Carol Ann Keele “. . . Unfortunately, my husband, Don, and I will not be able to attend . . . It would certainly be fun to see so many people. I haven't kept in touch with anyone from high school, so it would be a great time for me to renew friendships.  Sounds like it will be a fun week-end  I look forward to getting an electronic copy of The Book to see what people have done since leaving high school. Have a great time and bring my greetings to everyone.”

Carol Cassetty (Carol Ann Keele)

High School Memories

We moved to San Marino just before my freshman year, so there were many new things for me – new school, new friends, and new neighborhood to name a few.  It didn’t take long to get into the swing of high school thanks to friends, Laurie Smith, Randy Donant, Carol Munnecke, and Christine Sharp on Roxbury and Darby Rd.  Many memories stand out, but some of them are football games, especially when SMHS went to Brawley for a CIF game.  My dad drove a group of us down to see the game.  Football games at San Marino were always fun.  Another was Mr. Clopper’s drama and speech classes.  You never quite knew what he might throw at you and since I was pretty shy in my high school days, I was pretty nervous.  Four years with Senõr Rogers and Spanish classes stand out.  I’m sorry now that I didn’t keep up with friends from high school, but I’ve lived a full life since June of 1962.

My Life Since High School

After graduation I attended Glendale City College and then received my AA from Pasadena City College.  From there I went to Azusa Pacific University, graduating with a degree in History and Elementary Education in December of 1966.  The summer before my senior year of college I married Don Cassetty, the love of my life and best friend.  We had known each other for many years while attending the same church in Alhambra.  One thing we had in common was that we were both elementary teachers, Don in Arcadia and me in Alhambra. I ended up teaching at Marguerita School, the same elementary I attended from sixth through eighth grade.  Susan Glenny will remember Marguerita School.

Our first daughter, Julie, was born in November of 1969.  We had decided that summer that we wanted to move outside of Southern California, so we travelled the western states looking for the perfect place.  In August of 1970 we packed up and moved to Eugene, Oregon, where we could both work on advanced degrees at the University of Oregon and enjoy the great outdoors in Oregon.  We had become avid water skiers and wanted to do more downhill skiing.  Don found a teaching job and I stayed home being Mom or the next few years. Our family expanded in March of 1973 with the birth of Jennifer.  The family was complete.

Fortunately, the girls also had our love of sports and the outdoors.  In 1978 encouraged by friends who had lived overseas, we started looking for teaching positions at an international school.  We travelled that summer in Asia and were bit by the travel bug.  July, 1979, found us moving to Singapore to teach at Singapore American School.  What an exciting four years we spent on that island nation.  Of course, we loved our teaching, but the ability to travel in Asia was a real plus.  Every vacation found us traveling to a different country in Asia.

We returned to Eugene in 1983, as Julie wanted to go to high school back in Eugene.  We honored her desire and spent the next five years teaching and enjoying life with family and friends in Eugene.  We knew within a couple of years that we wanted to return to overseas teaching, so when Julie graduated in 1988 we again started looking for positions.  Once you are overseas you find that you have many contacts.  Julie went off to college at UC San Diego and we headed to Kobe, Japan, and teaching at Canadian Academy.  This was the beginning of twelve years immersed in the Japanese culture.  I learned Japanese and Don studied the Japanese culture, both complementing each other.  You might wonder if we were teaching Japanese students.  We had some, but a large percentage was Americans working for international companies.  The curriculum was American, so very much like teaching in the states, but different students.  Jennifer graduated in 1991 and returned for college at Azusa Pacific University.

Wanting to have a place to go to for summer vacations and Christmas holiday, we decided it was time to sell our house in Eugene and buy something else.  So the summer of 1990 found us looking at homes in a place our children and some day our grandchildren would love to visit.  By the end of summer we bought a house in the resort community of Sun River, Oregon.  This is where we would spend our summers and Christmas. 

From Japan we moved in 2000 to a small community in Thailand.  Here it was truly tropical living.  Along with teaching we were able to spend a fair amount of time on the golf course, as the school was located on two golf courses and that’s also where we lived.

Before retiring we wanted one more overseas experience, so we found jobs in 2003 in Taejon, Korea.  This was a great place for our transition before returning to the states and retirement in 2005. During our years of teaching, I taught every grade from four year old kindergarten to seniors in high school, but most of my teaching years were spent in elementary school.  Every year was rewarding and I’m glad to still hear from some students.  It’s fun to be on FACEBOOK with them and hear what they are doing now.

Both our daughters are married to two wonderful men.  Our three grandsons, Nathan 16, Noah, 12, and Nicholas, 6 provide of us many adventures.  Julie and her family live just 12 miles up the highway from us in Bend and Jennifer and her family live on the other side of the mountains in Eugene.  With Nathan and Noah living so close, we spend many afterschool and week-ends watching sports.  We don’t see Jennifer and her family quite as often, but they try to make it over the mountain as much as possible.  

Don and I keep busy since retirement with our church and many opportunities to volunteer in our community.  We try to get as much golf and tennis in as possible.  Winter time finds us skiing at Mt. Bachelor, just 30 minutes away.  While Sunriver is a resort, it’s much more than that and it has become our home with many of our friends from Oregon and overseas choosing to live here also.  Should any of you find yourselves in Central Oregon we’d love to have you visit us.

Hope I haven’t bored you with all of this, but that’s my life since San Marino High School.