Mary Ellen Gutierrez:
CLASS OF 1981
Waukegan East High SchoolClass of 1981
Waukegan, IL
Waukegan West High SchoolClass of 1981
Waukegan, IL
Thomas Jefferson Middle SchoolClass of 1977
Waukegan, IL
West Elementary SchoolClass of 1975
Waukegan, IL
Mary Ellen's Story
Everyone remembers me as the quiet, smart, artistic girl who was (and still is) a huge Beatles fan. I can't tell you how many of you mentioned that in my senior year book! I guess I'm still smart, just not as quiet.
I'm living in Spring, TX, which is basically the northwest corner of Houston. I never thought I'd end up in Texas. Mom always said, "never marry a Texan," so guess what I had to go out and do??? My husband, Stuart Spoonemore, is from a small town in west Texas (Rawls). We met while I was studying at UT-Austin and were introduced by a mutual friend at a Bible study meeting. My first impression of him was that he was stuck up as hell, but as I got to know him he loosened up and I realized he wasn't so bad, after all. We met in the late summer of 1993, were dating by mid-October and on Nov. 22nd he proposed. We got married May 22, 1995. He's a practical down-to-earth banker and for those of you who know me that will be really funny to you, I know!
We lived in Austin for a couple of years and then moved to Corpus Christi (a horrible place to live!!!) due to his job and we were stuck there for 7 LONG years. On the plus side, our daughter was born there. So far we have only one and it will stay that way as long as I have anything to say about it. Kids are a tremendous blessing, but they are so much work! It's more than a full-time job to which all you moms and single dads can attest.
Six years (in 2003) ago we moved to the Houston area and we bought our house 5 years ago, a brand new one in a new subdivision that has tiny trees the builder planted after bulldozing down all the beautiful pines that once stood here. We love our house. It's a 2-story so on days my knees are bothering me that can be a problem, but so far it's been nothing major. I swear by Glucosamine Sulfate and MSM combo. It's better than prescription meds if you have joint problems.
Due to being too highly specialized in my field I never did get that university teaching job I had always dreamt about. I did get several of my papers published as articles, though. However, I use my knowledge in a very unusual manner. I always focused my studies on the spirituality of the Maya and I also looked into the Egyptian and so on. Now I run a successful internet business with clientele all over the world on all the continents, except for Antartica. I provide spiritual readings, etc for people who are into new age/metaphysical type of things. I enjoy my work and find it very fulfilling providing people with spiritual guidance. I get to work from home so it's ideal since our daughter never spent a day in daycare. However, when she stated kindergarten she caught all the diseases and spent most of the school year sick! She also was nice enough to share those diseases with her parents!!!
I have one cat - Dickens, who is aptly named as that is exactly what he is, although he's old and fat now so he's slowed down a great deal. We also have a dog named Sheila. She's a 4 year old Australian Red Heeler, aka Australian Cattle Dog. For those of you who knew my dog Desiree (Desi), this is not the same breed (unfortunately for me!!!). She was an Australian Sheppa...Expand for more
rd. Sheila had a terrible puppyhood and I had fantasies of driving her off into the middle of nowhere and dumping her countless times. However, she was always sorry for peeing, pooping on the carpet, but I nearly lost it when on the SAME DAY she chewed through the ABS brake system on my car AND chewed the backs of 2 ANTIQUE MAHOGANY dining room chairs!!! Thankfully, Sheila turned into a very good dog after much training and crying by me (probably the dog cried, too!). She's awesome now and I'm so glad I never gave her away.
For those of you who knew my parents - Mom passed away as a result of 2 consecutive blood infections on Jan. 20, 2008. She was 83. My poor father was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease in July, 2008 and by early October had developed dementia. It was later discovered he also has Alzheimer's Disease. Both are incurable and simply progress. Medication only slows down the inevitable. Due to the dementia I had to make the very painful decision to place him in a nursing home in late October. If I didn't have a child (who was becoming increasingly traumatized by my father's sudden very bizarre behavior) I would have kept him at home.
He was such an awesome Dad. Many of you will remember him from class trips we had. Dad would take the day off to come serve as room parent and he did that for EVERY trip we EVER took. I can remember a lot of you quarreling and insisting you wanted to be in his group because he let us run wild, plus if he bought me a drink or an ice-cream he would get everyone one. I will never forget the time in 5th grade (and I mention it because T. (I won't embarrass you by even using your first name here, you were in my graduating HS class, also!) that a friend's mom came as a surprise when we were going with our 5th grade class (gosh, remember Mr. Klein???) to take a walking tour of downtown Chicago. T was very surprised to see mom there and she told T (see, I'm omitting your gender, too) she was there to be a room parent for our trip. However, T wanted to be in Dad's group and T insisted, which really made the mom angry, but in the end T got to be in Dad's group. I will NEVER forget that, T. Dad would mention that every so often for years and years afterwards. I hope you didn't get into too much trouble that day after school!
I have fond memories of high school, mostly. I enjoyed being a member of the Art and Home Economic Clubs. I really enjoyed having guitar class with Mr. Fletcher. My favorite teacher was Mr. Wilbert Haymeyer who taught social studies. I know a lot of kids didn't like him because he was a really tough teacher, but I enjoyed being challenged and pushed to my limits. He did an awesome job preparing me for college, as did Ms. Willis, a US History teacher. She single-handedly shaped the way I highlight information and take notes. For that I will always be grateful.
Should the following people read this, please contact me ASAP so we can catch up:
Kathy Terry Favreau (West H. S.)
Margie Karanikolas (East)
Veronica Maldonado (East)
Rosie Rodriguez (East)
For everyone else, I'd also love to hear from you to see what you've all been up to and where Life has taken you.
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