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Fifty years! After graduation from Yo-Hi in 1964 I stayed in Japan to continue my education. Not wanting to leave the country, I enrolled at Tokyo University of the Sacred Heart and attended for a year and half. While there, I had a wonderful opportunity – to serve as an American guide for the Tokyo Olympics. Just my luck, I was assigned two wrestlers!
The Navy rotated my family back to the states in July of 1965 and my parents went to the East coast; Dad’s new duty was Chaplain at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. En route, they dropped me off at Barat College in Lake Forest, Illinois, very close to the Great Lakes Naval Training Center, where I continued my education.
After my college days, in the late sixties, I joined American Airlines as a stewardess. After completing my training at American’s college in the Dallas/Fort Worth area, I was assigned Washington D.C, as my base.
It was there that I met my future husband, Gary, a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Army, and fresh from serving in Vietnam. After dating for 3 months, we were engaged and married in November of 1968 with my father officiating.
Gary’s Army commitment ended the same year, and we transferred to Chicago so he could take a job as a civil engineer for American Bridge. Over the next few years we were nomads, moving from Chicago to St. Louis, back to Chicago, then Detroit, and back to Chicago. I worked for American Airlines as a Skipper in their Admirals Club as well as other positions. We finally settled in Chicago where we have lived for the last 40+ years.
In 1987 I accepted a position with GTE Airfone (now Verizon), a new company with the “new technology” of phones on commercial airplanes. My experience with American finally paid off. Airfone offered travel overseas and a connection once again to the airline industry.
I held several positions, but my last and favorite was as Product Manager of General Aviation. My staff and I handled Verizon inflight telecommunication needs for our customers, which consisted of over 4,000 corporate jets, plus Air Force One and Air Force Two.
Our daughter, Kim, (born in 1973) attended the University of Iowa and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army upon graduation. She served for eight years, leaving the Army with the rank of Captain. She was a Patriot Missile commander in Kuwait, and also served in Saudi Arabia. In 2004, Kim resigned her commission, married, and later had a son; T.J. is now eight, going on 28. Kim and her family live within 5 miles.
Our son, Brian (born in 1976), joined the Marine Corps right after high school and served a four-year tour as a ground pounder. Brian got to see Japan and camped at Mt. Fuji.
The greatest tragedy of our life was the loss of Brian on November 23, 2001. He was 25 years old. He was a wonderful young man who had a huge and loving heart.
I retired from Verizon Airfone in 2005. Feeling like a dinosaur in the corporate world, I felt it was time. Gary retired in 2009 from Walgreen Company. We love not working! We have a 2014 Corvette Stingray and have joined a local Corvette Club, and having a great time with new friends who also love fiberglass. Gary is a graduate of Virginia Military Institute (VMI), and we have had some travel outings with his former classmates. We attended his 50-year college reunion in Lexington, Virginia, in May. In short, we travel a bit, drive lots and enjoy a more relaxed way of life.
I belong to The Kiwi Club, an organization for former and online American Airlines stewardesses and flight attendants. I served as a national secretary and then as the national president. I continue to stay active in the organization by working on the national newsletter by doing all their artwork.
I have a home-based business of art and greeting cards which will not make me rich, but which I enjoy immensely. I feature art for newborns and airlines (what a combination), as well as a line of cards called “Great Dames,” which is geared to women.
One last thing…Gary and I took my mom back to Japan in 1999 (my dad passed away in 1997). We stayed at the New Sanno for almost two weeks. Mom reunited with many Japanese friends from the Chapel Center and had a marvelous time. So many memories…
My general impression of Japan was that I would never have known that I lived there. So much has changed...it made me a little bit sad. But nothing stays the same.
Fifty years has gone by much too fast. As kids, we had no concept of time. Now, we do.
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