Linda
Measures Morasca
Thanks to all of you who have already submitted your
Bio’s. It is wonderful to read about
your many experiences and challenges. I am
looking forward to seeing all of you again in just a few days. And for those of you who can’t make it I wish
you could.
I have been putting off writing this because to do so means
you have to reflect on the past and look back – something I don’t do much
of. However, I can’t face Jan at the
class reunion without sending this off so here goes.
College never having been an option, I decided to pursue my
dream of becoming a world famous cosmetologist.
In September after graduation I moved to San Diego
with Mary Ellen Friedley and we shared an apartment with my Dad who was working
in Imperial Beach. I went to Cosmetology school in San Diego and Mary Ellen went to Dental Assistant
School. She finished her training, I did not.
By the end of November I had fallen in love and married a
handsome Marine by the name of Charles D. Anderson from Vernon, Texas. In January he left for a 9 month West-Pac
cruise on the aircraft carrier USS Bennington.
He returned in time to be present for the birth of our son Charles B.
born on September 11, 1962. From San Diego we went to Camp Pendleton,
CA and lived in Oceanside
in military housing, and then back to San
Diego in 1963.
Our daughter Shelley Kaye was born November 11, 1963 while we were
living in San Diego. I might add that I went back to El Centro to deliver both
of my babies and Dr. Brooks did the honors.
How many of you can remember the smell of his cigar and that voice
calling “BAAAAAKER!”?
In 1964 we left the military and went to live in Vernon, Texas (50 miles
west of Wichita Falls). Well, that was culture shock for sure! I loved the people and made wonderful friends
but I was so homesick for trees and mountains.
It was, and is, a very small farming community that grows wheat and
raises cattle. My father-in-law owned a
lot of wheat land and also grazed cattle, grew some
cotton, black eyed peas, and one year watermelons. We could have had a great life there, the
kind I had envisioned, were it not for one thing – my husband didn’t want to be
a farmer (something he neglected to tell me before we moved there) and there
weren’t many other ways to make a living in this small community. Let me just say that Vernon
made El Centro
seem like a big town. In April of 1965
my father-in-law died unexpectedly. Having
no desire to be poor forever and since my husband was not gainfully employed
and did not want to follow in his father’s footsteps and farm the family land
we returned to El Centro early in 1966 to seek employment. In 1968 we divorced at my request, he
returned to Texas
and we didn’t see him again for 10 years.
(Not for lack of trying – child support would have been helpful.)
Thus began my life as a single parent.
In 1969 I went to work
for Nunes Brothers produce company,
which eventually became Inter Harvest, then Sun Harvest. I began my career as a payroll clerk working
for Abdul’s brother Niaz Mohammed in the El Centro office. After working for a year I realized there was
no room for advancement in the El Centro office
and asked for a transfer to the Salinas
office. I moved in July of 1970. The Lord blessed me with wonderful
opportunities and great people to tutor me.
After a year in the Salinas
office I was made the Accounts Payable Supervisor; then the Sales Accounting
Supervisor; then the Payroll Supervisor and by 1981 they combined all three
departments into one under my direction.
Work was challenging, rewarding and frustrating. In 1982 Sun World International bought Inter
Harvest from United Brands and by 1983 they were closing the Salinas
Office. In 1984 I went to work for Carl
Tony Maggio as the Office Manager for Premium Fresh
Farms, a new “Salad” processing company (one of the first). It was fun and still a challenge. However, I was growing tired of living from
one month-end closing to the next. I
loved the work but life goes by too fast when you always have your head and
hands in a ledger. After 5 years I
decided to take a break and make a career change. I had had my fill of supervising and
bookkeeping and wanted something where I could just enjoy the job with good
benefits – like a retirement plan.
So in 1989 I went to work for the City of Salinas as an Administrative Clerk in the
Personnel Department. There were lots of
areas where I could see room for improvement so I had lots of fun working with
other departments putting new procedures into place. However, after a couple of years I ran out of
new challenges and promoted to Administrative Secretary in the Community
Development Department. After several
years in that position a new City Manager was
hired and his Executive Assistant decided to move to Oregon.
I let the Assistant City Manager talk me into applying for the position
after he assured me it would be more than a typist’s job. I got the position
and we have now worked together for 9 years and I still love going to work
every day. The job is a daily challenge
and is always different even though the duties stay the same. I work with the Mayor and Council as well as
the City Manager and the Assistant City Manger.
I get the pleasure of fielding angry citizen calls for anything you
could possibly think of; and I have regular visits from one or two of the
homeless who either don’t take meds or forget to take them. I can tell when the moon turns full without
looking in the night sky. Retirement is
about 2 years off and here I’ll stay till then – unless someone can sell me a
great health insurance plan for around $300 a month.
I remarried in February of 1981 to Jim Morasca,
a red headed Italian (now silver), widower, father of four grown sons and no
daughters. He was happy to get a
daughter but has had to work on being glad to have one more son. He is 15 years older than me and retired from
the City of Salinas
the year before I went to work there. We
were neighbors for 10 years (2 doors away) but he never gave me the time of day
except when he came looking for donations to the local charities. However, after his wife died of breast cancer
in 1979 his sons urged him to ask me out.
After several months he finally did and we have been together ever
since. It took him two years to marry me
but we celebrated our 20th Anniversary this year.
Our six children all live in California.
My son Charles and daughter Shelley live here in Salinas, as do three of Jim’s sons (Steve,
David and Richard). His other son Buzz
(nickname for Jerome) lives in Cayucos and manufactures his own brand of
‘boogie boards’ under the label Toobs. Because our children were all grown when we
married, we have never become a truly blended family. To further complicate matters my daughter and
Jim’s third son, David, were a couple for several years and then she broke off
the relationship and married someone else.
David has had Multiple Sclerosis for 9 years and is confined to a
hospital bed. We have four grandsons
(Charles, Michael, Jason, and Casey), 5 granddaughters (Gina, Katie, Cassandra,
Gabby and Kalei), and 3 great-grandsons (Tyler,
Justin and Mathew). My daughter’s
youngest was born with Down’s Syndrome and is a gift
from heaven. She is four now and still
learning to speak but oh what a sweet, strong willed spirit she is! She began life with a major heart defect
which was corrected at 3 months and has been thriving ever since. All of our grand children are lights of our
life but Kalei has a very special bond with her
“Papa”.
My special interest is family history and I have enjoyed
traveling to Oklahoma and Texas to pursue it. I look forward to the day I can travel
extensively to meet family members and visit family places. I also like to sew and craft. I am looking forward to the day I have time
to do it all. I have a closet full of
fabric and a garage filled with wood projects to paint. My church activity, family, work and mundane
daily chores consume the better part of my life at this time.
My Dad passed away this year in March unexpectedly at the
age of 89. My mom is still living
independently at the age of 90 years and 5 months. She still drives and helps my daughter at
least one day a week. My brother Richard
lives in Temecula, my brother Bill lives in Arlington, Texas, my sister
Charlene just moved from Oklahoma City to Grove, Oklahoma.
I have been truly blessed these past 40 years with
continuous employment, life changing experiences, great friends, wonderful
loving children and grandchildren who continue to help me grow and exercise my
faith in the Lord, countless opportunities for service which have helped me
develop my present strengths and talents, and a husband who loves me in spite
of my many faults.
Hope I didn’t bore you to death.