Jinny Curran Walz - Autobiography

Hello fellow classmates of ’58,

The passage of 50 years seem far too swift, far too unreal. Where has it gone? This brief bio will pick up where the 40th bio left off as I failed to submit something for our last reunion.

After a major bout with pneumonia in 2002, one that made me wonder if I would be around much longer, I moved to Kansas to be close to my daughter and her family. Leaving St. Louis was hard and is still hard as all of my adult life had been spent in Missouri; however, family is certainly more important and I am adjusting to the constant wind of the prairie, blowing sand, hot winds, tornadoes that send me to the safe room and a culture that is centered in farming as the breadbasket of the United States. I’ve discovered that being adored by your grandchildren who yearn to spend time with you is far more important and enjoyable than dining in fine restaurants, attending the symphony and enjoying season tickets to the Muny Opera and the Fox Theatre!

Suzanne, my daughter, and her husband have 6 children, live on a small farmette, part of the original homestead for the Stange family and live much like the families in Little House on the Prairie. They’re all home schooled, musically gifted, tend to a menagerie of barnyard animals, know how to cook, knit, sew, build, embroider, birth animals, milk the goats, plant a garden, feed the chickens and every other domestic skill one would need on a farm! In this case, apples did not fall far from the tree! Suzanne has been intent on an education for her children much different from her own. I marvel at what they can do.

Peter, as a Marine Reservist, was deployed to Iraq for 9 months. I thank God that he was there during the period when we were welcome and before the insurgents began to come in from Iran and Syria. His family, Norma and the boys, Christopher and Jonathan, spent that time with me. I loved every minute of our months together. After Peter returned from Iraq he remained “active” for 2 years so as not to be redeployed. He would be placed in units that were deployed as part of the skeleton crew to keep the unit functioning in the states. At each assignment he was given the responsibility to create and express himself in rather magnanimous ways. He was the head person for the Rose Parade. The Marine Corps of Pasadena runs the parade, sets up the festivities related to it and hosts all of the big receptions for the big shots. I was allowed to attend the fancy reception for the military brass from around the country and the parade’s marshal. At his next assignment he created a WWII museum at the country’s first military base in Massachusetts, Fort Devans. Now he is a civilian and working at Hewlett-Packard as a Public Affairs Specialist. Peter has a gift for writing and speaking and spends his day translating company information for audiences both inside and outside of the company. They’re at Round Rock, TX, the country’s second Silicon Valley.

Work is all I know so here I am, still teaching in gifted education; however, I work only 3 days a week, enjoying long weekends and recouping from the work week! I spend time in short-term missions and have been to Russia, Spain, the inner city of St. Louis and various local soup kitchens helping to provide both physical and spiritual needs of the people.

I hope I’m not guilty of TMI. I look forward to reading and hearing your life stories.
It’s already been a real treat “catching up” on your news via the Blog.

Jinny