We heard from two of our classmates who were not able to be at the 45th Class Reunion — and both of them are fabric artists!
Jan wears her boobie scarf and earmuffs
Cart liner bag
The first note was sent by Jan DeJaegher, who played French Horn not only at Burbank High School, but also in the Army and continues to this day! At one time, she spoke 5 languages. Unfortunately she was hit by a drunk driver in 2008 and sustained a right brain injury, which she has worked very hard to overcome. She calls herself a fiber artist and quilter and says, “if something can be made out of fabric, I can do it!” Shown are samples of some of her work which she created out of fabric.
Jan said that her best vacation was living in West Germany for two years. She is a retired real estate investor and is in the process of moving to Illinois to be near her daughter and grandson.
Rainbow Roman Stripes
Church banner
Carla Robinson, 1968
The second person we heard from was Carla Robinson Pollard, who says that her greatest adventure has been starting up and running two small businesses by herself. She turned one of her hobbies of 45 years into one — sewing, and picked up bookkeeping while in coporate America and turned that into business number two. She wrote: I can’t remember who I spoke with at the 40th reunion but it was one of our classmates who designed clothes I think. She was wearing one of her kimono creations and I think I even told her I had a custom sewing business and studio in Sausalito. I don’t do fashion work any longer. I was a costume designer for several productions in local community theatres but once I started my business it was impossible to keep that up. Besides, the amount of work connected with designing large scale musicals (my forte) was staggering. And it only paid a stipend due to small budgets connected with community theatre. But it was incredibly rewarding and I made friends of many of the actors, not to mention I had the chance to work with multi-talented people on stage and behind the scenes
Carla Robinson Pollard
She says, “Hard work, courage, and determination got me where I am today. I enjoy them both equally and am grateful I can do what I do, live where I live and am blessed with a vast circle of wonderful friends and clients and a great man in my life. Enjoying good health and happiness.”
Carla says that she also sells home accessories out of her Sausalito studio: wine bags, totes, pillows and napkins.
When asked about retirement, she replied, “Just what is that anyway?! When I take my last breath!”
Here is a sample of Carla’s wine bag, tote and napkins. More pictures may be found on her Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/10731699@N05/
Wine bag
Tote bag
Colorful napkins
Burbank High Class of 1968 
Jan,
Keep playing your French horn….
From Jan DeJaegher: This is for Carla, I think that was Sherry Meares. She is a pastor, and very creative in her works. Cindy Lindholm has a degree in textile design. There are a lot of wonderful creative people in our class! BTW the boobie scarf and earmuffs were a commissioned work. I laughed a LOT during that project!
Yes–it was me although I am not a pastor 😉 just now I am a ‘political hack’, if you will. Presently I chair the Mar Vista Community Council, a certified neighborhood council in the City of Los Angeles representing about 60,000 stakeholders. I was elected Chair in 2011 and again in 2012. Under my leadership, MVCC won a citywide award for excellence in public service in 2012. I DO remember talking to you, Carla and to you, Jan at the last reunion! So wonderful to hear how everyone is doing–thank you Cathy! Apologies, I could not make this reunion–was at a Zocalo sponsored water seminar dealing with statewide issues all afternoon on that Sunday. I am still living in Mar Vista and married to Steve–39 years. No grandchildren [yet]. At the moment, my creative outlet is beaded jewelry because it is ‘portable’. Hard to take a sewing machine to meetings at LA City hall, LOL. I had work at the 2012 and 2013 Renaissance Faire events and hope to do that show again this spring of 2014.
[…] Reunion. You may recall that we heard from Carla four years ago in October 2013 (see post “Fabric artists“) and saw some of her beautiful […]
[…] written posts about seamstresses in our class: Jan DeJaegher and Carla Robinson Pollard (“Fabric Artists“) and that was about the time we also heard that Susan Parker Easley (“Married for […]