Harriet Winningham:
CLASS OF 1969
Farmington High SchoolClass of 1969
Farmington, NM
Harriet's Story
My story is one of many changes. Some by choice but many by circumstances. the first change was the move from Farmington to Fort Collins, Colorado because of my father being ill. I didn't want to move because I wanted to graduate in Farmington with my friends and those who were like family to me. Needless to say I ended up not graduating at all but dropped out of school shortly after my father passed away in 1968. I married my High School squeeze and had two wonderful children. I now I have four grand kids and a great grandson. I am no longer married to the "squeeze" but that was another circumstance that just changed my path. I remained single for about 19 years after the kids dad and I separated and worked many different jobs. I learned the hard way that it was not easy to get good paying jobs when you cut yourself short on the education. Not that I wasn't smart enough but the public out there wants quick references to your skills and they would rather see a piece of paper saying you are trainable rather than take the time to find out for sure. LOL I have seen it work the other way too. Great credentials only to not know how to apply what they know. But going on, Twelve years after I was suppose to graduate, I did go and obtain my GED through the Mapleton School District of Denver. I was going to take classes to fill in the gaps, but I took a pre-test and was able to test out. I passed with average grades in most areas but grading higher in Math and English Language skills. Communication Yo! This was a great encouragement to me and the teachers that helped in the testing and preparation were awesome.
I went on from working retail at a drugstore and later a clothing store to work with many different companies associated with computer manufacturing and technical line work. Yes I was an assembly men. Doing those jobs just kept opening doors for me to different others types of work. I eventually went from assembly and inventory work to working with purchasing and processing to accounting. The accounting enabled me to return to Farmington for a short while between 1991 to 1994. My mother was ill and I returned to spend time with her before she passed away early in 1992. The job I found was workin...Expand for more
g at Western Tire and Appliance. the place with the Big Man on the top of the building. I was able to at least have that dream met. When we lived in Farmington, my dad use to take me with him when we would get his work trucks serviced or have tires put on and I had always had a secret dream of wanting to work there. Well I got to live that dream. I am so thankful to God for that experience. I reached a point though, where I felt pulled back to Denver so in early 1995, I sold my mothers trailer I had been living in and returned to Denver. That is where I met the man I am married to now. in 2001 I remarried and began a whole new chapter of living. I bought and learn to ride my first motorcycle. I turned 50 somewhere in there, and I want to tell you, I felt like I was finally living my life. After 5 years of riding and being involved with the Christian Motorcyclists Association, my husband and I moved to Texas. He had family there that needed a helping hand, so we got work with the Hill Country Youth Ranch and worked as house parents for about a year and half at the Big Spring Ranch for Children in Lakey Texas. It was a real test for both of us but such a wonderful experience with the kids we helped and took care of. There were four houses and our house was set up to take care of boys from the ages 12 to 16. After the year we decided it was time to change, and the family problems had been addressed so we decided to move to the South to Corpus Christi. We lived there for about three years. It was a good experience. Got to see the Ocean and I liked it. Live on the bay in Ingelside in a Dome home for about a year and then got and apartment at the Bahia Marina and I was getting really spoiled. But I was missing my kids. I was missing "up north" and my husband didn't want to move but he gave in. When It came time we made the decision to move back to Denver so my opportunity to move to Farmington again seemed lost. I have not given up hope. I turned 65 this month, and I am praying that God will give me one more chance to go back to New Mexico. I want to live there and be close to my family and hopefully reunited and make friends again with some that may still be living in the area. So you never know!!!
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