CAROLYN LANNING VIERRA

Her autobiography as provided for our 40th reunion in 1995

Often I feel as if I fell down the rabbit hole, walked through the looking glass and ended up in the "curiouser and curiouser" small aggie town of Los Banos.

It's really quite pleasant here. We have a corner drug-store soda fountain. There truly are "dear hearts and gentle people" who celebrate Arbor Day and sit on the curb to wave at the high school band members during the May Day parade. And you know Norman Rockwell's picture of the barber cutting the little boy's hair? Well, I think he came to Glady's Barber Shop on 6th Street to paint that.

The days rush by - "I'm late. ..I'm late" - as I work at the local high school in the Career Center, play piano for local musical programs, and jump into civic and family activities. Our kids are all grown and moved OUT of Los Banos. My folks sold their home in Broadway, Burlingame and moved IN to Los Banos.

Our boys are MDs - Mark is surgeon/instructor at Stanford. Brian, OB/GYN, delivers babies at Merced Clinic. Our world-traveled daughter, Michelle, finally settled in Washington and will be entering P.A. school in September. They all have GREAT mates and adorable children (5 here, one on the way.)

And this is really curious! Karen McKenzie and Kitty Alexander introduced me to Gene Vierra 38 years ago! So far we've survived law school, military, lean times, and completely opposite backgrounds. Gene is still practicing law. His latest venture is as a trustee for Merced Community College. We're both enjoying the "required" meetings because we get to meet interesting people from all over the state.

Traveling is a shared interest. Recent adventures include swimming with the sea lions in the Galapagos, and not too long ago a stint in Russia with Global Volunteers.