Virginia Kurzweil McCarthy

I attended Cal Poly Pomona with the idea of going into Veterinary medicine and earned a BS degree in Animal Science/Biology; however, after one semester in Grad School, I changed course and became a Clinical Laboratory Scientist (aka Medical Technologist) instead. Shortly thereafter, I married and, over the years, had four children, three girls and a boy. I stayed home for ten years raising little ones and then returned to work at a transfusion center, testing blood for patient use, finding compatible products for those with special needs and working in administration. I retired almost three years ago and am enjoying my "leisure" time immensely.

That's enough about the career, because the more important aspects of my life have all involved my family. After living in Carson City, Nevada, for 7 years, we returned to California and ended up in Ojai in 1982. My older children attended the parish schools but I homeschooled my two younger daughters while working in the lab part time and, later on, acted as a Consultant for other homeschoolers. My children all attended Thomas Aquinas College, a private Catholic liberal arts school that follows the Great Books Program, and happens to be just up the hill. It is one of the top ten small private colleges in the nation and I'd love to tell you about it. 

The best part is that they all met good Catholic spouses while there and now have families of their own, albeit more spread out than I would like. I have twelve grandchildren, six boys and six girls, and one on the way. I am now single and spend my time with children and grandchildren, a little travel (so far, the absolute highlight has been a lengthy trip to Ireland last fall) and friends, books, gardens and artwork.