Margaret Smith Shetlar

It has been difficult to strike a balance between a resume and an autobiography, but here goes my attempt to hit the highlights of each.

My major in mathematics at Pomona prepared me for, among other things, teaching math – five years at Las Lomas High School in Walnut Creek and six years at the Katherine Delmar Burke School in San Francisco. For a change of pace I taught for several years in a San Francisco pre-school and subsequently served for a short time as the financial secretary for our Presbyterian Church in S.F. At various times I tutored math and acted as a volunteer math teacher in some rather crowded public school classrooms. One of my great joys has been studying art and art history and trying my hand at oil and acrylic painting, jewelry making, ceramics and calligraphy.

While getting my teaching credential at UC Berkeley, I met Martin Shetlar. We were married and moved to San Francisco when Martin accepted a faculty position in the UCSF School of Pharmacy. Our daughter was born in 1980. She attended Burke’s school in SF for nine years followed by four years at Sir Francis Drake High School in Marin County. She is set to graduate from Oregon State University in June 2002.

Our family has done a great deal of traveling over the years taking advantage of Martin’s sabbaticals in Eugene, Oregon; Corvallis, Oregon; and Oxford, England, and of his scientific meetings in Budapest and Kyoto. Just for fun we have made many trips to Europe (including one with a great side-trip to Greece) and most recently we traveled “down under” to Australia and New Zealand.

One part of my life that has been less than terrific was being diagnosed with MS eleven years ago. The disease had been latent for many years prior to that diagnosis - only causing strange little symptoms intermittently. Even after the diagnosis I suffered no disability from MS until about 5 years ago. I guess I have been lucky.

Currently, I am living in San Anselmo, California, with my husband of 35 years, our daughter when she is “in residence” and one very cute Black Lab / Border Collie mutt. All of us, human and canine, can be reached at: shetlar@pacbell.net.

I hope that life has been good to all of you members of the Pomona College Class of ’62. I look forward to reading your entries in the ’62 Reunion booklet.

Here’s to the next 40 years!