From 45th Reunion

     I’m sorry I’ve not been able to come back for any of the reunions Ross and our great reunion committees have worked SO hard each time to put together for us. Somehow my high school days now seem a couple of lifetimes ago!!!  I do remember many nice people and good friends I met during those days-and wonder where they are today and how their lives have gone.
     After graduation from the University of Arkansas with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education, I taught 7th grade math in Little Rock at Henderson Jr High and later 8th, 10th and 11th math at the new Parkview High School.
     In 1967 I married Gerald “Jerry” Atkinson (missing Central class of 59) and this month we are celebrating 39 years together.  When our daughter, Christy was born in 1970 I retired from teaching and we soon moved to the Kansas City area where we still live.  During the next few years I was fortunate to be a stay-at-home mom with Christy and Ryan who was born in 1976.
     In 1983, we purchased a card/gift shop and I became a self-employed mom until 1990 when I moved to managing a gift market showroom.  From there I managed a small office and distribution warehouse.  My last job was administrative assistant/receptionist for a home mortgage company until December of 2005.
     My favorite job now is being a grandmother, I’m called Gamma.  Christy and husband, graduates of Kansas State, are living there again while Kevin teaches and works on his PHD in dietetics.  They have two daughters – Jillian 5, and Libby 3.  Ryan and wife Julia (who was a Russian exchange student) are graduates of the University of Oklahoma and live in Allen, TX, north of Dallas; Ryan is a chemical engineer with an environmental consulting company.  Their daughters are Katia 4, and Sonja, 2.
     Retirement has given me time to be able to be outside more.  Our area has a great system of walking trails so we may walk 3 to 8 miles several times a week.  We also have been making a lot of improvements to our yard this spring with new plants and more flowerbeds.  Of course, there is always the eternal weeding and watering as well as home maintenance to be done.
During the last several years, Jerry and I have indulged in world travel – especially to see some of the natural beauty while we still have the chance.  We’ve attended Ryan and Julia’s wedding in St Petersburg and visited Moscow, have been up the Amazon River, cruised around Cape Horn and have been charged by a white faced monkey on one of our trips to the rainforests of Costa Rica.
     Now I look forward to reading about all your lives in this reunion directory!

- Nancy Irby Atkinson