Stephanie Rowland:
CLASS OF 1975
Park High SchoolClass of 1975
Cottage grove, MN
Woodbury Junior High SchoolClass of 1971
Woodbury, MN
St. Paul Park Junior High SchoolClass of 1970
St. paul park, MN
Royal Oaks Elementary SchoolClass of 1969
Woodbury, MN
Woodbury Elementary SchoolClass of 1967
Woodbury, MN
Stephanie's Story
Life
I can't believe so much time has gone by since our school days!
In 1973, my family moved to Washington which was a major bummer to me because I loved Park High and had so many friends there. I also wanted to pursue my music at Park High as that is one of my biggest passions in life. To this day, I don't think I have ever gotten over moving away from MN. I loved Park High. I went to Bothell High School for one year in WA, but never considered it the school I graduated from, I hated that school. I will always consider Park the school I graduated from.
We also had a cabin in Balsam Lake, WI that I hated to say good-bye to.
I got married in '77 to a wonderful man and we had two daughters together. Sadly, my husband died suddenly in '83 from a trauma accident in a pool while swimming with my daughters. I was only 26 at the time. It was a rough ride there for several years, but through it all, I managed to raise my girls, go to college, work and get my Bachelor's degree in Music Education K-12 and Performance and graduated Cuma Sum Laude. Once graduated, I began teaching music to K-6. I loved teaching, just not the politics.
Both my daughters, Tara and Tamar are now both married and each have a son. Tamar just had her twins on January 3,'09, a girl named Chloe and a boy named Elijah, Eli for short, they are now 2.5 yrs and so much fun. They are BEAUTIFUL. Tara's son, Kaden is about to turn 7 on July 9, '10. My how they grow so fast. So now I have a total of 4 grandchildren. I am very proud of my daughters, they are beautiful, intelligent and great mothers.
I live with my new puppy (sadly, my soul mate Wisdom, a Mini Pin died suddenly from Crone's disease, I nearly died when he died, he was my best friend) a Mini Schnauzer ...Expand for more
who turned 3 on April 4, 2011. He keeps me hopping and helps with the loneliness.
I have been back to MN several times and always head for Park High to relive old memories. That school was the greatest. I've lost track of many friends, but still am in touch with a few. My daughter Tamar and her husband ended up moving to MN and ended up living in my home town of Woodbury. That gave me reason to come and visit them. They are back here in Seattle now.
My all time favorite teachers were Miss Starr, who taught music at Woodbury Jr. High, and Mr. Kvittem, my 6th grade teacher at Royal Oaks Elementary. I liked Mrs. Gilbertson as well, she was the music teacher at Park and LOVED being in the Musicals.
While in college, I did a lot of traveling with a vocal Jazz group I was in. We were really good and earned the Downbeat award many times. We did a lot of recording in the studio and made several CD's. We traveled all over the West Coast and even sang at Disney Land. The group was very challenging, but that is what I loved about it, my professor just pushed us beyond what we thought we were capable of doing and it just made me grow musically.
Since high school, I've kept singing. I did a lot of singing in various churches I belonged to and was one of the music leaders. I also sang professionally in Jazz Clubs,Studio gigs, sang Twisted Tunes for a Seattle Classic Rock station, weddings, funerals, musicals, etc. There are small community theaters where I live and I have performed in several musicals, the latest being "Paint Your Wagon." It was a blast! It was really hard when it was over and sad when we tore down the set....but on to the next one!!!
I hope to reconnect with old friends and make new friends on Classmates as well.
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