Pamela Andrews-Speed Thompson

I just retired from Fairfax County Public Schools after 25 years of teaching—English, grades 7 and 8; drama, grade 8; and technology education, grade 7. I first taught English and social studies in Durham, NC after graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill which I attended from 1964-1970, receiving a double major in English and secondary education with a minor in social studies.

I had two children via my first marriage—a daughter, Kris, 32, who just made a gutsy life change by quitting the corporate world, returning home to work on a master’s in educational psychology (she graduated from UVa with a major in psychobiology and a minor in Spanish), and accepting a full-time Spanish teaching position. Mom retired; daughter got hired. My youngest is Jeremy, age 28, who majored in Spanish at the University of Alabama and works as a house painter here in Fairfax County—he is a hands-on kinda guy who has always gone his own way and is a uniquely terrific individual. Both of the kids are married, but no grandkids yet.

Most of my adult life I played volleyball, including league, USVBA, and beach doubles and triples. I also married a second time; we are divorced.