Cherlyn D. Seckinger

I have enjoyed reading all the profiles, so I thought I, too, would do one. Apparently, I am not a woman who could multi-task. First, I had a career (no spouse, no children). Then I was a full-time caregiver for elderly parents. Now I have become a renaissance woman. I love retirement and enjoy living in Topeka. I try to work in mental and physical activities each week in case I have to live another 33 years. My mother lived to be over 100 and my father almost 100. I do elderly pilates and yoga and audit classes at Washburn University for free. What a great benefit! I, also, work with second graders in a volunteer reading program at State Street, the same school I attended many years ago. I like community concerts and local theatre. The art programs are so affordable here compared to other places I have lived. I also love to travel and visit friends. Last year I went abroad for the first time in many years. I went to Tuscany and plan on taking a French river cruise next spring. But enough about me. I was so shy and socially awkward in high school that I never really knew most of my classmates. I look forward to talking to you at our reunion.

I loved the academic part of high school. I may have had crushes on Mr. Madl and Mr. McCarthy. We did have really excellent teachers.
As for my social life...., band was the saving grace. It gave me a sense of belonging in a very large high school.
I have few amusing stories to tell from this period. I did not start drinking until I started working for the Federal government. That was 1970. Could there be a link?
I will try to fabricate some stories before the reunion.

Just so you will recognize me at the Sunday concert, I am 2-3 inches taller than I was at the 50the reunion; I am now almost 5ft tall. I had major spine surgery last fall where the spine was straightened, fused, and reinforced with rods and screws. I have not flown yet, but am told I will not set off alarms at the airport. I have moved on from my Frankenstein walk of last fall, but am still not graceful or fluid when walking. But then, maybe, I never was. Hope to see you Sunday.

This is a cautionary tale: One of my favorite high school memories is going to Kansas City on a Saturday with the band to see The Music Man, one of my favorite musicals, at one the large movie theatres in Kansas City. (This seems almost quaint today.) Some of us ate at a nearby Chinese restaurant before the movie. To this day, The Music Man is one of my all-time favorite musicals. And, I loved playing 76 Trombones in marching band. In fact, I am considering contacting THS to see if I could arrange for the THS band in full uniform to lead the recessional at my funeral someday playing 76 Trombones. Much to my dismay this morning, I discovered that The Music Man was not released as a movie until 1962. Maybe, we saw South Pacific or Flower Drum Song. Now I am in a quandary on whether to edit my memory or let it remain special to me.