First we'll begin with Graduation: I went to college at Martin Luther College, in New Ulm, MN. It is a four year Lutheran College to prepare teachers for Lutheran Elementary and Secondary Schools. It was so cool to go to a school where NO ONE knew me from high school. I decided I could BE anybody I wanted to be. No stereotypes to fit, no former brothers or sisters to cast my place (did y'all know that I'm the eleventh of twelve kids?) College years were TERRIFIC! I joined ski club, theater club, yearbook, class officer, and tennis. I even tried "dating"! New Ulm is a classic German town, and I loved turning 19 and checking out the pubs in town. I did my student teaching in Wausau, WI in a 5-6th grade classroom of a Lutheran elementary school. My mentor teacher was STRICT, so I wrote thousands and thousands of lesson plans. I LOVED IT. In college, I also took piano and organ lessons, so during my student teaching days, I began playing services at church. That was nerve wracking, because I recalled the days when Holly Becker, Lori Martin and I would sit near our church organist, Birdie Speer, (George's mom) and sing faster and faster and faster, making her play faster to keep up with us! Shameful! Anyway, when I graduated in May '83 I was assigned to Edna, TEXAS, to start a Lutheran Elementary School at a small church. I was so confident! I knew it all! After all, I had a college degree and I knew how to write lesson plans. My job description was to start a K-6 school and play church organ. I couldn't wait to get to Texas. How was I to know that I would say good-bye to Minnesota for good? Needless to say, that first year was stressful! I had to purchase text books, desks, chalk boards, set up a curriculum, and plan lessons for students in grades Kindergarten (three students) 1st grade (3 students) 3rd grade (1 student) 4th grade (2 students) and 6th grade (3 students). I literally worked at the school until 1 or 2 in the morning each and every night. Then my knight in shining armor came into my life - Robert Browning. He was the church treasurer and each month he personally handed me my paycheck (I made a whopping $11,000/year). Each month, the discussions lasted longer, and pretty soon we were going out for coffee. When I decided to buy a Toyota, I turned to him for guidance. It wasn't long and we were engaged. August 4, 1984 we married in Morris. My brothers and brother in law gave Robert the royal teasing Mohr treatment the entire week before our wedding, and he still agreed to marry me. I taught for two more years at the church school.My Family: Robert and I have been married now for fourteen years. We have a son, Mark 12 and a daughter, Emily 10. They are the center of my life, along with the work I still do for my church in Edna. We live in Lolita which is 16 miles from Edna. Our favorite hobbies are building, landscaping and building. When we first married, Robert made me (actually it was my part of the "deal" for him taking square dance lessons) take scuba diving lessons and he took me to Cozamel, Mexico for a celebration trip. My diving instructor cautioned me not to wear my contact lens, just in case I had a contact attack 60 feet down. So my first dive was without corrective lenses. BIG mistake. Robert pointed out a barracuda swimming nearby, and I thought it was a shark and began to hyperventilate!! Sucked an entire tank of air in no time flat! From then on I thought I would rather SEE what was about to eat me up. I thoroughly enjoyed my scuba diving trip. Other highlights from this part of my life: In 1987, Robert was chosen to be part of a "start-up" team. We went to Yosu, South Korea for six months. Let me tell you, United States of America is the BEST place to live. In South Korea, the coast is patrolled by armed guards in case of invasion by North Korea. When you travel by car, you must pass through several armed guard check-points. Your car can be searched. You could be detained. The country and its people are beautiful. The language is a phonetic based language, and I was able to pick up a few phrases and understand some of the writing. But, Mark was only 10 months old, so my main occupation was him. Another start up we went on took us to Indonesia. We lived in Chilegon, West Java island. It was like living on Hawaii! Mark was 5, Emily was 3 and they learned how to swim in the huge pool at our residence. We were able to get "western" food and beverages, so the hardship level was minimal. We traveled around the island and to other islands on Robert's days off. We went scuba diving off the "Thousand Island" chain and saw some terrific coral and fish. We hiked to the top of Volcano Krakato (before it began erupting). The ground was covered in ash and soot, with vents smoking and the bottoms of my sneakers melted flat from the heat! (Okay, it was sort of stupid, but the adventure was fun)
Currently: I am a director and teacher at a local Baptist preschool. I began teaching in 1992 and have been loving it ever since. Teaching 3 years olds on Tuesday and Thursday mornings; teaching 4 year olds on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. That age group is so much fun! Someday, I'm going to write a book about the goofy things kids that age say. The children think I'm the most fun adult they are with, aside from an occasional dad who jumps on the beds with his girls. One of the best parts of my job is my schedule. I finish by noon everyday and am home when Mark and Emily get off the bus from school. I have the same days off as the public school calendar and all summer off. Who could ask for more? When I was pregnant with Emily (1988) I took a beginning quilting class and have been hooked ever since. I really like the traditional quilts with the exquisite hand quilting. I am currently finishing the border in my 8th quilt, and I already have two more quilt tops pieced ready to begin quilting. This past fall, I bought a sewing machine that can handle the machine quilting, and am going to play around with that. But my heart is still in the hand quilted look. Hand quilting takes so much time, though, and the real fun is making the quilt tops. Robert and I recently built an addition onto our house. We did all the work ourselves except the brick laying. Robert knows electricial wiring and carpentry, we figured out the sheetrock and I took over the painting and interior decorating. We added a large room for our two hobbies: Robert's computer and my sewing. It also serves as an extra bedroom when company arrives from Minnesota. Other building projects we have completed in our years of marriage include a 25 foot gazebo, a solar heated hot tub house, a bi-level deck and an entire fellowship hall for our church in Edna (we had lots of help from the other members on that one!) After all these projects, we know each other well enough that many times we have the same thought at the same time. Saves a lot of discussion time.
My memories from high school include Spanish class with Senor Landwehr. How did he manage to have twisted pants everyday? Steno class and typing with Diane Nelson and Mr. Anderson - Kelli Wilkins do you remember any of that stuff we learned? We laughed a lot. And math class with Mr. Tschetter and those stinky shirts. He wore the same shirt twice in a row, and Friday's shirt came back on Monday! Gag! I remember Drill Team with Linda Hull and Kristine Shull and the great time we had with that group. Of course I remember getting busted at the Sunwood Inn and being a JD for three months with Carol, Kris, Kelli, Pat and Kim. Remember cleaning out ditches? Carol was it you who found the dead cat? Kim and I go way back to kindegarten days. Kim and Pete Madsen and I were the terror of Lyndale Avenue growing up. Do you guys remember climbing into that abandoned house and finding all those Playboy magazines in the trunk upstairs? I sure hope MY kids aren't doing things like that! I do wish I could remember who was in the student driving car with me and Lyle Pearson. Remember there is an egg under that gas pedal! Right.
Well, you said I could use as much paper as I wanted. I could tell more stories (like Ginger and the rotten potatoes, Carol and the moving parked car, Kristine and riding horseback around town, Kris and the hot games of pool in her basement) but that will have to wait until the 30 year reunion book.
Jeri