I’m sorry I won’t be able to attend the 50th Reunion. My sentiments are that miss the olden days of growing up in Santa Ana, and I am proud to have met so many remarkable people from S.A. High School, Junior High (Willard), and Grammar School (Jefferson). After high school, I attended Chapman University for about a year and a half. I did see Virginia Null there—I remember how beautifully she played the cello at Jefferson Grammar School talent shows. I almost attended the “floating college,” where I would have seen Nancy Herron—coincidentally, we had the same orthodontist in high school when we both wore braces. I couldn’t cut it in college.
In 1967, I married a “Welty” guy, (no known relation to Barbara Welty), ex-Navy Seal- type who was born in Youngstown, Ohio. He was a couple years older than me, and he had attended Garden Grove H.S. I do regret getting married so soon. I was married for seven years, had three beautiful kids, and got divorced, and raised the kids mostly on my own while living and working in Santa Ana and Irvine. I never remarried, but I had my heyday in earlier years.
It’s funny where life takes us, due to choices we make—because I could have ended up working for my dad, a physician in Santa Ana on N. Broadway, as his front-office person. (Some of my classmates may have had my dad as their family doctor, and some of you may remember he was elected as O.C. Coroner for a couple terms in the late 50s and early 60s.) Who knows where working for him might have led, but I was headstrong and chose to enter into the corporate world. As luck would have it, I worked for such notable places as The Irvine Company, The Koll Company, Blue Shield, and the County of Riverside. I’ve been involved with administrative and secretarial duties in the areas of Internal Audit; property management; bookkeeping; working with insurance and sales; and in my last job, dealing with the public in matters of elder abuse.
I’ve lived in Murrieta, Riverside County, since 2001, to take care of my mom, who passed away in 2010. I’m so happy to have been able to retire in March 2013. I enjoy staying busy at home with various projects done on the computer. To contribute to not-so-random acts of kindness, and to break away from the monotony of computer work, occasionally I bake cookies for a residential care for the elderly home that formerly took care of my mom. I have six cute grandchildren, and all three of my kids remain happily married.
Submitted Jeri Brandt (Welty)