Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Tell Your Life Story in Two (or Even Five) Minutes

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:

It's Saturday Night again -

time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Here is our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings:

1)  Everyone has a life story, and mine is still ongoing.  Tell us your life story - start with today and go back to your birth.  Do it in 200 to 500 words so you could tell it in two to five minutes.

2)  Tell us in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or on Facebook.  Be sure to leave a comment with a link to your blog post on this post.

Here's mine:

I like Randy’s idea of starting at the end of the life. I am Lisa Gorrell, born Lisa Suzanne Hork. I’m in my 68th year and will be married 41 years in two days. We have two beautiful daughters, one who lives within an hour and the other across the country in New York.

I am retired and spend most of my day doing some kind of genealogy. I also volunteer with the Contra Costa County Historical Society and serve on their board. I volunteer for the National Parks Service doing a local phenology project and other projects with the Friends of Alhambra Creek. One of my loves is to be out in nature and take photos. I do enjoy watching baseball (especially the SF Giants), tennis, or women’s soccer.

I retired in 2010 from working nearly 32 years at the Bay Area Rapid Transit District, first as a train operator, and then as a train operator instructor. Our title was Employee Development Specialist (EDS). I did each job about 15 years, give or take a year. I loved my job, being outdoors, and being with my students.

I raised two daughters and were active in their classrooms during elementary school (while having a flexible schedule as a train operator), on the site council at the school, and with two Girl Scout troops. I also volunteered with Girl Scout Day Camp in the summer and spent many years as a director of a week of camp. I also worked as a trainer of leaders. They played soccer and gymnastics but I never coached them. We enjoyed watching them play.

I attended Cal State University at Hayward, and got a BS in Biological Sciences. Never did anything with that education. Train operating paid much better! I did return to school to get a teacher’s certificate at the Cal State Hayward campus in Pleasant Hill which helped me get the EDS job later.

I attended St. Peter Martyr School in Pittsburg, California for grades 1-3, moved in the middle of third to Walnut Creek and finished elementary school at Parkmead. I attended Parkmead Intermediate for 7 and 8th grades, and then went on to Las Lomas High School. I was in Blue Birds while living in Pittsburg and Girl Scouts for four years in Walnut Creek.

I was born in Concord, California, baptized at Queen of All Saints, lived in West Pittsburg, Pittsburg, and Walnut Creek. I have two brothers and three sisters, all younger, who live within a couple of hours of each other.

I’ve had a good life. I love my family and are very proud of my independent daughters. My husband and I enjoy traveling, especially aboard trains. I hope I have time to finish up genealogy projects that are very important to me.

Time's up. That's my story so far! And I did it with 465 words.

Copyright © 2021 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.