Bingo Progressive Jackpot

Alan was born in Elmira, New York in 1946.  Barbara was born on the other side of the US in Salinas, California in 1950.  They met, fell in love and have been married 51 years this coming June.

Alan has 1 sister and one brother (he’s passed away).  Barbara had 3 brothers and one sister.  Two brothers and her sister have passed away.

Together they have four kids – 3 girls and 1 boy – they are all good kids.

Barbara had a fascinating job – helping score SAT tests.  Alan worked for McCormick Spices for 29 years and 11 months.  They gave him a retirement for 30 years.  He then went on to work for Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority as Recycling Coordinator.  He retired from there in 2012 and they moved to Oregon.

Alan’s Navy experience was 1964 to 1968 as Aviation Ordinanceman in VP47.  He did spend some of his military time in Viet Nam.

Both Alan and Barbara chimed in saying that the most interesting thing that has happened to them was meeting Bill and Hillary Clinton.  Alan was the Mayor of Salinas and the Clinton’s came to San Francisco for a fundraiser.  While he was the Mayor, he’s proud to say that the City rebuilt the rodeo grounds and the Steinbeck Center.  They opened a Community Center for kids called the “Bread Box”.  The community was very involved and wanted to make sure the kids had a place to call their own.

Alan stated that he had a fear of public speaking and Barbara worries about her health.  She’s recently had a knee replacement and faces a hip replacement on March 5^th.

Alan is proud of being elected Mayor of Salina, CA and served for eight years.  Barbara is proud of raising their own kids and foster kids, 8 of them including a family of 3.  She beams when she says – “they all graduated from high school”

Words of wisdom – Alan says “Always look forward” and Barbara says “try to push yourself out of your comfort zone”.

Barbara is looking forward to getting back in her garden after her hip surgery and Alan is looking for better days – after Barbara’s surgery to seeing more of our beautiful Oregon.

Let’s get acquainted with Marilyn Arnold – Marilyn was a weekly Bingo player and decided to join the Senior Center.

She was born in The Queen of Angels Hospital in Los Angeles, CA on November 26, 1950.  She is the oldest of four children, with 1 brother and two sisters.

Marilyn and her husband Cris will be married 35 years in June.  They have a son, Seth, 32 and a daughter Sarah, 31.  Seth has a BA in computer forensics and works for Disney Studios, and thinking about working for Princess Cruises; Sarah is a medical assistant and is married to a medical assistant.  Sarah has blessed the family with a Granddaughter, Abagayle (Abby) and that is the reason for the move from O’Brien to Eagle Point in May so they could be close to Abby.

Marilyn started working for “Ma Bell” when she was 17 and worked for them for 18 years.  She’s also had several home-based businesses.

When asked what her most interesting thing that has happened – she recounted that her husband, who worked for several major studios as a Teamster driver, made it possible for her to go to Browning, Montana for four days over the 4^th of July.  There she met Robin Williams.  He’s a lot smaller than I thought, she said but was so very gracious and nice.  He made everyone feel welcome.  They had a huge 4^th of July BBQ with fireworks everywhere.

She says her biggest accomplishment was raising their two children mostly on her own.  Cris’s job as a driver meant that he had to be first on a job site and the last to leave.  They were both very happy when he was able to retire and reunite their family in 2009.

In February 2018 Marilyn fell, hurt her back, broke her left shin, right arm and had quite a few facial bruises.  She’s working on getting back to how she felt before the fall.

Words of Wisdom – “the grass is not always greener” in many situations in life.

I’m looking forward to getting my health back.  My daughter has challenged me to walk around the golf course without my cane.  My goal!