Brenda Pagan Espana

I married right after graduation, and my first job was with the Purchasing Department at Sears (remember the large brick Sears building on Ponce de Leon?), then I worked in the V.D. Clinic at the Fulton Country Health Department (yes, I have vivid memories of those 4 years).

After 2 years of marriage, I divorced and remarried. My second husband and I relocated to Sarasota, Florida for a short time, when he was offered a job in Houston, Texas and 45 years later, I am still here. My husband passed away in November, 2000 so I have been a widow for 21 years.

I joined a Fortune 500 oilfield services company in 1977 and will have been there 38 years in July. I am an avid reader (love my Kindle), get a kick of going to the movies (AMC recently upgraded to leather recliners), love playing Scrabble Cubes and Scrabble Boggle (word freak), and make myself walk, walk, walk (much more fun than going to the gym). I have retiree friends who live south of Houston and we get together whenever possible, for lunch and shopping. The company I work for is in midst of being bought, so retirement is not far away for me. My one surviving brother lives in Fayetteville, so I visit the Atlanta area every couple of years.

AUG. 2, 2015: I'm really sad to report I will not be making it to the reunion. The main reason for my trip was to visit my brother, and the reunion was icing on the cake. Unfortunately, my brother will have (non-laser) eye surgery 3 days before my scheduled arrival, and he will be housebound for 2 weeks, so we won't be able to enjoy doing anything; therefore, I have postponed my trip to early 2016. I am trying to recover from my disappointment!!! I hope photos of the event will be posted on this website!!

FEB. 2, 2017: I retired in September, 2016 and I am enjoying it to the max! I will be visiting my daughter in The Netherlands in June (haven't seen her in 8 years); and will post pics on my Facebook page.

NOV. 21, 2021: I am still here! I survived the pandemic, endured the isolation and vaccines, and hoping for a return of (new) normalcy in 2022! Btw, I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to The Netherlands in 2017, and went back for a longer visit in 2019. If I can keep my mobility and strength up, I will try for a third trip (but it may have to wait till 2023, as the coronavirus is still going strong there...oh well, just gives me incentive to keep moving). I'm hoping my former classmates have fared as well as I have.

I entered Grady High during the last month of the 8th grade. I moved to Atlanta from Midland, Texas (not my birthplace) and it was like going from the desert to the Garden of Eden (Atlanta was in the full bloom of April). Everyone could tell I was not a Georgian, because I greeted them with "Hidy" instead of "Hey".

I was an average student who excelled in English more than any other subject (I studied the hardest in Miss Spears' government/world history class but never seemed to please her, and barely passed her tests). I was in the Glee Club and Mixed Chorus as 1st soprano (I remember performing at Fox Theater around Christmas time; and being in the musical "The Mikado" where we had to make our own Japanese costumes and I sprayed my hair black).

I was not inspired to a profession (have said many times in midlife that I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up), and I guess that's why I ended up in Human Resources!

As far as memories go, what has stayed in my mind for 50+ years is the day JFK was killed. I was in English class (10th grade) when the teacher received a note from the office which upset her. Minutes later, the announcement was made over the intercom that the President had been shot and killed and school was dismissed for the remainder of the day. As I exited the building, I saw the faces of my classmates in tears, which matched my own. I got home and sat glued to the TV for the rest of the day and night. The second memory that stays with me is the number of times my shoe would fall off as I walked up the steps of Grady's many stairways!