Believe it or not, I was the only Spanish major in our graduating class. In 1955 I had received a marvelous offer from Grace Lines (steamships) to travel as a recording secretary to all parts of Latin America. Somehow, the promises never panned out; and I remained anchored in the New York office, doing boring administrative work.

However, in New York I met my husband, Pablo Caballero, from Lima, Peru. At the time he was working for Iberia Airlines, and we had an unforgettable honeymoon in Spain. In 1959 Spain was still a dictatorship under General Francisco Franco; and the Guardia Civil (Franco’s state police) were everywhere – highly visible in their shiny patent leather boots. It’s said that today Spain is a playland for the rich; it’s hard for me to imagine.

Paul and I had a marvelous 40 years together until his death in 1998, and we managed to raise three children: Sheri, Linda and Paul Jr. Sheri is a project manager at Microsoft, Linda a system analyst in Canada, and Paul a supervisor for Pepsi.

In 1960 Paul and I decided to uproot and move to California. I had fallen in love with Los Angeles back in 1955 on a post-graduation trip through the West. California received us with open arms on a balmy January day, with all kinds of flowers in bloom. The love affair with California still goes on here in my retirement house in Spring Valley, outside San Diego.

Working as I did for an aerospace contractor, I yearned to develop more knowledge in the burgeoning computer world. With great trepidation I enrolled at California State University Fullerton, and in1983 I had a shiny B.S.C.S.

After graduation from CSUF I had twenty great years working as a computer programmer. The most “fun” job was working on the Titan I and II missiles. This assignment involved frequent trips to Johns Hopkins in Maryland and occasional trips to Cape Canaveral, Florida to gather the missile tracking data, which at the time was recorded on clunky 9-track tapes. After this project wound down, I worked with military satellites at Point Loma in San Diego.

Right now I’m back in school trying to learn “the latest” in computer technology. As you can imagine, it’s a field that changes with every heartbeat; and my 1980s knowledge is far out of date. I hope to start my own consulting business next year. I’ll be on the internet as www.reportlady.com . It’s a work currently in process.