Class of 1968

Deborah Hoeper Parrish - Lake Elsinore, California

Debbie then...

I was married in high school and had a baby girl in October after ya'll graduated. I never wanted to be married, but spent fourteen years doing my best to stay sane. I have always believed that everything happens for a reason. That marriage gave me three beautiful daughters. I divorced their father in 1981 and met who was to be my second husband two months later.

He was my soulmate, though I didn't really realize that until four years later. He helped me to finish raising my youngest two dauhters and was the very best. We were constant companions for the next twelve years. We were finally married March 2nd,1993 and he passed from complications of chemotherapy and cancer on April 13th. He lived in California when I met him and that is where I moved in 1983. After he passed I did a lot of "running", but always ended up, back in California. This has pretty much been my home.

In my travails, I have lived in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Washington state and of course California! I have seen a lot of life, a lot of death. I have been at the top of the world and scraped the bottom of the barrel. I am now married to a young-un (he is four years younger than me), very good looking, very sweet and a bit on the wild side. He is a San Diego born California boy. It's funny that I had to leave San Diego and travel to Miami Florida to meet him! We came back to San Diego to get married in 2000, but didn't get married until 2002 because we could never get the two families to commit to attending the wedding. This is where I went to college to become a medical assistant and graduated 1991.

My daughters have all gone into the sciences. My eldest daughter graduated from Palmer as a chiropractic technician, my middle daughter is two classes away from earning her Bachelor of sciences degree, and my youngest daughter is an insurance biller for Aetna Insurance Company.

My first marriage gave me motherhood as my last two husbands could not have. My second marriage showed me what the "good life" was like. Now my "charmer" is teaching me humility and patience.

- March 24, 2004