Mary Ruth Oran
Personal:
I am traveling from the wonderful IOU state.  I live in San Pedro, CA, the home of the second busiest port* in the world, the Port of Los Angeles.  My distance to Chicago is 1741 miles. (*until the recession!)
I have no children, but 4 nieces and nephews, and 7 great-nieces and nephews who I have managed to spoil for many years, much to my sister’s disgust.
I have been blissfully retired since July, 2001.  I spent 38 years in high school (not counting our four)-it was time to grow up.
I wasn’t athletic growing up and have managed to maintain the same demeanor. 
I love traveling, and have had the opportunity to do a fair amount.  Because I spent two years teaching in Japan, that country is dear to my heart, and I would go back every year if I could.  Last year I finally saw Venice.  Be still, my heart!
I don’t think having book reviews/articles published in a school library magazine probably counts.  As for someone famous, I was involved in community theatre for several years, and there was a 16 year old pipsqueak named Quentin Tarantino who joined our little group.  I was on stage with him in a children’s production.  He kept talking about dropping out of school, and we kept urging him to stick it out.   What do we know?  He quit school and became famous and worth millions.  So much for our sage advice.
The cheer I remember is the one I hated.  We’d just get settled and warm on those cold football nights and the darn cheerleaders would do the “Lean to the left, lean to the right, Stand up, Sit down, fight, team fight.”  Standing up was NOT fun.
I’m a frequent visitor to the Red Cross, where I donate my platelets; I’m up to about 250 donations.  My theory is if you have good veins, use ‘em.
Good friends, lots of genuine laughter, and nature’s beauty.  Put those three things together and experience happiness.
Relaxed, comfortable, community, sheltered
My autobiography title would be Can You Tell Me Where the Normal Librarian Is?  (A student asked me that, honest!)
I can’t be original here, but I love Zelda Fitzgerald’s quote – “Nobody has ever measured, even poets, how much a heart can hold.”
The family house on Wright Street, which my grandfather built for my grandmother, is in the Historic District, and had its 100th birthday in 2004.  I have met the present owners who have lived there for 20 years or so, and they are taking good care of it, though the yard will never be like it was when my grandfather and aunt were taking care of it.  Does anyone remember the 100 or so rosebushes?
Memories:
There are many favorite memories, but the summer night band concerts stand out.  The visit to the popcorn guy a few blocks away, the occasional ice cream socials, the music that, if the wind was right, I could even hear from my house…it was all wonderful.
Broeckers would be the store to revisit, definitely – just to see the clerks put the money in the little cans that then ran along cables up to the 2nd floor. 
 Mr. Hoel doing the drunken Porter scene from Macbeth, Miss McBride breaking her bead necklace in the middle of class and half of the beads going down her always apparent cleavage, and Miss Smykal asking “Are we bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning?” have stayed in my memory.
I have told the story of our Ditch Day often, with the police chasing us until we crossed the state line.  I now wonder if the police may have thought what we were doing was pretty cool and purposely didn’t catch us.  Then there was the mystery of the fire alarms that kept going off during P.E., much to Miss Smith’s ire.  Is anyone going to ‘fess up?
I definitely don’t want to relive the hour in creative writing class when I laughed and a fly went down my throat.  Nolte loved it.
The fashion statement was the white bucks, of course, and carrying around the darn little puffs to keep them white.
Prince Castle One-in-a Millions were a real treat.
On Sundays, my family would frequently make the LONG drive to Aurora to visit my paternal grandparents.  In the summer, we would stop at a roadside stand on the way back and purchase fresh sweet corn.  I have never found sweet corn as good as that was.
I remember how the meals were posted ahead of time, and one year, the day before Thanksgiving was listed as “Seven Layer Meal.”  My friends and I thought this was going to be a wonderful turkey dinner.  It turned out to be some disgusting casserole of 7 layers of stuff, none of which were edible.
I can’t remember any to die for, but I DID have a crush on Esther Williams and all of her swimming movies when I was very young.
I remember it was hot and muggy,and because of thunderstorms, we had to have graduation inside instead of the planned outdoor setting;those robes were hot.
The Scissors Man, who would arrive every summer, and go up and down the streets with his cart- was scary. He was dressed like a rag man-Ding, Dong, Ding.
It pays to know someone. For my first job I spent a summer in the Naperville National Bank’s bookkeeping dept., playing girl Friday.
As for tv favorites,in the early years, it was “Kukla, Fran, and Ollie”. How about “Mister Peepers,” “Our Miss Brooks”, “Hit Parade”, and “You Are There.”
Memorable jingles were “I Wish I Were an Oscar Meyer Wiener” and “Call For Phillip Morris”
Miss Gale didn’t like me, so I steered clear of her.  The same goes for Mr. Hill.
One of my favorite activities was Oscar time, with our very own  Shudy awards at Sue’s house.
I remember Mr. Welty visiting our classroom at Ellsworth School  and teaching us songs.  I also remember playing the violin in the nurse’s office.
Summer meant the East Side Store for popsicles and push-ups, baseball in the Catholic cemetery spare lot, running on over to the bridge and waving at the train engineers, looking forward to the summer “Weekly Reader” arriving in the mail, listening to Cubs games.  My family always took a three week vacation to some area of the U.S.  By 8th grade, I had been in all but one state.