In 1963, I Started Teaching Third Grade

“In 1963, I started teaching third grade at Sacred Heart School in Lombard, Illinois. At that time, you did not need a teaching degree in a Parochial School (I had begun pursuing my teaching degree, but I had not finished yet). My first class had 54 students.

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A Career Change - After 20 Years of Nursing!

As a child, I vacillated between wanting to be a teacher like my grandmother and wanting to be a nurse because of the cool uniforms. Nursing won out after I read the Sue Barton and Cherry Ames novels.

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What's the most interesting job you've ever had?

"One day, I was talking to a fireman and he told me to put my application into the Battle Creek Fire Department. I was hired, and it started a wonderful career for me. I loved that every run was different and there were never any two alike.

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A Lifelong Passion for Cycling

“Biking has long been a favorite hobby of mine. I remember getting my first bike from the Marion Gamble Hardware Store as a birthday gift from my parents when I was in grade school. The picture on the right is of my father holding me when I was just a newborn.

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My Most "Memorable" Teacher!

"My brother, Roland, was always my 'other dad' since he was 8 years older than me. He taught me how to ride a bicycle; catch a baseball; and later when I was driving, he helped me get a car unstuck and also helped with cleaning the spark-plugs."

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I was born in 1923, in Tevel, Hungary...

"My name is Katie, and I was born in 1923 in Tevel, Hungary. As a little girl, my family lived on a homestead. We had ten acres and it was called “existence” farming, because we could exist on those ten acres."

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Letters from Home...

"I was working at Sutherland Paper company as a commercial artist and also building our first house when I got my "greeting" for induction on March 2, 1951. I was to report on March 29th."

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Share a Christmas Memory...

"One especially memorable Christmas was the year that I was hired to work the Christmas rush at Kresges Dimestore in Elmhurst, Illinois."

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My favorite pet was our family cow!

"Our Guernsey herd was such an integral part of our life… they were like family! We took them to all the local fairs: Urbana, London, Hilliard (which is Franklin County), the Ohio State Fair, and two or three others."

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I Met Elvis Presley!

“I attended Findlay Senior High School, and I became the editor of the school paper. My whole journalism class traveled to New York City for a newspaper conference, and we also went to the Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey CBS Stage Show. Elvis was making one of his early TV appearances on Saint Patrick’s Day 1956."

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