Cheryl Turner
It is very difficult to sit down and write
about yourself and I have been avoiding it since Mary Ann and Jan first
contacted me about the reunion and mentioned a Bio, but I've so enjoyed reading
everyone else's Bio that I'm feeling a bit guilty not taking the time to sit
down at the computer and let you know what I've been doing for the past forty
years.
Yea gads, forty years is it possible that
it has been that long since CUHS, will actually it has been thirty-eight years
for me since I left the Valley the summer of my sophomore year and moved to
Newport Beach, Ca. And no, I didn't become a surfer girl, the closest I came to
it was hanging out at the Rendezvous Ballroom on the Peninsula and doing the
Surfers Stomp to Dickey Dale and the Del Tones.
After graduation from Newport Harbor High
School I entered the University of Southern California to study Fine Arts. My
major quickly changed to Art Education when I realized the odds of supporting
myself as an artist were not good. "Starving Artist" didn't sound
very appealing!!
I took a job teaching Junior High School
in the Silver Lake area of Los Angeles, and taught for a year before marrying,
Tom Barrett my College Sweetheart. We moved to his hometown of Chicago and
while Tom was attending law school I substitute taught in the Chicago Inner
City School District; Cooley High, Cabrini Green, need I say any more. That job
didn't last very long!
I was fortunate to find a job in the
fashion industry working for Marshall Field Department Stores and The A+
Modeling Agency. We had nine great years in Chicago before my husband's job in
the Securities Business took us to New York City. I continued in the Fashion
Business working for Christian Dior on 7th Avenue and doing some freelance work
for Fashion Catalogues.
In l973 we moved to Philadelphia where one
of the greatest blessings of our life occurred; we adopted a beautiful baby
girl, our daughter Kerry who is now 27 years old. Our second great blessing
came nine years later when we adopted our son Tom who is now l8 and about to
graduate from High School.
Living in suburban Philadelphia has been a
happy experience and introduced me to a new passion in life, gardening. I
enrolled at the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pa. and received my degree in
Horticulture in l980 and I am currently working towards a certificate in Flower
arranging from Longwood Gardens. My passion has led to exhibiting in the
Philadelphia Flower Show and traveling the world in search of garden ornaments
for a friends Garden Accent Business.
I still think of California as my home
even after all these years living on the East Coast. I guess I am still a
California Girl at heart and very soon, actually in a few days, we will be
closing on our home in La Quinta, Ca.
Life has come full circle and I look
forward to being back in touch with old friends and seeing everyone at the
reunion.