Bio, 2009: Judy Faber Whiteley
It was “…a long and winding road…” (to quote the Beatles) that brought Charlie and me to retirement just outside of Santa Fe eight years ago. Following graduation from SHS, I fritzed-off for 2 ½ years at OSU in the Advanced Find-a-Husband Program, graduating with honors when I married Charlie Whiteley (Putnam City HS) in 1967. My extensive product research resulted in the selection of a great guy who’s been patient enough to put up with me for 42 years.
We both took jobs at Ford Motor Company and moved to Michigan. After 4 years I quit to stay home and raise our daughter, Laura. Charlie continued for 32 years in the parts and service end of the business, which took us eventually to Colorado, back to Michigan, then California and Georgia. When Laura reached school age I returned to part time office work until the early ‘90’s when my avid pastime of playing volleyball morphed into a career change as I became a volleyball official. In Michigan I began with adult recreational leagues, then men’s competitive and high schools. In California and Georgia I worked both high school and club matches including state championship matches.
Over the years Charlie and I camped and fished many places, but primarily in Colorado where Charlie had learned fly fishing as a boy. About 15 years ago he managed to infect me with Fly Fishing Disease and so when deciding where to locate post-retirement we chose Santa Fe as a location that put us in position to access great fly fishing in the West and Southwest. One of the benefits of Fly Fishing Disease has been discovering Greg Keeler’s Trout Ball CD. Even if you don’t fish, you haven’t lived until you hear Duct Tape Psalm and WD-40 Polka.
Our daughter, Laura, is married and she and Rob and their son, Owen, live in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where they are expecting a second son this November. Rob is the basketball coach and Assistant AD at Kalamazoo College, where they both attended school. Laura was the women’s soccer coach there until the arrival of Owen 2 years ago. Laura had been involved with soccer since the age of 5, playing through high school, college, and in the “W” league, which was the semi-pro predecessor of the current WPL, as well as coaching at Western MI University, and Rhodes College (Memphis).
We love traveling and have been lucky enough to travel to Africa, where we spent the Millennium on Kilimanjaro, and to Italy for our 40th anniversary, along with the South Pacific, much of America and some of the Caribbean. One of our main travel itineraries is the route from Santa Fe to Kalamazoo, especially since Owen’s birth because, as most of you already know, grandchildren are endlessly entertaining with the bonus that each exceptional new achievement they have is directly attributable to their grandparents.
I was hesitant to write a bio…until I had read many of yours and found myself fascinated by the diversity of life experience, interesting roads taken, and numbers of exceptional people who were among our class membership. I look forward to seeing you soon.
©2009 Stillwater High School Class of 1964