Rachel Susan Canon

THEN:			RECENT:
		"Suzi" Romeo, O Romeo, Wherefore art thou. Cheerleading 2, 3, 4 Letter Club 2, 3, 4 Pep Club 2, 3, 4 Mixed Chorus 1, 2, 3, 4 Girls Glee Club 1, 2, 4 Attendant 3 Play 3 Annual Staff 1, 2, 3, 4 Goal: Journalist.

2007 - 45th Reunion:

FAMILY INFORMATION:

Divorced since 1982, Two kids -- Rod, 37, exec at a small software startup in San Francisco; Marcella, 33, community college prof (English). Neither is yet married, although Marcella has had the same boyfriend for about 15 years. I can't keep track of Rod's girlfriends.



WHATEVER YOU WANT TO SHARE ABOUT WHAT’S HAPPENING IN YOUR LIFE:

Retirement - Ha! Winning the lottery – Ha! Ha! Politics: Not going there.

Actually, I have a great job. I work for Sun Microsystems -- headquartered in the SF Bay Area. I have to fly up there for a few days a couple of times a month. The rest of the time I work from home. My job is communicating Sun's strategy and other info to 37,000 employees around the world (Of course, I don't do this all by myself). I get to work with our chief execs and a lot of really smart people -- and most days I don't have to put on shoes or makeup.

I'm still writing, working on a book, but not very productively. Doing some editing for other writer friends.

The personal stuff: Single for 25 years. Maybe I'll try Match.com when I get back from the reunion.



WAS THERE SOMETHING AT JOHNSTON THAT INSPIRED YOU OR CHANGED YOU AND THUS BECAME PART OF YOUR DAILY LIFE?

I think growing up in place like Johnston and attending a small high school where everybody knows everybody else -- and all your teachers know you too -- has a profound effect on the rest of one's life. Maybe it's more apparent when you move somewhere else, where there are always too many people and everyone's jumping up and down trying to be noticed. I have lots of fond memories of our school days -- and some not-so-fond, but nonetheless instructive.

2002 - 40th Reunion:

Family Information

Son, Rod, in software sales in San Francisco

Daughter, Marcella, English Lit professor at College of the Canyons

No sons-in law nor daughters-in law ... no grandkids

Work/Retirement History

Retirement -- I wish. I'm back to working full-time: 10-hour days and tons of cross-country and up-and-down-the-left-coast business travel. Company is Ketchum Inside, the internal communication arm of a global PR firm, and my office is located in Venice, CA, a block from Muscle Beach. I'm still writing, but at a very slow pace due to my work schedule. (It's too tough to make a living in the publishing world these days). Maybe I'll be retired by our 60th reunion.

Look forward to seeing you in August.

1997 - 35th Reunion:

As some of you know, the highlight of my life recently was the publication of my first novel. The Anniversary, by Random House last July. And one of the highlights of that experience was the opportunity to come back to Iowa last October, do a booksigning in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids and get to see so many people I haven't seen for so, so long.

I'm definitely a late bloomer. I've been writing off and on all my life; published one short story and a smattering of poetry, but never considered anything as ambitious as a novel until a few years ago. Then, when I got downsized from my job in 1993, I had time to finish it. But this is supposed to be a bio, so I'll quit working backwards.

After JHS, I graduated from Coe College in Cedar Rapids and worked at Meredith in Des Moines, for a year before being transferred to its New York office. In NY, I shared an apartment with Jean Jacobson, who worked there as a nurse. We'd already lived in NY together for two summers during college.

In 1969, I married Bill Casilli, who was the Musical Conductor for singer Leslie Uggams. We'd been married 8 months when Leslie got a television show and we all moved to Los Angeles. The show flopped, but we stayed on. We were divorced in 1982. Two kids, both are still in LA. Rod is 27, lives at the beach and was a broker at Merrill Lynch until a couple of weeks ago when he left to start his own business. Marcella is 24 and a graduate student at Cal State Northridge - yes, right on top of the last big earthquake.

I went back to work full time in '82. Worked in Advertising, computers, you-name-it, mostly writing corporate stuff - Marketing Brochures, Ad Copy, Annual Reports. For the last 8 years before my downsizing, I was Vice Pres of Communications for an Investment Firm.

Now I write full time. I'm working on my next novel and fill in the slow spots with free-lance corporate communications garble. I live in a small house in Woodland Hills in the San Fernando Valley with, yes, cats. I keep in touch with Jean - now Dr. Lusijah Marx - but she has to write her own bio. We were in Hawaii together in 1995. (And we both changed our first names when we lived in New York a thousand years ago.)

Hello to everyone. If I don't make it back this time - I'll definitely be there for the 40th.

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