| Marilyn Niemann Kinsella |
St. Albert the Great
Since my days at the Academy, life has taken
its share of 90-degree turns. I married young (didn’t we all?) in 1967, while a
sophomore at Belleville Junior College – aka BAC, aka SWIC.
Larry, my husband,
you may remember, was my date at our senior prom. Do you remember the Parisian
Holiday theme? I wore a white A-line, scooped neckline dress with three big
pink/magenta flowers that trailed down the front of the dress. Don’t feel less
of me, if I tell you that I still have that dress...but, I digress.
Christine Leah ('68) and Amy Denise ('70) were born before I went back to school. I received my Elementary Ed degree at SIUE ('74) and went to work at St. Albert the Great in Fairview Heights ('74-79). Yes, that was my home parish. After five years, I had Brian Lawrence ('79) and quit to be a stay-at-home. Hah! That lasted 3 months. I went to work at Wolf Branch School for a couple of years ('80-81)until I was hired as a second grade teacher at St. Clare’s in O’Fallon, IL ('81-85). But that summer of 1981, was a big 90-degrees. That was the year I discovered storytelling (The Artist's Palette), and, for the next four years, I was a teacher/storyteller. When my job was going to be downsized, I opted out. However, I was fortunate to find a job at the Edwardsville Public Library – as their storyteller ('86-02). I stayed for almost 17 years. When I turned 55 (2002), however, I was ready to take that next 90 degrees and became a full-time, free-lance teller. It’s been a real roller coaster ride, but I love every minute of it. I’m either writing stories, working on my web site and other marketing tools, developing workshops, or doing what I love best…telling stories. If you’d like to read more about this aspect of my life, please browse through my web page at www.marilynkinsella.org. You will even find the stories I wrote about the Academy (Peaks and Valleys and Shards of Memory) on my site.
Of course, the biggest and best story of my life is playing itself out…the birth of my first grandchild, Drew Adele (2004). Her pics are also on my website.
