What is your favorite childhood memory?
Riding horses. Our family had a hobby farm just outside of Springfield’s city limits where my grandfather would go to work every weekend. I would catch a ride with him early on Saturday mornings so that I could ride my horse or pony at the time. I hated the early Saturday part, but I loved the riding. I remember walking the pastures to try to find the horses and them running all the way back to the barn when they saw me. If I found them on the other end of the pasture, I ultimately liked to ride them bareback to the barn but the older ones were smarter than that and they would rally the rest to run all the way back to the barn. I would walk back, finally, get them
locked into the corral, catch them, saddle and finally ride in the pastures, fields and/or country roads. I have so many memories of riding. I still have horses and donkeys, but they don’t live close to Saint Joseph. Someday we will have a place for them.
What was the name of your first pet?
My first cat’s name was Elli- It was going to be Elliot, but we found out that it was a girl so we named her Ellie. We got her right after we watched E.T. hence the name Elliot.
What is the best thing about being a minister’s wife?
All the people I get to meet!! This is Gene’s third appointment that I have been apart of and I love all the people that we are involved within our church family. It is amazing to have that support, guidance and love from so many. It has been a true blessing having so many apart of our lives.
What is a book you read that has stayed with you?
Memories of a Devil: My life as a Jesuit in Dachau. Father Chester was a priest at my Catholic grade school. He was short and a frail framed man that spoke broken English. As a kid, I didn’t truly understand what he had lived through. I read this book just a few years ago and it has really
stuck with me. When I read, I probably get too wrapped up in the characters, so I cried happy tears, sad tears, I was angry, I was fearful, and I even got so upset that I put it down for several days. I just didn’t want to know what other horrible things were going to happen. It wasn’t like I
didn’t know that it was going to have a happy ending. I knew he would be released, and that he would come to the United States and an integral part of my catholic education but learning what he and other people endured during the holocaust was beyond terrible. To me, he was a sweet, compassionate and kind priest that always had a smile on his face, and to read that his life was so tragic didn’t seem possible. He had truly lived and thrived on faith and his love for God. He had true unconditional love, and faith in the Lord. It is an incredible story that reminds me of how powerful faith can be, how it is important it is to love unconditionally and always find the good in everyone.
What can you binge-watch over and over?
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. I know every single word from beginning to end.
What is your favorite place you have traveled to?
Farmers Markets- I have a true affinity to farmers markets. When I travel, I like to make a point to visit the local markets. The produce and local goods can be so different and unique. I have visited markets in Nigeria, Colombia, Mexico, Tbilisi, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri, and New Mexico to name a few.
What is something you always carry with you?
If we go back to question 5, this will make sense. It literally started off as a joke, as it is a picture from a magazine of Harrison Ford. He was my man-crush in high school, and this picture I cut out and put into my wallet. It has never left my wallet regardless of the new ones I have bought through the years. So, it is something that goes with me everywhere. Crazy to think it has been with me more than 25 years…. Don’t worry, I have a picture of my new man-crush and husband, Gene, in there too.
What is something people may not realize about you?
I wasn’t born in the United States. My mom was in the Peace Corp in Bogota, Colombia where she met my father. They married, had a couple of kiddos, and finally they moved back to the United States and settled in Springfield, IL where my mother was from.
If you could have dinner with three people who would it be?
Abraham Lincoln, Harrison Ford and Jeremy Wade. Growing up in Springfield, Illinois you are basically raised with Lincoln, so I would love to meet him and hear his life stories. His life fascinates me with his endurance, courage and honesty. Harrison Ford…. Did you read #5 or #7..
he was my high school man crush. Jeremy Wade “reeled” me in while I watched River Monsters. I could probably put in #5 that I could binge-watch episodes of River Monsters and we do at home when it is on. For me the show isn’t always about fishing but how he immerses himself
into the culture, talks with locals, fishes with them and then tries to identify the culprit fish. I guess part of me lives vicariously through his adventures. I would love to literally hear him tell his fish stories.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
As a little girl, all I could think about being was a veterinarian, as I wanted to follow in my grandfather’s footsteps and then chemistry classes kinda kicked me in the behind. Onto plan B, I decided that I wanted to teach people about agriculture. I went to SIUC and received degrees in
ag education and focused on ag safety and health. I do exactly what I went to school to do by teaching pesticide safety to applicators/operators. Its funny as I now want to be a farmer/rancher but then I also would love to travel the world, not sure how all of that will get done, but I have a
dream.
You must be logged in to post a comment.