Gina Aguilera:
CLASS OF 1969
W.B. Saul High SchoolClass of 1969
Philadelphia, PA
Agriculture & Horticulture High SchoolClass of 1969
Philadelphia, PA
Shawmont Elementary SchoolClass of 1965
Philadelphia, PA
Gina's Story
MY LIFE SINCE FARM SCHOOL (I really don't think of it as Saul).
I don't know if anyone cares, but maybe you do since you signed up on this site.
After farm school I went to Temple U. for one semester. I had to withdraw because I stopped going after about a month. I just couldn't deal with the switch to a giant campus after itty-bitty high school. Then I slept for 6 months. After that I got a low-paying clerk job in an insurance company downtown for a year. By then I was ready to go back to college and enrolled at St Joe's U.
In 1971 I hooked up with fellow '69 alumni David Hickey (remember him?) and we've been together ever since except for one year off for good behavior.
In 1975 I graduated with a BS in Biology. A pretty useless degree if you don't want to be a doctor or work in a lab torturing small animals and breathing dangerous chemicals. I got another low-paying job as a proofreader at a computer printing company in Fort Washington. They taught me computer programming, which turned out to be my true calling. Who knew? I had avoided it like the plague in college.
Meanwhile David worked a variety of jobs like paint store clerk and factory worker. Then he got an FCC license from a local radio/tv school and got a job in Wildwood NJ at a tiny TV station. I reveled in my freedom and sent him a Dear John letter. That was the year off from him. Anyway we got back together and married in 1981.
We quit our jobs and drove cross country for 2 months. Great fun. Came home with no money and growing credit card debt. I got my old job back and David went back to a variety of jobs.
In 1991 we moved to a ranch house in Eagleville, a non-town between Norristown and Collegeville. Very nice quiet wooded lot on dead end street. I started night school courses in c...Expand for more
omputer stuff. At that time we had 5 cats. Which is nuts and way too many.
In 1999 we bought a little vacation house on Chincoteague Island, VA. 200 miles south of Phila on the Delmarva Penninsula, famous for wild ponies. At that time we were down to 1 cat and had adopted a dog. I developed an addiction to selling on eBay. In 2005 I inherited my mother's dog.
In 2006 the last cat died and after 30 years at my job, I was climbing the walls to get out. By then my job title was Sr. Architect (very snooty title for programmer/analyst) and I had gotten a Masters degree in computer information science from LaSalle U. I volunteered for a layoff.
Everything was going great. I got 6 months severance and unemployment. We put the Eagleville house on the market and sold it within a month. Which left us completely out of debt with money in the bank . Moved to Chincoteague where I unexpectedly found a programming job.
Then David fell apart physically. He had a mild stroke soon after we moved. He was almost completely recovered from that when he suffered a devastating seizure. (He's had seizure disorder since the the 90's but nothing like this.) I thought for a while that he would die or be a vegetable. But he got better. His short term memory got fried and his walking is very unsteady. But he's pretty much himself otherwise. He been in intensive care twice since then because of problems regulating his meds. I quit my job to be at home with him. Not that he can't stay by himself, but I worry about possible emergencies. Our first dog died.
We're living off savings which should last for a few years. If he can stay out the hospital for a full year, I'll look for some type of employment.
Meanwhile, I'm in forced retirement on a nice little resort island. Poor me.
Register for Free to view all details!
Reunions
Register for Free to view all events!
Photos
