Irene Sofia Duffner:
CLASS OF 1958
Brantford Collegiate Institute High SchoolClass of 1958
Brantford, ON
Grandview SchoolClass of 1954
Brantford, ON
Irene Sofia's Story
After high school I worked for The Bank of Nova Scotia in Brantford for 2 years. Then I transfered to the Special Representatives office of the Bank of Nova Scotia in Chicago. There I met my husband and we moved to St. Joseph MI for 10 yrs. Thereafter we moved to Illinois, Alabama, and Iowa.
I moved to St. Louis in 1977 with my daughter Leanne and my son Kenneth. They are now 48 and 47. My daughter gave me two exquisite granddaughters that I love dearly, ages 16 and 13. My granddaughter Julie just won the President's Award for Academic Excellence, complete with gold seal and GWB signature. My daughter Leanne went back to The University of Missouri St. Louis in 2004 and is on the Dean's list. My son Ken is not married, he was engaged for a couple of years but it didn't work out. I am single now and content with my life. I went to Brantford and now Hamilton to visit my parents and my sister a couple of times every year and still visit my sister from time to time in Hamilton.
I'm still a Canadian citizen, why give up the citizenship of a good country. I can't imagine why everyone wants to emigrate to the states when Canada is the better country of the two. However it certainly is expensive to live up there.
I took several college courses in recent years, art and computers. When you're 60 you can take courses for 1/2 price. At 65 I can take courses for free if there is room in the class the day before it begins. Sewing has been a lifelong hobby and I have made clothing for my entire family and belong to the American Sewing Guild. I read a great deal, have many friends all over and have as busy a social life as I want. I make real jewelry some of which I sell or give as gifts. I can no longer travel due to health concerns. I live in a condominium and drive a Cadillac, It's getting pretty old but it only has 114,000. miles on it, rides good, looks good so I think we'll just soldier on together for a few more years. When does a car become "Vintage".
It's pleasant here in the winter, we have some snow three or four times...Expand for more
a winter and everything shuts down. They're sissies down here, we used to go to school every day no matter what the weather. We don't need boots or gloves or scarves most of the time and a blazer or light weight winter coat will do. But it's too hot in the summer. I live life in reverse and stay in a lot in the summer, it's just too hot for me. This year we have had record breaking temperatures, I have never lived anywhere where the temperature reached a 107 degrees three times in one week.
Watching the better things on cable, especially the science channels, TLC. Disc Health, National Geographic, etc. is one of my interests and I am a movie buff. I was very active in community theatre for many years. I acted in plays, worked back stage, did makeup and costumes, gathered fabrics and generally did what needed to be done. I was a member of the board of directors in Michigan and Alabama. I was a founding member of the Alabama Shakespearean Festival which later became government supported and moved from its original base in Anniston Al. to Montgomery. I joined and was a patron here in St. Louis, but my interest fizzled out.
I began making doll clothes when my granddaughters were the age for that and I just couldn't stop. I used up a lot of acraps and had a lot of fun making them. I have also done some quilting and made a great many hair bows for adult women and am currently making cloth purses. I have sold them in craft fairs.
In the summer of 2004 my high school steady, Grant Palmer emailed me after finding me through Classmates.com. He was a teacher for 33 years in Sudbury and lives about 30 miles south of Sudbury. He is now retired and widowed with one daughter. We have visited back and forth, talk on the phone and have sent hundreds of emails. It's been very nice and most interesting to renew acquaintance with a dear old friend fifty years after we first met.
I'll watch for your bios on Classmates.com. See you later.
Irene
July 2012
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