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Today's Featured Biography

 
Kathryn Long Phinney

Kathy Long Phinney here. After reading about all the shared memories of Pinks, The Paulo and the Fish Frys in the park, writing to all of you was a must. Yes, I even remember the Boy Scout World Wide Jamboree held at the Irvine Ranch. My brother was a participant and his camp mates talked a "funny foreign language." They were from Australia!!!! To me the years at Mesa High were magical. My first day of being a Freshman will never be forgotten. I felt Sooooooooooooo intimidated. I knew none of you. I had just graduated from St. Joachim's School. My graduating class had about 35 students in it and I knew every one of them!

Well, here goes.............the last forty years of my life in a minute and forty seconds. Like so many of us, after CMHS I attended OCC for three semesters, then transferred to USC (the Trojans). During that time I married and divorced James (Buzz) Person (he was from Harbor High). When we arrived at 'SC, Buzz discovered fraternity life and I discovered I liked higher education and a career more than being a wife. I finished my undergraduate and graduate work (in finance) at 'SC. I loved the college environment and decided it was a great place to start my career. For the next thirty-five years I worked at 'SC in the fields of endowment investments, health sciences, student services and alumni relations.

During that time I met and married a great guy (Don Phinney) who enjoys USC football as much as I do. We have been married for twenty-seven years. We were not blessed with children but have eight wonderful nieces and nephews that we take great pride in spoiling whenever we can. Don is retired from the legal department of General Telephone (now Verizon) and I am retired from 'SC. Our original plans were to travel, play and restore an old Victorian house. Instead, we are both recovering from emergency open-heart surgery.
(The cardiac surgeon who performed both operations said we were taking
"marital togetherness" to the extreme!) We are both just happy to be alive.

All in all I have had a pretty wonderful forty years. Some things came easy, some things I learned the hard way. A few times I felt bruised and bloodied but most of the time I felt loved, encouraged and supported. Thank you all for being part of my early years.............you helped me overcome those early feelings of "intimidation."

I am really looking forward to seeing all of you at the reunion.

Health, Hugs and Happiness,

Kathy Long Phinney

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