“Are you CRAZY? Do you know how much work that is?” Mrs. Palmer retorted. A few hours with Google, some thoughtful consideration and she enthusiastically declared, “You know....we can DO this!”

“I know!” was my confident reply.

Thus began the boldest, most challenging and finest venture in my diverse portfolio of endeavors.

In 1971, my parents retired from the plumbing trade and we moved to Lompoc from Los Angeles to be closer to my older sister, her husband and their five daughters who owned a small family business that 50 years after its founding is still operating in Lompoc. My parent’s interests focused on social activism but I preferred the company of horses. Once I graduated from Lompoc High, I headed to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo and pursued a major in animal science. The fiscal law of equine enterprise (in order to make a small fortune in the horse industry...start with a large one) conflicted with my fiscal realities. My supply of Benny F’s was scant so I relegated my passion for horses to hobby status and have bred, raised, trained, shown and sold a succession of Paint horses. When I am not absorbed in Manzanita school activities, (when is this?) I still satisfy my horse addiction by caring for or riding my “family” of four horses.

In order to support my equines (buy hay), I worked in many different jobs, acquiring a wide range of skills that I call upon every day in my job as manager of Manzanita. I worked as a waitress (now I offer up ketchup and straws during lunchtime and never get a tip), secretary, receptionist, sales representative and assistant supervisor of a mental health work activity center (...no....it’s not remotely like working in an elementary school , wrangler, horse drawn carriage business owner/operator (‘git-up there’ and ‘Whoa’... are terms that come in useful at Manzanita), but above all, I spent nearly 20 years managing my niece’s photography business where I acquired a few skills with a camera (and kids and parents) that I draw upon on a daily basis. Manzanita students refer to me as, “that lady who always has the camera.” When we began Manzanita, I was working for Lompoc Unified as a clerical and maintenance substitute, working in nearly every department and school (I started out training as a school bus driver), learning a whole lot about the public school system (yikes!) and getting in touch with the gift of my DNA by activating my long suppressed social activism gene.

Nurturing children is a trust parents endow. Dementia and blindness are often a consequence of aging compelling children to become the ones who nurture. My parents were spared these adversities until their ninth decade. The lessons in patience, compassion and duty their waning bestowed were their final gifts to our family. I strive to employ these lessons at Manzanita and learn new ones every day as I delight in the budding achievements of this school and the limitless potential within the children we serve.