Kathi Sircy:  

OK, so I just read Paula Hamlin's notes about her life, and thought it might be better to lay it all out here,... then I don't gotta go thru it when I see everyone! So,... here goes. I left LHS and went to Western Ill. Univ. for a degree in Psychology and minors in Poli Sci and Zoology! I first went to college (I used to tell Vicki Benner) to try to come up with "A Formula For Peace In the World". So, I was gonna study Psych (about how the individual mind works), Sociology (how the collective mind works) and Political Science (how minds work their way thru the political arena) --- and putting together all that info, I figured I would be able to "write the formula to have lasting peace in the world". Pretty high aspirations, eh? Well, even beyond that, I was planning on becoming a nun after college, too! Well, not long into college, I realized it was really just "an extension of High School" -- and not the lofty learning milieu I thought it would be. So,... then I quickly realized that my hope for world peace from MY formula was dashed!! On,... until I worked for a summer at Libertyville Manor nursing home -- and loved it!!! I figured I should probably get a "marketable nun skill" and that nursing would be it! I almost quit my degree program at WIU till I told one of my profs about it,... and he steered me to St. Louis Univ. which had a 1-year accelerated nursing program (for a degree in nursing) that I could apply to get into if I had a science based degree. So,... I applied (400 applications for 30 spots!) and got in. I suppose using the "I'm gonna be a missionary nun" line probably helped at a Catholic University! ha ha. After graduating, I had some debt, so couldn't go to the nunnery and also was questioning it. I went and lived at a Catholic Worker House in Davenport IA to take care of men off the streets (and those jumping off the train -- as the tracks were 30 feet from the front door of our house of hospitality) during the time I was working full-time on a Med-Surg. floor at a local hospital. I stayed 2 years,... and during that time met so many "stupid doctors" that I said to myself, "Well, you aren't married, probably won't be, so ya might as well do something good with your life,.... and seeing as some of these guys who are doctors -- and are dumb!--- and they got into Med School,... why not me?" So, I moved to Peoria IL to work a "weekend package" at a hospital,... so I went to school (Organic Chem. and Physics) during the week and worked in the hospital on the weekends. Bottom line, I didn't get into Med School,... but since I didn't know that, I moved to Texas to live with my friend from college to "await the results of my applications"--- figuring if I did get into Med School, I would end up in the Midwest the rest of my life,... and wanted to live somewhere warm for at least one winter of my life!!! :) Didn't get in. So, then I prayed about it. And,... applied to be a lay missionary in Central America. Bottom line: They didn't want me, because I was VERY politically active at the time (Iran-Contra affair, etc...) and they told me I'd get "everyone around me killed" because I would stir them up! YIKES!!!! So, when I told them just to send me to China or somewhere, they said I had to wait another year and apply again! YIKES!!!! So, then I said, "Now what, God?!#?" The answer was,... I wrote an ad for a new thing in 1985-- a "Singles Newspaper" in San Antonio Texas where I live...Expand for more