Cathy (Collins) Brechtelsbauer

Seven years after graduating from JJHS, both Chee Han Ching and I were back, on the faculty this time. Mr. Mills was still principal, and many of our teachers were still there - Ms. Copeland, Ms. Ivy, ... I attempted the job of faculty sponsor for the Commodores and taught math.

The school was integrating rather well, and it was a great time to be there.

Before JJHS, I taught a semester at Cullen Jr Hi.

In 1970, I married Dave, whom I had met during grad school at U. of Michigan, and moved to Ann Arbor MI. I taught math in a jr high, while he finished med school. During Dave‚s residency, we lived in Saginaw MI. I taught in the county jail and trained to teach childbirth classes. We

became parents to Todd there in 1974.

For the next 9 years we enjoyed rural life on Smith Mt. Lake, Virginia, near the Blue Ridge Mts. (Moneta VA - the town where „What About Bob?‰ was filmed.) Dave had an interesting medical practice in a formerly underserved area. Our son Luke was born in 1978. I was the childbirth educator and a founding mother of a food co-op.

We moved to South Dakota in Œ85 for a full-time teaching position for Dave (in the Family Practice Residency) and for better schools. (Taxes in rural Virginia were very low, which showed in the schools.)

Now as a full-time civic volunteer, I do advocacy on public policy issues on behalf of people who are hungry and poor, especially children. For me, it is a Christian calling and sometimes a messy business. It gets me involved in education and organizing on both federal- and state-level

issues such as school lunch & breakfast, food stamps, welfare, foreign aid, minimum wage, unemployment, and trying to end South Dakota‚s sales tax on groceries. It involves much work in churches (especially ours- Lutherans), and with other non-profits, such as Bread for the World and the SD Peace & Justice Center. In this work with and for low-income people, I meet incredibly resourceful and generous folks, who are a constant inspiration.

Camping, bicycling, walking, church activities, and folk music are shared interests in the family. I do and promote solar cooking (in the summers) and try to learn Spanish and Irish ceili dancing. We have enjoyed travel in Brazil, Scotland, and China, with our son Luke as guide at the

ends of his various studies abroad.

Dave has become quite the expert in geriatrics and teaches both locally and nationally. Todd lives dangerously a bicycle messenger in Portland OR. Luke is propmaster and ring hand for the Big Apple Circus, the non-profit circus of New York City. He majored in languages and plays

several instruments, principally harp. We drove the VW Rabbit he converted to run on electricity for 7 years, and it is now in use in Huntsville TX. Both sons are skilled at living sans car and cheap, so far.

My mom still lives in Houston, except 6-7 months a year, when she is off on her adventures, mostly hiking, backpacking, and bicycling, both in the US and abroad. It would be good if we could keep up with her, but we can't.

It will be great to see everyone at the reunion, but please introduce yourselves - My mind is going.