- Did you marry an SAHS’r? – No, first husband was from Costa Mesa HS
- 2. What is the furthest distance from SAHS that you have lived? after graduation – I currently live about 1300 miles away in Helena, Montana – as a kid I lived in Machias, Maine, almost to New Brunswick, Canada
3. Kids? Grandkids? Good decision? Why? None of either – great decision … I’m not good parent material
4. What happened to your hair? Long and still blonde although a bit darker, and turning silver
5. What did you do, are you doing to earn a living? I’ve been a fitness instructor, waitress, bar tender, merchant seaman, technical writer/editor, computer programmer, software analyst, system tester, golf shop staff, data analyst, NOW Retired
6. What did you/ do you do to have fun? Hiking, biking, walking, XC skiing, snowshoeing, golf, reading, cooking/eating
7. What other continents have you been to and why? Europe in 1965 – got to stay in Athens with Julie Theoharidou 1964 foreign exchange student.. with the USGS, I did get to Midway Island, but that’s not a continent.
8. What other Class of 1965’rs do you stay in touch with and why? F2F – Gwen Hollowell Ferguson and Pati Butler Clark .. email – Charlie Ferris (class of ’64), Sharon Kinney, Leslie Carl Coleman … don’t need reason to stay in touch
9. We’ve all made many mistakes but what is the best lesson you’ve learned and will you share it? One big one was to ditch my “Generators” but I had to reduce my belongings to one suitcase.
10. Favorite SAHS memory? Being hallway monitor and getting to try chocolate covered ants (French class) and listening to the
11. Favorite book, movie, place, person, sport, color, astrological sign? Why? I’ve read too many for a favorite, don’t see too many movies, the Dalai Lama is an inspiration, I watch and play golf, USA!!! Women’s Soccer Team!!!, Scorpio – of course … two or more in one place is a ‘power enclave’…. WHY ask WHY? Just ‘cuz.
karen
If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.
Karen Ann Bachmann / Karen Bachmann Crogan
Personal Information:
Married to Steve McKelvy 1969-1976 married to Mike Crogan 1984-present
No children two cats (Seamus and Hobbs)
Education:
Santa Ana Senior High School, Santa Ana, California (1962-1965)
University of California, Irvine (1965-4/5/67) – Classics major / no degree
Shoreline Community College, Seattle, Washington (1973-1976) – two degrees
AAS in Oceanography Technology and AA in General Education
Mueller College of Holistic Studies, San Diego, California (1985-1992) – Holistic Health Practitioner (HHP), 1000-hour bodywork/massage certification
Helena College of Technology, Helena, Montana (1997-2000) – work-related courses
Occupations (career/professional):
Babysitting
Publishing Assistant, Latin Professor, Irvine, CA(1966-67)
Retail Sales, boutique, Los Gatos, CA (1968-69)
Fitness Instructor, ladies’ gym, Bremerton, WA (1970-71)
Waitress/Prep Cook, La Casa de Oro, Bremerton, WA (1971-72)
Intern/Ocean Lab Assistant, UW Department of Oceanography, Seattle, WA (1974-75)
Geological Field Assistant, US Geological Survey, Seattle, WA (1975-76)
Scientific staff, USGS, Redwood City, CA (1976-77)
Merchant Seaman, UW, Seattle, WA (1977)
Retail Sales, Shrimp Peddler, San Diego, CA (1978)
Lab Assistant, Marine Ecological Consultants, Solana Beach, CA (1978-79)
Technical Writer/Editor, System Development Corporation, San Diego, CA (1979)
Computer Operator, SDC, San Diego, CA (1980)
Computer Programmer, SDC/Burroughs, San Diego, CA (1981-82)
Configuration Control/Document Security, Unisys, San Diego, CA (1982-83)
Systems Analyst, Unisys, San Diego, CA (1984-85)
Computer Programmer/Analyst, Unisys, CA (1985-1992)
Massage Therapist (1992-1994)
Computer Programmer/Analyst, BDM Technologies, Helena, MT (1994-97)
Systems Tester, TRW Information Systems, Helena, MT (1997-2002)
Shop Assistant, Fox Ridge Golf Course, Helena, MT (1998-2003)
USGA Boatwright Intern, MT State Golf Association, Helena, MT (2003-06)
Pro Shop Staff, Green Meadow Country Club, Helena, MT (2003-2006)
Administrative Assistant, MT Office of Public Instruction, Helena, MT (2006-07)
Data Control Specialist, OPI/Accreditation, Helena, MT (2007-2009)
Operations Data Analyst, OPI/Special Education, Helena, MT (2009-12)
Retired, November, 2012
Summary:
As the resume shows, I’ve moved around a lot, but have pretty much settled down in Montana. 
Although it is a bit too far from the beach, we live on 10 wooded acres almost 1000-feet above the Helena Valley. It’s beautiful, scary during fire season, and can be challenging during the winter. However, a traffic jam consists of waiting for a couple traffic lights or for a herd of cattle to be moved across the road from one pasture to the next. Thanks to email and cell phones, we can stay in touch with everyone – or not.
My “Generators” were abandoned in Seattle back in 1975 when I had to pare down my belongings to a single suitcase and a box. So many memories have been lost and, yes, forgotten.
I hadn’t planned to come to the reunion. Summers in Montana are precious as winter can last over six months – and Santa Ana in August is NOT my favorite time of year. But I recently lost a dear friend to cancer; she was 53. So I decided to come down and see what’s up with those folks who come.
I seriously hope to see some old HS friends, but they’re on the ‘missing’ list: Diana Sisk, Michael Ball, Bill & Betty Coon (I did communicate with them a few years back by email: Betty was in San Francisco and Bill at Washington University, St. Louis, MO); they’ve since gone missing again), Kathy Gade (my co-singer with the Transvaal Trekkers at the Baccalaureate Breakfast), Susan Tamura, .
Some of my friends have died: Sandi Carr, John Eddy, and others I don’t know about. But we are all alive and kicking. Let’s see what the next few years bring besides more aches and pains. Peace, love, joy.
Karen Ann Bachmann
(photo: my front yard – December, 2014)
POST REUNION UPDATE:
Résumé
Name: Karen Bachmann Crogan
Spouse: Michael A Crogan
Email: kbcrogan@3riversdbs.net
Retired: November, 2012
Interests: Golf, gourmet cooking, fitness walking, XC skiing, snowshoeing, reading
1965-1985
Summer of ’65 brought a trip to Europe where I got to spend almost a month with Julie Theoharidou in Athens (SAHS foreign exchange student in 1964). I came home to attend UCI. My freshman year I joined Young Democrats and helped pick the Anteater (ZOT!) as our mascot. My memory is fuzzy (it was the 60s after all), but that freshman class included other Saints: Pati Butler, Phil Pearlman, Steve Cohee, Dave Ault, and Angie Bidwell. I met future first husband, Steve McKelvy. My sophomore year I changed majors from chemical engineering to Classics before dropping out on 4-5-67 and heading to the Haight-Ashbury.
Steve and I did our best imitation of a yo-yo, moving from the City to Lake Tahoe, back to the City, and then to Los Gatos. Steve was a draftsman working in Sunnyvale and I helped run a boutique. The first of the Silicon Valley tech crashes sent us to Washington State. I earned an Applied Associate of Science Degree in Oceanography Technology as well as an Associates’ Degree in General Education. I enrolled at the University of Washington in the Geology Department, but dropped out within 2 months when I divorced. I worked for both the UW Department of Oceanography and the US Geological Survey. I worked shipboard cruises performing oil/gas exploration in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. I got my Merchant Mariners’ document (Z-card) and left as an Ordinary Seaman.
In 1976 I moved to San Diego, California. I started working at a fish market before being hired at a marine ecological consulting firm to count phytoplankton from the waters off San Onofre Nuclear Generating Stations (SONGS). I met my current husband, Mike, at a dojo in Ocean Beach, where he taught tai chi and Kenpo. After a 3-month trip to Hawaii, I left plankton to work for a defense contractor as a technical writer/editor I’ve been a Dodger fan since Brooklyn, but we were married in 1984 on the day the Padres won the National League Pennant – in San Diego. While we were taking our honeymoon trip backpacking across Zion National Park, they lost the Series to Detroit. Oh well.
I attended the 20-year reunion in 1985. At that time Mike was a letter carrier with the US Postal Service. I worked as a computer programmer for Unisys from 1979-1992 working on defense projects for the US Navy. In 1989 I graduated from Mueller College as a Holistic Health Practitioner (HHP), a 1000-hour massage therapy certification.
In 1992 I took the opportunity to request a voluntary lay-off from Unisys. Mike transferred to the Helena, Montana, post office in January, 1994. Going from the nation’s most perfect weather in San Diego to Montana was an adjustment. Studded snow tires and 4-WD vehicles (we had two when we moved) are essential. The wildlife abounds: moose, elk, deer, bear, cougar – and lots of birds. The meadowlark’s song rather than the robin is one of the harbingers of spring, as are mountain bluebirds.
I went to work as a computer programmer for BDM Technologies in 1994. I worked on several mainframe-based systems for the Department of Health and Human Services: welfare, child care, child & protective services.
Strangely enough, I took up golf in Montana as a way to meet other women. My usual obsessive nature took over. I not only played golf as often as possible, but also got into the details: handicaps and rules. I started working in the pro shop on weekends so I could play for free. Depending on weather, our golf season is April – November. We have played every month of the year and every holiday including Christmas and New Years. Those were exceptions; some years you barely get out before May.
On the work front, BDM was acquired by TRW, and then TRW was acquired by Northrop Grumman. In 2002, just before that was finalized, I was laid off – just two days after my 55th birthday. I applied for jobs right and left, but didn’t get any interviews. Was it my age, I wondered?
At this time, I was awarded an internship with the United States Golf Association and worked with our state golf association. It was while working at one of the state tournaments that I was offered a job running the pro shop at the country club. I jumped at the chance, and ended up working there for almost four years. This was a seasonal job – I collected unemployment every winter – and didn’t pay much. Finally the need to put money in my retirement savings forced me to consider returning to the traditional workforce.
I came to the Office of Public Instruction (OPI), our state education agency, as an administrative assistant in December, 2006. Six months later I took a position as a data specialist in Accreditation. Two years later I made the move to Special Education as a data analyst. Until my layoff in 2002, retirement was on track for 2010. Obviously that didn’t pan out. Mike retired in October, 2011, and I worked until I turned 65 (2012). We’ll see what the real estate market is like (we have a house on 10 treed acres) and try to sell. We have no firm plans for moving elsewhere – yet – but we’re starting to look – maybe Oregon.
Hope to see you at another reunion.
