Page 39 - Sun Rays Febuary 2013
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FEBRUARY 2013
SUNRAYS | 39
ONLINE:
SCTXCA.ORG
About me
I was born in Temple, Texas, at Scott &
White Hospital with no air conditioning
on a hot August day, so I was told. I lived
in the same house for all of my grow-
ing up years and then went on to Texas
Tech. I graduated with a BS in Second-
ary Education with teaching fields in
mathematics and German. Though I
know enough German to make my way
through the country, I never taught Ger-
man a day in my life, but I did teach
high school math in El Paso for a few
years, and a year of junior high math in
Houston before I started having babies.
I never went back to teaching until I
tutored at My Kitchen Table in Illinois
for about six years—it was a joy! I had
many outstanding students—most striv-
ing for A-pluses instead of A-minuses in
Algebra, Geometry, and Trigonometry.
As for the German part of my life, I de-
cided to study German as my language
requirement at Texas Tech after having
taken Latin in high school. The summer
between my junior and senior years, I
went to Germany where I lived with
a family and worked in their bed and
breakfast. Later, all three of my daugh-
ters took German in high school, and we
even had eight German exchange stu-
dents stay with us! A fun thing with all
of that is that my middle daughter ended
up marrying a German man, and seven
of the eight girls who lived with us came
to the wedding ceremony in Germany.
After living in Houston followed by a
short stint in Harrison, Arkansas, we
moved to Illinois where I was on the staff
of a large church located in the north-
west Chicago suburbs for 11 years. For
the first six years, I worked in Women’s
Ministries overseeing small groups and
teaching leadership development classes
to the volunteer leaders. Then, I tran-
sitioned into working as an event man-
ager for the church. I executed annual
retreats for 500-750 women, as well as
large leadership retreats and confer-
ences. It was a phenomenal opportunity.
We lived in Illinois for 23 years, and
I was really happy to leave the snow
shovel behind and come back to Texas.
The move “back home” has opened a
wonderful new season in my life.
I have three daughters; one is in the
Los Angeles, California area; one is in
Honolulu, Hawaii; and one is in Raleigh,
North Carolina. Their diverse locations
give me great places to visit. I have one
grandson, who will be nine months old
this month. I am now an official member
of the “Utterly Ridiculous Obnoxious
Grandmommy Club” who thinks her
grandchild is the best on the planet!
I am addicted to jigsaw puzzles, and I
love being withmy friends, who are liter-
ally all over the world. My neighbor says
I have more company than anyone she’s
ever known! I have enjoyed making new
friends here in Sun City, and I have a
special circle of seven girlfriends in the
area—we were all in first grade together!
We get together four times a year and it’s
just fun. That’s the heartbeat of my life—
just being with my friends and family.
How long have you been with
the CA?
Three years, as of last September.
What does your job entail?
It’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work. I
help with the details related to the trip
leaders’ outings, the fairs that we do,
Junior Camp, onsite events like dances,
performances and lectures. I don’t plan
or contract any of the events; I really
just assist the director, Jenny Phillips,
with the execution of those events and
help pull together the details.
Challenges about your job?
Sometimes, there are just not enough
hours in the day.
Favorite part of your job?
Variety. There’s always something differ-
ent going on, and every day is a surprise.
You just never know, and that makes my
days fun, challenging and rewarding.
A Day in the Life:
Jan Crutchfield
TITLE
Lifestyle & Activities
Assistant
CONTACT
