Gillis, Twila
I’m enjoying reading the notes from others, so I’d better add my bit:
I went to Pacific Lutheran University near Tacoma after graduation. My sweetheart from my freshman year in high school in Yamhill graduated from Oregon State in Science and started working at Boeing in Seattle. We were married in Silverton the middle of my junior year at college and then he decided to go back to school for a teaching degree so I transferred to Oregon State and we both got our teaching degrees there in l959.
Our jobs opened up great opportunities for travel. Besides teaching in Oregon, Hawaii, and Washington, we were in 7 overseas locations (Tanzania, Panama, Ponape - Caroline Islands, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia-2 locations, & China). In the early years, just Bruce taught while I tended to our 4 children. Our first 2 were born in Oregon; a daughter who is now a nurse in Port Angeles and a son who is now a chiropractor in Australia. The next 2 were born in Hawaii; a son who is a landscaper/drummer in Port Angeles and a daughter who is an electrical engineer in California. They’ve surely kept our lives busy and interesting and have given us 9 grandchildren!
With Bruce’s area in the upper grades and junior college and mine in elementary we made a good team for overseas teaching. The schools were all American curriculum and we taught in English, but the students were from all over the world. Our own kids had some great experiences in the schools too.
Most of our overseas positions were in warm or tropical areas. Besides the challenges and rewards of teaching, we had the excitement of meeting people from very different backgrounds and cultures. Our recreational activities have varied depending on where we were: economical sailing, golf, snorkeling, and hiking. The Northwest still offers the greatest diversity of any place!
In 1969 we moved to Port Angeles, Washington, and have made this our permanent home, although we have left several times for overseas positions. We found the place in the country (56 acres) we had been looking for, raised all kinds of animals, (only a dog now), had a huge garden and still have a big orchard. Now 2 of our children & families are sharing the property with their own projects.
We are retired and enjoy all our continuing projects on our place and with our families and some travel. We have a camper van to get us around the US and then have to fly to see our Australian family. Grandkids keep us involved in sports, plays, and music concerts. Sounds familiar ... like the 1950’s. It’s a great life. Eager to see you next summer.
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