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I graduated from Longwood College in 1969 with a BA, Liberal Arts, English major, and married Jerry a month later. We moved to Winston-Salem from Virginia Beach about a year later. I had discovered I was educated to do nothing as a woman in the late 60's. I wasn't a teacher, secretary, or a nurse, so I went back to school and picked up all the education courses I needed, but we move before I had a chance to do student teaching. Long story short, through the years, I eventually earned teaching licenses to teach from K-12th grade, (high school English and French) and one in administration, and held two MEd degrees, one in elementary education and one in school administration. I taught for 17 years and was Director of School/Community Relations for the Surry County Schools for another 14 years, retiring in 2001.
Jerry was the love of my life, he was my world, and I miss him terribly. He was one of the brightest men I have ever known, with an inquisitive nature and a thirst of knowledge. He dragged me all over the world, planning the most interesting trips you could imagine. We visited so many countries, I've lost count, but he was one of the few people in the world to reach the North Pole and was actually interviewed by the NBC Today Show crew who were on their way up and appeard on TV. I was in graduate school when he went, but it was definitely one excursion I wanted to miss. That one scared me, but we camped on and ballooned over the plains of Kenya, and saw the pyramids in Egypt, Mexico, Guatamala, and Belize. We were awed with the perfections of Japan, walked on the Great Wall; in the dark of night, we watched giant sea turtles waddle across black sand to bury their eggs in Costa Rica; we walked in wonder through museums all over Europe, Russia, the US, Mexico, Canada, South and Central America, Scandanavia, and throughout the Orient. Jerry took me to Brown Cafes and drove along the dikes in the Netherlands; there were jungle spas, island retreats, and the unparalled experience of walking within inches of birds and iguanas in the Gallogogos. On some of those trips, we rode camels, elephants, horses, and burros, and I swam with penguins darting past in frigid waters off Ecquador. And that's only part of our travels, but probably gives you an idea of Jerry's adventurous nature, his desire to see and understand other cultures, past and present. We have lost a treasure.
It's two years later, and I moved to a fine retirement community here in Winston-Salem. I have a wonderful cottage and am staying busy and am doing well.
