Kathy Buchanan

Thank God Al Gore invented the Internet so we could all catch up!  Bill must know him personally because he is doing a fantastic job!!  THANKS Bill et al..

WOW, seems like yesterday that we were all together!  The good news is that I have a really great hairdresser so I look Mahhhvellous!  The bad news is that I forgot to have kids so I am going to finish out of the money in the cute grandchildren challenge.

Even though I was a smart cookie, it was the 60’s and no one told me that I could go to New York and become a stockbroker like Martha Stewart so I ended up as a:

     Teacher
     Housewife
     Nurse
     Secretary (Pick One)

Yep, that’s right! I defected from the U of I after a couple of years and graduated from WSU’s Nursing program at the Intercollegiate Center for Nursing Education in Spokane, where I was living with my first husband.

Regarding husbands: he was also my last husband, and in fact my only husband, God bless him.  I set him up with a trust fund when we divorced so he is happy and living with his next next wife in Post Falls.

Not being satisfied to be a regular nurse, I raced off to Graduate School at the UW.  My first Master’s was in Nursing + Business Administration.  I couldn’t face any more statistics in order to get a Ph.D. so I had to settle for a second Master’s in Psychology.  I am a Psych ARNP with prescriptive authority in the state of Washington.  My clinical expertise is complex wounds, burns, skin and plastics, OB, and Psych.  (Be sure to ask me about the year I did the Internship at the Women's Correctional Facility in Purdy <prison!!> to get that second Master's)  Administration and calling the shots are my real talents, however.  So I ended up running hospitals, most notably Virginia Mason.  But that got old and after the 80’s the party was pretty much over in health care anyway.  Besides, you know how doctors are…

Now What?!!  After a brief lark at Nordstrom where I learned I had “it” for customer service (isn’t that what nursing is all about?) and sales (Honey, if I can sell a $1500.00 blouse I can sell anything!)  I started at Windermere selling residential real estate in Seattle where I remain to this very day.  (Hey! I sold a house to Katie Kiblen’s son.  Who said Catholic School wouldn’t ever pay off?)  Selling real estate is like legal breaking and entering.  Great fun but you never know what you are going to run into.  You need to have the skills of a banker, marriage counselor, contractor/decorator, psychic, and attorney.  We have had a hell of a run in Seattle real estate since 1995 so I am rolling in dough.  And, if Bush gets re-elected and everything indisputably goes to hell...  I can always take care of sick people.  So what with our well funded Social Security checks about to start rolling in I'm set for life it looks like.

I am REALLY looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion.  And if you are ever in Seattle, give me a shout!  I know all the best restaurants.

Love to all, Kathryn (my “professional/grown-up” name)

PS It is fun to be frivolous and sometimes I just can’t help myself.  But to all of my classmates who have suffered the loss of a child or spouse, or braved major illness my heart goes out to you.  And to everyone engaged in good works remember that “He who saves one life saves the world entire.”  Please keep it up.

Three of my best friends from St. Mary’s and MHS are dead.  We are all SO lucky to be alive, have enough to eat and have homes to go to.  I work with the homeless here in Seattle and thank God every day for my blessings.  Just imagine what life would be like if we had been born in Kabul…