Donna Linthicum (Christensen)

After graduation I attended San Jose State Univ. and graduated on a Friday in 1966 and married on Sunday. I have been married to Mark Christensen for 36 years, and we have two daughters. I taught school in Palo Alto for 6 years, then as my husband started the 'corporate ladder' climb we moved to Marin County. In 1977 we moved to Huntsville, Alabama and were there for 8 1/2 years. From there we moved to northern New Jersey for 5 years. In New Jersey I went back to teaching and taught Kdg-lst grade for a couple of years. We landed in Jacksonville, FL when we bought a company and became small business owners. We distribute for some of the companies for whom Mark worked. He handles the sales and technical sides and I am the administrator of all else including employees, benefits, accounting and lots of paper work. We're a small family oriented company and managing employees has its similarities to a classroom of 22 1st graders - no one listens to the teacher/boss.

Our oldest daughter, Kimberley is 28; married last year and lives in New Jersey. Lauren is 25, returned from Peace Corps service in Jordan last fall, and is currently living and working in San Francisco. Both girls graduated from the University of Florida and had the opportunity to study abroad which gave Mark and me some travel experiences. When I was in high school I was going to be the 'spinster' teacher and travel the world. I have been able to do a lot of traveling, and my girls have been the tour guides to wonderful places. Kimberley spent her senior college year in Athens studying antiquities, and she toured us around the sights and islands of Greece.

Lauren studied in Amsterdam and during her stay in Jordan we visited and saw the country and culture from the inside. Our family has also participated in exchange programs that has given us new friends in Italy and Denmark.

I have always been interested in health issues and not with complete success tried to steer my family toward healthy living. In Alabama I became interested in running and found myself with a group of ladies running the neighborhoods after we dropped the kids off at school. We moved on to road racing and found ourselves traveling to nearby towns for road races, mostly 5K and 10K. Huntsville has a super 9K race each year and I found myself training to 'just complete' it. I was involved in the Track Club and we hosted elite runners in our homes that gave us the chance to rub elbows with the finest. When I moved to NJ I continued with a new group of ladies, and we would run the Leggs Mini-Marathon in Central Park each year. A couple of the runners that stayed with us in Alabama came to NJ to run some of the New York races. This was a big part of my life for a lot of years, and I won a few trophies at the age level. (Back in the 80's, 40+ ladies were not plentiful on race day.) Now, I am a treadmill and neighborhood walker and love my yoga classes.

Our family has been in Jacksonville, FL since 1989, and this is now home. As our business is here, we are here to stay. North Florida is hot and humid, but not a tourist destination like Orlando, 2 1/2 hours south. We do get seasons, and it does actually freeze in the winter. I do miss California (the weather is the best) and since I have family in the Bay Area we do get back to visit. It always tugs at the heart strings when I put my feet on the ground and marvel at the population and traffic.

I, like everyone else, have fond memories of high school. Bringing out those dusty yearbooks has been a lot of fun. I remember the 4 years of Spanish with Mr. Morrill, and the Spanish radio station he used to make us listen to, and the 'Aye Carrumba' he used to exclaim. I remember Ms. Wing, the biology teacher, and the dissecting of frogs. Miss Winter, the Dean, was very important to me as she helped me when my family couldn't. THEN, there was the crazy English teacher, Mrs. Hamilton, who knew just how to relate to all us teenage girls. She was empathic, and listened to all of our problems and concerns. She wanted to make sure we had dates, dresses to wear to the prom, and most of all she cared. I have great memories of those years, and though some of them have faded, many are crystal clear like they just occurred. And perhaps the caring teachers I had at Ravenswood influenced by own teaching style. And I was a great teacher !!!