My Trails into the Past

When I graduated from college in 1977, I was the first in my immediate family to do so. In fact, none of my siblings finished college, though two sisters attended community college. At the time I thought I was the first in all my family to attend college, but some of my cousins attended college, too. Little did I know that earlier members of my family had attended college and achieved the goal of graduating. This knowledge is a result of genealogy research. Anna M. Sullivan, my paternal grandmother, attended Montana State Normal School in Dillon, Montana. She finished in June 1914. I have the yearbook from her senior year. Later, when she wanted to teach in California, she attended San Francisco State College and finished her Bachelor of Education in August 1952. Some of my dad’s cousins attended college. Alice Irene Hork, daughter of Anthony & Mary Hork, attended Montana State University in Missoula in the 1930s. Her siblings may have also, but I don’t have that information....

I’m taking a step from writing about my ancestors and instead will write about my own history . I thought that I was the first in my family to attend college but after doing genealogy research, I discovered that my grandmother had attended Normal College in Montana, and later again at San Francisco State to get a California Teacher’s Certificate. I also had a few older cousins who attended college before me. Anyway, I was the first of my immediate family to attend and the only one of my siblings to graduate. High School Because my parents never really encourage us to go to college, I was at a disadvantage in high school. I only thought about college in the fall of senior year when I heard an announcement about a meeting for those who plan to attend college. I went to the meeting and learned I needed to take the SAT test. There wasn’t time to take it and still apply for fall 1973 during the month of November. So, I took the test and applied as a biological sciences major to Califor...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's  Saturday Night  again - time for some more  Genealogy Fun!!   Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing’s assignment this week: Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1.  Where did you go the first time you moved out of your parents home?  Did you have roommates? Did you live by yourself?  Did you get married right away?  Tell the story - your children and grandchildren will want to know! 2.  Share your story in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or on Facebook.  Please leave a comment with a link to your post here. I lived at home until I was about twenty-five. I had paid my way through college, but had the luxury of living at home. Luckily, what side jobs I had paid for the school fees and books and the transportation costs of BART rides and AC Transit busses. I lived in Walnut Creek and attended California State Univers...