I spent my first two years after Burlingame High at College of San Mateo, finishing at San Francisco State with a degree in Elementary Education. Did one of my student teaching assignments at Roosevelt, the same school I'd attended from Kindergarten through eighth grade. How strange it was to be calling my former teachers by their first names.

Here I was, supposedly all grown up, and they hadn't changed a bit.

After graduation from S.F.S. I married and taught 3rd grade at both Hoover and McKinley Schools, then took what I thought was to be a temporary leave prior to the birth of my son, David in 1962. This was followed by the arrival of his sister, Kristina, in 1965. By the time

I felt the kiddos were old enough that I could return to teaching, we were living in Sunnyvale and our district, Santa Clara Unified, was hit hard by both the cutbacks from Prop 13 and severely declining enrollment, shrinking from 34 schools to just 17. At this time, 1973, I took a clerical position, working in the library program until 1991 when I was talked into taking early retirement in order to move to El Dorado County.

While living in the town of El Dorado, near Placerville, I became actively involved with the California Department of Forestry, doing fire safety programs in El Dorado, Amador, Sierra and Sacramento Counties, served several seasons as a fire marshall doing home inspections, was an information officer giving newspaper, radio, and television press releases during times of wildfire emergencies throughout the El Dorado-Amador Ranger District, and even had the fun of being Smokey Bear at the Sacramento State Fair one year. The costume was designed for a 6-foot tall man, so you can imagine how much padding it took to fill it up enough for my 5 foot 4 inch frame to waddle around.

During those years I also was a volunteer docent at the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Nursery in the nearby town of Camino, explaining and demonstrating to touring groups how pine and fir cones were chosen and harvested, seeds were cleaned, treated, stored, germinated, planted, and ultimately transplanted into areas which needed reforestation because of fires or timber harvests.

In '97, I was divorced and moved to Sacramento, lived there until 2001 when I bought a home in Littlebrook, a gated adult community in Roseburg, Oregon. Located in the Green District between Winston and Roseburg, we enjoy 1/2 a mile of river frontage on the south fork of the Umpqua River. There are deer, osprey, kingfishers, our local bald eagle, raccoons, foxes, nutria, mink, otters, turtles, and numerous ducks, geese, and songbirds. It's a beautiful, peaceful area and I love being here (Check the website at www.littlebrook.com).

My "significant other" is Ben Birkel, also a former teacher who spent 36 years teaching math and coaching in Santa Clara. We found each other again when we were living in Sacramento, having worked together many years earlier.

That's about it up to this point. We're looking forward to next May when we are going to pull our trailer through Alaska and spend eight to ten weeks sight seeing and "camping".

Best wishes to all my former classmates. Impossible to believe it's been so long since we were sharing life at BHS, but those days will never be forgotten. Take good care. Margaret

December 11, 2003