Barbara Farnsworth Kierstyn

Yes

After High School, I worked (eight years) for a company called "Vitamin Products" (Brookfield), where I met my husband, Joe Kierstyn (Pewaukee).

We were married in 1982, and bought a home in Lannon. We did alot of hiking, camping, fishing, canoeing, cross-country skiing, and went to Canada, twice. In 1988 we bought a four-bedroom Victorian home in Waukesha. We were blessed with two amazing daughters, Katherine (1990) and Carrie (1991). Sadly, we divorced in 1993. I took an apartment in Waukesha.

I worked for a few years at a metal-finishing company, "SKWilliams", as a chrome-inspector of Harley-Davidson parts, and then was asked to join their management-team, shortly after which they did management cutbacks. Being low-man-on-the-totom-pole, I found myself looking for a new career. (During this time, I'd moved to Pewaukee).

I felt that I needed to re-evaluate my life at that point, so I took a job at the local florist, "Schulte's" (Pewaukee), and just "chilled" for about a year-and-a-half. I loved it there!, but it wasn't going to pay the bills for the rest of my life. I took a class at WCTC called "Exploring Apprenticeships", and decided to go back into painting (I had painted houses for about three years with an old boy-friend, and enjoyed it.) I joined the union, and took a four-year painting apprenticeship, which I completed in 2002. I "fell in love with the boss", my foreman, Don, and we have been together for 11 years.

Through the years I have taken many classes at WCTC and MATC, including psychiatry, architechture, photography, and earned a business certificate. Don and I started a business, but shortly decided that it wasn't very much fun, and went back to our old jobs! He works for Programmed Painting (Milw.) where we met, and I now work for Building Service, Inc. (Milw.), where I have been for seven years, the last four of which I have been the in-house painter at Northwestern Mutual's downtown campus.

In my (very little) spare time I enjoy Bible- study, cooking, sailing, camping, sketching, photography, card-making, reading, playing cribbage and board games, watching very old movies, watching the kids do anything, and going to car-shows with Don and his 1967 Plymouth Sport Fury, which we're restoring as time and money permit.