LANSDOWNE – ALDAN HIGH SCHOOL
GOLDEN FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY REUNION 2006

Class of 1956
"Lords & Ladies"

www.lansdownealdan.com
Lansdowne, PA

 Gertrude Ann McKelvey

Hello Classmates. I was the one always twirling a baton along with Priscilla Wyatt Davis. I remember marching in many football games and parades.

Upon leaving LAHS I spend 4 years at Lycoming College where I graduated with and AB in Sociology. At college I went by the name of Ann McKelvey. I also twirled and marched with the band.

After graduation I taught at a school for developmentally delayed children for five months. Then I moved with my parents to St. Paul, Minnesota. In Minnesota I was a teacher in a daycare center and also worked with children with learning problems. I went back to school at Mankato State College and graduated in 1965 with a BA in Elementary Education and Special Education.

In Minnesota I married. We were both showing quarter horses and decided that we wanted to live in a warmer climate. We moved to Oklahoma in July 1971 and settled in the Tulsa area.

In 1975 I filed for divorce. We had no children, so I took back my maiden name. I moved to Bartlesville which is 60 miles north of Tulsa. I was showing Newfoundland dogs and in 1979 had the #6 Newfie in the country. Along with his other wins, Champion Stillman’s Bargeman CD went Best in Show at the Tri-State show in Joplin, MO.

After teaching for 30 years, I retired in 1995. Another teacher and I formed a book company called Interactive Books, LLC. We made books for special needs children. The books had velcro cards that the children could move around in the book. We had over 30 titles. We closed the company last year because I had become too busy with teaching ESL (English as a Second Language).In addition to substituting, I teach ESL through the Literacy Council. This past year I taught ESL for the Bartlesville School District Adult Education Program. I have worked with students from 11 different countries. (Last September I visited Peru with three of my students.) I also volunteer for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate for Children). I am a voice in court for children who are in foster care.

The older I get, the smaller my dogs get and the less hair they have. I now have two Miniature Pinschers (Min Pins)—no hair and six and eight pounds.

I am active in my local Methodist church and am fortunate to have many friends. My brother, Harold (LAHS 1953) lives in Kitty Hawk, NC. I visited him at Christmas last year. Three of my nephews live in Dallas and I visit them at Christmas.

I lift weights with a trainer at our YMCA two mornings a week. I also have a recumbent bicycle that I ride all over town. A recumbent bike is great for old fat people like me because it has a wide seat and a backrest, and it is very easy to ride.