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After high school I went to New River Community College and worked at McDonald's in Fairlawn. From there I went on to VA Tech and majored in Agriculture Education. After graduating from Tech I became an AG teacher in Montgomery County. Loved teaching AG and being a FFA advisor. My life's dream. Layoffs were a part of an AG teacher's life then, Agiculture was taking a downward turn. So for the 4 years that I taught then, I was laid off all 4 years. I was married to Wayne Frye of Radford in 1984 and we had wanted to have a home of our own. Knowing that I would be laid off and on for a few years we decided that I should get out of teaching. I then went to work at Radford Arsenal,1987 and was a foreman in the Solvent Recovery line. That lasted a year and thank heavens I got off shift work and became a Procedure writer for the arsenal. I did that for 4 years until the Arsenal had their big lay off. During my time at the Arsenal I had my two wonderful children, Casey and Cody. Cody was born not breathing and now has Cerebral Palsy. When I was laid off at the Arsenal I was able to go back to VA Tech again and got my Masters degree in Education as a Reading Specialist. While working on my degree, a job teaching Horticulture came open in Giles County. I taught at Giles High and was the FFA Advisor there for 3 years. Loved it. While at Giles, my marriage started breaking up and I thought less driving would help that so I quit Giles. The next year I had trouble finding a job but then finally became ann intermediate teacher at Northwood Elem. in Pulaski. That lasted a year before laid off again due to not enough students. I then went back to Montgomery County and for two years taught everything, Culinary Arts, Agriculture, Earth Science, Drafting, Special Ed. etc. Then I thought I needed a more stable job. I then went to Floyd County and became one of their Reading Specialists. I worked with all the elementary schools and the high school. While there I worked on a more specialised area of reading called Reading Recovery. After 3 years in Floyd the drive got to me and my daughter was playing sports and my time got very valuable. So I quit Floyd and then went to Dublin Elementary. I was there 3 years when I was asked to interview in Mont. Co. I then was given an offer I couldn't refuse (lots more money). That is when I came here to Blacksburg Middle School as their Reading Specialist. Very few reading people have middle school experience too, so it was a natural fit. My children are awesome. Casey is such a dream child. She has helped me with Cody since his birth. She played traveling softball, traveling soccer, AAU basketball, was a starter all 4 years on her high school softball team as catcher, and played every game but one. She also played basketball and volleyball in high school. You could always find us on a field or gym almost every day of the week all year long. We did a lot of traveling up and down the east coast playing some sort of ball almost every weekend. She goes to Lynchburg College and wants to be a physical therapist. She went to play softball but decided she wanted to study more. Cody, oh what I have learned from him. He doesn't walk or talk. He is so loving, michevious, defiant, intelligent, and such an inspiration. He has taught to be patient, he has taught me so much about diffences in people, he has taught me unconditional love, he has taught me about life. He may not talk but he communicates well. With Cody disabilites, he put us in touch with St. Francis of Assisi Service Dog Organization and then that is when he got his service dog, Emeril. Emeril has been a part of our life since Dec. of 2001. When you think you know it all and have had all the emotions you can have, you will have to hear the Cody and Emeril story. Check out Saintfrancisdogs.org then click on in the news and then When Cody met Emeril. That tells it all. As a family we now volunteer as much as we can with St. Francis. We puppy sit dogs in training, and do other volunteer work. Service dogs do so much for people with disabilities and for those that witness the love and devotion of a dog and his person. So up until this point I have spent a lot of time on my education and on raising my children. Now that I am not spending as much time at my daughter's sporting events, we try to do as much as possible with church activities, work activities, and with St. Francis Activities. Emeril is headed for retirement so we are in the process of getting another dog. I really enjoy riding my ATV, riding my horses, doing my farm chores around the house, scrapbooking, reading, and will try most other things once. During this past summer I went on a mission trip with my church to LA to repair houses still damaged by Katrina. Loved that and am looking forward to doing other mission trips. After marriage and a long term friendship, I am once again in the dating world. This is a major ordeal for I have never enjoyed dating. I would rather skip that part. Returned to my maiden name in August, 2009 with the blessing of my children and love being back to the old me. I am really into enjoying life to the fullest, life is too short. I also enjoy my friends to the fulllest and still have many of the same friends that I went to high school and elementary school with. They continue to be my advisors in life.
