Ann Kief:
CLASS OF 1966
Annandale High SchoolClass of 1966
Annandale, VA
Bloomington, IN
Southern Illinois University - EducationClass of 1970
Carbondale, IL
Ann's Story
How do you write about a lifetime in a few words? Here goes... I got my B.S. from Southern Illinois Univ, my Master's from Indiana Univ, and then married in 1971. We recently celebrated our 50th anniversary while RVing out west. We lived briefly in Kansas while my husband was in the Army, lived 17 years in central Illinois, and we have lived in three areas of Florida since 1988 (Naples, Tallahassee, and now the Destin area).
I spent most of my career as a college professor and administrator at one university and two community colleges. I have also been involved with several entrepreneurial ventures and my latest passion is sharing my inspirational true story. I wrote a book called BLESSED BY ADOPTION, and I enjoy speaking to groups and sharing my story of miracles and the 13 year journey of finding and meeting my birth family in Germany. Many people have said that it is a “page turner,” which is much better than a bedtime story. Some have even said it should be a movie, which I hope will be! I was adopted as an infant in Germany and lived there 9 1/2 years before moving to Annandale. I discovered my birth father was a Baron and my mother a Baroness. I love the family connections we have made in Germany and we have traveled there several times to be with them, but I have an even greater appreciation for my adoptive family and the wonderful life I had growing up! I had fantastic parents who taught me how to live and love, and I am grateful that my unmarried birth parents saw that I had a great home! One set of parents gave me life and the other parents taught me how to live.
Our son, Craig, has a degree in film from Florida State University and is a Director of Photography in California. He has a very successful freelance business with films, commercials, Disney, Muppets, music videos, network comedies, and more. We particularly enjoyed watching his DP work on The Sixties and The Seventies series produced by Tom Hanks. It was great to have him learn so much about two decades we grew up in!
Our daughter, Kri...Expand for more
sti, has been living in Australia for 14 years. She and her husband have a 5 year old daughter and her husband is Swiss. She worked 4 years at the Australia Zoo(Crocodile Hunter's zoo), a few years at a mining company as a Jr. Engineer and then Head Zookeeper for reptiles and birds at a zoo north of Brisbane, AU. She was also an alligator wrestler in Florida for two years. Her degree from Northern Illinois University was in percussion performance and her Masters Degree in Australia was in Music Education, so now she is working a more normal career as a music teacher. Can you tell we didn't pick our children's careers?
One idea suggested on this site is to tell one thing that might surprise everyone. In 1970, I was the Cherry Blossom Princess for Georgia in Washington, D.C. with a court of 10 others. I was in the court of the princess three times during high school. My mother was from Georgia. It was a fantastic experience, and included tea with Tricia Nixon in the Rose Garden of the White House, a fashion show with Pat Nixon, formal galas, a float in the parade, congressional escorts, a champagne luncheon at the Japanese embassy and so many other great events during the nine days.
My husband and I enjoy traveling, which is a good thing since our family is spread throughout the world. Duaine’s career was mainly in agriculture with research, farm management and developing new varieties of vegetable seeds throughout the southeast. His M.S. was in Horticulture from the U. of Illinois. Since moving to the Destin area, where there are more beaches than farms, he worked 5 years as an asst. manager of a hardware store and then 13 years with the water company. He retired almost two years ago and we have been doing extensive RVing and hiking around the country. We also enjoy boating and walking the local beaches when home. When countries open up more, we plan to be back visiting family in Germany and Australia.
I would love to hear from former classmates! I am on facebook and LinkedIn, in case you want to connect!
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