Christine Mulvaney:
CLASS OF 1974
Chula Vista High SchoolClass of 1974
Chula vista, CA
Christine's Story
Life
Hello, my dear friends of the Class of '74 (& many from other years):
I miss you more than I can express, & I think of our wonderful high school years together just about every day. My memories of those years & all of you are still today so vivid & fill such a huge part of my heart. I can't describe how I feel & really do it justice, so I'll leave it at that. If you knew me then, I am basically the same person today, but with additional years of life's experiences tacked on. My family humors me with my stories of our days together, but truly when they see the overall picture, they wish they had been there, too. In fact, my kids have told me they wish their high school had been like ours, the people, the spirit, the memories - they've had a taste of the best high school experience one could imagine through my "stories." They understand it as much as they possibly can without actually having been there. They went to great schools, but it's just different today somehow. The "heart" & "spirit" of schools today seem so different than when we were in high school. When you feel you've experienced the best, it's hard to watch things change, & I guess I'm not very good with it.
Even though I am married, a businesswoman, a parent of 3 fabulous adult kids (so well adjusted & "together," it's uncanny) & 8 grandchildren, I'm the "youngest" one in the family. It's really funny when ones kids are even exasperated at times, saying "MOM!" while my husband just laughs & shakes his head. But with my "split personality," then I am a professional businesswoman, dignified mother & wife when necessary, intensely involved in my kids' lives, very active in the community & so on, but I prefer the alter ego, personally. It's much more fun. It saved me through MANY tragedies over the years, but I prefer not to dwell on that here.
I'm still running at the speed of sound, with a diverse history of post-high school education, work experience & life's activities, basically everything from A to Z, pretty consistent with how I've always been, & I like it that way. Life's too short to be bored, so I tend to jump into just about everything with both feet. A line from a rock song sort of says it all: "Can't stop, gotta keep movin' or I'll lose my mind - rockin' down the highway."
Of course, not to give a totally wrong impression, we've lived in the home we own for 25 years, my husband & I got married on the Queen Mary 26 years ago, I've been working hard for years, etc., so there's a lot of stability, too. Again, the "split personality." It keeps life interesting! What I'd like to be my final epitaph someday (hopefully far away!) sort of sums it up in a nutshell. I'd like one part to say something to beautifully & poetically reflect my love of my family & friends & my strong religious faith as being of the utmost importance in life, my absolute first priorities, but then the other half would say "Rockin' the Heavens." Go figure.
In addition to music, my other leisure passion is travel, & we have been fortunate to travel extensively. I absolutely love a variety of places, from beautiful tropical locations to medieval castles of Europe, etc. One of my fondest memories is a trip to New York, & my husband & I had dinner at Windows on the World at the top of the World Trade Center, watching the sunset to the west & the lights of Manhattan come up to the east. You could see forever at 100+ stories. That was priceless considering that could never happen again. I love visiting places with various styles of architecture, everything from ancient ruins to medieval, Victorian, Art Deco, etc. I consider Hearst Castle my "other home."
I hope all of you are happy, healthy and where you would like to be. I miss you, love to all, and keep those memories alive - they're PRICELESS! Keep in touch. You were and still are a huge part of my world.
Love, Chris
School
Chula Vista High School and the people there were my life at that time and are still a huge part of my life. So many beautiful, wonderful memories, too many to even possibly describe - funny, crazy, happy, and some sad - but always something going on each and every day that kept it exciting. Those days are irreplaceable and precious.
We had many great teachers - hard to pick a favorite. Mrs. Perkins was my "adopted mother" when my mom died just before our senior year, and I couldn't have made it without her.
Being class president all 3 years, head songleader our senior year (songleading was my favorite school activity), Beau Monde, Homecoming Court, the privilege of being elected female Senior of the Year by our class, and all of the other wonderful things that happened during that time and the wonderful people at CVHS brought joy to my life.
If I could go back and do it again, I wouldn't hesitate for even one second. I'd be there tomorrow. But it would have to be exactly the same as it was then, same people, same activities, same memories. The only thing I'd change is that I would ask God to give my mother back to me to share all of those special moments that we missed my senior year instead of taking her from me that previous summer. We missed so much together. My friends and our school life is what got me through the most devastating event in my life, and I thank all of you for that.
If we all think back, we can fill in the blanks with infinite funny, crazy, happy memories, and I hope it brings you as much happiness as it does to me. I left a large part of my heart there and with all of you.
College
I attended the University of San Diego right after high school. I lived on campus, the first year with a great roommate, and the second year, I had my own room. Next to my love of CVHS, USD is my other treasured educational experience. A few of our high school friends were also there, along with new friends, and boy, did we live it up. I still have "The Blender" I kept in my closet in the dorm for the continuous partying we did. It still works like a champ, and everyone today knows its incredible history. I think it should end up bronzed in a museum for the abuse it took and its longevity!
Even with the stereo always blasting in my dorm room and the partying, I took a full load of units per semester and ended up with great grades! How'd that happen? I guess when you're young, anything is possible. All kidding aside, I really did the work.
USD is a private school, very competitive, difficult to get in and out, even with some nuns and priests still teaching from its p...Expand for more
rior all-Catholic affiliation (and boy, do they crack the whip)! The hardest professor I ever had was a tiny, 80-year-old nun who taught European History, and her reputation of being tough is an understatement. But somehow, I befriended her (can you imagine, me and a nun?), and I aced the class.
USD is an absolutely beautiful campus, like a castle, but even in all of its beauty, we partied and had more fun than we should have considering its excellent reputation. Even the nighttime fire drills for the dorms were hysterical - no co-ed dorms, but when the fire drills went off at night, the little nuns went running out into the street in their flannel nighties and nightcaps from the girls' dorms, along with many guys in their boxers. We thought the nuns were going to have strokes. It was great.
The entire experience of USD and all of the various and unique people and new friends there is only second to CVHS as far as my fond memories of my school days. It was a blast! Again, too many wonderful memories to put down in words, but a few of you were there and know (Eddie)!
My college junior year, I transferred to Claremont Colleges "for love." Claremont Colleges are also tremendous private schools but, oh, so boring compared to USD. That transfer was one of the biggest mistakes I ever made, leaving USD, my beautiful San Diego and everything and everyone there. But I had a good time outside of school and met many friends, so again, party time, just not at my school this time. Other than a rather boring college experience at Claremont, the rest of the time was fun. I'll leave it at that.
After "regular" college, I completed a year-long, post-graduate state certification program in the legal field and started my own business, which I continued with for 13 years until I started branching out into other things and went through a progression of changes in the business world to where I am now.
Workplace
I have a diverse work history, which I appreciate. I have learned the countless skills necessary to do what I'm doing now. Work has had lots of twists & turns necessary to be where I am. No problem.
I've worked in every office position through to management. I felt it important to learn all aspects of running a business for my future goals. A good stepping stone.
When I started having children, I wanted to break free of an "office environment," felt I had learned enough of what I'd need in the future in running a business and went out on my own so I could work on my own terms while raising my kids. I owned my own legal business for 13 years, working with various legal firms/courts throughout California.
When we moved to our current home, through our various community involvements, networking with many new people led to major changes. Still maintaining my legal business, I got involved in community activities/associations, volunteering, and finally ran out of time to do all of the above. The networking, connections and community involvement led to job offers to manage political campaigns from the local level to the state level and finally the federal Congressional level, which I did for a number of years until I got so tired of politics that I said, "no more campaigns."
Again, the connections in the business community led to another job offer when I was no longer managing campaigns. So I was hired by the Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and served as the President/CEO of the Chamber, gutted a 50+-year-old organization and set it on a new course. I made it clear from the start, though, that I'd rebuild it, stay for a limited period of time, and then they could take it from there because I had other plans. I stayed for about 4 years and felt comfortable at that point that things were moving forward according to the master plan, so I retired from the Chamber a few years ago.
Throughout my twists & turns, my husband has consistently been in the computer/communications technology business for over 30 years, working in management for corporations for a number of years until we moved to our current home. We made a major decision with another businessman friend in the industry to leave the "working for someone else" corporate job, and my husband formed a partnership corporation of his own, which he co-owned for a few years. He then bought out his partner, formed his own corporation, which is now solely our family-owned corporation in which I now serve as Vice President/Chief Financial Officer. So here we are with our ultimate goal - owning our own business, not working for anyone else, and having the ability to pass the business down to our children if they so choose.
I can't predict the future, but if the business remains the same as it is now or even gets better, I feel we have succeeded in our goals. I can't take the credit for this family business. I call my husband "the Techno King." He's absolutely brilliant in every aspect of this business, and his customers recognize people skills, dedication, service and technological intelligence rarely found; so due to him, the business is extremely successful. He's hands-on, while I more or less "speak my mind" about whatever is necessary (i.e., "discuss"). I guess you could say, tempermentwise, we're sort of like oil and water. My husband is very calm, level-headed, keeps his cool most of the time, has a tremendous amount of patience and other numerous admirable virtues. On the other hand, I CAN handle myself similarly, but I'm usually the counter-ego, more outspoken, less patient, more aggressive partner ("A-type personality"). I'm just not the type of personality to take a lot of crud, so I will fire back when necessary. Luckily, I don't have to do that often and can keep it professional and dignified, as it should be (unless someone really ticks me off). So here we are.
Military
I have no military experience, although I have family members who do, but I am a DIE-HARD patriotic American totally supportive of our country, which I believe is the greatest country in the world, and I'm darn lucky to have been born here. I do have very strong political opinions on most issues, which vary depending on the issue, and I detest a lot of the game-playing politics on all sides.
But I TOTALLY AND COMPLETELY support our military troops, what they do and stand for and wish to God that people would realize what these people willingly go through and sacrifice for our freedom, including their lives. No one knows that life until one walks in their shoes. Now that's heroism!
Register for Free to view all details!
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!
Photos
