Carolyn Albert Edwards

This year has been a very good year. I'm retired and so thankful for it. Took some adjustment but now I'm doing all the things I've put aside for all these years. Fashion Doll collecting if you ever come to my house be prepared to have hundreds of pairs of eyes starring at you! lol I do clothing design/repaints/rewigs for them, pastel sketching, sewing, scrapbooking, knit/crochet, etc. all that "stuff" I packed away for 30+ years are now out of the boxes and in my own "Studio"!!! I've never been so happy or blessed. And it only took 55 years, hundreds of stashed boxes, my stubborness to not let go of my dream and a fabulous husband to understand and 18 years of therapy!!!!! LOL

Marla (my oldest) and her husband George have a strong marriage and 4 wonderful children. They all play musical instruments-piano, harp, guitar, drums and others. Marla is a homemaker and home schooling mom.

Melissa and her husband, Donald's, business is thriving. Donald is an Ocularist, he makes artificial eyes and facial prosthesis. They have a new baby, Christian, 5 who is the joy of everyone's life. Melissa's oldest boy, Jimmy, 29, is working in the business. Although it's not my kind of music Jimmy is a talented rap singer and artist. He's such a sweet gentleman. Her second son, Devahn, 23, also works in the business and is in training to become an ocularist. Devahn has a son, Sy, 6 (my great-grandson) who is quite the personality. He has a killer smile. Devahn now has twin girls.

Shannon and her husband Chris are happily married and had a baby girl last year, Audria Lorraine Duffy. Living at the beach has been excellent for Shannon's asthma has improved there as did having a baby! Her husband's computer site setup business is going well and he works from home. Shannon has another daughter, Bella. She's adorable. A little pixie. Audria is a smart hustler. In every sense of the word lol.

Cecily is a wonderful sensitive loving daughter. She's married with two sons. Shaun and Logan. Cecily is my best friend butt She is everybody's favorite sister.

J.R., my husband, (lifelong resident of Yucaipa) is retired and wishes he wasn't because he is bored. lol. He's such a wonderful kind generous man. My friends and family call him a 6' 5" walking heart. Love him to death! It did take me 4 tries to find the right man but he was worth the wait.

Dennis Albert, brother & MV graduate, class of 68. Now owns two exercise gyms in Indiana. He and Lil are real go-getters. Eric Albert, brother & MV graduate class of 69, and his wife, Mary, live in Arizona. Eric is retired from the Riverside County sheriff's office and the Air Force reserves.

Buddy, our dog and I often have stare down competitions to see who's more stubborn, I always win. But he is a great little companion.

Life is still good.

Some rememberances that may or may not be verifiable but I'll tell them to you anyway. I remember a dance in the gym and Kris Reidy and I were having a great time doing the Western swing. You know under the legs, over the shoulder, around the hips? We were having sooo much fun. Then Mr. Gray and another chaperon came over and told us "That's inappropriate dancing" We had to stop. I don't know who you can get to verify this. I don't know where Kris is and Mr. Gray has passed on.

All the girls couldn't wear short skirts and so we rolled them up and when we were sent to the office to get on our knees all we had to do was roll them down, they touched the floor and we were in the clear, and on the way back to class just roll them back up again. No pants or jeans in those days. Makes me feel very old. My daughters can't believe it really happened but they get a big laugh out of it.

I also remember when we had a school play "Broadway Revisited" and I was doing a solo, lipsinking to the song, "Please Don't send me down a Baby brother" I was dressed up like a little girl complete with big hairbow in hair. The song was on a record (you remember those?) When Mr. Gray gave me a little shove onto the stage (I was supposed to be reluctant to get out there) my foot hit the floor hard which caused the record to skip missing the entry section and the first couple of lines of the song! I managed to make a 'quick' recovery. My folks said they didn't realize that's not the way it was supposed to work.Again, Mr. Gray is gone so unless someone in the audience realized what happened another memory hard to verify.

How about my speech to the junior class (1965) asking for their vote and there was no other candidate for vice president but myself!!! That was a little embarassing. I assume the whole junior class saw that one.

One more. I wore my hair up in a bun on the very top of my head to school one day and I believe it was Rick Cahoe (another one gone, and no I'm not picking those that are gone on purpose) grabbed it and tried to pull it out but just managed to twist it. That hurt and of course everyone (I thought anyway) saw it and laughed and teased me about it.