Cecelia Cook:
CLASS OF 1956
Valley High SchoolClass of 1956
Fairfax, AL
Cecelia's Story
Life
In 1956 married Ben Bruce of Shawmut and became an Auburn student wife, with the plan in place to start college in the School of Chemistry (I'd already been accepted) the next year, 1957, but that never materalized. Too many financial obstacles with having both of us in college at the same time. (Scholarships for women were practically non-existant in the mid-50's and student loans did not exist yet.) I've always felt that "hole" in my life's pattern and have tried to fill it with whatever knowledge I stumble across, whether from books, travel or courses.
In 1959 Ben, I and 2-month old son relocated to B'ham, AL. eventually joined by Virginia & Wayne Bonner and Patsy & Edgar Darymple; Anita (Gullatt) who married Bill Grey and Rosamond (Williams) Hobart already lived in the area: we had our own "little Valley".
Children: Ben and I had two sons: Benjamin Stacy Bruce, now living in the Denver, CO area and Kurt Darren Bruce, now living in rural York County, PA. Kurt has two sons so that qualifies me for grandmother status - the boys are now ages 10 and 11 and are really great kids.
In the mid-1970's Ben and I divorced after a 17.5 year marriage and I remarried Glenn Cook of Winston-Salem, NC and we relocated to York, PA, a lovely agricultural area of the U.S. After 22 years, this marriage ended in 1997. Today I am single and very content with my life.
Big Move in 2005: I moved from the York, PA area and purchased a new 3BR condo in Pawleys Island, South Carolina - the "Low Country" which I truly love - all the spanish moss and old oak trees -- and the ocean is in my backdoor - I bike very short distance over to the beaches and marshes every day. But I do miss the two grandsons and the friendships I made in B'ham and York areas.
My "Career" - or What I Did on The Way to Retirement: I took a year-long secretarial course in the Valley and have used this as a base for skill advancement through the years all the way to computer expertise....Expand for more
However, while in B'ham, on a whim, I took a modeling course and became a card-carrying pro. I worked 14 years primarily as a runway (catwalk) model for Macy's, Rich's, Parisians and other upscale stores until I left Alabama. This experience gave me an opportunity to meet and model for such designers as Oscar de LeRenta, Halston, etc. in choreographed, Broadway-style stage productions at B'ham Civic Center. The two minutes alloted to undress/redress and get back on runway 100% put-together was extremely stressful, but you gain loads of self-confidence: if you can master the stress, you can handle anything. I never took myself or the profession seriously - just had fun with it because the glamorous fashion world had nothing to do with the values of my personal world. It was just a stop along my route of deciding what I wanted to do when I grow up; I am thankful for this experience.
My hard-core, money-making career (which has been on again-off again my entire adult life) has been as an executive assistant or administrative coordinator until I "retired" from First Data Corp., not exactly by choice,in 2001 and made a decision to work at short-term (3 months max) jobs in areas of the country I always thought I'd like to live. And I've done that too: two summers on the coast of Maine and last year in the Olympic National Park (Lake Crescent) in WA. But so far in 2005, due to the move to SC, I've taken traditional employment in an administrative capacity 3 days a week -- but am currently checking out opportunities for the next "adventure" job.
New Career in Retirement?: In addition to working in other scenic/adventures-possible areas of the country, I've started writing a little - the Low Country of SC is a hotbed of really good Southern writers so I'm hoping there's some creative magic in the water here. But I'm still looking for what I want to do when I grow up. (A travel writer/photographer sounds good - now just to find a publication that will pay me).
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