Hi MVMers,
As you know I have been doing a series called Get To Know Your Fellow Swimmers with the initials GTKYFS. But, the initials are pretty awkward so, with a suggestion by Chris Lindstrom (thank you Chris), I am going to call my series ‘Fishsticks’. So here is your Fishsticks for the week – meet Mary Tabor.See attached for her picture.
Where were you born: in NYC.
Where did you grow up: in NYC, on West 84th Street and at age seven we moved around the corner to West 85th Street.
Where did you go to school: I started at PS 9, went to Birch Wathen grades three through six, to Professional Children’s School for seventh and eighth grade and to the HS of Music and Art for high school. I was a music student there and played violin in Senior Orchestra, always second violin, never first! I attended the University of Wisconsin in Madison, got a Masters in Early Childhood Education at the College of Notre Dame in Belmont, and a Masters in Counseling Psychology at Santa Clara University.
What jobs/career did you have after school: My first job after college was working as “window lady” in the undergraduate admissions office at Berkeley. Protesting the Vietnam war was ongoing so every Fall and Spring the speeches would begin on the steps of Sproul Hall, right outside my office. Someone would hand out wet paper towels, the helicopters would fly overhead, the teargas came down and sometimes rocks came through the window so I would finish phone calls sitting under my desk. Then I would skeddaddle out of there to my apartment and spend the afternoon reading art history books.
I started teaching Montessori pre-school then for two years I taught Art at Crittenden Middle school. After having my children and getting a Masters in Counseling Psychology, I worked for twenty-five years for Santa Clara Unified School District doing therapy and teaching violence prevention to elementary school students.
Fun facts: In 1995 I discovered English Country Dancing and for twenty-five years played violin for a dance in Palo Alto and one in San Jose until the pandemic shut them down. Last month, I played for my first dance in two years and will play for one this month. I feel human when I can play for dances!
I began swimming at Rengstorff in 1976 and continued at Eagle. The transition was seamless when MVM began and then we had coaches!
Additional fun facts from the editor (me): Mary has a beautiful garden at her house on the Old Mountain View neighborhood. She was also the person who drove me home when I fainted on deck a few years ago. Thank you Mary!
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