Sandra Lehman Bailey

2261 Clover Dr.

Tustin, CA

626-676-9578

smlb941@gmail.com

Candid photo at breakfast in Newport Beach

I have good memories of days at WLHS however am in awe of classmates who have described so poignantly those days of maturing from children to adolescents to early adults.

What was going through my mind in the early 1960’s?  I do know my peers were important to me. Thankfully we all grew with some curiosity and with the tools to equip us on whatever path we ultimately chose to follow.

I married during my senior year of college and after graduation found myself moving from state to state, left full time teaching to raise three children and worked part time in teaching and many other occupations for the next 16 years until arriving back in WL.  More school, job changes and ultimately chose to re-start my life at 50 as a single person financially challenged with one last child at Purdue.  In 2000 I moved to California in time for the arrival of my first grandchild where I currently reside.  I do get to Indiana often but to South Bend where more grandchildren live.   I’ve been able to travel some, still get “lost” in a good book, friends, my two dogs, and always seem to have a “project” I’m working on.  I will finally be able to retire next year and look forward to finding out what else I can do and where my journey will take me next.   I can’t be there for the 50th but am there in spirit and thought.  You were and still are great classmates!

Posted 2008

The past 45 years sure were full of surprises!  Some have been “thorns” but that just made the “roses” smell all the sweeter.  I left Indiana in 1967 thinking I’d never return.  Moved to Colorado, then Arizona, Ohio, and lo and behold back to Indiana and not just anywhere but to West Lafayette where my three kids graduated from WLHS.  They then proceeded to IU and Purdue for degrees.  Several years later, two are in California and one remains in Indiana and I now have four grandchildren to brag about and do that as often as I can. 

For the past seven years I’ve been in southern California and have never been so proud to have a Midwest upbringing.  My careers have changed several times. Since I moved here I’ve been with a Medical Service Organization, a field I initially knew nothing about.  I do hope this will be my final full time position but I can’t imagine retiring completely.  There are still many things on my “to do” list in life and I look forward to what plans actually develop or what circumstances and fate cause to occur.
 
It was so much fun reconnecting in 2006 in Michigan with classmates pictured here.  Yes, we reviewed the entire yearbook together at that time but also compared some of life’s trials, triumphs and perhaps a few regrets, too.  I value more and more the friendships that developed back in West Lafayette.  I don’t yet know if I will at our reunion but I hope to be connected even if just on email but preferably through “mini reunions” like the one in Michigan with my WL classmates.