Comments:
I can't believe that it has been 40 years that we've all been away from Indianola High School. All 3 of our kids are IHS graduates also and I've worn my fair share of purple and gold over the years. Our oldest grandson, Damian, recently registered for next fall and will be the 6th generation of my family to go to IHS. I think that's pretty neat, his reaction was "oh." Ah, to be 14 and cool again!
In the 40 years since graduation I've done lots of different things with my primary career being mom. Motherhood didn't pay real well, and the retirement plan isn't as good as others, but it was fun and I enjoyed it. In 1988 I began working at H & R Block and continued there for the next 10 years. I continue to do several tax returns out of my home but am glad the tax time pressure at H & R Block is gone. I've also worked part time at the Record Herald and Indianola Tribune, a couple of different insurance agencys, a drug store, a gift shop and yes, the Corner Sundry as a fill in. Most recently I worked for the Indianola Chamber of Commerce but left there a year ago. I loved each and every one of my part time jobs over the years, met a lot of nice people and learned a great deal about a lot of different things.
In 1998 I decided it was time to fulfill a life long dream and I enrolled in Des Moines Area Community College. I also took a couple of classes at Simpson. 2 years later I started taking care of grandchildren during the day and decided I needed to focus on them so I left school. I am officially a Junior and will go back and finish one day.
Rick has worked for a construction company, McAninch Corp, out of Des Moines for the past 35 years as a heavy equipment mechanic. They do a good portion of their work out of town and he has been working down in the Lake of the Ozarks area for the past 2 years. Currently I travel between Indianola and there usually every other week. It is a long boring drive and if not for books on CD I would have gone nuts. We have a 5th wheel and it's a nice place to relax and enjoy life.
We have done some traveling in the past few years, quite often times either to Kay & Galen Vinson's or with the Vinson's. We've had a very good time. Several years ago we bought our first timeshare (now they call them Vacation Ownerships...) on Maui and since have added a 2nd week. We go to Maui every other year for 2 weeks of sunshine.
Life has been good to us. We have 3 grown children, 6 grandchildren and 2 step grandchildren all living here in Indianola. In 2000 Kay Crandall Vinson, Marla Burchett Roush, Linda Schrieber Anfinson, Marian Harvey Cowles and I went to Las Vegas to celebrate our 50th birthdays. I first met Kay, Marla, and Linda in 3rd grade and Marian in kindergarten. At the time everyone we told that we'd been friends since grade school were all amazed but I didn't think it was such a big deal until the other day I was thinking that our granddaughter Jaylyn is in 3rd grade, I wonder if she'll still be friends with any of her classmates in 40 years. Then I realized how amazing it was to have friends you still see regularly from all the way back to grade school.
I'm looking forward to our reunion and hope we have a great turnout. It should be fun.
Summer 2009
Marla Burchett Roush, Linda Schreiber Anfinson, Kay Crandall Vinson, Marian Harvey Cowles and I spent 5 great days at Linda's house in Kansas City in July. She took us all over Kansas City seeing many sites. We did lots of shopping and looking and did some of the best eating I've ever done. It was a great time and we all agreed we'd have our next mini-reunion in 2011 at Key West, Florida!
