Patsy Golob Decker

In the fall of 1959 I attended Valley College. This experience lasted only a year and a half due to a tonsillectomy. I left school sans tonsils, but with a fiancé, Fred. I then worked for a title insurance company, and we were married in February 1962. We moved to San Diego where Fred was working and daughter Kathleen was born the following December. In January 1963 we moved to Burbank when Fred began working for Lockheed. In June of that year he was transferred to the U. S. Navy base at Moffett Field south of San Francisco. In December it was on to Jacksonville, Florida for a year then back home to Sherman Oaks for daughter Molly’s birth in January 1965. When she was two weeks old, Fred received more traveling papers, this time to South East Asia. I was a single mom for 8 months until he returned home.

We bought our first home in late 1965 in Granada Hills. Our daughter Michelle was born in April 1966, and we made a vow to stay put. Our son Andy was born in May 1969 and I was happy to be a stay-at-home mom. During this time I belonged to a guild that supported Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. Fred and I were blessed with active, healthy children and I wanted to contribute by helping others.

In June of 1977 Lockheed had us “on the road again” and this time to Montreal, Canada for three years. So much for a vow to stay put. ”Itchy feet” struck again and in 1980 we were transferred to Derbyshire, England for a two year stay. During our stay we were able to travel extensively in Europe. Our experiences in both Canada and England were very rewarding for the six of us.

We returned home to live in Ventura, CA with interesting accents and a desire to embrace all things American.

With our daughters in various colleges and our son preparing for the same, I decided to back-up my enthusiasm for higher education by enrolling in UCSB, graduating in 1989 with a BA in English. (Ironic it has taken me this long to write this Blog!)

I helped Fred with a book he was writing about his Great-Great Grandfather’s regiment during the Civil War. We were thrilled when “Yates Phalanx” was published in 1994.

Fred took early retirement from Lockheed in 1995 after 33 years. After a short period of being “at leisure” he went to work for a small aerospace company in Fullerton.

By this time the drive from Ventura was too much and we moved to Glendale. In 2003 we bought a townhouse in Monrovia where we again “vowed to stay put!”

We are blessed with happily married children with wonderful spouses and 8 terrific grandchildren. I guess our daughters caught our “itchy” feet and it has given us more travel time to Seattle, WA, Holland, MI and Richmond, VA. Our son decided to stay put and he and his family live in La Canada Flintridge.

Since 1998 I am back in the volunteering mode. This time with a guild that supports the USC University Hospital and the Keck School of Medicine. We raise funds for scholarships for graduating medical students. We also enjoy tailgating at USC football games (especially the past six years!)

It was wonderful to see my classmates at the Reunion and to hear about their lives and families. The PHS experience taught me to live my life to the fullest and to strive to be whatever I wanted to be.

Fred and I have watched the DVD several times and it is fabulous! It evoked many wonderful memories…and the music was great. Thank you, Devi. And thank you to the Reunion Committee for a wonderful weekend in March.

Fondly,

Patsy

POSTED BY PATSY GOLOB DECKER

Noel Wagener Ruberti

Hi, Everyone!

In the fall of 1955, fellow graduates from St. Robert Bellarmine Grade School, Marcia Adams, Mary Baedeker, Beverly Hoeschen & I found ourselves attending this new ALL GIRLS high school called Providence High. What unique experiences we had. After all, not many students can say that in their Freshman year they attended classes in tents. I remember lunch in the park nearby, Sister Alexis flying down the hill to coach softball on a makeshift ball field, chorus with Sister Cecilia Marie and building our dream homes in the Christian Living class. There was something challenging about being the first class for the ensuing years. Weren’t we lucky to have the wonderful teachers that influenced our lives and the great friendships that we made and still have today. Graduation at Burbank’s Starlight Bowl was a wonderful culmination of those years.

After graduation from PHS, knowing that teaching was not for me but that I WAS good in Math, I started work in the accounting department of a Brokerage firm in Los Angeles. (Many thanks to Maureen Coleman Simons mom). The ensuing years found me advancing in positions with different Brokerage firms.

Leisure time found me traveling, singing in the choir at St. Charles and active in the adult youth group at St. Finbar’s Parish. In 1964, a friend in the group introduced me to Donald Ruberti. We were married on May 16, 1968.

Don was a Public Health Advisor for the Centers for Disease Control /STD Prevention based in Los Angeles. Transfers with CDC found us in Sacramento, Ca; back to Los Angeles; then on to Hartford, Ct; Tucson, Ariz; Des Moines, Ia and finally to Atlanta, Ga. He retired from CDC after 42 years.

During that time we had three girls, Dawn Marie, Christi and Melanie. I too became a stay at home Mom and loved every minute of it. I volunteered at schools, attended sporting events, band, and concerts. Dawn is now an Optician in Asheville, NC. Christi , after graduating from Georgia Tech, married Eric Sikes and is the mother of three beautiful girls. Eric is in the Air Force and is currently assigned to the Pentagon. They live in Manassas, Va. Melanie graduated from the University of Georgia and is an anchor, reporter and weatherperson for WTOC-TV in Savannah, Ga.

In 1988, I decided that I needed to get back in the work force. Hoping my math skills were not too rusty, I found a position at C & S National Bank (now Bank of America). Who knew that Bank of America would find it’s way to Atlanta, Georgia. I retired as an Administrative Assistant to a Market Manager in Premier Banking after 19 years.

In 1988, Don & I built a new home in Newnan, Ga. It is in a golf /tennis community and no, we don’t play, but it is fun living here. We always have projects in progress. We enjoy reading, going on long walks and having fun with our Granddaughters.

Thanks to all who put this blog together. What a wonderful way to keep in touch with our classmates.

Although I cannot be there in person, know that I will be with you in spirit.

My very best to all of you.

Noel

email: ruberti@numail.org

POSTED BY NOEL WAGENER RUBERTI

Virginia Keefer Pullen

After graduating from PHS I worked for Airotary Supply Co. as a secretary- receptionist. I became engaged at Christmas of 1959 to Tom Pullen. Tom and I were married the following July in my former hometown of Metropolis, IL. My very good friend and classmate Joyce Speeter Sfetku was my Maid of Honor. We will be married 49 years this July. The years go by too quickly!!!

We lived in Champaign, IL for a couple of years while Tom was finishing school at the University of Illinois. He took a job in Houston, Texas where our son, Mike, was born in 1963.

We enjoyed and liked Houston but Tom’s father took seriously ill, so we moved back to Metropolis to help run the family business. We operated a Thoroughbred horse farm which was fortunate to have bred the 1970 Kentucky Derby winner, Dust Commander. Unfortunately, we sold the mare and colt before he ever raced. Our daughter, Lynda, was born in Paducah, Kentucky in 1964.

In 1975, Tom decided to leave the farm and go into banking. He became President of the City National Bank of Metropolis. I worked for the Water and Light department when the kids got older. We are now retired and enjoying what we want to do. Much of our lives revolve around the kids and grandchildren. We are a very close family. Our son, Mike, lives in Metropolis. He and his wife Lisa have three children – two girls and a boy. The oldest girl is graduating from the University of Mississippi this May and their boy is a sophomore at Ole Miss while the youngest daughter is a sophomore in the local high school. Our daughter, Lynda, lives in Jefferson City, Missouri, so we travel there a lot to be with them. Lynda and her husband Joe have three children – two girls and one boy. Their son is graduating from Helius high school and plans to attend Purdue starting this fall. The oldest daughter is a sophomore at Helius while the youngest is in the fifth grade. We are very proud that all of the family are active practicing Catholics.

I was a stay at home mom. Between car pooling, PTA, home room mother and all the sports the kids were involved in, I led a very busy and fulfilling life. I kept three of the grandchildren until school age. I took some college courses for my own enjoyment. My hobbies are gardening, crocheting, quilt making, decorative art, reading and best of all - my six grandchildren. I do volunteer work for the Red Cross Blood Mobile, Shawnee Development Council, and St. Rose the church where Tom and I were married.

I have enjoyed reading the blogs of my fellow classmates. What an amazing life you have had. We should be very proud of the class of 1959!!!!

A special thank you goes to Devi Savitt Bellows for reuniting Joyce Speeter Sfetku and me. Thank you to the reunion committee for all the hard work you have put into this reunion. I am also very thankful for the catholic education I received at PHS.

I know that some of you have had very special remembrances of our teachers and I have a few to add. I remember Sister Cecelia Mary during piano class - I thought she was going to crack her wand on my hands at times. Lol She scared me!! Once I was practicing my music during class and I was so sleepy that I kept playing the same song over and over. Well, Sister jerked open the door to the music room and said “ Virginia, would you play another song.” Needless to say that woke me up!! Sister Esther was my favorite teacher. The thing I remember the most about her was her smile and sunny disposition. I remember in Foods class we would hurry to get there so we could make French fries to eat in class.

For those who are going to make the reunion, I will miss not getting to be with you. Have fun and enjoy one another.

PHOTOS: #1 me & my daughter & granddaughter, #2 Lynda & family at Thanksgiving, #3 Mike & his family at last Thanksgiving, #4 Tom & family in Hawaii

Virginia Keefer Pullen

Married July 21, 1960

Children—2 –Mike and Lynda

Grandchildren—6—Ages 11 to 22

Two granddogs

POSTED BY VIRGINIA KEEFER PULLEN

Judy Hernandez Hatfield

Dear PHS Class of 1959:

I hope some of you will remember me …

After graduating from Providence, I worked for a few years with the idea I wanted to travel and work overseas. I booked passage on a German ship, the “T.S. Bremen” flagship of the North German Lloyd. I had no idea what work I would be doing or where I’d be living, but the adventure began.

Leaving New York Harbor on a beautiful spring day in 1962, my journey started by sailing for eleven days crossing the Atlantic Ocean. I met many wonderful and kind people who when hearing of my tale offered me positions of everything from care attendant to working in a bakery. I met a student who suggested I get my work papers and visa, which I did. She invited me to her home. After a few months, my mother contacted me and wanted me to come home immediately, because of the possible conflict with Cuba and the Bay of Pigs Invasion had begun and there was talk of war. I said “No, I’m staying - I’ll be fine!” I obtained work at a German hospital in Siegburg West Germany. This hospital, Stat Krankenhaus, was run by an order of Franciscan nuns. I worked in the Kinderstation- Children’s Department, where I scrubbed floors, brought up meal trays, emptied bed pans and helped the nurses. It was hard work, but very fulfilling. Sister Alexis took me under her wing so to speak. She also informed me of the pending conflict between Cuba and the U.S. and asked if I wanted to go home. I told her “No, I felt safe here.”

She had been a nun in the states for many years, so I learned German from her and the children, and they in turn learned English from me. I roomed with a nurse at an apartment near the hospital and had many experiences there. I made many friends and participated in holiday celebrations.

With a roof over my head, a job and food in my stomach life was good. I traveled via train all over Germany. After a period of time I wanted to move on in my travels. I next went to another hospital in Frankfurt-Katerinan Krakenhaus with a referral from Sister Alexis. This was also run by an order of the Franciscan nuns. Believe me when I say the Germans are very hard working and industrious people. After being here for a while I then went on to Luzanne Switzerland and France. In Paris I had a room at a small hotel – The Hotel Duminy, then on to Italy, Capri, Florence, the Amafali Coast, Pompeii, Rome, Venice, and the Vatican. I met lots of people from all over the world. This was all done when the book “Europe on $5.00 a Day” was extremely popular (I doubt it’s that price now). I ended up staying in Europe for almost two years.

I returned home to Burbank in early 1964. I enrolled in business school and got a job offer with a government agency. While thinking this job offer over, I was introduced to the man who would become the love of my life. A slender guy with flaming red hair named George Hatfield, swept me off my feet. We met in May 1964 and were married on December 12, 1964 in St. Finbars Church. We wasted no time starting our family, our son George Jr. arrived in November 1965, daughter Debra in 1967 and daughter Jessica 1969. We first started our family in Simi Valley in the late 1960’s, moving to Ventura in the early 1970’s and then on to Westcliffe Colorado (where our home was located in the Sangre De Cristo Mountains at the 8,600 ft. elevation level), Ft. Smith Arkansas and back to our home base of California by the 1980’s. We traveled the United States extensively on family vacations in our motor home when our kids were young. I was fortunate enough to be able to be a stay-at-home mom during much of this time. I eventually went back to work in various clerical capacities. George and I were married for almost 41 years; I was his primary caregiver for the last seven years of his life. His brave battle ended on October 29, 2005.

I’m a busy grandmother to six grandchildren, three boys and three girls ranging in age from 8 to 14 years.

I look forward to seeing everyone at the reunion!

-Judy Hernandez Hatfield

POSTED BY JUDY HERNANDEZ HATFIELD

Sharon Young Galindo

After graduation, I went to work for Bank of America, No. Hollywood. I started in the back room and worked my way to the teller line after a couple of years. In 1962, I won a trip to Europe for 6 weeks and that was the beginning of my love for traveling. My sister and I went and saw as much as we could, even going into East Germany and East Berlin. After returning, I went back to work for B of A and worked another 2 years and went back again to Europe. Coming back, I again went to work for the bank. For the next 20 years, I worked on and off for B of A. In 1970, I married a customer of the bank. However, it was a mistake from the beginning. In the meantime, my mother died and my father was alone, so I moved in with him , so it worked for us both. I traveled again, this time to Mexico and on returning, I decided to study Spanish in night school. My teacher was Mexican and after my being flunked 5 semesters, we got married!. He was a school teacher and taught Spanish to 9th graders.

In 1976, our son was born and 1977 saw a daughter come. We traveled a lot by motor-home down into Mexico and up to Canada with 2 small kids. It was such a great experience. As the kids went to school, I volunteered. At this time, I was a stay-at-home mom. I was instrumental in getting our parish school to start a kindergarten and my daughter was in the first class. I volunteered in the school office and then went on to be on the Parent Teacher Board as Treasurer. In 1986, my husband and I and kids flew to Sweden and purchased a car and drove it throughout the European continent for 3 months while summer vacation was on. For the next several years, traveling was through our trusty motor-home. Back and forth to Mexico, Canada and a lot of Northern California. Our children continued in school and after their graduations, they went on to University. My son to Colorado State to study Natural Resources and Forestry. My daughter, Nursing. In 2000, we all went again traveling to England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Then in 2002, my husband of 27 years, passed away of heart disease. I continued to travel and lived in Ireland for a time. After coming back, I was offered a job working as church secretary for St. Bernardine of Siena Parish. Over the years I have made many friends, mostly priests, at St. B, and I feel blessed to call them my friends. I retired in 2006 and have continued traveling. Because of this love of mine, I have purchased a house in Tuscany, Italy and go there as much as possible. I also do volunteer work for L.A. Animal Services. I love to work in the yard, to read, and do painting and small repairs.. my husband taught me well.

The experience and education from Providence has been with me all these years and I thank those wonderful teachers for being who they were!

POSTED BY SHARON YOUNG GALINDO

Marjorie Traxel Strachan

In August of 1959 I entered the Sisters of Charity of Providence. After a few short weeks I was surprised to find myself in collage! The program of Sister Formation, that my great aunt had started, was already active with us. (My Aunt was the Mother General of the Sisters of Mercy.)

I went through five years of collage (at Seattle University) before going out to teach. I did my practice teaching as well as my first year of teaching at St. Michael school in Olympia, Washington. The following year I went to Portland, Oregon training in and teaching Montessori.

During my first year of teaching I contacted my Great Aunt and told her I did not think I belonged in the order and was praying about it. Later Sister Rose Amata helped my to leave the order.

1966 found me back in the world of dating and teaching. Teaching one year First Grade at St. Francis Xavier in Burbank and then going to Santa Monica Montessori School. Then different years of Montessori and public school followed by great years of teaching at a Catholic school in Highland Park. Taught twenty-five years at St. Ignatius enriched my life as I began teaching children of former students.

In 1968 I met Tom Strachan We dated a year - married in 1969. Tom owned his own Mattress company called Made Well Mattress Company.

We were unable to have children but enjoyed taking my students places as well as had three live with us for a summer. We have done a lot of traveling Our favorite places are Russia, Portia Rico and Australia. We have an active correspondence with our friends in Australia and have had them visit us three times.

For the past eight years I have been very active in my church. Five years ago my Pastor approached me and asked me to be prayer leader. I've taught on prayer, started an intercessory prayer group (meets every Friday night). I am group leader of an intercessory group formerly called Lydia now ASK international. For five years I wrote a monthly news letter called Prayer Walker.

Though physically challenged I am active in writing and besides the Intercessory Prayer enjoy Red Hats. Have had one publication.

POSTED BY MARJORIE TRAXEL STRACHAN