Okay folks, here's my story. It ain't much, and it ain't pretty, but it's the only one I have.
I never understood why so many of my classmates have fond memories of our days at Milby. All my memories of Milby are bad. I had very few friends and didn’t participate in any extracurricular activities. My grades were terrible, and I never had a teacher that inspired me or encouraged me in any way. When I graduated, I thought I was dumb as a stump. However, I had no one to blame except myself. After escaping from Milby, I went to work as a secretary in the engineering department at the University of Houston.
My dad worked as a carpenter at UH, and at that time there was a policy that children of employees could attend UH without having to pay full tuition, so my plan was to enroll as soon as I could save some money. In the meantime, however, I met Richard Brooks, a 1958 Milby graduate, and I married him. Richard and I were married 7 years. We lived in New Jersey while he got his master's degree, and then moved to southern California where he got his PhD. When Richard finished his education, I started attending the University of California at Irvine, but after attending only two semesters, our marriage fell apart. Richard still lives somewhere in California. We didn’t have any children.
I returned to Houston when I learned my daddy had cancer, and I started working at Exxon and going to UH at night. One day, on a whim, I looked up my high school sweetheart, Eugene "Gene" Foster. Gene was in the class of 1959, but didn't graduate. To sum it up, my father died, and I married Gene. He didn't want me to go to school, so I stopped taking classes.
After a number of failed pregnancies, Gene and I finally had a son. His name is John; he will be 38 this year and lives in Houston. After Gene and I divorced, I started taking classes again, and finally, after 13 years of going at night, I got my bachelor's degree in journalism communication. My GPC was 3.5. Turned out I wasn’t nearly as dumb as I thought I was. I subsequently won an internship at the Houston Business Journal and worked there as the finance editor for a couple of years. On the side, I was a freelance writer and had a number of articles published in local, state and national publications.
When my son was 16, he started having problems, so I remarried his daddy, hoping it would help my son, but it didn't, and we divorced again. You know, it's kinda strange--when I was young, I always thought I'd grow up and have one husband and a bunch of kids, but I guess I got confused, because I wound up with a bunch of husbands and only one kid. Oh well.
After I left the Houston Business Journal, I joined Pennzoil Company as a media relations assistant. I stayed with Pennzoil 18 years, and worked my way up to director of public relations and marketing communication. At that time, I was one of only a few women that held a management position. The first 10 or 12 years at Pennzoil were fun and exciting, but the last years were horrible. I was burned out and depressed, and in 1992 I took early retirement.
Somewhere along the line, I got treatment for the depression and went back to UH where I got a master's degree in mass communication. I also met and married a wonderful guy named Vern Magnuson.
After retiring, my life took a big turn for the better. Not having to work 10-12 hours a day anymore, I found several hobbies, mainly gardening and quilting. Vern and I have been married 14 years now, and I'm quite content. Vern has four grown children, so between his kids and my son, I have nine grandchildren.
A couple of years ago, Vern and I bought a little acreage and moved to the Hill Country, about 60 miles west of Austin. It's beautiful here. I worked for a local newspaper for a while, but now spend most of my days clearing and burning brush, moving rocks, raising longhorns and fighting rattlesnakes. In the evenings I make quilts for my grandbabies and watch Law and Order reruns on television.
Please take the time now to make a comment in response to Carolyn's biography. You will also enjoy reading the comments that others have left.
CLICK HERE to return to the top of the main section after reading comments below, and/or making your own comment.
Hi Carolyn,
You know, I always remember your big smile and the twinkle in your eyes. I am a firm believer that we can not look back on our past because we can not change it, but we can look forward to the future with sweet anticipation. Your life seems to have made a good turn in the road. You sound happy and that is what is important. Thanks for sharing your life with all of us. We all have things in our lives that are not pleasant but when we make positive changes and make a positive turn we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I hope to see that beautiful smile at our 50th reunion and meet the guy that has brought some sunshine into your beautiful life.
Gladys Payne Bohac
Posted by: Gladys M. (Payne) Bohac | February 08, 2008 at 09:40 PM