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Shortly after graduation I went to work for Charlotte County government. I started in Public Works Engineering then moved to Finance. At the same time I attended Edison Community College and earned my AA degree in business. From Public Works, I transferred to the Street Lighting District and it was during that time that I met and married my husband, Kerry. After about five years in Lighting, I transferred to the Training & Development Department and eventually ended up in the Economic Development Department after working for the county for 15 years. I worked in Economic Development for four years doing all the research and creating/maintaining the website. Then hurricane Charley hit. We were very lucky and had minor damage to our house but it certainly was a struggle, as I'm sure everyone can attest. After that, Kerry and I had discussions about trying someplace new and since he has family here, we decided to try Tucson. We took advantage of the real estate boom and everything just fell into place. We made the decision to move on a Friday, got a call about an available house on the following Monday, the same day that Kerry got a job offer in Tucson. So we up and moved here in September 2005, and I must admit I was miserable for the first 10 months. I worked for the University of Arizona (UA) for a few months and hated every minute of it, so quit after a while. On a whim one day, I did a search for jobs in economic development, and again everything just fell into place. I saw the job posting on a Friday, was interviewed on the following Wednesday and started work the next week. Finally, I have found my niche - I love my work! Last October I finally decided it was time to go back to school. I started at the UA in December with an online class and just last week started taking classes in an actual classroom. Talk about feeling old! Imagine being a 40ish adult sitting in a room full of people in their teens or early 20's. I'm sure it will get a lot easier soon. In our spare time, my husband and I work on our house renovations, which is very hard but very satisfying work. We sold the first house we moved into here and bought a really cool older home. We've pretty much gutted it and are putting it back together one room at a time. We don't have any kids, just a dog named Falcon...he's a Maltese. One of the best traditions Kerry and I have started is our adventurous vacations. Each year we choose a new place to visit, taking turns going to one coast of the U.S. or the other. We've seen a lot of really cool stuff in the 11 years we've been together.
P.S. In case my brother, Kendall Baird never signs in on this website, I need to give him a plug. He was in the Army right after high school then joined the reserves. He is now active reserves and serves his country proudly. He's been sent to the middle east three times and occasionally has to go back for special duty. We're so proud of him!
