Response to the question on the 50th Class Reunion Questionnaire
Claude Pope and I graduated from the University of Washington and were married in August 1964 in Auburn. I taught fifth grade in Auburn for one year while Claude finished his second engineering degree at the UW. Then we moved to Walnut Creek, California, where I taught six more years. Claude was a ceramic engineer and plant engineer for Owens-Illinois Company in Oakland, then at their LA plant, and back to Oakland. We lived in Seal Beach, Danville, and San Ramon, CA.
We had three children—Wes, Annette, and Brad—all born in California. Brad was a preemie with severe lung problems. We moved back to Auburn before Brad’s first birthday, in 1977. All three kids went through Auburn schools and graduated from Auburn High School. Claude worked at Northwestern Glass Company in Seattle, then was plant manager at Spectrum Stained Glass plant in Woodinville, and finally helped start a new way of making fiberglass at a new plant in Seattle. He died of melanoma in 1987 at the age of 45. The kids and I continued living in our home in north Auburn till all the kids had graduated from AHS.
Then Dale and I were married in Mount Vernon where his brother’s family lives, and I moved to Dale’s house in La Palma, CA. Claude had hired Dale at the LA O-I plant in 1974. Dale graduated from the UW in ceramic engineering, as Claude had. He is from Anacortes. Dale was a good friend of ours throughout the years. He had never married. Dale and I were married November 25, 1995. I told him that I would share my grandchildren with him. We have five!
Wes and his wife are working on their master’s degrees at Syracuse University. Wes has had an exciting life as a photojournalist and now is expanding his career in documentary filmmaking. Annette and her husband graduated together in computer engineering at the University of Washington. They have three children—ages 8, 6, and 3. Brad is an IT working in Seattle. He and his wife have two daughters—ages 12 and 9.
I have been active in Lakewood (California) Women’s Club and GFWC/CFWC Los Cerritos District since 1996. I am editor for the newsletters for my club and district. I have been a proofreader for Teacher Created Materials, Teacher Created Resources, and Culinary Trends magazine. Dale and I publish a newspaper for the Order of Runeberg, a Swedish-Finn cultural organization. We are active in University Baptist Church in Long Beach, CA. We plan to move to Washington when Dale retires. We would like to be closer to our families.
