Sandra Abercrombie:
CLASS OF 1962
North Bend High SchoolClass of 1962
North bend, OR
Phoenix High SchoolClass of 1983
Phoenix, OR
North Bend Junior High SchoolClass of 1958
North bend, OR
Hillcrest Elementary SchoolClass of 1956
North bend, OR
Taft Elementary SchoolClass of 1956
Redwood city, CA
Sandra's Story
Life
Oct, '62 I went to work for Standard Ins. Co. in Portland for a year then joined the Navy. Was in Bainbridge, MD for bootcamp, A-school, and duty station as a Machine Accountant (keypuncher). Married a nuclear power student sailor and we had our son, David Jr. in '65.
Many things happened.
Daughter Linda arrived in '69 I started college at U of Conn. as a single mom. Transfered to U of OR and got a MS in math in '74.
FOUND GOD who settled me down so I could raise my kids, work, and live in a near-normal condition.
Worked for Oregon Research Institute for a while. Moved to southern OR.
More things happened.
Started work on a MS at Southern OR and got all classwork done but no thesis.
Found the Forest Service and stayed there for 15 years working as a computer specialist. Worked a year in Grants Pass (Siskiyou), 3 years in John Day (Malheur), 2 years in Portland (Recreation), 1 year in Olympia research lab.
I quit when my son died and I took a few months off. Contacted a consultant in DC and offered to help on a project I had started. Moved myself to DC, was picked up by a friend as a tempory GS11 then landed a 12/13 job doing Oracle Designer work for the Budget office. After 3 years a new CFO had a different idea and I was relocated to an office across the street from my apartment house. I managed to hang on long enough to get a minimum retirement.
I am now looking for work as an Oracle Designer mentor/teacher consultant. Expected fee: $200/hour. Clients so far: none.
Hobbies: teaching my 5 grandkids algebra; finding a sail for my Dad's boat so we can learn to sail it; finding a trailer to move the boat to Medford; cleaning out the family rat-infested cabin on Siltcoos lake; connecting with family, friends, and old (ha!) classmates; and
maintaining a close friendship with Dave Stuck (retired) who I met 7 years ago at Reformation Lutheran in DC.
Oh yes... I consider my 2000 Saturn a luxury car.
School
It seems to me that I was asleep through most of my school years. The time passed, I did OK, graduated. I didn't miss a day physically but I have no clue where I was mentally.
Mr. Shepman was my favorite. Anything he said made perfect sense. Mrs. was good, too. I learned a lot from both of them.
I should have got involved more but it looked to me like I was not welcome to join in so I just stayed to myself.
I don't remember any of the teachers or advisors (did we have them?) giving me any advice as to what I should be doing.
It was probably a mistake to date Fred for the first two years. My Jr. year was really lonesome without him. We broke up that summer anyway. I finally decided my Sr. year to see what kind of grades I could really get. Turns out I'm pretty smart after all.
I home-schooled my own children when I could and sent them to Christian schools hoping they would get a better deal than I had.
My daug...Expand for more
hter is home-schooling her four oldest hoping to keep them out of the system as long as she can.
I never did read a history assignment... and it seems to have made no difference.
I put minimal effort into my English assignments.
I skated through college with about the same amount of effort. I started when my youngest child was 6months old.
My graduate work started to get challenging when I hit the 400-level Algebra. There were tears then. I never bothered to do my thesis or project. Once again I slipped through the cracks and never got any advice from anybody as to what I should be doing. So I made it up.
It turns out that learning how to make up my own work was good preparation for earning $70,000/year with the US Government. That's what I had to do for most of my 15-year career with them.
College
I went to college to collect money from the GI Bill. It paid better than my current job and the hours allowed me to take care of my children who were 6 months and 4 years old at the time.
I worked hard, learned which professors to avoid, took advantage of every opportunity to get ahead and nearly broke every brain cell in my body trying to graduate.
I got a BS in Math in 1974 and that is what opened doors for me with the Federal Government.
I completed the classwork for a MS about the same time I ran out of money for school. That was when I found out that you can advance in the Fed with an "all but" (all but the thesis).
Workplace
I am retired but too young to collect Social Security. I have ten years experience with the Oracle Designer software and am looking into what BRIM may offer.
I am looking for a training position where I could work alongside people new to the software for a few weeks at a time.
I would also like to evaluate and repair messed up projects.
Military
I joined the Navy in January, 1964 thinking I would qualify for the college education promised to a fortunate few who went into the hospital corpsman field.
My boot camp was in Bainbridge, MD.
That's where I found out that there were hundreds of other WAVEs hoping for the same program. I made a quick change and went to Machine Accountant "A" School instead. It was in Bainbridge, MD.
I was assigned to Personnel Accounting Machines Installation - Continental United States (PAMI-CONUS) in (you guessed it) Bainbridge, MD.
I never even saw a ship the whole time I was in which turned out to be about 1 year, 2 months, and 11 days.
At that time you were considered unfit for duty if you were pregnant so I was discharged and moved to NY where my husband, David was stationed for the second half of his nuclear submarine training.
A few months before I was discharged they put me through a computer programming training. I came out just behind the captain and a first class. If I had stayed in the Navy I might have wound up involved in "Star Wars." Just think.
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