Debi (Deborah) Henry:
CLASS OF 1970
Carlsbad High SchoolClass of 1970
Carlsbad, CA
St. Martin's CollegeClass of 1999
Lacey, WA
Orange Glen Junior High SchoolClass of 1966
Escondido, CA
Rose Elementary SchoolClass of 1963
Escondido, CA
Debi (Deborah)'s Story
Okay, here we go! My attempt at condensing forty years of living into a few paragraphs.
Many of you will remember that my parents up and moved our family to Iowa the summer before my senior year. This was quite a traumatic experience for me. Life in Iowa back then was very different that living on the beach in southern California. You couldn't even make a right hand turn on a red light! I survived this trauma, however. Engaged to Leonard Machado, after graduation I returned on the first plane back to San Diego.
Leonard and I got married in June 1970, we were way to young for the responsibilities of marriage. The marriage turned out to be brief, but, long enough to produce a son.
I returned to school when my son was three to study Accounting. I worked in this field for a number of years, mostly as an office manager for auto dealerships in California, Colorado and Iowa
Seven years later came the birth of my daughter, then another marriage to a hospital administrator. My husband's job transfer brought us to Olympia, Washington. I returned to college, and in 1999 I received a degree in English, Sociology and Cultural Antropology, graduating Suma Cum Laude from Saint Martin's College. (I simply could not settle on one major.) ;~) I left Washington in 2003 and moved to Idaho.
Today, I can boast about being the grandmother of four charming grandbabies.
Throughout the years, I've hosted a number of exchange students from Latin American countries, Japan and Romania. I've done some humantarian work in Venezuela, and I served in the Peace Corps after my children were raised. I've also done a lot of traveling. First, across the U.S. I've visited nearly every state, including all four corner states, and then I moved on to visit a number of countries in Europe, including those of Eastern Europe soon after the fall of communism.
My European experiences were not as a tourist; I lived with and as the locals do. It is difficult to attempt to describe my experiences in eastern Europe since we Americans have nothing like them which we can relate. It was as though life in these countries had frozen in time back in the 1940s. For example, they had no real experience with ethnic foods. In ...Expand for more
Romania, they would top their pizza with scrambled eggs and ketchup. The thought of what those early day pizzas looked like can still turn my stomach. ;~) Since then, however, my return to Romania in 2005 revealed many changes. McDonald's, Pizza Huts and KFCs now are spotting the country's larger cities. I am very happy to see the healing change taking place in eastern Europe.
All of these experiences have greatly broadened my understanding of the human experience. In turn, they have aided in developing and refining my character in ways like no other experiences could. I have also accumulated an international family to share in life with.
Currently, I am living in northern Idaho. I bought some land up here, built a home, a barn and I've put up lots of fencing. My days are spent for the most part, solehandedly managing a small ranch, an animal rescue organization and wildlife habitat that is home to horses, Cashmere goats, Angora rabbits, dogs, a cat, fish, a parrot and various wildlife, with some in rehabilitation. It is also not uncommon to have bears, cougars, moose, etc. travel through.
Oh yeah, and every summer a snake or two move into my pond with the fish where they apparently enjoy the cool water. Although I am NOT a fan of snakes, since these snakes are harmless, I let them hang out as another aspect of my mini egosystem. Where they head off to for the winter I've yet to discover, but they always return in the spring. Then, there's this Great Horned Owl that likes to visit in the summer and feed itself off of my fish!
I did not plan in high school my life would end up as it has, but, in retrospect I can see why it has. I am very much interested in learning about how other people live and manage their life experiences. I am also fascinated with the trust animals are willing to give humans, especially those whose instincts tells them that we are predators and they are our prey. Accepting animals as thinking beings, they impress me daily with their intelligence and communicative skills. It brings me great joy to be able to share my life with all these animals and the good people who also are committed to their well being.
Life is good up here in the northern woods!
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