Debbie Gonzaga Newell:
CLASS OF 1976
Vanden High SchoolClass of 1976
Fairfield, CA
Tracy Senior Elementary SchoolClass of 1972
Tracy, CA
Golden West Junior High SchoolClass of 1972
Travis afb, CA
McKinley Elementary SchoolClass of 1970
Tracy, CA
Crescent Harbor Elementary SchoolClass of 1970
Oak harbor, WA
Debbie's Story
Life
How do I begin? "I was born in the midst of a great typhoon on the tiny island of Guam in May of 1958, I was one month overdue and my mother drank an entire bottle of castor oil the night before I was born"? My life has been... mine, ordinary for my time and extraordinary for these times.
Some of my friends may remember me or my family as the one that had the old school bus that we renovated into a camper. The hairs on my neck would rise each time someone would compare our bus to the Partridge Family's, our bus was way cooler! It slept 10, had an 1880 Albatross ice box and we painted it ourselves. We camped on beaches, in mountain forrests and in the desert. We traveled thousands of miles all nine of us with my dad at the wheel. I love coming from a large family, I am the oldest of 8 although many times I wish I had been the baby. My parents insisted that we eat dinner together as a family at the table every night. We were not allowed any calls between 5 and 7. Some of my friends may have heard my mothers voice on the other end of the phone reminding them of that. Growing up on the base really was a controlled/sheltered life and when we moved to Pittsburg it was quite an eyeopener to the real world.
My little brother #8 came 3 years after I graduated high school. It was fun to see my mom pregnant and be reminded of how consumed she was with each of us in those very early days.
Trivial Facts
I didn't go to the prom, I was afraid of boys in high school but I had mad crushes on several. I never had detention. My first car was a 1970 Maverick that I rolled one rainy Sunday morning as I was going onto Hwy 4 from Somersville Rd on my way to church. I didn't have to have a car seat when I was a baby and I have first hand knowledge of airbag deployment. On Mother's Day 1989, my nephew fell into my parents spa and stopped breathing. I saved him with mouth to mouth resusitation. It was an incredibly scary and powerfull event.
I love to sing, I sang in school choir, in my church choir on Travis for a couple of years and when my dad retired and we moved to Pittsburg I soon joined the choir there and sang there for nearly 20 years. All of my really good girlfriends were met singing in a choir. I met my husband Gerry, at SFSU in 1984 and we married in 1986. He is my rock and my hero, he never ceases to amaze and thrill me. We bought our 1940 ranch style home in 1993 and have made it cozy home to share with our with family and friends. I always imagined my own table noisy and crowded with my own children, spilling things, talking about some neighborhood adventure or school trauma. My saddest disappointment in life is that we could not have children. Our children have 4 legs and lousy table manners, we have 4 fat sassy cats and a lively dog Hunny.
Our garden is my passtime and our sanctuary, we love to sit on the patio to watch birds, play with the pup, or entertain our friends.
Exploring our own backyard is one of our favorite pass times. My husband and I have discovered the beauty of the San Mateo Coast, the Sierra foothills, our favorite weekend getaways are Half Moon Bay on the San Mateo Coast, Sonora area and Reno/Tahoe. My husband and I both love to take long road trip adventures exploring our country.
My favorite vacation was a road trip I took with my best friend Carol driving from Baltimore to Atlanta, discovering Fells Point, Washington DC, Williamsburg, VA, seeing the Atlantic Ocean for the first time and eating BBQ in Atlanta. We started out in a Firebird and ended in a brand new Cadillac... We had the greatest time.
After working for the last 30 years I find myself without a job. It is awkward and yet I am startled at the realization that there is more to life than work and career. I enjoyed tremendous satisfaction from my work, but it can be all consuming and draining of your very essence. In my search for a new job my goal is to find something that will compliment my life not consume it.
School
As corny as this is I want to start off by sharing that I feel blessed and proud to have been a Vanden Viking and even more so because I was a member of the Spirit of 76. I have never forgotten the magic of our first rally as freshmen. The quality of our education was superior and we were fortunate to have the faculty and staff to nurture that. I learned more than the basics at VHS. It was there at Vanden I formed my foundation of values, treasuring my friends. We had a close circle, Nancy, Rusty, Cindy, Beth, Sharlene, Rosemary, and Cora we could depend on each other to have fun, share secrets and lean on each other when life was serious. Time, distance and the sad realities of life have taken their toll on our circle but I hold my early friends in my heart and cherish my memories of them and our adventures.
We had so many great teachers at Vanden. I have to say without a doubt Mr Weikert was my most inspirational teacher because he really made me love learning. Mr. Price, Mr. McDougal, Mr. Stasi are all had a huge impact on me and the choices I have made in my life. They offered their students a part of their heart and soul in their love f...Expand for more
or teaching.
If I could do it all over again... I would have tried out for more plays, I would have kissed David Tidwell longer on graduation night... I would have sung louder in choir, I would have never let time creep up on my friendships letting them fade away. I would have kissed a lot more boys if I could do it all over again! I had lots of crushes but lacked the confidence to move forward on them. I guess my biggest crush lasted from 7th grade through the 11th and that was Dana Boyd. I liked Jerry Fuller, Tim McConnell, David Dyer, Randy Clark, Nicky Mitchell, David Tidwell, Jimmy Foltz and the list goes on and on and on. I practiced so much self control...
Funniest moment Mr Stasi making fun of my waffle stompers that were way to big for my feet.
College
At LMC I took advantage of every opportunity. I had great teachers, counselors and friends. I worked in the learning centers, the cafeteria and for instructors. I enjoyed the Student Representatives and am honored to have been chosen SR of the year in 84. We had a great administration with Mr. Carhart at the helm. I learned the value and importance of being connected to my community at LMC.
Workplace
I worked at Taco Bell for a year after high school it was there I learned to appreciate good customer service. I knew I had a knack for it but didn't realize how valuable a skill it was. My plan was to save every penny I earned from my first job and then I would sail the Mediterranean Sea before I surrendered to a life a of study and work. I had dreams of becoming a world reknown mental health care specialist like Elizabeth Kubla Ross or Leo Buscaglia helping people find their path to happiness. I didn't save my money and I didn't sail the warm seas of the world. Instead I spent my money as I earned it on the important things like concert tickets, clothes makeup and car repairs.
I enrolled at the local Community College, moved into my first apartment with my best friend, held down several jobs (cleaning houses and cooking for elderly folks, working at the Orange Julius and odd jobs on campus) at the same time.
While at LMC, I began working for the health dept in our county for a Teen Program as a Health Faciliator. Our goal to facilitate teens in making healthy choices and help them identify their value systems and avoid serious consequences. It was a great service, but an almost IMPOSSIBLE TASK...very difficult to measure your success. I loved the people, loved the clinic, loved working for the county, loved public speaking. It was a huge opportunity for me to discover myself and GROW. All the while I continued my education and transferred to SFSU in 1984. It was there I met my husband and spent more time in his dorm than I did in class.
We married in 1986 after Gerry graduated and we moved to Idaho where I had the choice of milking goats or working at the Idaho State School for the Deaf and the Blind. I chose the ISSDB (though I did learn how to milk a goat). I enjoyed working with the deaf children.
After a very interesting year in Gooding, ID, we moved to Colorado Springs where I worked for the Domestic Violence Prevention Center as an Advocate for women in crisis. I assisted battered women in obtaining restraining orders and re-establishing their families once they decided to escape their partner. There was a great deal of reward, however an awful lot of heartache associated with this job.
When we moved back to the Bay Area I cruised from job to job for a few months trying to find my niche, an old friend from the Health Dept called me and invited me to come work for him in his new company Mayer Laboratories. I spent the next 8 years commuting to Oakland, selling latex healthcare products; condoms and gloves. It was fun working for a new company being part of the process. David invited all of us to offer our ideas, visions for our jobs. It was also first exposure to working in a City. I loved the downtown noises, horns, buses, and variety of people; until LOMA PRIETA. I was in the Latham Square building on the 8th floor when the earthquake hit. Every window in our building was broken, fortunately our building survived with extensive damage, but buildings all around us were condemned. We were as the crow flies about 2 miles from the fallen freeway. We relocated soon after to another office and a few years later as we grew we moved again. Each time extending my commute, the time on the road was too much and soon I left ML. I spent the next 8 years selling computers to major corporations enjoying more success and and a big paycheck only 13 miles from my home. I loved it. It was the wildest ride of my life. Unfortunately the high tech industry is extremely volatile and eventually I was thrown from the back of my beloved bronco and became a statistic of the economy.
Currently I am taking a breather and deciding what my next path will be. I know I want to work in some field of service, it is so satisfying to me. I like helping people whether it is deciding what solution will be most advantageous for them to meet their need or pouring them a much needed cup of coffee.
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