Sharon Nichols:  

Life I married Ed Baker in 1970 and we had two children, Kim and Eric, born 1972 and 1975, respectively. I finally finished my college education, through a very circuitous route, due to Ed's constant changing of jobs and subsequent moves. We lived in Minnesota and Iowa for years, then moved back to Illinois in 1983. Not long after, we divorced. 'nuf said! I received a phone call out of the blue from my very first love, Henry "Hank" Nichols and after some getting reacquainted via mail and phone calls, finally met for the first time in person (since Nov., 1968) in late 1983. Guess we must have been impressed because we've been married now for 35 1/2 years. Hank's 'retired' now, but was a research scientist (physical chemist) for Amoco/BPAmoco for about 20 years. He retired in 2002 and I received my disability (arthritis, fibromyalgia) at the same time, so we took our camper and dogs and set off to our property in OK we'd bought for our retirement. After 8 years in Stigler, OK (don't EVER go there! They are backwards!), we moved to the Texarkana area where we lived for 9 years. My college education is in Geography/Anthropology/Sociology. I became a cultural geographer, which is a marriage of geography and anthropology--long story there! But I loved it and enjoyed teaching part-time, then full-time, with tenure (Assoc. Prof.) I taught at the community college level at College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL. for 14 years. I knew I didn't want the discipline problems or parent/state mandates/school boards/etc. problems teaching at K-12 or the publish or perish paradigm at Universities (tho' I love to write.!), and I wanted to "turn students on to geography" so I chose the community college level. My work career was very successful & rewarding. (I'm not bragging, just happy, because so many people have to get up every morning and go off to jobs they hate!) I was very lucky--I got paid to talk about the subject matter/discipline I loved the most--Geography! Can't beat that! My MS thesis was on the cultural landscape (human imprint on the earth) of the Midwest, Would you be surprised that it was about what happened to the rural landscape as a result of tractorization of agriculture? (Switching from using horses for farm work to using tractors. I found the study to be very interesting, partly due to remembering my Grandfather's farm in Arkansas and what it was like visiting there. I AM a writer, tho' it's still mostly poetry, although I wrote my family's genealogy/history and presented it to my Mom & siblings for Xmas. The book was 512 pages with a separate 66-page Appendix of family history ancestral charts. I used my background as both geographer/historian and research/writing skills to present not just the stories of our family, but also the social-historical context of the places & times they lived, etc. That, too, was a lot of fun to do and kept me very busy for 2 years! Now I'm working on a new book, this time fiction, based on my family's migration from NC to Ark.--from the same locale at "Cold Mountain"--Haywood Co., NC. What a strange coincidence! Actually, it will be two books, due to sheer amount of information. (Update-20 Jan 2019: now it's 3 books of family history I have researched & am working on. As far as what kind of person I am, I suppose you wouldn't be surprised to find me much the same, in that I am still very interested in current/world events & issues, still write (poetry, prose, book chapters for others' non-fiction books, and fiction based on history, I still take (very!) strong political stands, and generally still speak my mind, though with that same old southern respect and courtesy. I've had a pretty good life, all in all, though there were some rough spots, as I'm sure we've all had. My children are Kim, in San Diego (also a writer!) and Eric, married, with 3 girls. They are from my first marriage. Hank and I are both staunch atheists, freethinkers, humanists, and naturalists (as in following science rather than religion). All in all, life is generally ok. I hope yours is too! School Ah, High school! I was most inspired by Mr. and Mrs. Uhe, Miss Abernathy, & Mrs. Groshong. Though math is my weakest area, it was fun with Mr. Uhe. And Mrs. Uhe introduced me to the need for rigorous study in her Earth Science class. I remember when she taught us the Geologic Timetable and I went home that night and memorized it just for fun because I found it so very interesting! (I made a 98% on the test! It's the grade I'm most proud of!) From Miss Abernathy, I learned the incredible lesson of reading/dissecting a major newspaper every day. I don't drink coffee, but I have to have my newspaper with my diet drink every day or life is just plain off-kilter. I loved the discussions we used to have on current events. I remember trying to find newspaper items that other students would be unlikely to bring. I received a lot of encouragement from Mrs. Groshong on my writing & very much wanted to excel at that. I really connected with the teachers we had, for the most part. I also remember all the fun I had in Psych. class, Doc Davis's Government class (I was a Brownie.), and Mrs. Davis's Office Practice class. My worst teacher was Mr. Schannon's typing class. I missed 4 weeks due to hospitalization with kidney infection & then pneumonia. I typed a lousy 12 words a minute. I sucked! Mr. Schannon was a jerk, needling me about how much class I'd missed, but I wouldn't let him get me down! I remember Girls' Chorus, the practices and concerts, and all the wonderful friends I made. Lana, Jackie, Patty Barton! We had so much fun! Remember the Roxette? Journalism class was...interesting, if not sometimes contentious. Still, it was fun being on the newspaper staff and I met a lot of great people! The worst thing I remember about HS is being shy and wanting to be accepted! Boy, did I get over that, in these intervening years! I was very, very shy, but I decided (since I love actors) that I would basically be an actor, acting as if I were not shy. Eventually, I think I was cured, but still feel it in places I don't know with people I don't know. I think we were mostly nice kids, idealistic, and wonderfully naive. We expected so much. We didn't think we'd e...Expand for more