Michele Blakeslee-Beatty

Wow…thirty years. In some ways it seems like yesterday and in others it seems like three lifetimes ago. I couldn’t make it to the thirty year reunion because we already had planned a surprise birthday party for my mom’s 70th birthday. I did see Greg and saw the pictures of what looked to be a great time.

I actually started taking classes at MJC before I graduated because I had all my credits by the last semester. I went but was not really interested; it seemed like a continuation of the previous four years. I was dating Tom Miller and he was drafted by the NY Mets organization to play in their minor league system. We were married in 1980 and got our real education traveling and playing baseball. We lived in Jackson, MS and Lynchburg, VA and spent spring trainings and winter ball in St. Petersburg, FL. My oldest daughter was born in Lynchburg. It was great fun and we saw a lot of the country but not great for a marriage. We were divorced in 1984 but are friends now and see each other occasionally at family functions.

I was working for Del Monte Foods in Human Resources where I met John, my husband of over 22 years. We have three children, Meghan, Michael and Hallie. Meghan is married and we have a grandson, Michael is single and is a technical director for one of the Fresno TV stations and Hallie is a sophomore at Escalon high school. They are all great kids, though each one different and challenging in their own way, and even more important, great human beings. I loved it when my kids were young, but it is truly gratifying to know your children as the adults they become and have them realize that maybe you do know a few things about life and that all those rules they thought were stupid, really were for their benefit. And yes, I have thanked my mom for all the rules I thought were stupid when I was growing up!

While working for Del Monte, John was moved to the corporate arena in San Francisco and I worked at the R&D facility in Walnut Creek. We did that for five years and got tired of Bay area living, so when John was offered a chance to run his own facility in Washington State, we moved to Yakima in 1995. We were there for seven years and absolutely loved the Northwest. Yakima is actually on the east side of the Cascades and much like the Central Valley with a lot of agriculture. It is the apple capital and also has a rapidly growing wine region (more on wine later). While there, I worked for the County Prosecutor’s office in the Victim/Witness Program. Very interesting and intense but great friends were made.


Another job opportunity for John at Signature Fruit, which was TriValley and now is Seneca brought us back to California and Escalon is where we ended up in 2002. (Wow, it’s hard to sum up 30 years!) John made a full circle and is now back with Del Monte Foods. I had the chance to go back to school and follow my passion for interior design. It’s so much better when you go back to school because you want to and not because you have to. So at 42, I made my way through the program and for the past three years have worked as the designer on staff of a flooring design company and also have my own business with a studio and office in my home doing residential and commercial interior design. I love what I do and though it is challenging right now, what isn’t? As Marty Livingston said in his bio, you can google me to see what I’ve been up to and I have joined the 21st century with Facebook and a design blog…who knew thirty years ago that this is where computers would take us.

For fun we like to camp, hike (miss Washington for that) cook, garden, read, and go to Oakland A’s games. I have completed a marathon through Team n Training for the Leukemia and Lymphoma society down in San Diego. I would say our passion is wine. We have spent many hours with friends and family over great food and wine and most of our vacations involve hitting a winery or two! We have travelled in New England as John’s brother and his wife live outside of Boston and been to Ireland and Scotland but hope to travel much more. Our house is always a work in progress, for John it’s the curse of being married to a designer…he may grumble but is usually game when I say “You know, I was thinking…”. Using Greg’s baseball analogy, life has thrown us a few curve balls but its how you take the pitch that gets you through.

I have some great high school memories and during that four years, you think it’s the most important thing in your life. My sisters and I were all at Beyer at the same time at one point and we now get together annually for “Sisters Weekend” with no spouses or kids. Over the years we have talked many times about our high school experiences and each one of us have such a different take on it and as my kids have gone through and the little bumps in the road happen, I try to tell them that it’s really such a short part of what their story will be, so enjoy it! (and of course they look at me and say “yeah, right mom”)

So here’s to the next thirty years and the changes they will bring!

Tammy Veil-Drew

My brother and I grew up as poor ranch kids in North Modesto, having moved there in ‘62. We raised and hunted our food, learned to swim in the canals, and avoided the television because our imaginations allowed us to see the outdoors as great entertainment. Time was valuable in between the chores of caring for the animals and property, so we made the best of things by exploring the neighboring ranches and farms. Playing chicken with the Angus cattle next door was always a fun activity. However, being chased by the old gray goose was not. Our after school snacks usually came from the plentiful orchards in the area.

I loved the peace and serenity of the country life which led me to leave Modesto after living most of my life there. Progress soon came to our neighborhood in the form of Vintage Faire Mall, the various businesses, Kaiser Permanente, and the widening of Kiernan Avenue. I watched as the kids I grew up with were displaced by the development. Mom finally left the house on Kiernan right before Kaiser was built and when the road threatened to come into her living room.

I think my first career began in the late sixties when as a young child and became fascinated with audio after seeing my first sound meter. I was sitting at the Ceres Drive-In with my Uncle Carlo, the projectionist, when I spied the meter. I was so enthralled that the needle moved with the spoken word, that I gave up watching the movie to wonder at the marvel of this device. It was then that I was bitten by the audio bug and began to experiment with the radio dial on my parents’ console stereo. Soon after, I begged them to buy me a portable radio, so that I was never without the music. My first one was a great big shoe box looking thing with AM/FM/TV and short wave. I had to carry it around cradled like a baby. Luckily, the school officials didn’t mind me having it as long as I didn’t play it in class. Soon I had many radios, soon discovered 8 track and cassette recorders and put together a makeshift audio studio in my bedroom. My mom feared the speaker wiring running along the floor and walls, the many radios that I had disassembled, therefore she avoided my room. That makeshift studio gave a whole new meaning to being sent to your room for punishment.

At Beyer, I discovered Ron Underwood and his 10 watt radio station, KBHI. At that time, I had no clue that his class would shape the next 17 years of my adult life. I never cared for school and was anxious to get out into the world. I graduated mid semester in ’78 with straight A’s and never looked back. I was hired by KTRB/KHOP Rock 104 FM in March of ’78 as an audio technician (fancy name for computer babysitter) for the new stereo Rock 104 automated Album Oriented Rock station. It was quite boring to sit and change tapes on this thing, so I decided to read the equipment manuals and before I knew it, I was programming the computer. When that wasn’t enough amusement, I went to Modesto Junior College majoring in electronics so that I could repair and maintain the equipment. Luckily, MJC had a radio station also. We still spun vinyl at KRJC. Unfortunately after two semesters, I got bit by the love bug when I met this tall and handsome disc jockey/musician at KTRB, was married, and promptly dropped out of college. What followed was a whirlwind of broadcasting opportunities. I became a disc jockey and worked several stints at KTRB, KCEY, KMIX, KOSO as Tammy Lynn. I also became a broadcast engineer maintaining every radio station in Modesto, Manteca, one in Stockton, some in San Luis Obispo, Seattle, and San Francisco. I engineered the complete move and wired the new studios of KFIV AM/FM from the Orangeburg Road location to the Sisk Road location in the mid eighties. I worked at television stations in Modesto and Houston, Texas and also worked for a company manufacturing television transmitters installed on Mount Diablo, in Reno and Fresno. At one point during those 17 years, I started my own contracting business maintaining ten radio stations in Modesto and the surrounding areas, which also resulted in they end of my marriage from the infamous disc jockey/musician.

Age 30 was a turning point in my life when I woke up and realized that I had lived the vagabond life far too long. There were lots of fun times with musicians and coworkers, but now it was time to grow up and think about my future. I was chief engineer for KFIV and Sunny 102 FM at the time I realized this and started exploring alternative careers that would provide stability and a pension. I stumbled into the Cable TV industry working as an installer and technician for Post Newsweek Cable in Modesto. Having climbed radio towers to change light bulbs did not prepare me for the daily physical activity of climbing telephone poles, carrying a midspan ladder, and crawling under houses. Sure, I was a buff hard body for short time, but soon began to feel age creeping up on me. After a year of this I began to realize that I probably would not be able to do this job into my forties and fifties. The road to promotion to the chief technician job was paved with several long term employees, so I went looking elsewhere. It was then that I discovered law enforcement, starting my second career as a reserve deputy sheriff with the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department and re-entering Modesto Junior College intent on a Criminal Justice degree. I went back to part time disc jockey work just to keep my hand in the radio biz. I found the right guy this time, a cop, and we were married in ‘94. My reserve status turned into full-time in ’94 working in Modesto’s jail facilities where I began to experience the darker and seamy side of society. Things the average person would never see, smell, or experience. Luckily, that lasted all of about 3 years when then Sheriff Les Weidman discovered my broadcasting background and made me his Public Information Officer, essentially the Department Spokesperson for the media. Not a glamorous job in the least! Dead people, babies in trash cans, serial killers, and children being victimized wasn’t what I wanted to see for the next twenty years, so when my husband tired of commuting to the foothills, we moved there in 2000. I found work as a Deputy Probation Officer and continued to deal with the criminal element. This time from the rehabilitative side of things. I supervise the violent offenders. Sex offenses, domestic violence, child abuse, elder abuse, etc. Most of the time the job tests my spiritual well-being, but on occasion can be very rewarding when an offender breaks out of the criminal lifestyle. I dearly miss the broadcasting industry and my dream of station ownership, but now I am a property owner, am planted in one place, and have a stable and foreseeable future.

My husband Morgan and I enjoy life on twelve acres in the pine trees up around three thousand feet. He left the sheriff’s department and is now a District Attorney Investigator. We have been together seventeen years now and have no children other than rescue cats and dogs. We enjoy cowboy action shooting, are avid hunters and outdoors people. We rode motorcycles for many years until an oncoming pizza delivery person turned in front of us, totaling my husband’s bike, face, and wrist. Now, we enjoy sight-seeing and hunting on our ATVs and the Cowboy Action Shooting where you dress in 1800’s dress and get to play with old west guns. I never thought I would see myself swaggering around with two six guns on my hips, a repeater rifle and twelve gauge shotgun. We continue to be grateful and thankful for the life that God has provided for us.

Pat Hosegood-Martin Ed.D.

My life has been full and happy since graduating from Beyer. I went from Beyer to UC Davis, where I majored in Physical Education (sports psychology and cardiac physiology concentrations). I enjoyed my time at UCD very much! I was in a sorority (Phi Mu) and made many great friends. It was also during that time that my father died unexpectedly at age 47. My sister had just started a year as an exchange student in Austria. My mom was determined that Pam and I would continue our lives as before, so I went back to Davis and Pam returned to Austria. My dad’s death taught me at an early age to appreciate every day, as we don’t know what lies ahead.

After graduating from UCD in 1982, I went on to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo for my master’s degree in Physical Education/Employee Wellness. I was able to complete the master’s in a year, and was fortunate to be hired by the Cal Poly Foundation the week following graduation as a Safety, Health and Fitness and Training program Supervisor. A long title for someone who got to have fun at work! And 25 + years later I’m still at Cal Poly, and love it! I am now the Associate Human Resources Director for the Cal Poly Corporation (same organization, just a name change). We oversee the food services, bookstore, research and grants and other auxiliary services on campus. I still oversee the employee training and development, plus conflict resolution, motivation, safety and health. It’s an ideal job and I’m so happy to be here.

In addition to my full time job, I’m also an adjunct faculty member for both the Kinesiology department and the College of Business, Management area. It was these positions that lead me to my decision to pursue my doctorate degree. I was Cal Poly’s first employee to participate (and graduate!) in the new Joint Doctorate Program in Educational leadership. The program is a collaborative partnership between Cal Poly and UCSB. It was a three-year program; the first year at UCSB, the second at Cal Poly, and the third spent writing a dissertation. My research centers around the relationship between employee job satisfaction and workers’ compensation costs. It is a very practical research piece, and I’m working on getting published in the next few months. Achieving the doctorate was a lifetime dream.

I’ve enjoyed many volunteer opportunities here on the Central Coast as well. I was Board President of the American Heart Association for several years and continue to chair the annual Women and Heart Disease luncheon. I recently concluded a six year term on the Red Cross Board as well. I’ve been a CPR instructor since my early days at UCD and am glad to support such worthwhile organizations.

My husband Randy and I have been married for over 21 years. We met on virtually his first day on the job at Cal Poly! We were married in May, 1987. Randy’s two sons were just six and eight years old when I met them, and we spent many years enjoying soccer games and cheering their success. Nathan (now 32) finished his Ph.D. about the same time as I did, and is now an Assistant Professor in Sports Administration at the University of Memphis. Barrett (now 29 and recently married) graduated from San Diego state in Graphics Communication and is now a craftsman specializing in customized woodwork. Barrett and his wife Niki live nearby in Morro Bay.

Our lives are happy and full. We enjoy travel (spent a month in France last fall to celebrate our 20th anniversary and my graduation), sports (we’re avid fans of Cal Poly baseball and football) plus the SF Giants. Randy retired from the Cal Poly Foundation a couple of years ago and is now working in the local wine industry, currently at Edna Valley Vineyard. We love living in San Luis Obispo, and are delighted when we see friends’ children now attending Cal Poly. Please let us know when you are in the area!

Beth Lee

Gary Sedoo

Linda Partain

Cheryl Hudson

Eric Walton

Randy Watkins

Don Riggen

Jeff Layne

Brett Lunt

Greg Ollar

I have a ton of great high school memories and was fortunate to continue making memories with many of my former classmates during my post BHS years. From flippin burgers and dogs at the old wieney hut (Wienerschnitzel) to spending the boiling hot summer months sweating it out in the peach orchards, grading stations and baseball diamonds. I’ve also enjoyed the opportunity of helping a few of our classmates with their real estate needs over the years.

Like many teenagers, I had no clue what I wanted to do with myself after high school. All I knew was I loved playing baseball and if I had any chance of fulfilling my dream of becoming a pro ball player, I had to continue playing ball at a local college. So it was off to MJC where I promptly tore cartilage in my knee half way through the first baseball season. After doing a little research, I found a surgeon in Los Angeles named Dr. Jobe that was finding quite a bit of success with a new procedure called arthroscopic surgery. A couple of months after the surgery I was as good as new and back on the ball field.

After finishing my 2^nd year playing ball at MJC, I transferred to good old Turkey Tech (CSU Stanislaus). I had a blast playing ball there with some amazing athletes climaxing my senior year as co-captain and finishing 2^nd in the Division III College World Series in Ohio . Unfortunately, during the ensuing baseball draft the pro scouts decided they didn’t have much use for a 145 pounder with small man syndrome who swung out of his shoes every at bat (sacrifice bunting and hit and runs were not my thing).

After finally realizing that baseball was not in my future, I completed my remaining courses for a Physical Education Degree with a Business Minor to begin what I thought was going to be a future as a baseball coach and teacher. Since the economy was taking a step backward at the time and coaching/teaching jobs were hard to come by, I decided to try my luck in the world of business. Real estate seemed to be a perfect fit for me and after 20+ years helping families buy and sell homes, I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Soon after finishing college, I started dating my wife of 21 years, Maria. We worked together at Gottschalks Department Store and were one of many Gottschalks couples. We were married in 1987 and our son Austin was born in 1991. We have remained in Modesto to stay close to friends and family and spend much of our free time participating in Austins activities.

Since deciding to retire the old baseball cleats after turning 40, I have enjoyed golf, tennis, bowling and a little fishing. I’ve also helped with the BHS reunion committee and have enjoyed catching up with everyone and bringing some of the old memories back to life. It has been very rewarding and I’m looking forward to helping with future events.

Kim Merrill

Post BHS days it was to the MJC, where I concentrated on studies and getting out of Modesto. As you know, Dave Lyghtle and I were the first to commit to San Diego State and head down in Fall 1980, which at the time was not in the mix of schools that Modesto kids went to .. usually Fresno, Chico, Cal Poly Obispo and for the well heeled, Berkeley and Stanford. We were soon followed by the whole gang ... from Ratto, Polack, Tigner, Marci Stewart, Jennifer Moorad, Kim Erickson, Karen Giddings, Ben Miller, etc, etc. I studied Journalism News Editorial with visions of writing for the newspaper. If you recall both Dave and I worked on the Sports Desk at the Bee while attending the MJC. Dave and I joined the Sigma Nu Fraternity and moved into Leadership roles in the House and the Greek System. Dave was intent on getting out of college and did so within two years (1982), took a job with the Redding Record Searchlight (now he's a famous Editor at the Modesto Bee!) I took an extra year and minored in Telecommunications and Film and took a Public Relations elective course, which led me into an area where writing could be used as well. I interned at several of the big PR firms in 1982-1983 and was the first intern hired by The Gable Agency that year. I stayed there for several years, jumped to another firm, then hooked up in a small consultancy with one my Gable mentors in 1989, who handled the PR for Joan Kroc, we lasted two years ... split, and I started my own firm, Merrill Marketing Communications in 1991. I've led a charmed life working with all kinds of companies developing high level programs for CEOs, Presidents, Chairmans that focus on media relations, communications relations, branding, advertising, etc. Worked on huge events such as the NFL Super Bowls and the Republican National Convention ('96). The freedom of having my own business has enabled me to be around the kids and enjoy life, however, being self-employed mean I work way more than the typical 9-5.

Met my wife Traci on a trip to San Felipe Mexico with the fraternity in 1984. I was out of school, but went along in a car that featured a good buddy, his girlfriend and Traci, her roommate. She's from Woodland Hills in the San Fernando Valley. We hit it off for many reasons, including the fact that both of us had 1967 Mustangs (go figure!). She is 4 years younger than me. Literally began living together immediately and finally married in 1989. Traci has worked at the University of San Diego, the private Catholic school, since 1991 ... started as the wedding coordinator for the famous Founder's Chapel and handled weddings for many of the areas luminaries, athletes, Padres, Chargers, and even a baptism for Bill Gates baby (his wife attended USD). She moved over the the Grants Department (office of Sponsored Programs) and currently heads that up ... getting new grants and monitoring their compliance for the University.

We had Shannon in 1993 (now 15), currently a sophomore at Scripps Ranch High School. She is the social butterfly and will one day be planning the 30-year reunion of her HS graduating class — she walks seamlessly between all groups of students (rare). She plays travel club volleyball and HS volleyball, including freshman player of the year last year. We had Ryan in 1995, now 13 and in 8th grade middle school. More quite kid, deep thinker, brilliant, writes published poetry on deep topics, Ryan is into martial arts (just earned his first degree brown belt), and one of the top 13-year-old All-Star pitchers in the area and is currently playing on the Scripps Ranch 13U travel baseball team.

I played a ton of basketball after BHS and through College ... for the fraternity, then rec league and pick up games for 18 years in Pacific Beach and the locally famous, Rec Center, down there. In 2000 my father in law and Traci's mom moved to SD and he was a big mountain biker. I got into that sport and then I stopped having back problems from all the jump shots taken on hard courts, and jammed and broken figures from swiping the ball away from younger guys. I currently mountain bike two to three times a week and travel around the western US to partake in some of the best trails around ... we are headed to So. Utah, near Zion National Park, October 18-21 to ride some spectacular trails ... the area is just 6.5 hours from San Diego, up through Las Vegas to Springdale, Utah (red rock heaven!)

As you know we live in Scripps Ranch area of North San Diego, which was burned to hell in the 2003 Cedar Fire, but our home survived (but 320 of our neighbors' homes didn't); and then last year came close again with the Witch Fire, that again burned a ton of San Diego, and superseded the Cedar Fire as the biggest in CA history. Dave Lyghtle has assigned a Mod Bee writer to speak with me after each fire — I've become the San Diego "fire correspondent" ... not something I hope to do again, I might add!

I'll tell you Greg, it's really hard for me to believe it's been 30 years since we graduated from Beyer. I'm cursed with a killer memory, so it doesn't take much for me to conjure up a story, memory and get sentimental. Actually took me a couple of days to get over the reunion. I've dug up some old photos, Day on the Green advertisements from all the concerts we attended (I kept them), and emailed them around to people since returning. I think we all realize that we had it good at Beyer in its "Golden Years." We were very lucky to make lifetime friends at Beyer.

I wish we could all get together sooner!

Jill Jenkins-Manchester

For the past 30 years I’ve been ping-ponging back and forth between Modesto & the San Francisco Bay Area. I worked as a nurse at the University of California, San Francisco as I finished my Bachelor and Master degrees. I then returned to Modesto and eventually became a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, co-owner and Chief Financial Officer of a Pediatric medical group practice—Valley Oak Pediatrics. I married my husband Paul in 1999 and then in 2001 I decided to return to school and I commuted to the University of California, Irvine to complete my MBA in Healthcare. We then decided to return to the Bay Area and I returned to UCSF. I originally worked as a research coordinator with Michael Harrison M.D.—the “father of fetal surgery.” In this study a fetus with Spina Bifida would have its spinal defect surgically repaired. The fetus was then returned to the mother’s uterus and we waited about 1-2 months for the mother to deliver. We then followed the children for 2 ½ years to see if this surgery improved their neurological outcome. An exciting group of people to work with!

I’m currently at UCSF working as the Administrative Director for the Department of Ophthalmology. I work with a great bunch of surgeons and staff who are providing many different surgeries and treatments to prevent blindness.

My husband Paul & I love the Bay Area—we’re cool weather people! We have two dogs that we like to hike with and we enjoy the music, restaurants and other events the area has to offer.

I’ve enjoyed hearing from many of the BHS class of ’78 graduates and I’m looking forward to the next reunion!

Bill Leong

After high school, I attended Modesto Junior College and received my AA. After MJC I transferred to San Diego State University and graduated in 1982. After college I got a job as a mortgage underwriter. Then in August 1986 I got my break. To do a job that I really wanted to do. Starting my very successful career as a stock broker. Being in the financial industry for 15 years (worked for all the big brokerage houses). In December 2000 I was involved in a wicked accident. I was team roping in a terrible accident that put me in a coma for 2.5 months. Being on life support it was suggested that the doctors pull the plug. Well, almost 8 years later I'm here to share my story with you.
Also, I got married in August 2002 to Debra Stanbury. Deb has a daughter from a previous marriage that makes Debra and I grandparents. We have 2 granchildren.

Joey Barney

Marilyn Vincent Broadbent

To all you BHS Classmates!
Thanks Jill for the pictures! And thanks Teri, Eric, and Tim for the updates. I wanted to come to the reunion, had it all arranged to come, and then had an unexpected conflict come up. But here’s a quick update on what I have been doing.
My husband Daniel Broadbent and I have been married for 27 years as of the 25th of September. We have 5 kids – three boys, and two girls. The oldest Daniel Jr. is married and presented us with our first grandchild (wow that makes me feel old) in July of this year… a very cute little boy – Ethan. Our second child Jennifer married 6 months after Daniel back in 2005. Our third child, Jared is serving a 2 year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Billings , Montana mission. He will be home in January. Our fourth child, Jana, just graduated from Provo High School this last spring and is only thinking about college at this point. And our fifth child, Jeff is a freshman in high school.
I met my husband in San Jose , California in 1981 where I was attending San Jose State . After marrying and staying in San Jose until 1989, we moved back here to Provo , Utah where Dan is from. We have been here ever since.
I enjoyed a great career as a technical writer for about 15 years and phased out of doing that and into the financial world. I worked as a mortgage loan officer for a couple of years, and then obtained broker status and opened my own mortgage company in 1998. In 2004 I let my license lapse since I had returned to college in 2003 to finish my degree. I graduated from what is now Utah Valley University with a degree to teach history in grades 7-12 in the spring of 2006. Then I found out the hard way that high schools do not want history teachers. They want coaches who can teach history. Since I do not coach anything I was never able to obtain work in this field.
But… sometimes things work out for the best. Our youngest son Jeff had a birth defect where one leg grows more slowly than the other. This has necessitated 4 surgeries since September of 2006, and it was good to just be the mom. To be honest, I thought I deserved the 8th grade graduation certificate. I’m glad that I could be here for Jeff, though.
In 1992, we bought our first income property and since that time we have owned a multiple number of residential and commercial properties that I have managed. My parents bought 5 commercial buildings back here in Utah in 1998, so in addition to everything above I have managed and taken care of their properties too.
In January of this year, I started working in my husband’s business doing the bookwork. He is a custom jeweler and owns a store called The Jeweler’s Bench in downtown Provo . This is a fun business because Dan sells and makes stuff for happy occasions and you get to hear how all the guys are going to propose. So, I am content to be the mom, work a little down at the store, and manage the rental properties. As for the rest of the time, I like to write (I have written several books) and remodel houses. Right now we live in a 6000 square foot house with vintage 70s stuff. The wallpaper and cottage cheese ceilings have got to go! I’m still working on it though. The point is… I stay busy.
It was good to see all of you – if only through Jill’s pictures. Thanks again Jill. Wish I could have been there. Would love to hear from you!

Teri Adams-Jones

It just seems like yesterday we were all high school seniors, no real care in the world, sitting in the forum, chatting and laughing, waiting for our next class. As I told my daughter when she entered Beyer, appreciate high school. Enjoy every moment and savory every day. Time will fly by and before you know it you will be a senior, stepping into the uncertainties of life. Well, here WE all are 30 years later, living the uncertainties of life. The path that has led me here today has sometimes been easy and other times extremely challenging, but for the most part it has been well worth it.

After high school I attended Modesto Junior College graduating with an AA. While at MJC I changed my major twice, but soon found my passion and sunk my teeth into Public Relations. I graduated from San Jose State University in the spring of 1983 with a BA in PR and a minor in Marketing. It has been a great ride for over 25 years and I always tell people I have the fun job!

While at San Jose State University, my parents encouraged me to stay and earn my Masters Degree. As an academically, burned out, twenty something, I declined. I was anxious to start my career and leave the books behind. WHAT THE HECK WAS I THINKING!!!

I moved back to Modesto, and was hired by an advertising agency that, at the time, was the largest in the Central Valley. Because of mismanagement, it closed its doors two years later. What was I to do now? I packed up the U-Haul and headed to Monterey Bay, living the beach life for two years. I worked for a world famous clothing store in Carmel. I met and dressed Hollywood stars and corporate millionaires. Ate sushi next to Clint Eastwood and walked the white, sandy beaches of the Pacific Ocean daily. It was the BEST!

I later returned to Modesto, working for Doctors Medical Center in their Community Relations Department. From there I entered the financial world. Then onto National Medical Enterprises opening their PR Department for the HMO division. After NME, I discovered economic development. Then onto Chamber work. All in all, my most rewarding and life changing job, to date, was my five years at Community Hospice. I was hired to create a marketing and PR Department for the organization in 1993. The people that touched my life then, still impact my life now.

Currently, I work for the Stanislaus Economic Development & Workforce Alliance. Our mission is assisting business at every stage of their growth and development, whether they are an existing business or a new company looking to relocate to the area. I am also in a business relationship with two PR/marketing gurus. We are developing our company and a reputation in the PR field. One of my partners has already earned national recognition for her work.

OK, you now know the career side of Teri. How about the personal side?

I am the mother of four beautiful, high-spirited, intelligent, loving, and strong-willed daughters. The only man of the house is their father. Even the dog is a female. My oldest is 18 and my youngest is 8. My two in the center are middle school tweens, ages 13 & 11. My oldest just entered college. My 13 year old is a social academic. My 11 year old is an athletic academic, and my baby is a princess scholar. Being a mother has enriched my life. My girls bring great joy to every waking day. They teach me how to see life again, untarnished and with endless possibilities. It is through them I truly know the meaning of life.

I am a breast cancer survivor. Every day is blessing. I swore off cancer after my mastectomy and never looked back. During my experience I learned two things, you don’t need hair to live, but you do need love to survive. I had that in my family, friends, doctors and colleagues. I also found out when you don’t have hair, how many people like to rub your head. Someone told me it’s a good luck thing? Now I understand why there are so many bald men in the world.

OK, for all the male classmates, this is where you stop reading or read at your own risk.

People ask how do you feel about not having breasts? I tell them I lived half my life like Dolly Parton, and now I’m living the other half as a flat-chested teenager (which I never was). I also tell my female friends, I’m lucky because when I get tired of my boobs, I just take’em off and hang’em on the back of the bathroom door. You on the other hand have to worry about them sagging to your knees in the next 15 to 20 years. So tell me, who’s the lucky one?

Remember, you can never say “I Love You” enough or give too many hugs.
God bless all of you and remember to laugh!!!

Tim Garrison

Though, as a kid, my family teetered on the brink of constant poverty, my childhood was rich indeed. My three brothers and I grew up on a 76-acre cattle ranch in Modesto, California. Our milk and butter came from the Jersey cows we milked. We seldom had store-bought meat because our beef and pork were provided by the cattle and hogs we raised. And in the summer our huge garden sustained us. It was a lot of work but it was also a heck of a lot of fun. We built hay forts, tree houses, even forts inside giant blackberry bushes. We rammed around in the dirt and mud, played sports in the cow pastures, and learned how to weld, hammer, and saw. Our swimming hole was the irrigation canal. My first car was a beat up ’65 Mustang that I rebuilt myself. Too bad I totaled it before my seventeenth birthday.

The ring-leader for all of this was my dad, who should have been a cripple, but wasn’t. He lost his left arm to gangrene at age-8 and never used a prosthesis. So my brothers and I were the kids with the one-armed-dad. Cripple? My dad? The thought never entered my mind. He coached my little league teams, and led us in every work task. He could out-hoe, out-split (firewood), just plain out-work any man around. And as I write this in ’08, he’s still doing it, though at a slower pace and on only 10-acres instead of 76. On a good day, he can still whup me in golf. My dad is the source of my tenacity and willpower. He is an inspiration.

You can’t talk about my dad without speaking of my mom. Married 50 years, she has literally been Pop’s right (okay, left) hand. She held the nails while he pounded them, carried the other end of the railroad tie, milked the cows and slopped the hogs. But most importantly, mom was the nurturing element in my life.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I value family above all else. Thank you, mom and dad, for that all-important life lesson.

My professional life started with a few degrees in engineering. Writing couldn’t have been further from my mind. I worked in the public sector first then became a business owner at the tender age of 32. After about eight years of being owned by my consulting business, I reckoned there had to be a better way. So I started a software company. To help market software, I created a few seminars. In about 2000, I was struck with the writing bug and started the Collin Chronicles.

My current hobby is coaching my two son's sports teams. I played sports growing up and have an affection for, particularly, basketball, baseball and golf.

I enjoy traveling and learning about local history and people. It turns my crank understanding what causes an area to prosper, and also what causes it to wither. I can spend more time in a museum than is humanly tolerable by any wife or kid.

My current reading interests involve intriguing people. I just finished books on Shakespeare, Will Rogers, Milton Hershey, and Mark Twain. I also enjoyed Satchel Paige's life story, and the Aerosmith book, "Walk This Way". I thoroughly enjoy Tolkien and Patrick McManus. But perhaps my favorite book of all time is “The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus” (Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox stories) by Joel Chandler Harris. Is that eclectic enough?

If I had more time, I’d putt around more on my trials motorcycle. Trials riding is slow, over difficult terrain. I’d also spend more time with my gal, Cindy, in our garden. On rainy days, I’d pick up my guitar and play. Electric guitar. I was a child of Van Halen and Led Zeppelin and still enjoy banging my head to that genre. However, because I’m slipping into old-fartdom, the music that plays most frequently in our house is classical, with jazz coming in a close second. My sons (ages 13 and 15) aren’t cool with that.

Regarding what I watch on the tube, well, put it this way, if I entered a TV trivia contest, I’d come in last place.

Becoming an author is a lonely, hungry, verrrrry long road. But it is my passion and regardless of my success or lack thereof, I foresee many more years in front of my laptop, happily plicking, plicking, away.