Toni Blair Martinez

Yes

After reading so many of the posts here, I really feel like I don't remember much about high school. Since I didn't start public schools until our freshman year, I missed all the elementary and middle school time you guys all had together. It's amazing to me how much you guys all still remember, but maybe it's because you had many more years together. Going to vo-tech half the day junior year and having to work half a day senior year for that dumb COE class sucked too. I feel like I missed out on so much time only being there half days for those two years, especially senior year.

I was most definitely a band geek, but looking back on it we had a blast. My time with the flag corps was awesome. Getting to travel to competitions and football games and all the many band trips was probably the most fun I had. All the early morning practices weren't the best, having to change clothes every morning because the grass was soaked and trying to get your hair done, but that was just something we had to tolerate. It did let us get the good parking spots on the hill though because we were there so early! Being stuck with the band during football games sucked, but, oh, how we loved being cut loose during third quarter to run around like everyone else.

I also remember many, many hours with the Oklahoma play and the King & I. It was a lot of work, but we had fun doing it. We had such a talented class!

After graduation I finished court reporting school (which I had started in January before graduation in June...pulling a little double duty there). I got married in June of '89, and I started doing freelance court reporting in September of '89. After my daughter was born in September of '91, I went to work at the Tulsa County Courthouse in the spring of '92 and worked there until July of 2001. My son was born in October of '96, and then in June of '98 I got divorced. I tried freelancing again for a couple of years and realized it's way too hard to pay your own taxes and health insurance, so I decided to go back to work for the state. I started working in Claremore at the Rogers County Courthouse in August of 2003, and I'm still there. It's such a much better work environment than Tulsa was, and I can retire early so I'm sure I'll stick it out in Claremore until then.

I stayed on the "west side" until 2003 with the exception of a brief stint in the big town of Olive (very near Bristow in case you were wondering). My husband got the bright idea raising cows was going to make us a fortune so we moved there and bought some land. I hated it the entire time, hated the long drive in to work every day. Finally when our son was born in '96, we moved back to Berryhill. Unfortunately two years later we got divorced, and I was on my own. We have been able to remain friends, however, which is great for the kids.

After getting the job in Claremore, I once again hated the long drive from west Tulsa to work so after a few months, I sold my house and moved to Claremore. The kids were furious because they were going to Berryhill schools at the time and didn't want to move, but after a little adjustment time, they fell in love with Claremore schools. My daughter just finished 10th grade and my son just finished 5th. I currently have a boyfriend, but definitely no marriage plan in the future. Once was enough for me.

I'm a huge Dale Earnhardt Jr. fan. My sister and I have been going to Talladega every spring since 2000. This year I'm taking the kids to Daytona in July, and then for the first year we're going back to Talladega in October. When I hit the lottery, I'll just follow them around from week to week and be a Nascar groupie!