My fifteen minutes of fame

February 24, 2020 – My fifteen minutes of fame

          Everyone has their fifteen minutes of fame and I have had more than my share; but the first one was spectacular - top fold, almost full spread picture in the Life-Styles section of The Daily Courier.  That was when the paper was 13 inches wide by 22 inches long per page.  Not like that now.  I unearthed this treasure in a photo album that my Mom (now deceased) kept and in order to preserve it and share it with friends – for a chuckle – I have re-typed it below.

          The article captured my life at the time as a corporate wife who had moved 10 times in less than 11 years.  I also think it captured who I was at the time.  Anyone who knows me will say I am still that person.

          Later, I interviewed Virginia Rucker for a college assignment, she was a delightful lady.  Hopefully, I can scrounge that up for a chuckle or two.

The Daily Courier, Forest City, N.C., Wednesday, December 30, 1987, page 10A

Thoroughness is hallmark of her pursuits

She believes in learning the ropes

By Virginia Rucker

Daily Courier Associate Editor

CHASE – when Terry St. John goes at something, be it hobby or serious business, she does it thoroughly.

          She collects Delft blue china, has a garden filled with exotic vegetables and flowers, does crafts, and she has a computer at her home where she does professional work.

          Her skills, she says, are self-made.  “When I decide I want to do something new I get all the books I can and read, read, read. Then I go by trial and error until I get it right.”

          Gardening is an example of her approach.  When she and her husband, Russell Tobine, were moving to this county, where her husband works with AFA, they chose a house in this community because of its large, sunny lot.

          The resultant garden isn’t just your everyday variety – she has flourishing cauliflowers, broccoli, asparagus, some Chinese vegetables, along with the usual varieties.  Her flowers include many grown from bulbs and on a recent trip to Holland she picked up some new ideas on their cultivation.  She knows the botanical name for what she grows and composting and an irrigation system play important roles in her garden.

          New Englanders by birth – Terry from Massachusetts, Russell from New Hampshire – they like the early spring here.  Up North, “Our early spring lasts two weeks,” she jokes.  “We like the four seasons here and I can get two crops from my garden.”

          Her gardening hobby led to an interest in nutrition, so Terry read volumes on that subject.

          Walls and tables in their home testify to her skills in crafts and sewing (she made the draperies), but her marketable skill is in computers.

          “I am fascinated by them, what they can do.  I love to process words, write 16-page letters.”  She’s worked for business firms, and is currently free-lancing with clients from as far away as Greenwood, S.C.

          Her computer training began in 1978, when she used a computerized typewriter in the office where she worked.  Later she became a Kelly girl, going wherever she was sent and often sent to streamline business operations.

          “They hired me to be awful, to eliminate some jobs, to train people in others.  I got headaches from that job and I saw the lack of morality in some firms – working people for low salaries and knowing that these employees would be fired and replacements would be paid more.”

          But what she does more frequently than anything is move.  It’s a way of life, like her hobbies, and she’s gotten it down to a fine art. “I unpack immediately, put up curtains, pictures, and plant flowers.  “We’ve moved seven times in the last 10 years, and have fun moving across the country, from New England to Kansas City, to Bates City, Mo., Seaford, Delaware, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Wayne, New Jersey, and Hollywood, Florida.”

          “We’ve lived in this county two and one-half years, the longest we’ve ever lived in one place.  We like it here; the people are friendly, Forest City is Americana.  People are the same wherever we go.  I enjoy talking to them in stores, wherever I go.  I’m naturally curious, inquisitive and I learn a lot by asking questions and listening.”

          “There’s no reason for anyone to be lonely, regardless of where they live, in big cities or small towns there’s always weather, flora, fauna and people to enjoy.  You make your own happiness, it doesn’t depend on circumstances.”

          Besides her cross-country moves Terry has traveled abroad with Russell on his job.  They’ve been to Malaysia and returned three weeks ago from Holland where he went on business and she visited the Delft factory and added to her collection of china.

          His company asked Russell if he’d be interested in working in their Malyasian plant, so they went to inspect the place.  “We spent two weeks in Malysia.  Before we left I got books and read about the weather, the food, so I’d know what clothes to take, what food to expect – no cheeseburgers in Malaysia.  The trip (with stops in Singapore and Hong Kong) made me look at this country differently; it would be good experience for everyone to go abroad after high school to see the freedoms we enjoy.  We don’t have to have a license to move, we can have telephones, televisions, cars, freedom to speak, to criticize government officials.”

          Independent by nature, she’s retained her maiden name and is proud of the fact that she’s made her own way since graduation from high school. “My parents taught us to work for what we had – we appreciate things more if we earn them.  Nowadays young people expect their parents to give them a car on their 16^th birthday.  I remember I worked for more than two years to buy a car and pay for it myself.  I remember what that car meant to me."