they got. We need to do more for our Vets!
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