My Portfolio

When America was attacked on 9-11, I was in my office, Suite 217, 600 Granby Street, Norfolk, Virginia, at the United States District Courthouse. Sharon Borden, a fellow court reporter, stuck her head in my office and said a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. We ran upstairs to...

I have been extremely fortunate throughout my work life and career.  I have never been layed off or fired from a job.  Although my chosen profession is teaching, it has never been financially lucrative and has been supplemented by doing family history and genealogical research.  However, there have been many choices...

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I envy those people who have always known what they wanted to do when they grew up. The only occupations I remember feeling passionate about as a youth centered around horses and ballet - not too promising for a city-dweller with two left feet. Reading was always my favorite pastime, so...

Various jobs and careers were had from the time I was out of high school until the present time.  My first paying job was working at Thiokol where solid rocket fuel was made and tested for the NASA rockets.  I worked in the rocket propellent casting can cleanup.  I liked the...

When I finished my college education at Utah State University in 1968, I had to wait until graduation in 1969 since there was only one graduation each year and I had a summer class to take before I could meet graduation requirements.  My first assignment was in Mountain View, Wyoming on...

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LEGACY STORY PROMPTS Story prompts cover all facets of one's life. Reading other member stories helps you move beyond the blank page. Write a paragraph or page. It's your legacy! Pass it on! Tip: The more stories you read and add comments, the more others will comment on yours. That's the...

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After I got out of the Army I went to work at the local flour mill. That lasted a whole two weeks. Being outside in a tee shirt with a six foot fan blowing on you to keep you cooled off while it was snowing outside was not what I was...

  I used to work at a place called Zayer Warehouse when I was still in High school. We would pack up stocking, socks and many other department store items to be shipped to all the Zayer department stores. I would also work on the conveyor belt logging all the boxes...

When it comes to work and career, how do you define success? Success in the workplace can sometimes be measured in sales, upward mobility, specific accomplishments or a body of work. It also can be defined by the intangibles such as personal development, education or consistency and reliability. Whether your work...

It was a windy October Saturday in Chicago, 1994, and we were spending the weekend with Ed and Anna, who had just moved into their apartment near the Univ. of Chicago campus.  Ed was beginning graduate school and Anna had started a new job at the University Hospital.  We were eager to visit the big city and they were very brave to...

Pride - it's a sticky word... I'm not really comfortable with it. It often accompanies things like arrogance, bragging and the such.  But there is no denying the feeling of being pleased over certain accomplishments, moments, and people in life. I've tried to think of moments in my life I have felt proud...

Christmas circa 1988 or '89.  My family lived in Jackson, NH.  It's was a pretty small town back then, probably a population of 600, give or take a few.  Kids all over the wold get gifts on this magical day.  In Jackson, NH, two kids received quite a surprise under the...

It was a weekend just before school resumed this fall and granddaughter Mia age 9 was invited for a sleepover at a special friend's house.  Her younger sister Nikki age 7 immediately began packing her 'stuff', expecting to be included.  Our Anna (their mom), sensing that Mia was needing some space from her younger sister, came up with what...

Who am I proud of in my immediate family? I guess that would be my Dad and his participation in the Army. Dad taught ROTC at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. and MIT. Dad taught weapon instruction and was very good at what he did best and that was being part...

While I was reminiscing over the years trying to figure out who impacted me the most while going to school, I remembered our librarian, Mrs. Heavner, in grade school who always celebrated St. Patricks Day in fun ways. Everything went green and the balarney stones came out. She had a whole...

My paternal grandmother, Virginia Brann Adams, was a member of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in Tremonton, Utah during the 1940s and 1950s.  Since I had shown "promise" in oration and public speaking, I became involved in the WCTU Speech Contests during the mid 1950s at about the age of...