Susan Martin in Michigan, USA
From: Susan Martin, Michigan, USA.
Email:supark@net-link.net
Susan with her boss, a state representative |
We moved there from Glasgow after John was transferred by his company, Mintex, to Birmingham.
Anne was in ballet class and nursery school before going to Thorns School. She was in a wonderful production of Sleeping Beauty that the school put on and was the Blue Fairy’. We still have the photograph the newspaper printed which has globetrotted as much as we have.
I was involved with the Thorns PTA and also with a women’s group as well as being in a very well run baby-sitting circle. We also took in a lot of French and Belgian schoolchildren during the summer exchange programmes.
In 1981, we moved to Alberta, Canada, and unfortunately the move destroyed the marriage. However, we survived; first of all I ran my own ceramics business, and through a variety of coincidences migrated to a columnist’s job with a local newspaper. I was also involved with city government and the school’s PTA. After about seven years, we returned to the UK as my father had cancer and my mom needed help.
We lived in London where Anne attended locals schools and I finally ended up working for local government. In the course of my job I met an American, Del, who had been resident in the UK for 30 years and we married in 1991.
He then decided “east-west, home’s best” which led to us finally being located in Michigan. (I’m the world’s expert on moving and packing). It wasn’t without its challenges and dramas - not the least of which was the intransigence and amazing inefficency of the American immigration service - but we survived. (They didn’t - they were reorganized due to the appalling way they were running things.)
Anne now lives four miles away from us in a small house set on the river bank and is very happy with her cats and huge dog. She is still making her way professionally but nevertheless doing well.
I finally shook off the bonds of homecarer and gopher for the elderly when my in-laws passed away and got into the career in politics that I’d always been after. I now work as Chief of Staff for a state representative, and am gearing up for our two-year election cycle.
I have the fondest memories of Kenilworth and have been back several times over the years to catch up with old friends, plus I have a couple of nice drawings of Kenilworth Castle on my walls.
If anybody remembers me and is interested in contacting us, I’m happy for my email address to be passed to them.
