Linda Barrett:
CLASS OF 1981
Dracut High SchoolClass of 1981
Dracut, MA
Englesby Junior High SchoolClass of 1977
Dracut, MA
Middle Elementary SchoolClass of 1975
Dracut, MA
John J. Shaughnessy Elementary SchoolClass of 1975
Lowell, MA
Robinson Junior High SchoolClass of 1975
Lowell, MA
Linda's Story
Life - last edited 04/2008
Well life so far has been a wild ride. I went to college for two years and then got married in 1983. We had two boys who are now age 11 and 14. We lived in New Hampshire for 10 years. In 1999 I was divorced (oh well, stuff happens!). I met my new husband at Karaoke (yes, I'm still singing!). We are both Christians. The Lord has worked wonders in our lives (No kidding - Hey don't knock it until you try it ;) ). We moved to Arizona, got married and built a new home in 2003. I work at home doing medical transcription (yeah I type 80 wpm ... Mr. Greaves would Never believe it!) and my husband is a long haul trucker (and a sweetheart!). We moved again in 2006 to Georgia and built our dream house. It is so beautiful here. Just as pretty as New England with its trees and windy roads, only the weather is warmer, the birds are prettier and the roads are hillier. I am still working as a medical transcriptionist for the same company. Email me at > daboysenme at juno dot comm (just put it in the correct format).
School
Ugh my biggest crush? Hmmm better not name names here ;) But lets just say I've always been attracted to Very tall men. My husband is 6'6" tall.
The teacher that inspired me the most was Donat Paquette. He could spew forth Shakespeare like none other (and I DO mean Spew! LOL). Through him, I learned to decipher (see? I can still spell!) that kind of writing. Not to mention the daily vocabulary tests. Thank you, Mr. Paquette!
If I could do it all over again... Hmm. I suppose I wouldn't take the teasing to heart. What a waste of time! It took me until I was in my mid-30's to realize that I am smart and beautiful - and a really great singer (and hey - I can toot my own horn now too!). But hey it did build character. Those of you who still know me (Yeah Tammy that'd be you!!! LOL) know what a character I have become ;) .
Funniest memory... there are Sooo many to choose from. Life is just plain funny but here's one... Spree day at Worcester State College... Never could hold my liquor. There was a knock down drag out riot goin on. Sirens in the background. But I thought they were DANCING!!! Good thing my fiancee was sober - he got me on the bus and outta there before the cops arrived! (I know, y'all never pictured me at a wild party, did ya?) It was the spree day that ended all spree days at WSC.
Happiest memory. Here we go again- do I have to pick just one??? Its gotta be the night I met my new husband. I was out for the first time after my divorce was over, doing my favorite thing - Singing. Ya know, I really thought the term "soul mate" was just for hippies. But I was wrong! There is nothing we can't go through or talk about together. I just thank God for putting us together. Want a happy marriage? Put God at the center of it. There's just nothing better!
College
See my work profile... Just like RAGU - its in there! ;)
Workplace
Man oh man I never thought I'd have so many different kinds of jobs! I started out wanting to be a newscaster... Went to WSC to take communication/media. Turns out I was really just trying to get away from home - LOL.
I met and married my first husband and changed to a 2 year school to take marketing. I was gonna be in advertising and write commercials that didn't insult our intelligence. Yeah, I didn't make it - sorry folks! I know you were counting on me ;)
My husband lost his job and I took one as a secretary.
Then we moved back to Lowell...Expand for more
and I took another job as a secretary.
I was always trying to learn new things, and in the process of tinkering around with my boss's computer system, I managed to get the thing up and running and teach him how to use it. (don't ask me how, I guess I just have the knack)
Next I moved on to Mercury Computer Systems, which at the time was like 30 people max. Started as receptionist and moved up to engineering secretary (Executive Secretary to the Vice President of Engineering if you must have the full title - ooooooooh! LOL)
From there, my boss moved me into Documentation control and I became a draftsman. No school, just on the job training. I didn't even know I could draw!!! The next thing I knew, I was doing schematic capture and 3-D drawing on the computer. I decided to take some mechanical engineering courses at U-Lowell (to learn to do technical drawing the "right" way. It was different learning the theory After having the practice. Kinda backward way to do it, but it was cool cause now the theory made perfect sense, whereas normally you'd have to get the practice to make sense of the theory. Anyway - I digress....
I left Mercury Computer after 10 years to have my first son. Almost 3 years later, son # 2 was born. I went back to work in '98 when I was going through my divorce (nasty thing, divorce :S ).
I went for a job as a receptionist and wound up talking myself into a job as a software support technician. (wanna buy a bridge???) I am very savvy with computers and learn new things very quickly. Funny I was never much for the books, but show me something once and I've got it.
I worked for a small company in NH that does fundraising software. Most of my customers were little blue haired volunteers that never touched a computer before. Luckily I am very (very!) patient. I have this knack of being able to talk them off the ledge (where they were poised to throw the computer out the window - hee hee), and teach them how to do what they needed to do, while talking on the phone. I LOVED that job.
I left that job for a couple of reasons. First I was injured and had to take a leave of absence. Herniated disk in my neck - OUCH! Six months later when I would have gone back to work, my son was having problems at school because of his disability. He has high functioning Autism and a few other diagnoses we won't get into here (see my web site!). Daycare was out of the question at this point so I took a job with the school district as a computer lab technician. I taught elementary students how to use the computer. What a fun job that was. My general geekiness combined with my natural ability to teach and my knack with kids made me really successful at this job and I loved it.
Come to think of it... I've had very few jobs I didn't love. I guess I just like to work ;)
In July of 2003, we moved to Arizona. I've worked in the schools here too, but they don't pay very well so I decided to get into something else. Transcription. I type like 80-95 wpm, and the jobs are mostly work-at-home, which is great when you have special needs children to attend to! And hey, you can work in your pajamas if you please!
All in all I've had a somewhat bohemian career path - and I LOVE it!
Military
Did you know I was an Air Force brat? Yup. Born on an Air Force base in Abilene, Texas. And my dad (not my step-dad), John Yeskelevitch (Say that three times fast!!!), toured Viet Nam and was involved in Operation Babylift. Look it up!
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