Then

I discovered when we returned to the states that our Dad had decided to retire and relocate to Gainesville, Florida, where he received his PhD. I was pretty bored with school (I guess military schools are more advanced) so I dropped out and married my high school boyfriend, Jamie Mansolo Y Marrero. As domesticated as I have always felt I was, we had some severe cultural clashes and divorced a couple of years later. I decided to move to Savannah, Georgia with my parents as Dad had been offered a position as Dean of the Business Department at Armstrong Atlantic University.

I had put myself through cosmetology school after dropping out of high school as I knew I needed a way to make a living. HA! There I met my boss's son and married again. There were no cultural  clashes here unless you consider the South verses the North all over again. So several years and one son later I divorced again.

Now

While trying to decide what to do with my life I did go back to college part time (never did get a degree) and decided I was definitely a military brat and loved it, especially the traveling and meeting new people. So I needed me a military man.....met him on the beach here in Savannah. Robert Aime Daneault (I seemed to have a flare for international relations). Bob decided to get out of the military after our tour in Germany. Regretfully drugs became a large part of his life, so I took my son and returned to Savannah.

My parents, by this time, were well entrenched with the Savannah Society, the University and the large military community we have here. My son was growing up fast and I knew I still wanted to have a family, children and, again, a 

military man. I hadn't given up on that....FINALLY, I met the man of my dreams. He was divorced (almost) and had custody of his three kids (two boys and a girl). About a year after having met (his divorce came through with him having total custody of the kids) we got married..... Keeping track, that's number four for me.

 

Jack is a dual rated pilot with two tours of Nam under his belt and a double tour to Panama and a tour to Korea was on the horizon. Upon his return, he decided to retire (23 years in service) and fly for the county. Our kids had become a blended family and all was going great. Then I decided I needed to work, so I discovered I could sell cars. And very well, by the way!! For many years I was the only woman in Savannah selling cars and then became a finance manager for the local Lincoln dealership. I spent 20 years in the auto industry until a severe car accident put me back home.

In the meantime my kids were making Jack and I grandparents several times over. Currently up to 7 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Having gotten bored once again I discovered Real Estate but after only two years the market

fell out (around 2001, remember?) and I was diagnosed with breast cancer. That sort of took the wind out of my sails. At about the same time, my older son was having a difficult time with his life so we took on his daughter, Mara Dawn (age two at the time) to care for. We have since adopted her and she turned 14 over this past Labor Day weekend.

Over these past years, I got the family and children I wanted, the military husband who nearly 40 years later I still love, am free of cancer and have learned what it is like to raise a daughter again. Sometimes I wish I could say I had several college degrees in this or that OR that I was talented in the arts and crafts, maybe a well known author, physician or someone really important BUT I'm NOT! I am simply a mother and wife with the usual ups and downs. We have a good life.

Admittedly, raising another child isn't quite how Jack and I planned to spend our retirement years. We have to work around Mara's school vacations, BUT we are still here in Savannah and will probably be here for the duration. Should you find yourself heading to Georgia, by all means drop in for a visit.

Then

I was at Dreux from the summer of 1959 till the summer of 1963. I became an American citizen in Atlanta, Georgia prior to going to France. I was adopted at the age of five by Air Force parents who were stationed in Germany in 1950.   My first place of residency was Memphis, Tennessee. I had a rough time making friends due to me not being able to speak English very well, but I learned fast. From Memphis we moved to Tallahassee, Florida where my dad took a leave from the military for a year to obtain his Master's degree in Meteorology. He then proceeded to go to Japan without his family for one year to be a Meteorologist at an airbase there. When he came back, we moved to Marietta, Georgia the summer of 1957. My dad was stationed at Dobbins AFB there until the summer of 1959. I became an American citizen before our departure to France that same summer.

We lived on the base at Dreux in a trailer until we could get housing in Senoches. We lived there less than a year and lived in a summer home of a count and countess, Count Dreux Brezzier and wife. (I don't know if I spelled that right but close enough) We then moved to St. Remy and lived in a California modern house that a French woman named Madame Bertrand rented out to armed forces people. Her husband had been an architect and designed California modern houses primarily slanted roofs which was the signature design at that time.   Eventually our family moved to Evreux and we lived in the housing there called Layfayette up until we left in the summer of 1963. I had great fun in

Now

the dorm for my high school time there for two years. My roommate and I got busted for smoking in the room due to not getting smoking permission from our parents, oops. I decided to sneak around and smoke anyway since my parents chose not to give me smoking permission. My roommate was Lorna Dutcher at t

hat time. I was good friends also with Judy Wolfe. My mother was close friends with her mother during our stay there. I have been in touch with her sister Christy and Judy has had a very sad and tragic life unfortunately of which I am not at liberty to discuss. We did see the family when we came back to the states when they lived in Alabama and would visit them periodically.

My parents divorced after we came back to the states and my mother settled back in to Tallahassee, Florida where she was an ex-ray technologist and eventually ran that department for many years until her retirement. My father was the base weather commander at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, Alabama in 1963. He remarried a woman named Becky Dean whose husband at the time was stationed in France when we were there. Danny and Ralph Dean were her two sons and now my step brothers. My father had one child with Becky named Scott, my half brother that we shared. They eventually divorced, remarried and divorced again. My dad's last base was Eglin AFB where he retired and then went back there but was in Civil Service. He did not enjoy retirement at all.

I finished my last two years of high school in Tallahassee, Florida at Leon High School. I went to college for a couple of years but never finished. Things got in the way here and there so went to work full time. I had many interesting jobs throughout my life, the last one being in Palm Beach County with the school board for 31 years. I have lived here for 35 years now and love it here. I am very active in my parish. I help out with many fundraisers. I also help out with Special Olympics every year. I stay very active in my community and travel periodically to fun places such as Jamaica, Ireland, Costa Rica, Mexico, Puerto Rico

and the Bahamas.

This will be my second reunion I will be attending. I was hoping my brother, class of 61, would go, but that is not on his bucket list at this time. I look forward to seeing the people I missed at the last reunion in Orlando, Florida.